I was just down at the local car audio shop... and the gentleman there was quite upset to see my JL Audio 10" W6's in a plexiglass bandpass box. The subs are angled in the centre firing into a centre space.

He said W6's (rated at 300rms a piece) are too powerful for a bandpass box and should be in a regular sealed or ported box. If I turn it up in this box they will begin fluttering and die soon after.

This true? The box is actually made by JL audio however it's made to W3 specs.

The subs pound nicely for my daily driving application... but I don't want to kill them.

Justin

btw.. the box looks similar to this, except it has only 2 ports on the front.. (bottom left + bottom right)

http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/g...ulb-series.GIF

[ October 09, 2004, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: Justin e36 ]

the gentleman you spoke to is a misinformed lad, the w6 will work quite well in a bandpass box designed for it, and according to you one that isnt specifically desinged for it

He probably was aluding to the fact that distortion can barely be heard comming from your average b/p box (unless you consider the sound of a bandpass to actually be distortion :D ).
It is easy to blow subs in that box because of that though...
Just be smart with the volume and gain, don't apply too much, if any bass boost, and stop turning it up when it stops getting loder and you should be fine.

Yeah I've read that because of the design of a bandpass box it's difficult to hear when you're pushing your subs too hard... (so you can't turn down the stereo in time.. and you can ruin your subs)...

These subs (as I mentioned above) are 300watts RMS each. I'm using a JBL 600.1 mono amp to power them.

Indeed.. the specs of the box aren't for a W6.

Here's another quick-fix question for you guys... what if I unscrewed the plexiglass panel from the front... so it's almost like a regular ported box (except the subs are firing on an angle kinda together)... can this be safer for the subs?

Thanks,
Justin

in a ported or sealed box you will hear the sub complain when driven past it limits
in a bandpass you will see when its driven past its limits after it quites working

I really wouldn't be too worried about it if I were you. Just leave it the way it is but don't go nuts with the volume knob. (you can still play it loud, just don't turn it to 100% volume)

You can't just take off the window. Well, you could, but I'm wiling to be that will sound like crap.

If the dealer could not explain the basic cautions you need to take (that have been covered in theis post already) when running a bandpass, I would look for a new dealer...

Not a good idea ... In a bandpass enclosure like yours (4th order), the sealed section (plexi window) determines the low-frequency response and power handling while the ported section acts as a low-pass filter in addition to boosting output, especially near the tuning frequency.

If you simply removed the plexi window, you'd end up with a ported enclosure that is much too small and tuned far too high ...

I did the install myself. I had a couple W6's that my brother has had sitting around for a few years (brand new)... and I managed to get a W3 bandpass box (with a pair of W3's) for $50. So I figured, what the hey.. why not?

I went to the dealer actually to find out about having a custom install done... since I have 3 W6's... might as well throw them all in the back. [img]smile.gif[/img]

So he mentioned that the W6's will be destroyed very soon in a bandpass box (he didn't actually see the box.. this was just in the store).. then it got way too busy for me to continue with the questions.. so I came to a place far more knowledgable to seek answers... this forum.