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right now i got my TDX in a 1.5 cubic foot sealed box, but i kinda want to make a change. i was going to get a 1200 watt amp to run the sub, but i'm not going to spend more money upgrading my amp, i think 600 watts is a lot, and i think the sub can get loud and still sound good in ported box, what do you guys think?
i'm thinking of a small ported box, diamond recommends 1.2 cubic foot, tuned to 33hz.
so really, the question is, what will give me the most for the money, a ported box, or an upgrade to a 1200watt amp?

 
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i guess it can go both ways... you'll definately get louder and somewhat more accurate bass with a ported enclosure... but the sealed enclosure with more power given to the woofers would sound more tight and cleaner.. if i were you id go ahead and do both.. new amp and ported enclosure.. =) cant go wrong

 
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IMO I would go ported if your subs are recommened for ported. Porting my subs made a world of a difference. I tuned them to about 22 hrtz, so they play deeper and their is more movement (less sub, and more car). I used the WinISD program to design my box...it is a good program if you want to have a flat and ported response.

 
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go ported. I dont know about 22hz...doubt you will ever play that but tuning it that low will flatten out the response. For daily use i would tune to 35. This will get you a nice pieak in 90% of the songs that you want to "bump to"

 
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Dood, Slick. . . . I have a question for you. Why, if you're runing a Diamond TDX sub, are you feeding it a measly 600 watts?!?!?!?

Upgrade the amp, man. Give it AT LEAST 1200 watts. It wants at least 1500, for crying out loud.

(I'm guessing you have a 10 or 12, by the way. The 15s want 2000 watts)

 
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somewhat more accurate? no.. if anything, itll be somewhat less accurate.

technically, the 600 extra watts should equal the loudness of the change from sealed to ported. which would be 3 db's. now if you did both, that would REALLY make a difference. id go with the reccomended size and tuning, because i bet diamond audio spent much more money and time researching their subs than we did =)

 
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Indeed. . which is why I keep my two M6s in a custom sealed box built to Diamond's specs.

Is it tight? YES.
Is it accurate? Hell YES.
Is it loud? You bet your deaf *** it is!

 
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i only got 600 watts running to it (the amp is underrated, from what i calculated, its pumping 850 watts or so) because i was initially going to get an M6 sub, but the shop didn't have a dual 2 ohm in stock, so they ordered one for me. even after 2 weeks, the darn thing didn't arrive, so i spent a little more and got the TDX. it is a 12", D2. going with a new box will be cheaper, and thats what i'm looking for, afterall, i'm just a no job college student

where can i get this winisd program? i can start calculating the specs and dimensions for the box, i got nothing else to do.

last thing, i just thought of it, and i'm a little tired, so please dont flame me my mono sub amp is 600watts, my 4 channel is 75x4@4ohms, 150x4@2ohms, or 300x2@4ohms bridged. now, if i run my HEX's off the front two channels, and bridge the rear channels (giving me 300watts bridged), can i apply that 300watts to my sub? basically, combine my 600watt amp and the 300watts from the 4 channel to the TDX, possible?

 
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noooo you cant combine the powers... it would probably blow your amps in teh process if you tried bridging the powers.

other question is the winisd one, it can be found at www.linearteam.org

if you want i can design you a simple to build box at the spec you asked for before (1.2ft^3 tuned at 33 Hz), but youve gotta tell me if you want a slot port or a tube port.

 
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thanks for the warning, knowing my dumbass, i would have tried it, and then, bye bye to $1000 in amps.
if you want, i'd appreciate you designing a simple box for me rather have slot port. and i think the sub depth (top mount) is like 8" or so, if thats needed.
i guess i'll get the program anyways, learn to use it.
take your time, no rush here, do it whenever you get the chance, and thanks again.

 
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8 inches... geez... big sub.. alrighty, as soon as i find diamonds website ill get to it

 
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9.2" depth, minus .75 for wood, 8.5" into the box....

1.2 cubic feet after displacement tuned to 33 hz, port is 1.25 in wide, 13.5 inches high, 26 inches deep.

outer dimensions of box are 15 tall, 15 deep, and 18 inches wide... (it will fit in your trunk, i fit a 15x15x35 box in my trunk)

i can tell you dimensions of exact pieces of wood if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want... hehehe


same box with a tube port would require a 4 inch tube 20.5 inches long

 
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Yes, from what I understand about the DA subs, they do love the slotted ports. Damn, Slick . . . if you were on a budget should have just got a 10D2. In a ported custom-made box it'd be almost as loud as the single TDX. Of course, the power would have been better-matched, though.

Whatever you end up doing, let us know.

 
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thanks Ludlam, that info makes it a lot easier, hopefully i get time to start it this weekend, but i guess i still have most of the summer to do it

i could have bought the 10", but just like the M6, i would have had to order it, the shop only had the 12" D2 TDX in stock, plus, my existing sub box would have worked great with the 12" TDX, so thats why i got it. even with 600watts, the sub still pounds, but i know it can benefit from more power. next $200 i get, i'll upgrade to the 1200.1.

thanks again ludlam, hope you dont mind me bugging you if i have more questions on the box.

 
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not at all

 
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darn its late, anyways, got some news.
spoke to the guys at my local shop, and i got a deal with them on amps. i trade in my 600.1 and 600.4 for a 1200.1 and 300.2. not an even trade though, i would have to give about $100 for the trade. so basically what that means is, i'll go from 600watts to 1200watts on my sub, but drop from 300watts x2 to 75watts x2 on my HEX's. i think i will go ahead and do it, along with the ported box.
but what do you guys think? would you do it?

btw, if i dont want to trade in my 600.4, i can trade the 600.1 for the 1200.1, but end up paying about $250 more on top.

 
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well, i got the 1200.1. i traded in my 600.1 and 600.4 and got the 1200.1 and 300.2, all i had to pay was $85 more, so i guess it wasn't a bad deal. the sub is a good deal louder now, but i still think i'll go ahead and build a ported box, see how the SQ is with a ported box.
here is a short vid i took of the TDX in motion, no sound, only video (quicktime MOV) about 4mb in size, a friend of mine wanted to see how it looked (he's in canada): http://students.ou.edu/P/Mitul.Patel-1/P7210002.MOV

 
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Cool, cool. . . try tweaking the cutoff frequency for the sub to see how well it can be maximized. . . THEN go for the porting. Damn, I'm jealous. I should have splurged on a TDX or two. . . . but at the time I was trying to keep costs down. Lot of good that did me, looking at how much I've added to it.

Keep us posted on your results, Slick.

 
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when you say tweak the cutoff frequency, you mean keep going lower right? right now i have it low passed at 80hz, but i think i might try 60-70hz, because, and maybe this is due to the new found power, but i hear a lot more bass frequencies then before, and i used to have my 600.1 also low passed at 80hz also.

 
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Exactly, my man.

With a narrower band of frequencies dialed-in, you may notice stronger bass notes. . . at the very least, it should be clearer. Glad you're enjoying your upgrade!

 
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Converting to a ported box will give u and increase in about 3 db's with that amp. If you go to a ported box with the 1200 amp, then u techniquely should get an increse of about 6 db's. Going to a ported box will gill you less sound quality with deeper bass. A sealed box provides tight, clean bass. I would not use a ported box unless the ports are in the listening area of the vehicle. This can be easliy done by droping down the back seat or by placing 2 or 3 port caps in your rear deck.

 
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why wont you do ported if the port isnt in the listening area? techincally a port only gives you its full volume at the frequency it was tuned to..

 
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what are port caps?
after i got the 1200.1, the system got really loud, and then boom, blew my TDX. i'm gonna run my new TDX and see how it holds up, because if i blow this one too, i might get something like 2 10" TDX's because i know they can handle the power. if thats the case, i'll build a box for 2 10's. i just hope that the TDX doesn't blow, for a single 12", its loud and plays really low.

 
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slick, dont listen to him

 
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lol, okay ludlam.

 
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you could try a transmission line type enclosure... (a type of ported enclosure) may give you a little more response...just a thought

 
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got any links that would explain what a transmission line type enclosure is?
darn ported enclosures are more complicated than i thought.

 
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trnasmission line is a really really big box with a snaking port through it... its not all that.... if you REALLY wanna get interesting you could build an aperiodic enclosure or a dual chamber tri tuned ported enclosure

 
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i would really like to keep the size of the box as small as possible, as big or smaller than my current 1.5 cube sealed box.
even if the ported box is small, will it still make a big impact like bigger ported box? how about packing my sealed box with polyfill, will that make my sealed box sound louder like a ported box?

 
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whats the reccomended size for boxes for your subs?

one of hte main downfalls of ported boxes is that they are a lot bigger...