Some subs not speed...

[David Analog]

Do you just leave the box under the seats, un-vented into the cabin? I am going to do a sub and I really do not want to cut into the fiberglass...

That very much depends on your individual appetite for sound quality and how you perceive sound quality .....as in a tactile boat shaker or a musical bass maker. If adequately vented, you are passing 'some' of the acoustic energy out of the compartment and into the open air. If not vented, you are exciting the boat structure and in turn the boat structure is then recreating 'much' of the acoustic energy.

 

[Derek Fosbury]

I just ordered a JL M10W5-SG-TB (10" sub for sealed enclosures) and a JL xd300/1v2 to power it. My plan is to build an MDF sealed enclosure for it, but have it face out into the cabin area from under the starboard seat. Box will be approx 20" x 12" x 8". Will let everyone know how it turns out

 

[Speedling]

I will say two things as i have used it all weekend.
1. Yes it sounds better with the cabin door open
2. I should have done marine amps

My wife decided to leave a bunch of wet towels and life jackets in the cabin and the amp had the red light on and wouldn't work. After a 20 minute cruise with the door open and everything out it works just fine but there was water dripping off of it due to the humidity.
Works fine other than that. Btw, that was the class a/b amp for the speakers. Sub amp worked anyways.

 

[bigblank69]

Are

I just ordered a JL M10W5-SG-TB (10" sub for sealed enclosures) and a JL xd300/1v2 to power it. My plan is to build an MDF sealed enclosure for it, but have it face out into the cabin area from under the starboard seat. Box will be approx 20" x 12" x 8". Will let everyone know how it turns out

Are you sure you want to do MDF in a boat? MDF Expands and then dissolves in moisture. You may want to make it out of marine grade 3/4" Plywood instead, then maybe deaden the inside of it.

 

[Derek Fosbury]

that's a good point, I hadn't thought about that. In my last boat I did it with MDF, and just spray painted it. Not sure if that protected it somewhat?

 

[bigblank69]

It was probably more protected than if it was bare mdf, but still might have been more luck than anything. If you want to stick with MDF, maybe some type of hard epoxy on the exterior will seal it up...

 

[Speedling]

Please don't do mdf!
My wood is exterior grade, so a step down from marine, and is stained, then cleare coated. If i get any mold on it i am thinking i will fiberglass or epoxy coat it all.
Can't make things too waterproof on a boat!

 

[Derek Fosbury]

not married to MDF, so will do plywood instead. Was already going to dampen the inside to cut down on cabinet resonance.

thanks for the heads up!

 

[Derek Fosbury]

finished the speaker portion of the sub install
... Amp is for tomorrow .

 

[David Analog]

View attachment 42925

View attachment 42926

finished the speaker portion of the sub install
... Amp is for tomorrow .

^^^ Acoustic suspension AND direct radiating. This is the very best sound quality option.
For even more output (for bass-heads), you simply run two side-by-side sub/enclosures and double the power. 6 dB more output which is equivalent to double the volume as we perceive very low bass (a little different than the way we perceive full-range).

Another high output route is what Earmark Marine is doing with Infinite Baffle Subwoofer Manifolds which is dual IB woofers through a single 10" aperture. Twice the air displacement and still direct radiating. And far less tactile vibration transmitted through the boat structure.

 

[Derek Fosbury]

can you explain a dual IB setup? Just having a hard time picturing that .

finished amp install and hookup. Wasn't that big of a deal, as I had planned for it, but between a bunch of beers and actually using the boat, took all day yesterday. So no chance to tune it, but sounds pretty good out of the gate!

 

[Speedling]

can you explain a dual IB setup? Just having a hard time picturing that .

finished amp install and hookup. Wasn't that big of a deal, as I had planned for it, but between a bunch of beers and actually using the boat, took all day yesterday. So no chance to tune it, but sounds pretty good out of the gate!

View attachment 43116

Very clean setup!

 

[Derek Fosbury]

thanks! At first I wasn't that happy about the Polk main unit being back there, but turned out to be not a bad spot, if not a little awkward for some of the shorter wires like the trigger wire!

 

[robert843]

@Derek Fosbury awesome man I'm looking at doing a simular set up as I think the sealed box with the speaker facing out is going to give me the best results as well. Where I have been getting a torn on what to do is how to mount the box to the fiberglass on the inside of the compartment do you mind sharing how you did that as it appears you did it different then any of my ideas so far?

 

[Derek Fosbury]

here's what I did:

1. Box is 20.5 x 12 x 8, used 3/4" plywood
2. Glued all edges and used 2" wood screws
3. Sanded the hell out it
4. Lined the inside with dynamat equivalent and sound deadener
5. Drilled small hole on the side for the speaker wire exit (sealed later with hot glue)
6. 3 coats black semi-gloss acrylic paint
7. Cut hole in fibreglass after removing carpet from inner wall
8. Placed box into compartment. You will notice if you look there is a little lip... Box rests on that.
9. Holding box in place, trace cut out through fibreglass hole onto box
10. Take box out, cut hole in box
11. Cover face of box (except hole, of course) with dynamat.
12. Make copy of dynamat, attach backwards onto face of box using 3M spray glue to attach. This is my "gasket" to the bare fibreglass.
13. Put box back in, line up cut outs
14. Place driver in hole, line up, predrill holes, double check alignment, screw in. Note I did not use supplied screws as they were not long enough to get through fibreglass and wood.
15. Cut extra carpet from compartment away, reattach remainder.

so that's it... Any questions, let me know

 

[David Analog]

@Derek Fosbury awesome man I'm looking at doing a simular set up as I think the sealed box with the speaker facing out is going to give me the best results as well. Where I have been getting a torn on what to do is how to mount the box to the fiberglass on the inside of the compartment do you mind sharing how you did that as it appears you did it different then any of my ideas so far?

This is something that Earmark Marine has been doing for a long time and they do it a little different. Odin recommends mounting the enclosure in advance and independently of the sub driver. So when you go to mount the sub driver, the enclosure is already fully mounted and fully sealed against the back of the fiberglass surface. Once the sub driver is mounted, it conceals all enclosure mounting hardware. Odin also has a great approach to many other details within this procedure. I would reach out to Odin with Earmark Marine for your equipment purchases. As part of his package, he will supply you with unlimited installation and set-up instructions, none more important than system tuning.

 

[Speedling]

I want to show you what the clearcoat did/grew!yeah, wood is wet too so ditching it all and looking for new setup. Wanting to use the 500 watt rms amp is the killer. Don't want to blow stuff up!

 

[Mainah]

I want to show you what the clearcoat did/grew!View attachment 72083yeah, wood is wet too so ditching it all and looking for new setup. Wanting to use the 500 watt rms amp is the killer. Don't want to blow stuff up!

Wow just two years and that happens when marine ply was used and stained/sealed. You built them well too. I would have thought it to hold up better. Does go to show why using true marine rated stuff like amps, wire, stainless screws, and starboard make sense. May I use this photo in threads to illustrate this point that I make frequently?

Wonder how it would have held up with a couple coats of epoxy? With the kids being a couple years older perhaps they can help more so more quality time with dad. Quality time is priceless so the parts, tools, and materials should be too

Blowing stuff up won’t be an issue if you tune it with an smd tuner or oscilloscope.

 

[mattschepker]

Here is the ported box i am using. I bought the box from amazon b/c a little bit left over on a gift card. I did find it cheaper elsewhere though. Its a big box for 1 12in sub. Its sprayed with bedliner spray. The sub I used was a JL 12in W3V3-2. The sub RMS is 500 watts. I have that hooked up to a JL Audio 5 channel amp and my sub channel is 500 watts. I been able to do a little bit of garage boating and I'm impressed so far.
The sub I got rid of is it shallow mount Rockford Fosgate in the shallow mount box. Lesson learned money spent never buy a shallow mount ever

 

[subysti]

Funny I thought you were talking about these subs