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The Speaker Project
   
Equipment
 

Setup

Subwoofer
  Testing
  Prototyping
 

Building

The Main Speakers
 

Prototyping

 

Crossover

 

Construction

 

Prototyping the Main Speaker Enclosure

Woofer Enclosure Analysis Part I
Woofer Enclosure Analysis Part 2
Woofer Enclosure Analysis Part 3
Prototype Steps and Pictures
Prototype Sealed Tests
Prototype Ported Tests
Prototype Nearfield Bass Response Test
Prototype Splicing Woofer Response
Prototype Tweeter Tests

 
  Speaker Workshop Project
Woofer Enclosure Selection (A)

After testing the woofer carefully, the next step is to find the needed volume for the woofer. For the prototyping the program will look at QTS and VAS more than any other driver parameters.

To begin, create a new enclosure resource and then bring up the enclosure properties and put the driver into chamber 1. In detail, do:

1) Resource / New / Enclosure. Name it appropriately (mine is Vifa Box).

2) Bring up Edit / Properties (Ctrl+E) or right mouse button or menu.

3) Go to the Chamber 1 tab and click the Select... button to pick your driver.

4) Go to the general tab and set the frequency range to 10Hz to 500Hz (or so), which is appropriate for a woofer like this.

5) Click OK to close the properties dialog and begin the prototyping.

For a detailed discussion of sealed versus vented enclosures check out the subwoofer enclosure discussion.

Before deciding on sealed versus vented I tried prototyping both kinds of boxes. The sealed box Q can range from 0.5 to 1.3 for reasonable results. As the Q approaches .7 the response gets flatter and flatter. Over 0.7 the response starts getting a small hump at the resonance (which keeps moving up as the Q increases).

Use the Sealed Box dialog (Calculate / Sealed...) and vary the Q and look at box size and the various curves. I tend to prefer a Q of 0.7 which would imply a box size of .319 cu ft (or 9 litres).