Professional Series · Datasheet
Professional Series Ported 12" Enclosure American Bass Elite 12 · Single 12" Ported enclosure
- Net volume
- 1.48 Cubic Feet
- Tuning
- 35.5 Hz
- Max mounting depth
- 6.772 Inches (American Bass Spec)
- Cutout
- 10.945 Inches (American Bass Spec)
- External dimensions
- 30.50 Inches W × 16.00 Inches H × 12.88 Inches D
- Front baffle
- Three 3/4" MDF layers, 2.25" total | Woofer Flush-Mounted In The Outer Layer
- Alignment: 1.48 cu ft net vented at 35.5 Hz. F3 31.5 Hz anechoic, 1.72 dB passband ripple
- Driver: American Bass Elite 12 D4, 1200 W RMS, 14.0 mm Xmax, 32.64 Hz Fs
- Build: Front-firing standard box, 2.25" three-layer baffle with the woofer flush-mounted in the outer layer, American Bass logo acrylic, dado joinery, 29.0 sq in front slot port beside the woofer with one bend along the back wall, port and excursion gated at 1440 W
- Cabinet: 30.50" W x 16.00" H x 12.88" D, 54 lb, threaded insert kit included
Spec of record
Technical specifications
| Series | Proline X Professional |
|---|---|
| Driver-Specific Fitment | American Bass Elite 12 D4 (Dual 4 Ohm) |
| Enclosure Type | Ported | Front-Firing Standard Box |
| External Width | 30.50 Inches |
| External Height | 16.00 Inches |
| External Depth | 12.88 Inches |
| Internal Volume (Gross) | 2.32 Cubic Feet |
| Internal Volume (Net After Displacement) | 1.48 Cubic Feet |
| Port Type | Vertical Slot Beside The Woofer | Front Exit | One 90 Degree Bend Along The Back Wall |
| Port Geometry | 2.00 x 14.50 Inches, 29.0 Square Inches, 32.97 Inches Of Path |
| Port Area | 29.0 Square Inches |
| Port Tuning (Fb) | 35.5 Hz |
| Port Mouth | 1/2 In Roundover On All Four Edges, 46.5 Square Inches At The Face |
| Port Air Velocity | 25.4 m/s In The Channel, 15.8 m/s At The Mouth, At 1440 W (17.0 m/s Chuff Threshold) |
| Design Power Basis | 1440 W RMS (1.2 x The Driver Rating) For Port Velocity And Excursion |
| Predicted F3 | 31.5 Hz (Anechoic) |
| Passband Ripple | 1.72 dB (Anechoic) |
| Subsonic Filter | 28 Hz High-Pass, 24 dB/Octave - REQUIRED On A Vented Enclosure |
| Driver Fs | 32.64 Hz |
| Driver Qts | 0.444 |
| Driver Qes / Qms | 0.496 / 4.262 |
| Driver Vas | 33.352 Liters / 1.178 Cubic Feet |
| Driver Sd | 510.0 Square Centimeters |
| Driver Mms | 253.98 g |
| Driver BL | 27.24 |
| Driver Re | 6.8 Ohm |
| Driver Xmax | 14mm (One-Way) |
| Driver Displacement | 0.11 Cubic Feet (Published by American Bass) |
| Driver Sensitivity | 85.6 dB |
| Driver Power Handling | 1200 Watts RMS |
| Driver Overall Diameter | 12.500 Inches (American Bass Spec) |
| Mounting Depth Required | 6.772 Inches (American Bass Spec) |
| Cutout Diameter | 10.945 Inches (American Bass Spec) |
| Flush Mount Recess | 13.500 Inches In The Outer Layer |
| Material | Langboard Elite 3/4" MDF |
| Construction | ShopSabre CNC / Two Windowed Braces Front To Back Either Side Of The Woofer |
| Joinery | Dado Joinery (CNC-Cut), Flat Panels |
| Front Baffle Construction | Three 3/4" MDF layers, 2.25" total | Woofer Flush-Mounted In The Outer Layer |
| Baffle Layers | 3 |
| Acrylic | Glossy Black American Bass Logo Insert, Outer Layer, Standard |
| Mounting Hardware | Threaded Insert Kit Included: 8-12 Inserts, Drill Bit, 2.5 In Allen-Head Screws, Allen Key, Gasket Tape |
| Voice Coil Configuration | Dual 4 Ohm |
| Terminal Cup | Proline X ABS/Carbon Fiber Composite | Back Panel, Terminal-Cup Side | 12g OFC Pre-Wired |
| Damping | None - Ships Dry. Polyfill Detunes A Ported Enclosure |
| Recommended Power | 840-1200 Watts RMS (American Bass Rated: 1200W RMS) |
| Carpet Finish | Plush Black |
| Shipping Weight | 60 lb |
| Shipping | UPS Ground Parcel, Included In The 48 States |
| Bundle Options | Enclosure Only (Bring Your Own American Bass Elite 12) |
| Warranty | 2-Year Limited (Enclosure) |
| Manufactured | Tullahoma, Tennessee, USA |
Modelled response
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
1.48 cu ft net against a 33.4 L Vas, vented at 35.5 Hz.
03Ported vs Sealed
No sealed comparison is shown for this driver.
04The 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 American Bass's published 14.0 mm. The two traces are the same cabinet with the subsonic filter switched on and switched off.
From the shop floor
Installer's take
I built this box for one Elite 12 on the full Professional chassis: three layers of baffle with the frame flush in the outer one, and a slot port that runs along the back wall to put 35.5 Hz in a 12.9 inch deep box.
It is solved for the Elite 12 D4.
American Bass publishes no bolt circle, so the box ships with a threaded insert kit rather than pressed inserts.
1200 watts RMS by American Bass's rating. It is a dual 4 ohm driver: 8 ohms with its coils in series or 2 ohms in parallel. American Bass publishes no mounting hole locations for the Elite 12, so the inserts are not in the baffle when the box arrives. The insert kit is in the box: set the inserts where the woofer's own holes fall, with the drill bit and the 2.5 inch allen-head screws in the kit, and lay the gasket tape before the woofer goes down.
The Performance Optimized wedge is the smaller and cheaper box, and I try it first for every driver. I could not make its port keep up with the Elite 12: the calmest port that fits that envelope goes noisy at about 970 watts, under what this coil is rated to take, so I did not sell you that box.
It ships dry. Do not add polyfill to a ported box. Set your subsonic filter at 28 Hz.
Before you order
Questions
Why is this enclosure tuned to 35.5 Hz?
Sealed, the Elite 12 needs 0.77 cubic feet net to reach a Qtc of 0.707. Vented, it trades that for deeper extension. The slot is gated at 1440 W, 1.2 times American Bass's rating: the channel runs 25.4 m/s and the mouth 15.8, and the cone peaks at 10.6 of its 14 mm with the subsonic filter in place. Tuning is chosen for in-car response rather than an anechoic curve: a vehicle adds roughly 12 dB per octave below about 45 Hz, and this tuning is where that sum comes out flattest across 25 to 60 Hz.
Why is this a Professional build and not a Performance Optimized box?
Every driver is run through the Performance Optimized wedge and down-fire before this chassis; the Professional box is where a driver lands when that smaller envelope, 30 inches wide and 18 inches deep with a triangular side port, cannot give it what it needs at its rated power. The Elite 12 did not clear the port gate there. The calmest wedge port that fits that envelope is 24.7 square inches at 27.0 by 10.00 by 15.64 inches, and its mouth runs 18.9 metres per second at 1200 W against the 17 metres per second line where a port starts to chuff. That port would stay clean to about 970 W. The slot on this box reaches 29.0 square inches and holds the mouth at 15.8 metres per second at 1440 W. An under-ported box does not fail quietly. Air speed at the mouth rises with power; past the chuff line the flow turns turbulent and the port is audible on every note. The turbulence also chokes the port, so the box behaves as if it were tuned higher than it is, loses output near tuning, and lets the cone travel further below tuning than the design allows. This chassis is a full-size front-firing box on a 2.25 inch baffle built from three 3/4 inch layers with the woofer flush-mounted in the outer layer, an American Bass logo acrylic, and a port and excursion budget checked at 1440 W. It carries a 2 year warranty, against 1 year on the Performance Optimized lines.
Threaded inserts or a kit?
American Bass does not publish the mounting hole locations for the Elite 12, so we cannot install the threaded inserts before it ships. The threaded insert kit comes in the box instead: inserts sized to the woofer, the correct drill bit, 2.5 inch allen-head screws, an allen key and woofer gasket tape. You set the inserts when you mount the woofer, and this box ships with one kit.
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 American Bass Elite 12 at 76 percent of its usable travel at 1440 W.
Would a sealed box be better for me?
Not one we can show you. We do not build a sealed enclosure for the American Bass Elite 12 and American Bass publish no sealed volume for it, so the Performance Graphs tab carries no ported-versus-sealed chart: the only sealed box left to plot would be this cabinet stuffed and sealed, which nobody would build, and a comparison against it would tell you nothing you could buy. What a vented box gives up is the region below tuning, where the cone unloads and the 28 Hz subsonic filter takes over; around 35.5 Hz the vent carries the load and cone travel drops to its minimum, which no sealed alignment can do.
How does the front port work?
It is a vertical slot beside the woofer, the full height of the cavity, 2.00 inches wide and 29.0 square inches. It runs 7.12 inches to the back wall and turns once along it for 20.10 inches; the fold costs about 1.5 Hz and the port is cut for it. The channel runs at 25.4 metres per second at 1440 W, 54 percent of its turbulence limit, and the mouth edges carry a 1/2 inch roundover so the air leaves the face at 15.8 metres per second against the 17 metres per second threshold where a slot starts to chuff.
What does the price cover, and how does it ship?
54 lb, 30.50" W x 16.00" H x 12.88" D external. Every Professional cabinet is priced the same way, by its size: this one is 3.64 cubic feet outside. Delivery to the 48 states is inside the price; it ships as a 54 lb parcel and checkout adds nothing. Do not add polyfill; it ships dry on purpose.
Is the Elite 12 included?
No. This is an enclosure only, cut for the American Bass Elite 12 specifically: the 10.945 inch cutout, the 6.772 inch mounting depth allowance and the 1.48 cubic foot alignment all come from American Bass's published parameters. It fits both coil versions; the alignment published here is the D4. Bring your own driver.
Same series, same size
Alpine R2-W12
Alpine R2-W12
American Bass DX 12
American Bass ES 12
American Bass Elite 12
American Bass SL 12
American Bass Titan 12
American Bass Titanium 12