Speaker / Sub enclosure. Paint or Carpet?

[dirk martin]

I've been building speaker enclosures. Mostly sub woofer enclosures, and sometimes bookshelf.
My biggest audience is the folks wanting a sub, for their car.
Seems like everything out there has carpet on the outside. I've come to realize that carpet hides a lot of poor craftsmanship...which is why I'd like to stay away from it. I glue, and screw everything.

In any event, here's a large sub I built, and I painted it. First, I had fun and painted it with 3 different colors, and then I painted it all black (I'm actually toying with the idea of veneering one).

Curious which you folks prefer?

It measures 36" x 17" x 14", and is tuned to 32Hz.

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[Maurice Hood]

Dirk, personally I like the black better. What is that cabinet made of MDF? I do like the curved wood at the port, that looks nice. I have been reading posts by DIY speaker builders for some months now over on the AVS site. I’m looking to build a LCR for my living room but haven’t decided on a particular design just yet. Do you build ready to play speakers for people or do you just construct the cabinets for them? Either way I would be very interested in different builds you have done and any input you might have on the topic.Thanks,

[hank dekeyser]

Black is beautiful- FYI the main reason subs for cars are carpeted is they go in the trunk and the trunk is carpeted- I've had many customers insisting that I "match" their trunk carpet-On a design note, I prefer to keep the 90 degree turn backs to a minimum- usually end up going down the side and along the back- if need be then wrap back up the other side. Check out my "crazy subwoofer" build - looks like a double bass cello - Normally I reserve laminates for the custom installs where the trunk is full of amps and such, or on the face only so when the seat is folded down, bammm- money shot. Plastics, metals, fabrics, vinyl, your imagination is the only limit- have fun

Oh yeah, almost forgot- IMHO unless you're doing a Piano finish, painting kinda' looks bad, unless you take the time to prime and sand and fill and etc, so the mdf edges don't telegraph.

[Greg Portland]

My biggest audience is the folks wanting a sub, for their car.
Seems like everything out there has carpet on the outside. I've come to realize that carpet hides a lot of poor craftsmanship...which is why I'd like to stay away from it. I glue, and screw everything.

I carpet my car sub enclosures for 2 reasons:

1) cheaper / faster to finish (which is often a concern for car audio purchasers). If they wanted something expensive they would get a custom-made fiberglass enclosure.
2) carpet prevents the enclosure from sliding around + limits damage when things roll against or rub the enclosure.

For home audio subs I paint or veneer. Paint takes a lot longer (lots of surface prep, lots of paint sanding, lots of polishing the clear coat, etc.).