Performance Optimized · Datasheet

Performance Optimized Down Fire Ported 12" Enclosure | Prodigy NB3-12 Single 12" Ported enclosure

Net volume
1.36 Cubic Feet
Tuning
35.0 Hz
Max mounting depth
3.375 Inches (Prodigy Spec)
Cutout
10.875 Inches (Prodigy Spec)
External dimensions
31 Inches W × 7.75 Inches H × 17.00 Inches D
Front baffle
Down Firing - Driver Fires Toward Floor
Buy at Audio Intensity
  • Alignment: 1.36 cu ft net vented at 35.0 Hz. F3 32.4 Hz anechoic, 0.80 dB passband ripple
  • Driver: Prodigy NB3-12 D4, 800 W RMS, 11.0 mm Xmax at 70% BL, 36.20 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 17.00" D x 7.75" H measured in down fire position, 9.50" tall installed on its feet, square corners, ships dry

Technical specifications

SeriesProline X Performance Optimized Down Fire
Driver-Specific FitmentProdigy NB3-12 D4 (Dual 4 Ohm)
Enclosure TypePorted | Down Fire Geometry | Floor-Coupled
Baffle ConfigurationDown Firing - Driver Fires Toward Floor
External Width31 Inches
External Depth17.00 Inches
External Height7.75 Inches (Cabinet Only)
FeetIncluded - 1.75 Inch Standoff, Required For Down Fire Operation
Installed Height9.50 Inches (7.75 Cabinet Plus 1.75 Feet) - MEASURE AGAINST THIS, NOT THE CABINET HEIGHT
Dimension ReferenceAll External Dimensions Measured In Down Fire Position
Internal Volume (Gross)1.60 Cubic Feet
Internal Volume (Net After Displacement)1.36 Cubic Feet
Port TypeL-Wrap Slot | One Folded Wall | Single Faceted 90 Degree Bend
Port Tuning (Fb)35.0 Hz
Port Channel3.50 x 6.25 Inches (21.9 Square Inches)
Port Path Length27.86 Inches (Centreline)
Port Mouth Area30.9 Square Inches (3.50 Inch Corner Chamfer)
Port Air Velocity15.2 m/s At Tuning (17.0 m/s Chuff Threshold)
Predicted F332.4 Hz (Anechoic)
Passband Ripple0.80 dB (Anechoic)
Subsonic Filter28 Hz High-Pass, 24 dB/Octave - REQUIRED On A Vented Enclosure
Driver Fs36.20 Hz
Driver Qts0.485
Driver Qes / Qms0.618 / 2.266
Driver Vas29.665 Liters / 1.048 Cubic Feet
Driver Sd532.5 Square Centimeters
Driver Mms189.22 g
Driver BL23.96
Driver Re6.7 Ohm
Driver Xmax11mm (One-Way at 70% BL)
Excursion Design BasisDerated To 9.3mm For Alignment - Prodigy Publishes At 70% BL
Driver Displacement0.13 Cubic Feet (Published by Prodigy)
Driver Sensitivity88.9 dB
Driver Power Handling800 Watts RMS
Driver Overall Diameter12.250 Inches (Prodigy Spec)
Mounting Depth Required3.375 Inches (Prodigy Spec)
Cutout Diameter10.875 Inches (Prodigy Spec)
Woofer Ring13.250 Inch OD, Bonded Under The Baffle In A Machined Recess
MaterialLangboard Elite 3/4" MDF
ConstructionShopSabre CNC / Windowed Brace Between Cutout And Port Terminus
JoineryV-Groove and Dado (CNC-Cut)
Front Baffle ConstructionDouble-Layer 1.5" MDF | Outer Layer Flush Recess, Driver Mounts To Inner Layer
Corner ProfileSquare (Down Fire Series Standard)
Mounting Hardware8 x #8-32 Hurricane Nuts Fitted (16 Positions Cut For Driver Orientation) | Stainless Steel Machine Screws Included
Voice Coil ConfigurationDual 4 Ohm
Terminal CupProline X ABS/Carbon Fiber Composite | Side Mounted | 12g OFC Pre-Wired
DampingNone - Ships Dry. Polyfill Detunes A Ported Enclosure
Recommended Power560-800 Watts RMS (Prodigy Rated: 800W RMS)
Carpet FinishPlush Black
Bundle OptionsEnclosure Only (Bring Your Own Prodigy NB3-12)
Warranty1-Year Limited (Enclosure)
ManufacturedTullahoma, Tennessee, USA

Performance in this enclosure

Net airspace
1.36
cu ft
Tuning
35.0
Hz · Fb
Half power
32.4
Hz · F3, anechoic
Xmax at
1420
W RMS · 28 Hz subsonic
With NO filter
251
W RMS · unfiltered
Port
15.2
m/s at the mouth

01Is this driver right for a ported box?

Efficiency bandwidth product places the motor before anything else is decided.

EBP = Fs ÷ Qes = 58.6
SEALED 0–50 TRANSITION 50–100 PORTED 100–150 0 50 100 150 EBP 58.6
Prodigy NB3-12 D4 · EBP 58.6
Between 50 and 100 a driver takes either load, and the choice becomes one of priorities rather than of physics. The Prodigy NB3-12 D4 reads 58.6. Ported buys output and low-end reach around tuning; sealed buys a shallower rolloff below it. This cabinet takes the first trade.

02What the box does to it

1.36 cu ft net against a 29.7 L Vas, vented at 35.0 Hz.

Fb = 35.0 Hz  ·  F3 = 32.4 Hz  ·  passband ripple 0.80 dB
20 30 50 70 100 150 200 +6 +0 −6 −12 −18 −24 FREQUENCY · Hz LEVEL · dB −3 dB Fb 35.0
Prodigy NB3-12 D4 · Fb 35.0 Hz, F3 32.4 Hz
Anechoic, before any cabin gain, with the 28 Hz subsonic filter already applied. The vent takes over below 35 Hz and the cone stops doing the work there, which is what holds travel down at the bottom of the passband.

03Perceived Ported vs Sealed

This cabinet, 1.36 cu ft net vented at 35.0 Hz, against the 1.02 cu ft sealed Down Fire we build for this driver (PO 12-S DF NB3).

Ported Fb 35.0 Hz  ·  the 1.02 cu ft sealed box runs Qtc 0.69, Fc 52 Hz
20 30 50 70 100 150 200 +6 +0 −6 −12 −18 −24 FREQUENCY · Hz LEVEL · dB +6.0 dB at 36 Hz
Ported · this cabinet, 1.36 cu ft, Fb 35.0 HzSealed Down Fire we build, 1.02 cu ft, Qtc 0.69
Shaded blue is where the ported alignment is louder for the same power, orange where the sealed one is. The sealed curve is the 1.02 cu ft sealed Down Fire we build for this driver (PO 12-S DF NB3), not this cabinet with the port blocked: two different boxes, because that is the choice a buyer actually has. Across 25 to 60 Hz the vent is worth 6.0 dB at its widest and 4.5 dB on average. This is the anechoic picture, which is not what you hear in a car.

04Real World Ported vs Sealed

The same two boxes with cabin gain applied, 45 Hz corner, 18 dB ceiling.

Flatness across 25–60 Hz: ported 3.3 dB spread, the 1.02 cu ft sealed box 2.4 dB
20 30 50 70 100 150 200 +6 +0 −6 −12 −18 −24 FREQUENCY · Hz LEVEL · dB +6.0 dB at 36 Hz
Ported, in-car · 3.3 dB spreadSealed Down Fire we build, 1.02 cu ft, in-car · 2.4 dB spread
Cabin gain lifts both boxes by the same amount, so the gap between them does not change: what changes is the shape each one ends up with. A car pressurises below roughly 45 Hz, which fills in the sealed box's shallower rolloff and over-drives it where the ported box is already flat. Across 25 to 60 Hz, the band kick and bass fundamentals occupy, this alignment holds 3.3 dB of spread against 2.4 dB for the 1.02 cu ft sealed Down Fire we build for this driver (PO 12-S DF NB3). The sealed curve is flatter on paper; the ported one trades that for output. Note where the curves cross. Below about 22 Hz the sealed alignment becomes the louder of the two and stays louder all the way down, by up to 2.4 dB: a sealed box rolls off gently into the subsonic region where a vented one falls away steeply once it is below tuning and the vent stops contributing. If the content you are chasing lives below 22 Hz, a sealed alignment reaches further down than this one does. Cabin gain here is a house assumption, not a measurement of your vehicle.

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 Prodigy's published 11.0 mm. The two traces are the same cabinet with the subsonic filter switched on and switched off.

PXmax = 1420 W with a 28 Hz subsonic  ·  251 W with none  →  the filter is worth 5.7×
20 30 50 70 100 150 200 0 4 8 12 FREQUENCY · Hz CONE TRAVEL · mm PAST LINEAR TRAVEL · Xmax 11.0 mm design limit 9.3 mm · 70% BL derated 1420 W reaches Xmax here
1420 W · subsonic at 28 Hz, 24 dB/oct251 W · no subsonic filterXmax 11.0 mm one-way, published
Each trace touches the limit and no further, because each is drawn at the exact power that puts the cone on 11.0 mm. With a 28 Hz subsonic that takes 1420 W, reached first at 26 Hz. Take the filter away and the same cabinet reaches 11.0 mm on 251 W — the filter is worth 5.7× the safe power. A vent unloads the cone below tuning, so there is nothing holding it once the box stops loading: on a sealed build a subsonic filter is an improvement, here it is required equipment. The unfiltered trace is still rising where this chart stops at 20 Hz, so treat 251 W as a bound rather than a floor. Every wattage on this page is a MECHANICAL limit, not an electrical one. It is the power at which the cone runs out of linear travel in this cabinet, and nothing more. What the voice coil can dissipate as heat is a separate ceiling set by the driver, not by the box — Prodigy rate this one at 800 W RMS, and that is the number that binds first here: heat stops you before travel does, so treat 800 W as the ceiling and the travel figures above as headroom. Final wired impedance, amplifier output and how long you hold the level are all electrical questions this graph does not answer. The dashed line at 9.3 mm is the figure the cabinet was actually designed against: Prodigy publish this Xmax on a 70% BL basis, and we derate it before sizing the port so the alignment carries margin against an optimistic spec rather than sitting right on it.

Installer's take

A 36.2 Hz free-air resonance on a 12 is high, and it is the number that decides everything else here. Most twelves sit in the mid to high 20s. This one does not, and there is no sense tuning a cabinet down to 28 or 30 Hz for a motor that has already stopped wanting to move by then. Vented at 35.0 Hz it sits just under Fs, which is where the port does its work while the cone does almost none.

The payoff is the flattest passband in the ported range. 0.80 dB of ripple, where the rest of the family runs 1.1 to 4.4. A vented box with a visible hump at tuning is the usual outcome when the alignment is forced; this one does not have one, because 1.36 cubic feet against a 29.7 litre Vas is close to what the driver actually wants rather than what would make the number look good.

Fitment is the other reason to pick this driver. 3.375 inches of mounting depth is shallow for a 12, and because the motor barely intrudes into the cavity the cabinet lands at the floor of the family at 7.75 inches tall. Nothing about the height is driven by the driver here, only by the airspace. That is the right way round, and it is what makes a ported 12 fit a cargo floor at all.

One caution on the numbers. Prodigy publish an Mms of 189.22 grams and their own Fs, Vas and Sd imply 256.5. That is a 26 percent disagreement, and the two routes predict cone travel 16 percent apart. I size on the pessimistic one. It means this cabinet is built against more excursion than Prodigy's own figures ask for, which is the error I would rather make.

Dual 4 ohm coils, 2 ohms parallel or 8 ohms series. Prodigy rate it at 800 W RMS and that is your real ceiling: the cone does not reach its travel limit in this box until well past that, so heat is what stops you, not suspension. Run the subsonic filter at 28 Hz and do not put polyfill in it.

Questions

Why is this enclosure tuned to 35.0 Hz?

Prodigy quote an EBP of 58.6, which lands in the transition band where a driver will take either load. That is not a reason to default to sealed. Vented at 35 the NB3-12 gives up nothing in flatness and gains real output through 30 to 45 Hz, and because tuning sits close to Fs the cone is barely moving where the port is working hardest. 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 3.3 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 27.86 inches of centreline path for 35.0 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 0.80 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 Prodigy NB3-12 at 88 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?

Prodigy rate the NB3-12 at 800 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 88 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 22 Hz, yes. The sealed Down Fire we build for it is louder down there by up to 2.4 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, 1.36 cubic feet vented at 35.0 Hz, against the 1.02 cu ft sealed Down Fire we build for this driver (PO 12-S DF NB3), 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 27.86 inches of centreline path and 21.9 square inches of channel, exiting a 30.9 square inch mouth. Air leaves at 15.2 metres per second at tuning against a 17.0 threshold, and the channel runs at 52 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 13.250 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 3.11 inches clear of the cutout edge and 1.93 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 NB3-12 included?

No. This is an enclosure only, cut and folded for the Prodigy NB3-12 specifically. The 10.875 inch cutout, the 3.375 inch mounting depth allowance and the 1.36 cubic foot alignment all come from Prodigy'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 12 inch hole in it. Bring your own driver.

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