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Professional Series · Datasheet

Professional Series Ported 15" Enclosure American Bass Godfather 15 · Single 15" Ported enclosure

Net volume
4.20 Cubic Feet
Tuning
40.0 Hz
Max mounting depth
9.920 Inches (American Bass Spec)
Cutout
13.780 Inches (American Bass Spec)
External dimensions
36.00 Inches W × 18.00 Inches H × 23.38 Inches D
Front baffle
Three 3/4" MDF layers, 2.25" total | Woofer Flush-Mounted In The Outer Layer
Buy at Audio IntensityFactory-direct, ships from Tullahoma
American Bass Godfather 15Buy at Audio Intensity
  • Alignment: 4.20 cu ft net vented at 40.0 Hz. F3 32.9 Hz anechoic, 5.59 dB passband ripple
  • Driver: American Bass Godfather 15 D1, 3000 W RMS, 17.5 mm Xmax, 28.90 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, 111.4 sq in front slot port beside the woofer with one bend along the back wall, port and excursion gated at 3600 W
  • Cabinet: 36.00" W x 18.00" H x 23.38" D, 80 lb, threaded insert kit included

Spec of record

Technical specifications

SeriesProline X Professional
Driver-Specific FitmentAmerican Bass Godfather 15 D1 (Dual 1 Ohm)
Enclosure TypePorted | Front-Firing Standard Box
External Width36.00 Inches
External Height18.00 Inches
External Depth23.38 Inches
Internal Volume (Gross)6.52 Cubic Feet
Internal Volume (Net After Displacement)4.20 Cubic Feet
Port TypeVertical Slot Beside The Woofer | Front Exit | One 90 Degree Bend Along The Back Wall
Port Geometry6.75 x 16.50 Inches, 111.4 Square Inches, 31.00 Inches Of Path
Port Area111.4 Square Inches
Port Tuning (Fb)40.0 Hz
Port Mouth1/2 In Roundover On All Four Edges, 135.6 Square Inches At The Face
Port Air Velocity20.1 m/s In The Channel, 16.5 m/s At The Mouth, At 3600 W (17.0 m/s Chuff Threshold)
Design Power Basis3600 W RMS (1.2 x The Driver Rating) For Port Velocity And Excursion
Predicted F332.9 Hz (Anechoic)
Passband Ripple5.59 dB (Anechoic)
Subsonic Filter32 Hz High-Pass, 24 dB/Octave - REQUIRED On A Vented Enclosure
Driver Fs28.90 Hz
Driver Qts0.397
Driver Qes / Qms0.438 / 5.039
Driver Vas67.900 Liters / 2.398 Cubic Feet
Driver Sd779.0 Square Centimeters
Driver Mms384.30 g
Driver BL15.98
Driver Xmax18mm (One-Way)
Driver Displacement0.23 Cubic Feet (Published by American Bass)
Driver Sensitivity87.0 dB
Driver Power Handling3000 Watts RMS
Driver Overall Diameter15.500 Inches (American Bass Spec)
Mounting Depth Required9.920 Inches (American Bass Spec)
Cutout Diameter13.780 Inches (American Bass Spec)
Flush Mount Recess16.500 Inches In The Outer Layer
MaterialLangboard Elite 3/4" MDF
ConstructionShopSabre CNC / Two Windowed Braces Front To Back Either Side Of The Woofer
JoineryDado Joinery (CNC-Cut), Flat Panels
Front Baffle ConstructionThree 3/4" MDF layers, 2.25" total | Woofer Flush-Mounted In The Outer Layer
Baffle Layers3
AcrylicGlossy Black American Bass Logo Insert, Outer Layer, Standard
Mounting HardwareThreaded Insert Kit Included: 8-12 Inserts, Drill Bit, 2.5 In Allen-Head Screws, Allen Key, Gasket Tape
Voice Coil ConfigurationDual 1 Ohm
Terminal CupProline X ABS/Carbon Fiber Composite | Back Panel, Terminal-Cup Side | 12g OFC Pre-Wired
DampingNone - Ships Dry. Polyfill Detunes A Ported Enclosure
Recommended Power2100-3000 Watts RMS (American Bass Rated: 3000W RMS)
Carpet FinishPlush Black
Shipping Weight88 lb
ShippingUPS Ground Parcel, Included In The 48 States
Bundle OptionsEnclosure Only (Bring Your Own American Bass Godfather 15)
Warranty2-Year Limited (Enclosure)
ManufacturedTullahoma, Tennessee, USA

Modelled response

Performance in this enclosure

Net airspace
4.20
cu ft
Tuning
40.0
Hz · Fb
Half power
32.9
Hz · F3, anechoic
Xmax at
6510
W RMS · 32 Hz subsonic
With NO filter
971
W RMS · unfiltered
Port
16.5
m/s at the mouth · 3600 W

01Is this driver right for a ported box?

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

EBP = Fs ÷ Qes = 66.0
SEALED 0–50 TRANSITION 50–100 PORTED 100–150 0 50 100 150 EBP 66.0
American Bass Godfather 15 D1 · EBP 66.0
Between 50 and 100 a driver takes either load, and the choice becomes one of priorities rather than of physics. The American Bass Godfather 15 D1 reads 66.0. 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

4.20 cu ft net against a 67.9 L Vas, vented at 40.0 Hz.

Fb = 40.0 Hz  ·  F3 = 32.9 Hz  ·  passband ripple 5.59 dB
20 30 50 70 100 150 200 +8 +4 0 −4 −8 −12 −16 −20 −24 −28 −32 −36 −40 FREQUENCY · Hz LEVEL · dB −3 dB Fb 40.0
American Bass Godfather 15 D1 · Fb 40.0 Hz, F3 32.9 Hz
Anechoic, before any cabin gain, with the 32 Hz subsonic filter already applied. The vent takes over below 40 Hz and the cone stops doing the work there, which is what holds travel down at the bottom of the passband.

03Ported vs Sealed

No sealed comparison is shown for this driver.

A ported-versus-sealed chart is only worth reading against a sealed box someone would actually build: the one we make for the driver, or the one its maker recommends. Neither exists for the American Bass Godfather 15 D1 — we do not build a sealed enclosure for it and American Bass publish no sealed volume for it — so rather than compare this cabinet against itself stuffed and sealed, a box no one would build, the comparison is left out.

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 17.5 mm. The two traces are the same cabinet with the subsonic filter switched on and switched off.

PXmax = 6510 W with a 32 Hz subsonic  ·  971 W with none  →  the filter is worth 6.7×
20 30 50 70 100 150 200 0 4 8 12 16 20 FREQUENCY · Hz CONE TRAVEL · mm PAST LINEAR TRAVEL · Xmax 17.5 mm 6510 W reaches Xmax here
6510 W · subsonic at 32 Hz, 24 dB/oct971 W · no subsonic filterXmax 17.5 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 17.5 mm. With a 32 Hz subsonic that takes 6510 W, reached first at 32 Hz. Take the filter away and the same cabinet reaches 17.5 mm on 971 W — the filter is worth 6.7× 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 971 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 — American Bass rate this one at 3000 W RMS, and that is the number that binds first here: heat stops you before travel does, so treat 3000 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.

From the shop floor

Installer's take

I built this box for one Godfather 15 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 40.0 Hz in a 23.4 inch deep box.

It is solved for the Godfather 15 D1.

American Bass publishes no bolt circle, so the box ships with a threaded insert kit rather than pressed inserts.

3000 watts RMS by American Bass's rating. It is a dual 1 ohm driver: 2 ohms with its coils in series or 0.5 ohm in parallel. American Bass publishes no mounting hole locations for the Godfather 15, 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 Godfather 15: the calmest port that fits that envelope goes noisy at about 929 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 40.0 Hz?

Sealed, the Godfather 15 needs 1.10 cubic feet net to reach a Qtc of 0.707. Vented, it trades that for deeper extension. The slot is gated at 3600 W, 1.2 times American Bass's rating: the channel runs 20.1 m/s and the mouth 16.5, and the cone peaks at 13.0 of its 17.5 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 Godfather 15 did not clear the port gate there. The calmest wedge port that fits that envelope is 26.4 square inches at 23.5 by 11.25 by 17.98 inches, and its mouth runs 30.5 metres per second at 3000 W against the 17 metres per second line where a port starts to chuff. That port would stay clean to about 929 W. The slot on this box reaches 111.4 square inches and holds the mouth at 16.5 metres per second at 3600 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 3600 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 Godfather 15, 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 32 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 Godfather 15 at 74 percent of its usable travel at 3600 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 Godfather 15 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 32 Hz subsonic filter takes over; around 40.0 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, 6.75 inches wide and 111.4 square inches. It runs 12.88 inches to the back wall and turns once along it for 7.62 inches; the fold costs about 1.5 Hz and the port is cut for it. The channel runs at 20.1 metres per second at 3600 W, 21 percent of its turbulence limit, and the mouth edges carry a 1/2 inch roundover so the air leaves the face at 16.5 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?

80 lb, 36.00" W x 18.00" H x 23.38" D external. Every Professional cabinet is priced the same way, by its size: this one is 8.77 cubic feet outside. Delivery to the 48 states is inside the price; it ships as a 80 lb parcel and checkout adds nothing. Do not add polyfill; it ships dry on purpose.

Is the Godfather 15 included?

No. This is an enclosure only, cut for the American Bass Godfather 15 specifically: the 13.780 inch cutout, the 9.920 inch mounting depth allowance and the 4.20 cubic foot alignment all come from American Bass's published parameters. It fits both coil versions; the alignment published here is the D1. Bring your own driver.

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