
Performance Optimized · Datasheet
Performance Optimized Down Fire Ported 10" Enclosure | Arc Audio A-Series 10 Single 10" Ported enclosure
- Net volume
- 1.21 Cubic Feet
- Tuning
- 35.5 Hz
- Max mounting depth
- 3.770 Inches (Arc Audio Spec)
- Cutout
- 9.060 Inches (Arc Audio Spec)
- External dimensions
- 31 Inches W × 7.75 Inches H × 14.50 Inches D
- Front baffle
- Down Firing - Driver Fires Toward Floor
- Alignment: 1.21 cu ft net vented at 35.5 Hz. F3 31.6 Hz anechoic, 3.10 dB passband ripple
- Driver: Arc Audio A-Series 10 D2, 250 W RMS, 8.0 mm Xmax at 70% BL, 27.00 Hz Fs
- Build: Proline X V-groove and dado joinery, L-wrap slot port with a faceted 90 degree bend, double-layer 1.5" baffle, side-mounted terminal cup
- Cabinet: 31" W x 14.50" D x 7.75" H measured in down fire position, 9.50" tall installed on its feet, square corners, ships dry
Technical specifications
| Series | Proline X Performance Optimized Down Fire |
|---|---|
| Driver-Specific Fitment | Arc Audio A-Series 10 D2 (Dual 2 Ohm) |
| Enclosure Type | Ported | Down Fire Geometry | Floor-Coupled |
| Baffle Configuration | Down Firing - Driver Fires Toward Floor |
| External Width | 31 Inches |
| External Depth | 14.50 Inches |
| External Height | 7.75 Inches (Cabinet Only) |
| Feet | Included - 1.75 Inch Standoff, Required For Down Fire Operation |
| Installed Height | 9.50 Inches (7.75 Cabinet Plus 1.75 Feet) - MEASURE AGAINST THIS, NOT THE CABINET HEIGHT |
| Dimension Reference | All External Dimensions Measured In Down Fire Position |
| Internal Volume (Gross) | 1.34 Cubic Feet |
| Internal Volume (Net After Displacement) | 1.21 Cubic Feet |
| Port Type | L-Wrap Slot | One Folded Wall | Single Faceted 90 Degree Bend |
| Port Tuning (Fb) | 35.5 Hz |
| Port Channel | 3.00 x 6.25 Inches (18.8 Square Inches) |
| Port Path Length | 26.01 Inches (Centreline) |
| Port Mouth Area | 17.7 Square Inches (2.00 Inch Corner Chamfer) |
| Port Air Velocity | 15.0 m/s At Tuning (17.0 m/s Chuff Threshold) |
| Predicted F3 | 31.6 Hz (Anechoic) |
| Passband Ripple | 3.10 dB (Anechoic) |
| Subsonic Filter | 28 Hz High-Pass, 24 dB/Octave - REQUIRED On A Vented Enclosure |
| Driver Fs | 27.00 Hz |
| Driver Qts | 0.477 |
| Driver Qes / Qms | 0.511 / 7.155 |
| Driver Vas | 40.413 Liters / 1.427 Cubic Feet |
| Driver Sd | 346.4 Square Centimeters |
| Driver Mms | 146.54 g |
| Driver BL | 13.77 |
| Driver Re | 3.9 Ohm |
| Driver Xmax | 8mm (One-Way at 70% BL) |
| Excursion Design Basis | Derated To 6.8mm For Alignment - Arc Audio Publishes At 70% BL |
| Driver Displacement | 0.04 Cubic Feet (Published by Arc Audio) |
| Driver Sensitivity | 84.8 dB |
| Driver Power Handling | 250 Watts RMS |
| Driver Overall Diameter | 10.080 Inches (Arc Audio Spec) |
| Mounting Depth Required | 3.770 Inches (Arc Audio Spec) |
| Cutout Diameter | 9.060 Inches (Arc Audio Spec) |
| Woofer Ring | 11.000 Inch OD, Bonded Under The Baffle In A Machined Recess |
| Material | Langboard Elite 3/4" MDF |
| Construction | ShopSabre CNC / Windowed Brace Between Cutout And Port Terminus |
| Joinery | V-Groove and Dado (CNC-Cut) |
| Front Baffle Construction | Double-Layer 1.5" MDF | Outer Layer Flush Recess, Driver Mounts To Inner Layer |
| Corner Profile | Square (Down Fire Series Standard) |
| Mounting Hardware | 8 x #8-32 Hurricane Nuts Fitted (16 Positions Cut For Driver Orientation) | Stainless Steel Machine Screws Included |
| Voice Coil Configuration | Dual 2 Ohm |
| Terminal Cup | Proline X ABS/Carbon Fiber Composite | Side Mounted | 12g OFC Pre-Wired |
| Damping | None - Ships Dry. Polyfill Detunes A Ported Enclosure |
| Recommended Power | 175-250 Watts RMS (Arc Audio Rated: 250W RMS) |
| Carpet Finish | Plush Black |
| Bundle Options | Enclosure Only (Bring Your Own Arc Audio A-Series 10) |
| Warranty | 1-Year Limited (Enclosure) |
| Manufactured | Tullahoma, Tennessee, USA |
Performance in this enclosure
01Is this driver right for a ported box?
Efficiency bandwidth product places the motor before anything else is decided.
02What the box does to it
1.21 cu ft net against a 40.4 L Vas, vented at 35.5 Hz.
03Perceived Ported vs Sealed
This cabinet, 1.21 cu ft net vented at 35.5 Hz, against the 0.80 cu ft sealed Down Fire we build for this driver (PO 10-S DF A10).
04Real World Ported vs Sealed
The same two boxes with cabin gain applied, 45 Hz corner, 18 dB ceiling.
05The watts that reach Xmax (in this enclosure)
Travel scales with the square root of power, so there is one wattage that puts the cone exactly on Arc Audio's published 8.0 mm. The two traces are the same cabinet with the subsonic filter switched on and switched off.
Installer's take
Buy this cabinet for its depth. 3.77 inches of mounting depth is what lets a ten into a box 14.5 inches deep, and the A-Series 10 is the shallowest ten Arc make. Everything else on the page follows from designing around that.
The number that constrains it is 8 mm of one-way travel, second least of the thirty-one tens here. A vented driver unloads below tuning, and a short coil has no reserve for that, so this alignment tunes high -- 35.5 Hz, second highest of the tens -- to keep the cone under control at 250 watts. Set the subsonic filter at 28 Hz and leave it there; on this driver it is a requirement, not a refinement.
It still reaches. 31.6 Hz anechoic is respectable for a ten, and it gets there because underneath the short coil is a soft, low-resonance suspension: Fs 27.0 Hz and 40 litres of Vas. Arc's A-Series sheet is also the one Arc data set that reconciles perfectly with itself, which is worth something after the ARC Series.
3.10 dB of ripple and 3.95 dB in the car are both mid-pack. If flat matters more than depth, the Black 10 is half an inch deeper and measures 0.36.
Dual 2 ohm: 1 ohm parallel or 4 ohms series. Subsonic at 28 Hz. Ships dry.
Questions
Why is this enclosure tuned to 35.5 Hz?
Tuning high keeps the cone inside its travel on 250 watts, and it still reaches an anechoic F3 of 31.6 Hz from 1.21 cubic feet, because Fs 27.0 Hz and 40 litres of Vas are a genuinely compliant driver underneath the short coil. The A-Series data is the cleanest Arc publish: Fs and Vas both reproduce exactly from their own moving mass, compliance and cone area, so the alignment is built on numbers that agree with each other. Tuning is chosen for in-car response rather than for an anechoic curve: a vehicle adds roughly 12 dB per octave below about 45 Hz, so a box tuned very low reinforces a region the cabin is already reinforcing and leaves 40 to 60 Hz thin. In this cabinet that lands at 3.9 dB of in-car spread across 25 to 60 Hz, which is where kick and bass fundamentals live.
Does this enclosure ship with polyfill?
No, and on this build in particular do not add any. Every sealed Proline X enclosure ships with polyfill pre-installed; a ported one must not, because damping material changes the effective volume the port is tuned against. The port on this cabinet is cut to 26.01 inches of centreline path for 35.5 Hz. Stuff it and you move the tuning without shortening the port, which gives you a mistuned box rather than a bigger-sounding one. The 3.10 dB passband you are paying for depends on it staying dry.
Do I need a subsonic filter?
Yes, at 28 Hz, 24 dB per octave. Below tuning a vented box stops loading the cone and excursion runs away toward DC. With the filter in place this cabinet puts the Arc Audio A-Series 10 at 90 percent of its usable travel at full rated power; without it there is no meaningful number to quote, because the excursion curve does not converge. On a sealed build a subsonic filter is an improvement. Here it is required equipment.
How much power can I run?
Arc Audio rate the A-Series 10 at 250 W RMS and that is the thermal ceiling. The figures on the Performance Graphs tab are a different quantity: they are mechanical limits, the power at which the cone reaches the end of its linear travel in this specific cabinet. Here the cone sits at 90 percent of usable travel at the driver's own rating, so heat is what stops you, not travel. Final wired impedance and amplifier output are separate questions again.
Would a sealed box be better for me?
Below about 24 Hz, yes. The sealed Down Fire we build for it is louder down there by up to 2.7 dB, because a sealed box rolls off gently into the subsonic region where a vented one falls away steeply once it is under tuning. Above that this alignment is the louder of the two for the same power. The Performance Graphs tab plots this cabinet, 1.21 cubic feet vented at 35.5 Hz, against the 0.80 cu ft sealed Down Fire we build for this driver (PO 10-S DF A10), so you can see exactly where they cross.
What is the L-wrap port and why does it matter?
It is a slot port formed by one folded wall: a leg down the long side of the cabinet past the woofer ring, one faceted 90 degree bend, and a leg across the end opening through a chamfered corner. On this cabinet that is 26.01 inches of centreline path and 18.8 square inches of channel, exiting a 17.7 square inch mouth. Air leaves at 15.0 metres per second at tuning against a 17.0 threshold, and the channel runs at 34 percent of its turbulence limit. One wall and one bend rather than a serpentine's three means less wall area inside the box, fewer joints to leak, and one place for flow to separate instead of three.
How is this enclosure built?
V-groove and dado joinery in 0.75 inch Langboard Elite MDF with a double-layer 1.5 inch baffle. The driver mounts to a 11.000 inch ring bonded under the baffle in a machined recess, carrying eight #8-32 hurricane nuts so it threads into steel rather than MDF. A windowed brace sits 3.75 inches clear of the cutout edge and 2.78 inches clear of the port terminus; the window is not weight saving, a solid panel there would split the cavity and make the box a bandpass. Walls seat into dados in both the lid and the baffle. Square corners, plush black carpet, side-mounted terminal cup.
Is the A-Series 10 included?
No. This is an enclosure only, cut and folded for the Arc Audio A-Series 10 specifically. The 9.060 inch cutout, the 3.770 inch mounting depth allowance and the 1.21 cubic foot alignment all come from Arc Audio's published parameters for this exact driver, and the port is sized against its Xmax and power rating. It is not a universal box with a 10 inch hole in it. Bring your own driver.
Other Performance Optimized models
- Alpine R2-W10 Dual 10" Sealed
- Alpine RSW10 Dual 10" Sealed
- Alpine S2-W10 Dual 10" Sealed
- Arc Audio SW10 Dual 10" Sealed
- Audiofrog GB10 Dual 10" Sealed
- Audiofrog GB10 Dual 10" Sealed
- Audiomobile GT2 Dual 10" Sealed
- Diamond Audio DMD-SH Dual 10" Sealed