I Know, this is a very over done topic

Currently I have 2 Orion XTR pro 12' subs, facing down, about 6 in off the bottom, they are in the reccomended 1.5 cu ft each, but it is a sloted center port, and the subs are not seperated, I am wanting to build another box, as this is the one that came with them from the guy I got them from. All this is powered by a PPI PC 2600, (current) and I have also had a DLS a3 Twin Mono (have still, but not hooked up) Facing down, seems to keep the roof from doing all the ratteling, but no mater which way I face them, I dont get the DEEP take your breath away bass, I get loud, strong, heard from a mile away bass, but when it comes to the low tones, it is all lost somewhere

Question 1: anyone with experience with the Orion XTR pro's would you reccomend going bigger than the OEM 1.5 cu ft?

Question 2: how to solve the lower bass loss, possibly same answer as Q1 above

Question 3: can I please see some pics of what everyone has done in their ride and a brief description of your bass.

Thanks much in advance all

 

this is in what year blazer?

i ran sub and port back for a long time and it sounded awesome even in a somewhat small enclosure(3ish cubic ft). I then changed that design to sub up and port back with the same port and same airspace, and it hit a tad harder and lower.

the key in hitting low is tuning your box low, the key to stealing breath is power and low tuning, port are per cubic foot etc.

this was the first design I went with tuned at 33hz:


this is the same enclosure changed around and some exterior changes:


and this is the newly built monster:


this one above is tuned at 33hz but its also 2 cubic ft bigger than the old enclosure, being powered with a better amp it definitely hits the lows.

the whole truck has been dynamated minus the floor and roof. some good enclosure building software would be bassbox pro, re audio enclosure calculator: here, and Box tuning calculator.

The only thing I have to say about RE calculator is that its a few db's off, so if your final tune is at say 33hz add 7db's to that and you'll have your final tune

 

its an 01 2dr Blazer

I have done the dynamat thing, i was thnking for the riif, just to pull back the skin, and reinforce it with fiberglass to hopefully stop all that ratelling, but that project will be a summer or two away

I have never before had the dilema of knocking the wind out of people in my vehicles till I got this S.U.V., I have tried many boxes, a few different subs, and would say my amps are up there and should be able to pull this off

for your speakers, what are they, and what was the OEM reccomended box size?

The box i currently have looks identical to your top picture, except i just yesterday, covered the top port, faced them up, and put 2, 4" ports (11.5 in long as per OEM) on the bottom, pointing toward the gate, I did notice a bit different sound, wouldn't necessarily say better, hit some notes better, some not, still gotta fine tune the amp to every setup, and i lost my screwdriver today, (i currently got the amp stretched on top of my pulled down back seat for adjustment ease), I am using the PPI PC 2600, which has awesome power, when i had my vega 15's, they were facing rear,, ported read, they hit the hardest, infact, i couldn't turn it all the way up most of the time, but these Orions have better specs, maybe i just need the bigger box again instead of this wimpy 3.0-ish think like in your top pic (woulda still had the vegas, but money issues forced me to sell them, then i came back up and got these orion xtr pro 12's) a few months later.

 

im running 2 audiobahn aw1251t's.. space requirement varies with these, and have 3 dif "styles" to choose from: simple ported 1.3ft^ per sub, 2.3ft^ per sub for an everyday slammer, and 3.15ft^ for a spl setup..

i built the box to be home to 2 Hifonics B12D4's (or similar) in the future and these audiobahns hang in the enclosure very well, i tune lower than what is recommended around 32-33hz simply because it sounds good to the music i listen to which ranges from classic rock to rap/r&b..and if i ever feel like making business windows look like water, than i am at luxury to crank the bass a tiny bit and do some work lol

from what i have learned is that to build slightly over spec, and experiment with the crunching numbers part. in my opinion its ALOT more detailed than throwing a box together with some quick numbers, it took me months to gather plans, crunch numbers revise plans and crunch numbers again...

re-porting a prefab enclosure could put you on the fence for sound, some enclosures you can re-port and get away with good sound, and some you cant, and porting a originally sealed enclosure is the same

 

ya know, i am 37 years old, I have built probably 50 systems, and not once have I used a program, gone buy specs, none of that, I just built a big *** box and whatever I did always turned out great, I did download Bass Box Plan Pro 6 (thanks to torrents) and ounched the numbers in it and it is giving me basically a 6 cu ft for the whole box, which is what I am going to to

I have a question about your box, it appears it might be ported down? correct? what size are your ports, how many, their positioning?

I usually always go for 2, 4 in ports in everything I have ever built, usually put them within 2 in of the back, my last car had flip down seats, this was before my 8 year old son was born, I am just within the past 2 years slowly building back up a system, and this blazer has just been headache after headache, and in that I has a set of 12 RF he2's, facing front, ported back, and it would knock you out in a second, with a rf power 1000w amp, i do miss that car, but my "dream" vehicle had always been a blazer, so when i was in the market i got it, I will try with the bigger box, may not be this weekend, as this is my son's 8th birthday, and I prefer to use Oak plywood V.S. the standard MDF crap that everyone else uses, which carries a price of $40 per sheet, times 2 sheets standard, I think it is much more solid, I have used that type of wood forever.

 

mine is a single slot style port thats 21 inches wide, 20 inches deep and 3 inches tall.

the port faces the tailgate and internally its just the slot no bends, woofers are placed as far back on the top as possible.

I have had awesome luck building enclosures out of countertop material, long time ago i did 2 downfiring enclosures for some old school pioneer 12's and they sounded so awesome in my basement corner loaded against walls (i got free tables too lol)

i recently redid some chincy towers made of particle board, they originally housed an 8" woofer with a 8" passive radiator...I sealed up one hole for the radiator and added a 4" round port at the top of the face that came out of a bandpass enclosure and fitted a 12 in each tower, for some quickly rehabbed towers, re-sealed with better screws these things dominate my basement and make everything move off a 200w receiver lol.

in all honesty i think for 2 12's 6 cubes is about the going space for most...the benefits with cars is you have trunk loading which is like throwing an enclosure inside of another enclosure and off little power and properly done they can decimate

 

Ohh, O.K., now I see your port (now that I actually clicked on the pic and made it bigger), I originally thought those were legs keeping the box off the ground so your ports would downfire.

I totally agree about the car trunk, box in a box thing, in my last car with a system, I made the box so damn big, that after the front plate and bottom piece were secure, i put it and I had to finish building it from inside the trunk, not much room to work with, and most screws were put in by had with a stubby screwdriver, as getting a drill in a 3 inch space was not an option, it was a hell of a box, and someone would have had to take a chain saw to it to remove it, unfortunately, at that time, my son was due, and had recently lost a job, so it all had to go, i just yanked the speakers / amp / electronics, and left the box...lol

I am not a big fan of mounting amps on boxes, but may have to do so, currently I got my 800w lanzar vibe tweeter / mid amp mounted where the tire jack would be on the left side of the tail (also where the spare tire would have been, but that had to go....lol), and the sub amp mounted on the opposing side. I also completely filled the tail gate with that expanding foam in a can, and several other key noisy spots, one of the things that drives me crazy is the way the tail glass will flex so much, I have been contemplating on ways to put a latch on each end of the glass to prevent that, but that also, is a project further down the road, and may not have to do as I am pretty much decided on going with what you have in yours.

Thanks for the pics and help by the way, us true audiophiles must stick together, for me it is a life long obsession, no mater what "thumper" laws are out there...lol

 

I agree.

I had monstrous enclosure in a 86 Mazda 626, to get it in I had to pull out the backseats, when i sold the car i left the box as well lol.

sadly im not a huge fan of mounting to boxes either, but with the distance between the back of the seat and the box there would be no air flow for amp cooling ( i even have a big *** fan to use but then again space was not there lol) and the amp is to heavy to mount on the right interior panel in the back and to big to mount where the jack went...

in front of the box between the tailgate and box face there was no width and it would disturb port flow... damn big boxes and damn big amps eating all kinds of possible mounting solutions lol

 

Yea, I know how it goes, and I hate those flaps at the rear seats, I actually just checked out your whole album there on your box build, you did a good job, especially with the doubled up front and sides. I noticed you have a 4 dr, mine is a 2 dr, not sure if there is any difference in the rear cargo area there, but when u got a chance, could you give me your outer measurements of that box, I get the feeling I am going to make pretty much the same setup as you. That is kewl with your son in there, mine likes to get right up in there with me when i do stuff too, he is only 8 (as of tomorrow) and cant handle the full power I like, but when he does want it up a little, he loves the way it makes his throat vibrate, as he always tells me. I get the felling he will be a bass head too, I look forward to hooking his first car up...lol

With the bass amp mounted on the right side like it usually is ( I currently have it sitting on the folded down back seat for tweaking ) I have it mounted at an angle, took the back plate off, and put an old 12v fan from a junk PC CPU i had lying around here, and mounted that to put some more air in there, ( that was actually on my DLS A3 twin mono amp, it has external fan controls, and is just sitting dormant in that location as I play around with the box for a bit, and tweak the PPI). I just repaired my PPI last week, and it is way more powerful than the DLS, I will most likely get rid of the Lanzar junk amp...lol, and move the DLS to take it's place, DLS, although not very popular here in the US, it is Germain made, and it looks aewsome, and the guts are better than the U.S.amps ax2000 i used to have, I had to get rid of that one, it was almost as long as my truck is wide...lol, i just could not work with it. The DLS just dosent put out the power that I would have thought with a price of $800+ (also seen elsewhere for around $400 - $500), i got it used for around 300, this is a link to the DLS if interested in checking it out...
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...FQ4TswodbzgntA

although there is a fan already in the PPI, you could fry a egg on it in no time, unfortunately i cant pull the bottom on that, as that is what holds all the IC's down, but I will probably but some holes in it for additional fans, and reinforce the edges that put the pressure on the fet's, op-amps, etc., maybe even run a liquid cooler to it if i decide to keep it, but I am really trying to do some wheeling and dealing around here on Craigslist and such hoping to trade 2 of the 3 amps for a little bigger one, maybe something class D, V.S. the A/B that all mine are currently, as the hobby goes, I am always looking for that next "little bit more"....lol

 

your 2 door has a slightly smaller trunk than the 4 doors. also, if you have the tire mounted inside, you'll lose a ton of space... i myself have a 2 door and tire in trunk, i hate it.

i'll be building a huge ported box for a single JL Audio 12w7 in the coming week or 2 depending on my work load. i'll post my build to show you what its like to put a huge box in little space and still have some cargo room.

DLS is an awesome company but they are expensive and for that price i would go for something a little less pricey but just as good imo.