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15" Resonant Engineering XXX Install ( updated 02/12/05)

Setup: Single RE XXX 15" in a 3.69 cubic foot box tuned to 29 hz with 1200 watts power.

I had been planning on getting a 15" Brahma from Adire, but since they've been out of stock for a while I went with a RE XXX instead.

As for an enclosure I was going to build a simple sealed cube to start with and work my way up. Instead I just started with a large ported box designed by Grand Masta. Discovered the schematics in a post on the forums, measured my trunk and determined it should fit just barely.

Here's my two sheets of 8' x 4' MDF waiting in my dad's truck and also a shot of my workspace, a very cluttered garage.

Here's all my paperwork; box design, trunk measurements and layout for the best way to cut the MDF sheets.

Shot of my trunk beforehand. Old MTX box.. 250 RMS subs which were actually handling the JBL 1200.1 pretty well (gains ALL the way down)

Here's my dad chopping away at some MDF. He did all the cutting on the table saw, which I have yet to use and didn't want to kill myself or anything. Right half shows all the finished panels for the enclosure.

Testing out the box's fit in my trunk, just propping up the loose panels with spare 2x4's. As you can see, the height factor was pretty close.. there's a little less than an inch clearance in the middle, and under a half inch on the sides.

Because I couldn't find a compass.. to measure the sub hole I used a shim with 2 holes drilled into it at 7 inches apart. The sub requires a 14 inch diameter hole. Made a perfect circle! For cutting I went with a sabre saw and lots of patience. Not a perfect circle cut but good enough for what I wanted. Also a shot of clearance holes drilled through a panel.

Here are some pics of the box's progress and a closeup of some gluework, which I used Gorilla Glue for.

The XXX in the box which is only missing a top at this point, and some shots of the box inside the trunk after assembly. Still a very close fit height wise.

Moving my amp's ground position. It was in the way of where the new enclosure would sit so I drilled a hole through the bottom of the trough, filed away to raw metal and screwed down the connector.

To mount the sub I went with T Nuts and bolts. Incase the sub needs to be taken out to mess with the wiring or anything I'd like to be able to remove it repeatedly without damaging the wood.
Drilled right through the holes on the sub's metal rim so nothing would be off.

At this point I mounted the top panel with just screws and tested everything on the way to work. Sounded awesome.. it's my first 15" sub and definently out-pounds my dual 10 and dual 12's I've had before.

After getting home from work.. the enclosure sitting in the family room to dry overnight. Most of the screw holes and spaces were filled with wood putty. Also used silicon caulk to seal internal seams. It was almost 2 AM at this point and I was ready for bed.

Next day: Spraypainted the visible portion of the port flat black before final mounting of the enclosure top.
In the second image you can see the gap between the back and top panels, which I filled with lots of gorilla glue. The table saw wasn't exactly accurate on the panel cuts.

Priming the outside of the box and then 2 final coats of gloss white. My car is white and I think it went well with the colors of the sub. You can see the handles I decided to mount on the sides here too. After trying to put this monster in my trunk the first time I figured they were needed. Probably is about 100 pounds with sub mounted. Last pic shows a friend I enlisted to help put this thing in the trunk.

Last minute wiring of the subs to the amp. Dual 2 Ohm coils parrallel for a 1 Ohm load, it should be getting near 1200 watts.

Final shots. Now I just have to clean up the garage..