I have a 2000 F150 H-D Edition that I want to add either 1 or 2 10" subs to. I'm either going to make an enclosure like the Stealthbox for the console or just get a pre-fab box for under the rear seats that fire down. I have built alot of boxes but I have never made a down-firing one. How do they sound?? I really am going after something already built due to lack of time. I'd like something nice looking at the same time though. I could just vinyl the box in black after I get it it to make it match my interior better. I'm just curious what they sound like. Thanks.

 

Check out my sig ive got a great write up about the build up of my box. There were lots of people helping me out, and now ive got a pretty good handle on things im here to help others.
-Patrick

 

I haven't bought my box yet, but they are a popular choice (down-firing).

 

Good job! I'm built alot of boxes over the years but have never tried the down firing design..thats what I was curious about.

 

Really the only other option in a truck is front firing, which will most likely sound worse than downfiring.

Floor usually muffles mechanical sound and some other unwanted sounds, but I seem to have a problem with my floor resonating right under the sub-only noticable outside for me though.

 

Almost every box I've built for F series truck has been down-firing. Navigators, Expeditions, Explorers, etc. rear-firing ported.

Down firing loads the sub against the floor. That's a good thing! It will, under the proper circumstances, sound louder, cleaner, and hit harder. The only downside to that installation method is that, through coupling, some of the sub's energy will be converted into vibrations in the vehicle. It will make things rattle more fiercely than a more conventional front or rear firing installation. You also need to make sure there is plenty of space between the cone and floor. There needs to be enough to allow for the full travel of the cone, plus enough to allow for the acoustic energy being generated to dissapate. For a 10, that needs to be at least 2" (measured from the floor to the surround, not to the box). For a 12, no less than 2.5", 3.5-4" is better.

Pre-fab boxes are completely worthless unless they come with the subs they were built for (like JL). But just buying a box, and a sub, is a crappy installation waiting to happen. Every single sub has different needs. Even two different subs from the same manufacturer (w1 vs. w3v3 for example) require very different enclosures and alignments. What's more, their manufacturers often flat out lie about what their subs need, to keep box volume down, and thusly keeping power-handling high and warranty returns low. For example, a JL 12" W3V3 spec's around 1.2cf sealed, for that sub to sound right and have a nice flat response curve, you really need 1.5-1.75! The 1.2cf enclosure will allow the speaker to have higher power-handling, but a much poorer low end response. But the higher power-handling means less will blow and JL will get much less returned speaks. Knowing that, if you ever have to build a box to their spec, you will want to stuff it.

What you really need is a program like WinISD (free! BTW) with which you can enter a speakers specs and see what type of enclosure it REALLY NEEDS to sound right (it will even graph it). With that, you can build a box that will absolutely blow away ANYTHING out there! One 12 in a proper sealed enclosure or ported alignment, with HALF the power, will destroy a pair of 12's in a pre-made box!

 

My 2 MB Quart 12s fire down and hit harder AND cleaner than any other setup I have ever had.

Down firing is your only option but it is a good option to have. I have tried front, up, center, and side with various different sizes and brands but none have been as good as down firing

 

My 12's fire down and they sound very good, clean and crisp, the box isnt that big, but they have a big sound.

 

I have a few speaker programs, I have built sealed..ported..and bandpass before and they all sounded good. They never used to specify such small boxes and it's why alot of the pre-made stuff sound like crap. I used a 1.25 cu. ft. per side box with (2) 10W1 JL's in my Probe and got 144.1 dB out of it, which is alot for those subs and the box was sealed. Obviously the power handling was less but it was also more efficient anyways. My (2) 12W6 in my Mustang were only 144.7 with twice the power but a smaller box than what they should have been in.

I like the console Stealthbox but it's too much $$ for me. I have a few subs..actually REALLY old school. MTX Black Gold's. I have a pair of the 8ohm 10's and a single 4ohm 10. They are a nice clean sub and one of the best MTX ever made. Of course they are old (95?). They take at least .75 cu. ft. sealed and a little more would be nice. Thats the only reason I don't like the pre-made...the volume is not there for 2 subs really unless you want to cram them in a box that is smaller than it should be. Maybe I'll make my own console sub??? Any ideas???

 

I realize that older subs need more airspace. Hell, the first pair of 'decent; subs I ever had were 10s and they wanted at least 1.5-1.75 each and handled around 150w each. Now I am running 12s that take 1.0 each and handle 600w RMS!

There are also some decent 10s out now with an even shallower depth so you dont have to worry about the dimensions under the back seat for that either.

Also if you have built plenty, you also know tricks for making a smaller box seem and act like its bigger

 

I usually add poly fill to make it "seem" larger than it is plus I like the sound of a box with some insulation in it.

Fiberglass is also good at making a solid enclosure and take up less room...

I'm kind of looking more towards a console sub....save some space..