help designing an enclosure

[felzi]

hi i have a pioneer Ts-W384c.
i have posted about this sub b4 asking about types of enclosures.
i was wondering what size enclosure and type would be best for home use. (sealed or vented)
the replys from last post gave me different size enclosures than what i thought would be good, but i'm no expert so i need some help designing my box.
any help would be good
Thanks

displacement 0.111 cu.ft 3.15 lt
sensitivity 91 db/w
nom power 350w
max power 700w
revc 3.0 ohm
levc 2.160 mh
fs 20.7 hz
qms 10.238
qes 0.317
qts 0.308
vas 11.358 cu.ft 321.62lt
rms 2.375 n.s/m
mms 185.83 g
cms 3.180x10-4 m/n
diam 12.9" 328mm
bl 15.668t.m
xmax 0.36" 9.2mm

[DcibeL]

Sealed or vented? Depends how big do you want your sub box to be? A sealed box will be smaller, but a vented box will allow for more and deeper bass output. The audiophiles will tell you that the sealed box sounds far better, but given a high quality driver, I prefer more output and deeper bass. IMO a well designed ported box can sound equally as good as a sealed one.

Once you've decided how big you want your sub box to be, we can work out the other parameters.

[DcibeL]

I should also add that pioneer recommend this sub for a sealed enclosure around 2 ft^3 due to the low Qts.

[GM]

Greets!

So you did, and got some good info that you apparently didn't like for whatever reason, so considering that the only way to get this so-called 'subwoofer' to work at low frequencies in a home app is to use a huge corner loaded cab, I recommend you either sell it or stick it in your car using the recommended 2 ft^3 sealed cab, which it's far better suited for, and buy a sub driver designed for HI-FI/HT apps.

GM

[BassAwdyO]

I think what GM is more nicely trying to say is *cough* your driver sucks *cough* that the pioneer lacks the amount of excursion required to reach the low frequency range of a true subwoofer. If you want to go low you need excursion plain and simple. It might make some loud bass, but not a whole lot below 35hz when a sub should go below 20

*just kidding... the pioneer isnt a bad driver, just wasnt meant for home use where there is a lack of cabin gain at low frequencys... this is why GM says to put it in your car

[felzi]

ok thanks guys,
well what should i look for when buying a driver????

[Madmike2]

x-max > 10 mm 150 + power handling cap ..... big surface area (sd) low fs in the 20's ..... my betters will add to this

[BassAwdyO]

definately want as much Xmax as possible... I would shoot for over 15mm one way if its a 12". If its a larger driver then you can get away with less excursion. Power handling is often a decider for most people, but its not the most important. Look at the Efficiency(90db@1w is a reasonable) and BL(20Tm is reasonable). If those ar high then power handling doesnt nessicarily need to be, but if those are low, you're going to need alot of power to get high levels