Boss CX15

Update on Boss 15

Update on the woofers:

They are still working fine. Experimented by adding an inflatable air cushion to the box to see what volume they like best. Found out that my hunch was right.

THEY LOVE BIG SEALED VOLUMES!

I also have a hunch why they said most people to use a 2 CUBE box.

If there is ANY air leaks, this sub-woofers performance goes out the window. This goes for just about any speaker, but for this one, it is life or death.

This sub is all BOX or nothing. You can not even being to imagine just how important it is to maintain a tight seal of the box.

This speaker needs a very strict air volume to work properly. More so then any other sub I have seen in action.

I did try the IB configuration, and it was PERFECT for FILL. Just like a factory 8"-10" sub-woofer in many cars After MONTHS of break in, this woofer actually sounds good.

This has to be one of the woofers that should of came from the factory with Ferofluid. But I think the former is paper. I would ask Boss, but they have no idea. Your better off asking a magician

So I asked a Magician. And yup, I was right. You need

26 CUBIC FEET for this woofer to work as advertised. LOL..

This would explain why the HUDGE box I built sounds better with one of the woofers not powered and using it as a bass radiator.

So, if your wondering where this woofer comes from or where it was born? PA SPEAKERS.

Yup. PA Speakers. And I mean like HORN LOADED PA SPEAKERS

Now the problem is, Maybe you want to use this as an IB woofer behind the rear seats with a simple plank of wood to "fire"the subs into the cabin.
Well, NO. You can't really. Unless your trunk is SEALED like HERMETICALLY (Or like a Cryo tube...) it will not work well. (After a few months)

The spider gets too compliant in this configuration after a while. Course if you live in Alaska, you will be HUNKY DORY!

Now, if you like Mid-Bass, Perfect. It will do well with ONLY a 20 CUBE BOX..... (OMG.. The fail here) but then the output goes out the window.

If it was not for cabin gain, you would be one sad panda. Problem is, there is not that much, so it still sounds like a 12" woofer in a well tuned box.

At the MSRP price, DO NOT BUY. If it was $25 bucks, sure why not.

Unless you really want FLAT frequency response, good output with low power, and are willing to have a box that would double as a kitchen cabinet, (PER WOOFER) or have spare blown 18" subs to use as Passive radiators, not a good choice for Car Audio.

One things for sure, BOSS is EMBARRASSED by the this sub, That is why they say 2 Cubes ported or sealed.


If they said, the real specs on this woofer, or that it would be best to mount them ON your truck lid.. You would be hesitant to buy these too.

I came up with some boxes you could use for this woofer that actually make it work. But all of them use the space of a trunk to even get the advertised frequency response. And DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT PORTED! You get a woofer that bottoms the voice coil like it's going out of style.

ISOBARIC 6th order band-pass is the only sensible configuration for this woofer that will not take up that much space. And even then, you loose all the benefits of the 15" form factor.

You know where this woofer sounds best? On a bass guitar cab with about 4 of them.

Like I said, this is a PA speaker. And even then, the soft Spider will overtime make this application only a good option for small home practice use not for long time play. This has to be one of the only subs I know of that have Voice coil slop.


The Voice coil is the weakest point of this woofer. If there are any recommendations for BOSS, spend more money on the voice coil. I don't even care if use GLASS impregnated bare aluminum wire for the coils, Woofers catching on fire? Come on BOSS. You could do better.

Sad thing is, if they just spent just a BIT on R&D, they would have a great entry level woofer.

If you do have this woofer, at least you know that it will PLAY louder then any other sub-woofer with only 50 watts.

The MAX program power of this sub-woofer is about 75W. On a hot day, about 50W MAX. Otherwise, in less then a year, plan on getting some new woofers.

Anyone with a tube amp should look into these for bass duty. In the Perfect BASS HORN, these will be the best choice for CHEAP low power sub woofer option you could buy if this was your only choice you had.

Otherwise, they make great passive radiators. Actually, PLAN ON IT.

The voice coil cooling is STUPID. The spider is not the sealed kind, it blows air, so the pumping action DOES NOT COOL THE WOOFER COILS?

GEEZ. Your better of putting duct tape on the rear "Vent hole' and you actually get better cooling.


If you do have this woofer, Find the biggest box you can fit IN YOUR HOUSE, and enjoy.

Everyone else. Sorry, but there are 6x9s laughing at you.

Sad, the cone, the surround, and the spider is actually pretty decent. When it does blow, try to do something with it.

Good value but wattage overstated

I expected to be able to get 400W out of this amp even though 500W was stated, but even that was too much to ask. When measuring the speaker output it's actually only putting out 361W at 4 Ohm. Support's response was to increase power input to their tested amount (14.8 to 15.8V) or return the amp if I was dissatisfied. I'll keep it since I didn't need the full 500 but know that it will fall a little short.

This is the IKEA of Woofers.

This Boss 15 inch sub is a great subwoofer at maybe a $20 dollar price point. You have to understand that products like this are the reason why they have that baffling “Ease of use” option in the rating system.
Boss does not have specs for this woofer and what comes in the box is almost complete garbage. This really is not all Boss Audio’s fault. The Factory that made this woofer is just Um.. Lax…

The specs for this woofer say 2 Cubes. Ported or Sealed.. Does that make allot of sense? The power handling for RMS wattage is WAY WAY lower then what you think. The problems start off with VERY low power capacity, coupled with VERY NARROW bandwidth. Low motor power, Heavy cone. Surround and spider WAY to stiff out of the box. Needs like a month of break in. I mean this woofer does sound good in the right box, but the BOX size is requires you to have a MINIVAN to put everything in. It’s output is no better then any mass market 12” Woofer. The sound quality of this woofer is great in it’s limited bandwidth in a very large sealed box. It does not like ported, and would work best as a Band pass sub if you were to use only one.

Otherwise, order 2-4 of them.

This would work great for IB configurations using the whole truck and an enclosure, But then the output is LUKE WARM…

Then if you try to give it the power it needs, the coil starts to burn.

The drivers range is really limited and the box can’t really help that. This sub LOVES to make VERY LOW NOTES in a LARGE sealed box. We are talking like TRUNK SIZE here.
The driver is VERY muddy in the 80Hz range. (Very “slow” woofer) and if you put it in a 2 CUBE box, the woofer sounds SMALL and suffers from power compression.

The Nice thing about this woofer, is that it does work GREAT in a LARGE sealed BOX. But this is the WRONG woofer to use if you LOVE loud PUNCHY bass. Now if you love Organ music, PERFECT! Own a TUBE amp, and want to fill in those really LOW octaves fine. But then you have to use a 12 Inch woofer to fill in the rest of the Sub range.

Now this woofer will work great with low power and can be driven with just about ANY amplifer. Even a 20 watt amp coupled into a Band pass box would be PERFECT! You will get GOOD output. The problems starts when you feed it more than 80 watts. You start suffering power compression. Sad, because this woofer really wants to be driven at 150W RMS…BUT can’t take it.
There is nothing you can do about this issue, and even blowing air into the Gap is not going to help matters much. ( I tired, I bought 3 of them)

If output is what you want, you need at least 4 of these in a Band pass box of Big MAMA size. Even then, Your basic 12” mass market kicker in a ported box will give you more output from a smaller footprint.

This is some kind of franken sub. The spec sheet says output to like 2500HZ??? Really??? Kind of sounds like a telephone audio right after 80Hz.

You can use this woofer to FILL in that lower octave, but only FILL.

Now here are the plus side of this woofer.

Works with ANY cheap enclosure you make. (I call this the IKEA sub for a reason. I used a LARGE IKEA Kitchen cabinet for the enclosure. Cheap MDF will give you joy. (Hence the IKEA route)

We used Plywood for the FACE, and really over did it. Box stuffing did nothing. This woofer might work in TL, but I would spend money elsewhere. Mounting them inverted was best for me. It also works VERY well with a BASS radiator. Actually, When it blows, that is a good use for it.

Now the magnet is not THAT small, but it is the same size as many 10” woofers on the market. And many 8” woofers use the same size magnet. Remove the magnet covers, you may chuckle a bit.

As far as value, at the MSRP, it a SOLID NO!

Now if BOSS gave the Proper specs for this woofer, I would say Go for it. Unfortunately, Not even Boss Audio knows. The factory that makes these have the specs all over the place. Even the 3 woofers I got all gave BALL PARK values…

If boss just gave you just PROPER instructions in the box, I could recommend this. However, I can’t for any NOVICE speaker builder. And I would SUCK for most car audio use In the simple Ready made boxes out there. Nothing is going to give you good output with this woofer. And Building one would cost you more with almost no ROI on your part.

However, If you only got like typical $50 dollar Sub amp (BTW, the BOSS RM1500 will rock 2 of these very well) then go for it provided you have the space.

If these had more motor power, then I would say mount them on the back seats, but then you would not hear them unless the woofers are firing RIGHT IN THE CABIN. And 6x9 in the rear deck would be mandatory to fill in the missing octave. That is the only way you could use these in a car without taking up your whole trunk in an IB configuration. Well, at least the mounting depth is good at like maybe 7 inches max.

My Opinion is that these would work great for HOME subwoofer use. Get some 15-INCH concrete forms and go to town. That is the ONLY reason why I would buy these again. And even then, my old alpine 10” woofer has ZERO problems keeping up with these.

This product is really focused on low power set ups, where you have zero space considerations, and maybe your buddy Theil/small is your personal audio guru.
You could not even use these as bass shakers due to the coil being made of Margarine. Kind of sad. The cone and spider and surround are all built VERY WELL. Might be great for a person who wants to experiment with rewinding the coil. If you do that, this would make a great woofer to experiment with maybe?
Now about the sound.. Yes, it does sound good, but when a 10” woofer in the same price class owns it. Well, I think you get the picture. 15 Inch subs in this price point are just not suited for most people who actually know what a good subwoofer sounds like. Now it will get loud, but as soon as you start having a good time, the coil starts to smell, and you have to turn it down.

If you have to get a 15Inch woofer on the cheap for car audio use, pick something else. That’s my take on it.