I have a friend who is a welder by trade (30+ years) and he is going to make me a sub box out of aluminum for my subwoofer. I have a dynaudio 12" that requires about 2cuft of space, but the box could be modified for 1.22cuft which is decent for most 10 or 12" woofers. That config would be similar to mike's boxes in design and if you look here, it would be just sections 3+4 and the sub would be mounted up facing the trunk lid. My 2cuft version as shown fires backwards (on the 16.5" side) which is optimal in my experience designing systems. There will be a flange around the edge that will seat perfectly in the resessed are around the center well. I suppose we could modify the design to house two 10's or maybe two 12" if the magnets are not too large (one firing back, one forward. We will cut out the opening diameter to meet your sub's requirements.

All pieces will be sheared or water jetted from larger stock and sanded smooth. The aluminum will be glass-beaded for a nice texture and clear coated so fingerprints do not marr the surface. In the end, it will look quite slick, and I thought that while we were making one, might as well ask around to see if we can make some money making one or two more for other people.

The box will be fully wrapped (on the bottom where you cant see it) in tin dynamat and it WILL NOT resonate or flex. We will be using 1/8" or 3/16" T6 aluminum (need to do some testing before we decide on thickness, but I'm leaning towards 3/16 though). It will be many times stonger than mdf, but at less than half the weight (which is the real reason I'm doing it - I dont want to change the handling characteristics of my '04 Z06, since the box will reside past the rear wheels). We can attach a Z06 or Vette logo if you want. The box will be completely airtight with the only opportunity for leaks at the speaker itself. The box will include a custom speaker grill, also made of aluminum. The deisgn of these grills is TBA, but it will spiral in design, not a common mesh. The box will have bannana terminals installed.

The price will be $700, which includes badging and shipping within the US. We are able to powedercoat the box black, red or another color for an additional fee - still need to look into this (looked into it - add $100).

(PS- Please do not reply to say the price is too high. T6 Aluminum is very expensive, and it takes a lot of skill/time to weld aluminum properly. Shipping will probably cost us $50, the badge, $20. These boxes will be one of a kind and amazing to look at. The few boxes we do make will be signed by the welder, who is also a well known artist in our area - his website: http://www.samuelegallery.com/ )

These boxes will be as much artistic as they will be functional. BTW, for every box we sell, we will donate 5% to this board. If you are interested, please send me a PM.

 

I have also thought of making one out of aluminum, but, I didn't know how it would sound! Let me know of the sound quality! It would be very lightweight!

 

TIG welding the aluminum isn't that hard for a person of his talent, but what about vibrations from a hard hitting sub? I'd think that there'd be quite a bit of resonance when mounting it to aluminum. Just my .02! Good Luck!

 

re:
***************luvmyc5
TIG welding the aluminum isn't that hard for a person of his talent, but what about vibrations from a hard hitting sub? I'd think that there'd be quite a bit of resonance when mounting it to aluminum. Just my .02! Good Luck!
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I just threw it in and it sounds amazing! I didnt even dynamat it, it doesnt resonate. It fits pretty well with the carpet, so that may be subduing resonance, but I really dont hear any. There is a slight vibration when touching the box, but its the same or less that you'd feel on a mdf box. I was pretty suprised - I thought it may sound tinny..

 

Where are the pics? Sound deaadning it can only help. If the enclosure is made to a very tight fit it now takes on the strength of the cars body. That is one of the nice things about building a molded fiberglass enclosure...the enclosure does not have to be extremely thick.

Good deal...where are the pics????

 

Here are a couple pics before I had it powder coated black
I dont have pics of it in the car yet. I'll take some if there is enough interest.

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your guys is good no doubt. I would like to see some in the car.

 

 

pics dont work

 

They work, but my ISP is having issues. Should be up in a couple days at this rate!

 

That's just plain awesome. I wouldn't powder coat it black though, the aluminum against the black carpet and sub looks stunning. Can you give it a polished or brushed finish, then clear coat it?

 

Leo, I was fighting whether or not to do that... The powdercoat guy did a just OK job, so I was thinking of trying to strip it down back to metal and clearcoat it, or have it painted the same color as my car (silver), or I was even toying with the idea of having truck bed material sprayed on it. I want a durable finish so I can throw stuff in my trunk and not worry about it getting ugly. I originally decided on black because its pretty noticeable from the outside is silver garb. I like to be stealthy!

I guess this is part of the fun of car audio - experimentation. I'll keep posting pics if people are interested.

 

I want to see pics of that bad boy installed. Personally I would have done the same with the powder coat. Polished would look awesome but you know the day will come when the box will blind you from glare. That thing is sweet. Almost forgot...if you do not have experience with sound deadning inside an enclosure you should know to let the enclosure sit for a few days before you put the sub in. I did a couple of enclosures that the fumes from the deadner ate the surround on the sub...JL subs.

More pics please.

 

That is sweet and it would be awesome polished. Though, it would then be a thief magnet then

I recently had a valve cover powder coated and is great, nice shine and durable too. You might want to try another painter. Whatever you do, do not cover that piece of art with carpet or vinyl

 

Very interesting! I like it.

 

 

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