bigger better?

[GCguy2169]

The bigger you box (ported) the better? Can it be too big?

[jdrumstik]

no, every speaker has specific values, you need to calcualte these sort of things, of it will sound like crap.

[PaulD]

especially for a ported box ...... the box and port size have to be pretty carefully matched to the speaker

[GCguy2169]

Heres what brought up the question. If a box was TOO big, then would'nt it perform as if it were in free-air? Say I get a 12, and I have 30 cubic feet in my trunk, and i make the box 28 cubic foot sealed, wouldnt it sound like free air? Someone should get the idea at what I'm trying to say.

[bumpinstang77]

No....you still ahve a seperation of the waves unlike in free air. Usually a bigger box will play lower and louder, but only up to a point. If ou tried to put say an e12o in a 5 cube box it wouldn't work out right b/c they are made for smaller boxes....generally in spl apps the designer of the box will make it in the upper reigion of the ported box volumes.

[PaulD]

actually, yes ...... free air always has a baffle between the front and rear of the speaker - in the home, it's known as infinite baffle. Yea, I know, the term "free air" is not a very good one ... you usually see it used to describe woofers designed to play into a door, trunk or hatch.

[GCguy2169]

Originally Posted by GCguy2169

Heres what brought up the question. If a box was TOO big, then would'nt it perform as if it were in free-air? Say I get a 12, and I have 30 cubic feet in my trunk, and i make the box 28 cubic foot sealed, wouldnt it sound like free air? Someone should get the idea at what I'm trying to say.

I still dont understand, one says yes, one says no. To me it would almost seem like it was free air, 28 cubic foot is a BIG box. and thats WAY to much air space for a 12, any 12? I dont know that. But as far as it sounding free air, this is a good question.

[JC80]

If your going to run free air than run free air..its a total space saver and the only reason for it...not meant to be backed by a 68 cu.ft. box or whatever, you take away from the point..Theres exactly the same reasons why you make a box to specifics..same as making a box too small, you can make it too big.

There isn't a point to making a box that big unless you have a 34" Audiobahn Linear Compression Subwoofer in it.

[Haibane]

and if you have a 34" audiobahn subwoofer, you got screwed out of some money that would have been better used at getting 2 18"s to do more power and more excursion cleaner lol.

[PaulD]

Originally Posted by GCguy2169

I still dont understand, one says yes, one says no. To me it would almost seem like it was free air, 28 cubic foot is a BIG box. and thats WAY to much air space for a 12, any 12? I dont know that. But as far as it sounding free air, this is a good question.

you obviously have some preconceived notions ..... just empty all of what you think you know about this from your head. As stated in my last post, another name for free air (in car audio) is infinite baffle (in home stereo). The speaker has an incredibly stiff suspension, and so it doesn't require the back pressure restoring force of a small box. Playing a speaker in "free air" does NOT mean you just hang it by a wire ...... the back is still seperated from the front by a baffle, like a door panel or rear shelf. Like I said earlier, the term free air is a poor one.

[sr20de4evr]

Originally Posted by PaulD

you obviously have some preconceived notions ..... just empty all of what you think you know about this from your head. As stated in my last post, another name for free air (in car audio) is infinite baffle (in home stereo). The speaker has an incredibly stiff suspension, and so it doesn't require the back pressure restoring force of a small box. Playing a speaker in "free air" does NOT mean you just hang it by a wire ...... the back is still seperated from the front by a baffle, like a door panel or rear shelf. Like I said earlier, the term free air is a poor one.

Another definition of a freeair enclosure is one where the box size is 3x larger than the Vas of the speaker. If it was ported and this large, it would most likely act like an IB sub with a hole in the baffle, I doubt the normal rules applying to ported boxes would hold true.

[Haibane]

wow... a ported IB, that would be weird...