Questionhi i made a bandpass enclosure for my 2 12" subwoofers, but i wanted to know what material i can use instead of plexiglass,and achieve the same results in sound.
AnswerTo be totally accurate, that all depends on how thick the plexi is.
But generally, 3/4" high density particleboard is more than enough for most 12" woofers or subwoofers. Do not forget about adding internal bracing to add to the rigidity.
The general rule is that if you can feel the box hit (vibrate) with the woofer cranked up, the enclosure is not rigid enough.
If you want even more rigidty in the material, use 3/4" Metite instead of particleboard (especially for the baffle board [the board the woofers are mounted in].
In many vehicles, designing your own sealed or ported enclosure can give vast improvments (over bandpass), if it is done correctly. A ridgid box [that is the wrong size for the woofer] is essentially worthless. **I might add that tuning the speakers to the enclosure is only part of the 'experience' with bandpass boxes. The really tough part is tuning that combo to the vehicle. I have seen many pros spend months on end trying to retune bandpasses to perform as the customer wanted. In many cases, this turns out to be impossible [as to accuracy] and they end up going with a ported or sealed enclosure. Of course, if you just wanted big bass.. you would have already made a ported one. Sealed boxes are very hard to beat if you have the space (especially at LOW frequencies below the tuning point of the enclosure).
Prices vary for materials but a ballpark cost would be about $15.00 a 4'x8'sheet for particleboard, and about $30.00 a sheet for the Metite.
Good luck on the BPass and thanks for the question.
Sincerely,
Jerry Mael
