OK, first off the sub I own is a 12" kicker L5. I got the min. and max. recommended box sizes and picked the number right in between to make my box as. My friends insist it's way to small though at 1.3 cu feet for my sealed box. They insist that the bigger the box the better. Also i don't think my sub hits hard it only does the really loud and long bass strings well. Anyone have any input for me?

 

The companies which produce these products give you the specs because they have designed them to operate at their fullest potential by what they list. If you have the specs, go by what they say.

 

I guess you can always use polyfill to trick the sub into thinking it's in a larger box.

 

I agree...the manufacturer's designers are the ones with the engineering degrees.

For reference, my 10" Type Rs required between 0.55 and 0.8 cubic feet. I thought the whole benefit of a sealed enclosure is that compressing or decompressing the air volume in the box forces the woofer back in (or out) with less required power input. If you increase the volume of the box, you increase the amount of air that the woofer has to compress (or decompress) which results in less potential to push it back in (or out) since the air pressure inside hasn't changed as much.

 

i think with more air the cone moves easier.

 

Actually, a lot of companies will recommend smaller boxes than can be used because it kind of constricts the sub. Most of the time you can go larger than the recommended sealed enclosure and get more output. If you're stuck on sealed go ahead and make a box at max recommended volume or a little more unless you are throwing way more than the recommended power at it. Otherwise make a ported box. You will generally get a lot more spl (3db +) and you probably wont lose out on much sound quality.

If you're still wondering which way to go do a search for a program called winISD. You put in the woofer specs and it will model it's frequency response for different size/type of boxes. It's not completely accurate but would probably give you a good enough idea. Good luck!

Mike

 

Bigger is more efficient and hits the lower notes more easilly. Can also be considered "boomy" if too big for the chosen woofer. If you go too small you can simply use a more powerful amp down to a limit.

Have you checked your sub with an SPL meter or test tones? OR are you guessing what it can or can't do well?