Im just wondering would a Fiberglass box be better or would a box made of MDF be better...I was at my local car audio store and the owner was trying to sell me a fiberglass box saying 80% of the top stero setups use fiberglass boxes and were not talking about for looks strictly performance....would anyone be able to explain why or why not a fiberglass box would be better or not? thnx really appreciate it
In no way a plexiglass box can sound any better then a MDF box. There used more for looks IMO. As for "80% of the top stero setups use fiberglass boxes and were not talking about for looks strictly performance" lol, Just trying to make a sale of the more expensive item.
I rarely see performance enclosures using fibreglass. The price is much higher, takes more time to build and requires a lot more finishing work. Also, anything more complicated than a ported enclosure is nearly impossible with fibreglass because it is very weak in a straight plane and the volume is difficult to calculate.
Unless space is an issue or you plan on making it a show car or you will do it yourself (it's very time consuming and shop labor will kill your wallet), go with MDF.
hey guys, mdf is not stronger than fiberglass. nor is fiberglass "very weak" as one put it. In fact, correctly built fiberglass enclosures can be much stronger then MDF. In order to compare the two you must be fair about it, 3/4" MDF compared to 3/4" fiberglass. The fiberglass all day, no contest.
I was a little misleading in what I said about it being very weak. Fiberglass needs to be much thicker in flat planes than in curved ones to have the same strength. You'll need a lot more fiberglass and resin to achieve the same strength throughout.
And to be even more fair, compare the ratio of thickness to price.
Yeah it MIGHT look great and all say you have it done correctly but is there any audible noticeable difference? I think not, and if there was, so minor hardly worth the time, effort and money.
Umm, I'm sorry to say, but a 1/4" of fiberglass matting is stronger than 3/4" of MDF. It does not take more than about 7 or 8 layers of glass to be as strong as MDF. A good rule of thumb, press on the fiberglass with your thumb. If you can not flex the glass with your thumb, there is NO WAY a sub is going to put more PSI on the box to flex it.
If you do not need something that conforms to a certain shape in your car, and you want the best of both worlds... Build your box out of MDF, and glass the inside of it!