# Sealing sub to the box?



## birdie2000 (Jan 27, 2007)

What's the best way to seal a sub to the box? I have an SI Mag and it has one of those rubber trim pieces around the mounting surface of the sub. Does this seal it fairly well against bare MDF by itself, or do I need something else in place of/in addition to this?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Should be enough with that, but you can easily make sure that its fine by pushing down on the cone gently for a little bit and see when you let go if it slow rises back indicating a leak, if it bounces back and does not move after that, you're ok.


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## birdie2000 (Jan 27, 2007)

It's a ported enclosure, so wouldn't it bounce back properly anyways? I'm not sure how much difference a leak there would matter in a ported enclosure, just wanna have my bases covered.


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

to test that you can play low tones and listen for whistling.

my favorite way to install a gasket to seal a subwoofer to a box is to carpet the box.


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## birdie2000 (Jan 27, 2007)

Whiterabbit said:


> to test that you can play low tones and listen for whistling.
> 
> my favorite way to install a gasket to seal a subwoofer to a box is to carpet the box.


I was kinda wondering if a leak like that would cause a whistle, but I didn't know if that was inexperience talking.

The box is carpeted, but the recessed mounting ring is not.  Do those rubber gaskets/trim rings with a sub like that still seal well against carpet, or should you take that off of the sub when attaching to a carpeted mounting surface?


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

you can leave the rubber on, but take off the gorilla snot.


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## 02bluesuperroo (Oct 31, 2006)

I covered my recessed baffle with Ensolite before mating it to the cover panel. Ensolite works great as a speaker gasket. Maybe you have some laying around?


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## JMichaels (Nov 17, 2006)

Iwould trim the carpet away and pick up some closed cell tape from the Depot. That will make it air tight.


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## savagebee (Sep 12, 2006)

Walmart sells closed cell weather stripping for cheap... Iveused it several times now with no problems


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## mtnickel (Mar 15, 2005)

in 90% of the boxes i've built...if you hold the cone in over 5 seconds the pressure eventually evens out and then it sucks back to center very slowly.

IF you guys are gettin 100% seal and can press the cone in for a long time and still have it spring back, i'd be very impressed.

i figure if you hold it in for 1-2 seconds and it springs back pretty good, then it's a good enough seal for me. if you push it in and hear leaks right away...not so good.

mark

and x2 on the foam tape weatherstriping.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

mtnickel said:


> in 90% of the boxes i've built...if you hold the cone in over 5 seconds the pressure eventually evens out and then it sucks back to center very slowly.
> 
> IF you guys are gettin 100% seal and can press the cone in for a long time and still have it spring back, i'd be very impressed.
> 
> ...


same here except i use ge silicone II to make the seal. this way i can seal up around the screws and everything. we all have different ways of doing things...this is mine.


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## trunks9_us (Oct 25, 2007)

I found this thread very useful thx guys.

I went ahead and got this.

FROST KING V443H Weatherstrip Tape, 3/8" X 3/16" X 17' Gray


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

Holy back from the dead Trunks 

Rope Caulk also works to seal the subwoofer to the enclosure, baffle, or whatever you want to seal it to.  That is all I had back in the good old days, but I did use weather stripping in my 1996 tbird to seal the rear Boston Acoustic Pros to the side panels. I used weather stripping because I ran out of rope caulk and didn't feel like making a special order to get some more.

On another note, car audio has come a long way since 1997!


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