1) Hey guys, i have an alpine type r swr1240D sub and a 1997 acura EL (trunk). I have pretty much chosen to go with a sealed box as it will provide better sound quality over a ported box, but am not sure of the 'perfect size'. I could only find the reference guide for the 1242d online and the optimum size says 13*13*12.5. I cannot seem to find anything in that size online... Where should i look?

2) I Have an alpine mrp-m500 amp and would be running it on a single 12' alpine type r 4ohms bridged, to about 500w rms. The guy at best buy said that 8gauge wires are 'good enough'. Will i need to go with 4 gauge or is 8 ok, cus on the box it says up to 400w...

Thanks for the help guys

 

I would go at least 4 gauge. And if you are anything like most, you will soon be ripping that out to put in 1/0 gauge to expand

 

You don't bridge the subwoofer, per se.

You're going to wire the voice coils in parallel to create a 2 ohm load for that amp.

Here's where you get the right info...
http://support.alpine-usa.com/produc..._SWR-1242D.PDF

It says that the optimum sealed enclosure dimensions are 12x12x13.5. The net internal volume after displacments is .78cu.ft. Hope that helps.

 

now are the power wires going to be 8 gauge? or is that for the speaker wire? if it is the power wire ask for zero gauge but if it is the speaker wire that is fine.

Also I dont think you will be happy with a sealed box in a trunk because with a sealed box it misses a lot of notes and in a trunk it will be even worse.

 

misses a lot of notes?? What does that mean? If you mean that it doesn't play the lowest octaves as loudly as a ported enclosure for a given woofer and box size...that's usually true. A ported box will deliver the lowest frequencies with more output than a sealed box, but it can also suffer from other problems if not properly designed. In the case of the Acura, if the rear seats fold down or there is sufficient airflow between the trunk and cab, then sealed can work very well. It depends on your thirst for bass as well. If you want it as loud as possible then go ported, if you need space, don't want to mess around with box tuning, design, and tricky building, then the sealed will work for you.

 

You can't hook up 0 gauge to the M500, the terminal is not THAT huge. I run 4 gauge on my M500 despite Alpine suggest 8ga.