So I am almost done redoing my trunk, but I want to know the importance of putting batting/dampening material in the box? If I don't it sounds good, but how much better can it sound? I have a sealed box with a Boss 12" 1200 watt sub... if that matters.

 

I dont think adding it would do anything but cost you money...as long as you made it out of 3/4-1" mdf and sealed it well...it should be fine.

 

Thanks rice eater - Does it only matter in ported boxes?

 

I can't imagine a box NOT being ported... I don't know much about subs, only music amps (guitar technician), I'm guessing their similar. The pressure from the speaker needs to go somewhere, you should really vent it somehow or you're going to rattle a lot and it won't sound very good.

 

Sealed boxes offer a much tighter sound because of that pressure in the box... but I'm pretty sure it isn't harmful to the sub...at least I've never ruined a sub in a sealed box. In a ported/vented box the sound gets sloppier (?) as the woofer is allowed much more movement with little/no restriction. The problem there is then it becomes much easier to over-extend it if you abuse it.

I've never known of a use for putting anything inside the box...at least not if its build to the proper size...the only thing I would ever do is glass it inside and out to further increase the rigidity of the box.


**Edit: and a sealed box does not create any rattling of teh sub...the only rattling you're going to get (sealed box or not) is from your car...but there's no way to avoid that.

 

this will be a long explanation but I will try.
For a sealed enclosure, as long as it is a well-built enclosure, built exactly to the subwoofer spec, and as well very much sealed, "dampening" the inside of the box will do very little if nothing at all.
What it does is help to cancel backwaves and resonances, but is usually greatful only to small sealed enclosure, or band/pass and ported enclosures.
What it does is just cancel resonances. It also slows air movement inside of the box since it has a type of cushion in it, which prevents air from exiting the port too quickly which will help prevent a type of wind or whistle noise.
It basically works just like a cushion, air doesn't move as quickly, bass therefore becomes louder because the air isn't pulling back as quickly on the sub.
It will not help much is a sub enclosure is too small though, after all there's only so much you can do you know? If your sub requires 1.2 cu ft but is in a .5 cu ft box, it's already getting way too low, and dampening cannot help you here. The box has to be maybe 10 - 15% smaller than spec for it to even make any difference, but like i said it still doesn't do very much for a sealed box.
As for ported it can definitely help and makes it sound better too, but it's a lot of work for something you might not really even notice.
Don't bother unless you're really really into your audio.

edit: as for yoshi, Im sure he can understand what I mean if he's a guitar technician, considering the inside of many guitar cabinets have this, especially older crate amplifiers. But at the same time guitar speakers require a very large amount of baffle space, whereas a subwoofer requires a very tight amount of baffle space to keep the heavy sub cone under control. Since guitar speakers play high/mid - highs, they don't require a tight seal like a subwoofer to keep the speaker under control.

 

If any of you have got a drum kit around or a friend that has one, get some cushions or the blanket of your bed, and cram it in the kick drum, you dont need to be any kind of audio tech, you will hear a difference...

 

a drum and a speaker arent even close to being similar.... the way they produce sound is completly differernt.... it doesent take any kind of audio tech to know that

 

This doesn't work quite the same
although a drum head creates sound through resonating material, it doesn't make as much use of air to create or resist the loudness etc. like a sub does
plus with a cushion on a drumset, you're placing the material up against the head which prevents it from resonating, rather than just on the walls of the drum

 

hmmm ok, though id like to get to subs and try it out....im a see it to believe it person[:-]