hey guys just a quick question , what will sound better in my vh , a mdf box or a fibreglass enclosure and is there anyway u can do a ported fibreglass enclousure ?

Cheers
Greg

You can do a FG enclosure of any shape and type you like.

As for the main questions, my all time #1 favourite answer applies:
"It depends"



To explain, 18mm fibreglass is going to be MUCH stronger than MDF, have much less flex and due to that resonate less. It will also prolly weigh several times as much as the MDF. You can make a FG panel just as strong as the MDF one, and with well thought out bracing often a fair bit lighter too.

If your box is an easy shape, I would suggest MDF (unless you have a ready supply of G10...). For tyre wells and rear quarter boxes, use FG for curved areas, with MDF for any flat sections. Join well, brace bends and corners.

MDF - because the microscopic wood fibers that make up the MDF, or so called medium density fiber, are specificaly designed in the milling process to resonate to the frequency of your car and thus, by a process known as photosynthesis, cause the resulting sound waves to disapate at 90 degrees to each other, thus cancelling out and leaving you with more pure bass from your subwoofer.

dude photosynthesis is watt plants do to absorb light into food

^^^Gold!!!


Kev - your sarcasm has eluded some...

MDF will sound better in a vented enclosure.
I can't see a fiber enclosure making one bit of difference in a seal design.

To vent a fiber enclosure, hmmmm drill a hole in it is a good start. LOL

Please explain how MDF will sound better for a vented enclosure?

I can see no possible reason for this, especially as both are inferior to Marble and Aluminium (the closer to ideal choices). Fiberglass can also be made into more rounded shapes, which are closer to the ideal box shape of a sphere.

The sound escaping from the port will be coloured by the material inside the enclosure.
It would be best explained by the difference in sound between a hard dome tweeter and a soft dome tweeter. The MDF is a soft material and reflections will be soft or as some may discribe it as warm. A highly reflective material like fiberglass will tend to add "ring" and a hard unnatural sound to the bass.
I think most here will agree that paper cones sound heaps better than poly cones. Shouldn;t the same principal apply to enclosures in a vented design. After all you are listening to the inside of the box.
Cheers

I'm hoping your joking...

Simply put, some of the most highly regarded speaker systems in the world use marble enclosures. Does that not suggest the hardest, most dense material practicable is the best? That would then favour fiberglass as the material of coice.

Reflections come under box design, and if unfavourable can be reduced with absorbing material. This is only of import at higher freq's, and does not really apply to sub 100Hz range due to the lengths of waves.

first capacitors, now tonal characteristics in sub-bass coloured by box material. Jesus, what i'd give for your ears.

If the F/G is sufficiently strong, it'd be the better choise. Any "harshness" can EASILY be cured with some absorbent material (Such as sd, as an extreme).

*shakes head8

Personally I enjoy the sound of jello based enclosures, green especially as i like the sound of green colouring, its just so bright. Grape is better for sub enclosures though, darker, warmer colour.

woah, Just tested out a new enclosure, It sounded sweet as!

basically i made a mould, and filled it with sugar water. Put her in the oven until baked and damn, i had a nice as, sweet sounding enclosure!

hey man it was late and i was tired and my tv had just blown up so thinking wasnt my strong point

i saw a word i knew and blam it was on


I like this jello enclosure idea tho, I can change the tuning by simply biting in another port yes

mmmm yummy tuning

i got a custom fibreglass setup and its alright, i had a MDF box that went harder. Fibreglass is only good for SQ and sealed aswell, trying to tune ports for a box can be difficult as a generic port might give ur sub a different frequency. If your after SQ, go for a 34 - 40 L sealed enclose in fibreglass, but if u want some extra pounding, get a MDF with ports, but i tihnk u will find fibreglass and sealed gives a crisper bass

How is an MDF ported box *any* different from a FG one?

There are still the same factors:
Volume
Port Area
Port Length

Everything else is just make believe bollocks.

Also of note: how can you recommend a box when he does not say what sub he has?

I think that highlighted bit was a typo. Fibreglass is MUCH, MUCH LIGHTER and MUCH MUCH STRONGER than mdf. 18mm of fibreglass, would be total overkill. It'd also still weigh less than MDF anyway ;P

Im gona make my subbox outta Vinyl

It will sound heaps softer then MDF or GFRP, and not as wobbly as Jello. Im aiming for a sound that will blend in nicely with my leather interior

FG is lighter for a given strength. Its still dense as, and weighs a ton when done in thick layers.