Subwoofer Construction

[SamIam89]

At our church we want have some 15" subwoofers in the house which we would like to shrink down to fit under a new stage extension. Would trimming the wood down to the bare minimum affect it's performance negativly? I only ask because if the bare cone of the speaker was capable of equal sound quality, why do they put them in such large cunky cabinets?
Thanks!

 

[gecko zzed]

I would be very nervous about shaving any wood off the sub enclosures. The basic rule is that you want the cone to move, not the wood. That's why subs are bulky and heavy; to maximise the rigidity of the enclosure and concentrate the energy on the cone moving air.

However, sub enclosures are not usually squares, so maybe, if space was really critical, you could put it on its side.

 

[SuperJX]

There's a lot to consider if you want to modify the sub enclosure. Most important in your case is to keep the volume of air behind the sub driver consistent. The enclosure is tuned to the driver (kind of like the tuning in a pipe organ). The volume of air supports the driver and helps it resonate in the proper range to provide bass sounds. If you reduce that air volume, the bass will likely not be as loud or as low. Increasing the volume may not affect the bass frequency, but the driver may get "sloppy" and you'll lose the punch in the sound.

Speaker cabinets tend to be rigid-- using thick wood to avoid resonating on their own. Removing some of the wood will make the cabinet smaller and lighter, but the tradeoff may be less output as the cabinet resonates with the drivers and cancels certain frequencies.

You can find tons of web sites and books on the subject, if you want to proceed with modifying your sub cabinets. I'd search on "subwoofer design" in your favorite search engine to get started.

Good luck!