How to Build Custom Car Speaker Boxes?

The type of bass you receive from your car audio system doesn't solely depend on the speaker. For optimum speaker performance, you require strong and tightly-built speaker boxes. Speakers without these enclosures are unable to deliver full bass, as the sound from the back of the speaker cancels some low frequencies emerging from the front of the speaker.

Sealed enclosures are smaller than all other types of such boxes, but are most widely used and easy to construct. They do not permit air to escape from the box, thus making it difficult for the speaker to move in and out. This, as a result, enhances the transient response, i.e., tighter bass and better sound accuracy.

Sealed enclosures have good power handling capability and their tightly-sealed design prevents the speaker's motor structure to cool down like other boxes. Other than sealed boxes, there are ported boxes that use a vent to reinforce deeper and forceful bass.

Bandpass boxes are another type of speaker boxes that are designed for maximum slam. They work great for rap, reggae, and hard rock music, as the sound that comes out is aggressive and loud, within a narrow frequency range.

• ¾ inch high-density particle board
• Power drill
• Car stereo subwoofers
• Jigsaw
• Subwoofer box
• Swiss Army Auto Tools
• Router
• File
• ¾ inch bit
• Down spiral bit
• Sandpaper

• Scratch paper
• Calculator
• Spray glue
• Solder gun
• Solder
• Silicone
• Pencils
• Screws
• Tape measure
• Razor blade
• Carpet

• Consult your subwoofer or speaker retailer to find out the proper dimensions of the enclosure. Keep in mind to account ¾ inch for the thickness of the particle board.

• With the help of a pencil and tape measure, draw the patterns of the speaker box on the particle board, which should include six sides of the box, and a center divider for inside the box to separate the two speakers. Cut out the traced pattern with the help of the jigsaw.

• By applying the grille cover for the subwoofer, draw the outer and inner areas onto the location of the board where you want to position the speakers.
• With help of the router having ¾ inch bit, route out the area between the inner and outer circle at a cutting depth of 3/8 inch depth. With this the frame of the speaker will rest on the top of the box.

• Drill a large hole and with the help of the jigsaw cut the holes for the speakers. Smooth the edges and routed area with a file or sandpaper. Cut a 2-inch hole in each side of the panels for the connectors of the speaker wires.

• Set up the box with screws and seal the joints with silicone so that no air leaks out, but leave the front panel side as that will hold the speakers.

• Apply glue on to the outer region of the box and the back of the carpet and then enclose the carpet tightly onto the box. With the help of the razor blade, cut vertical, horizontal, and angled lines in a star design into the carpet that covers the connector holes for the speakers.

• Put the connectors through the holes, in such a way that the two prong terminals are inside the box. Fix the connectors with screws and seal the surrounding area with silicone.
• Solder the connector and the speaker wire, i.e., the positive wire to the positive lead of the speaker and the negative wire to the negative lead of the speaker.

• Set up the front panel on the box with screws and seal with silicone. Place each speaker into the star design cut out on the carpet. Finally, install the enclosure in your car.

Speaker boxes can either make or break the perfect set up of your car speaker system, therefore the procedure for building speaker boxes should be conducted carefully and perfectly.