Need Help: Want To Turn Alpine 12” Car Sub Into Home Sub

[zak9494]

Hey guys!
I’m wanting to turn one of my car subs into a home sub just for music and movies.
I was wondering what’s the best way to go about this?

I don’t have a box for the sub so I guess id have to get one made from someone off of craigslist.
What kind of specs should it have or anything that I should have required done to the box? Such as a port & air space.

I’m not sure how either sub would work with the receiver I have.
So please let me know which sub you think would be best match for the receiver.

I don’t know much about this stuff so all help is appreciated.
I do not want to spend much this lol.
Thanks!

What I have to work with:
- Alpine Type R 12” Sub - Model SWR-12D4
OR

- Alpine Type S 12” Sub – Model SWS-12D4

- As a receiver I have
Denon AVR-3803 Receiver


- I have two computer speakers that I am happy with, as they are very loud.

More info On The Type R Sub:
Alpine Electronics, Inc SWR12D4 - Best Buy

More info On The Type S Sub:
Alpine 12" DualVoiceCoil 4Ohm Subwoofer SWS-12D4 - Best Buy

More info On the Receiver:
Denon AVR-3803 (Black) Home theater receiver with Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, and Pro Logic II at Crutchfield.com

 

[fuzz092888]

Why not just go with the manufacturer recommended .75 cuft sealed box?

 

[jp_over]

+1 on the sealed box. Also, you could order a prebuilt box:

Subwoofer Speaker Cabinets in the Speaker Components Department at Parts Express | 289

 

[annunaki]

I highly recommend against a Car Audio Manufacturer Recommended enclosure volume. Many times the alignment will be a high "Q" as it relies on the small volume of the vehicle to bring up the low end. The best option is to get teh T/S parameters and model the subwoofer accordingly. If I recall correctly the Alpine Type R series subs can work great in a home. Going from memory generally about 2.5-3.0ft^3 vented tuned to around 25hz and maintain vent velocity below 17m/s. They usually model rather flat and can be a pretty solid performer.

Sealed enclosures for a type R will probably be around 1.25ft^3 to 1.75ft^3 for home use.

Again please get the T/S parameters and model these as I am only going from memory and past experience.

 

[Richard Barr]

I strongly recommend skipping the .75cuft sealed for home theatre, because I've been there! I just sold (yesterday) my Alpine Type-R 12 (swr-1240) in the .75 enclosure I got it in in the first place, it was anemic and took some eq'ing to get a balanced sound out of it. YMMV, but I'm in a large 12x38' room, if you have a smaller room it may fair better.

I had it in a larger 'throw together' ~2.25cu ft vented enclosure that was sounded quite a bit better for most of it's life. Don't underestimate the amount of port area you'll need though, a single 4" pvc was not nearly enough vent area, and she chuffed badly past 150w, and was clearly hitting massive amounts of compression past a few hundred watts. Even then, keeping it pre-chuffing I was getting more useful output than in the small sealed box without exceeding the drivers power rating. The small sealed box faired well with 1000+w... but that is a recipe for a short life span.

annuaki's suggestion of 1.25-1.75 cuft sealed is likely a great one, but as he said, try and model it first.