| If you care about true sound and maximizing your | | | | walls turns out to be extremely hard on the |
| subwoofer's performance, it would serve you well to | | | | enclosure joints. |
| take a few moments to educate yourself on the | | | | Why is controlling flex so important? Two main |
| basics of speaker box construction techniques. Right | | | | reasons are vital in the long run. |
| now, I want to talk about some simple ideas on | | | | #1 your subwoofer performs safely and most |
| reducing "flex" in your custom speakerbox. | | | | efficiently at a manufacture's recommended air |
| In order to minimize "flex," we first need to look at | | | | space. That air space acts as a "spring" to keep the |
| the quality of materials and why it is important. | | | | sub's cone "pushing/pulling" motion, moving in a clean |
| Acoustically speaking, wood is the best material to | | | | controlled manner. When the "spring" doesn't match |
| use in constructing speaker boxes for total overall | | | | the recommendations for the woofer, which is a |
| sub bass reproduction. However, different qualities of | | | | result when the walls of the speaker box are flexing, |
| wood exist and ¾" to 1" MDF (Medium Density | | | | the sub is in danger of blowing. |
| Fiberboard) is the best. Thickness and density of | | | | #2 is to protect and maintain the air tight seal of the |
| wood is important in battling "flex." | | | | joints in the speaker box. In a nut shell, flex weakens |
| Flex is when the walls of the speaker box vibrate | | | | joints that eventually give way to air leaks. Air leaks |
| from high decibel sound waves generated from the | | | | weaken the "spring" that a solid air tight speaker box |
| subwoofer. This is not good because the flex of the | | | | provides. And a weakened "spring" will cause the |
| walls are constantly changing the internal volume of | | | | subwoofer to attempt to perform outside of the |
| the speaker enclosure. It also is detrimental to the | | | | parameters it was designed. Damage to the sub is |
| longevity of the speakerbox as the movement of | | | | inevitable. |