thickness of enclosure, effect of

sonso_chi · Post by **sonso_chi** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:30 pm

I am shopping for a prefab enclosure. I know that most people use 3/4" MDF...

Is there any advantage to a thicker enclosure, eg. 1" or even 1.5" as I've seen?

Thank you

Darthness · Post by **Darthness** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:15 pm

a thicker enclosure will flex less, which is good. but mostly people running high powered spl type systems really have to worry about that...

Chris from MI · Post by **Chris from MI** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:42 am

Darthness wrote:a thicker enclosure will flex less, which is good. but mostly people running high powered spl type systems really have to worry about that...

Yeah thats the main purpose. I have 1.5" on the face of my box but that was for support also.

Ryan from Ohio · Post by **Ryan from Ohio** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:24 am

Depends on the application.

Make a long story short: If the box flexes you loose SPL. Bottom line.

sonso_chi · Post by **sonso_chi** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:44 am

got it

thanks

Post by **GlassWolf** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:47 am

not only that but flexing causes coloration in response, too.
bad for SQ.

unless you run high end subs, with a ton of power though, 3/4" should be plenty.

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:37 pm

But - you can use bracing, or creative positioning of slot ports (I love doing dual-sub boxes with a slot port between the two subs, bracing the baffle, and top and bottom very rigidly

), to stiffen the enclosure.

You can use 3/4" MDF for virtually any size enclosure, without worries - using bracing as needed for larger panel spans, where you might fear that you could get some flexing...
...or on ANY span, just for overkill. No harm in overkill.

Basically - you can find 3/4" MDF at any Home Depot or Lowes across the country.

Larger thicknesses are much harder to find - much harder - and much more expensive.

Post by **GlassWolf** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:39 am

in all honesty the only time I double up 3/4" MDF is for the face panel of an enclosure when dealing with extremely heavy subs (think 60+lbs each) just so the bolts don't tear apart the MDF with supporting the weight of the sub.
Even then I usually mount the sub with a brace holding up the motor structure inside the enclosure to alleviate the stres on the face panel.

Bracing internally is a great thing to do, and if you want added rigidity, skip MDF and use birch.