One thing that goes hand in hand in the automotive world is big power and big sound. The trend is the result of passion for super fast cars and super loud audio systems. And it is fantastic.

Ask any enthusiast and they will tell you their ideal vehicle and the sound system they would put in it. A particular amount of detail will be the account of the subwoofer system. This is because the subwoofer for the super audio system is like the engine for the super car. It is the bit responsible for really moving you and giving you a sense of what power is all about.

However, the engine is no good without a strong, rigid chassis. And the same is true for audio. The speaker must be placed in a rigid, high performing enclosure. The strength is required because the enclosure is subjected to the full power of the speaker. And it cannot let any unwanted sounds escape. Ideally it would be made out of concrete. Imagine yourself trapped inside. Scream as you may, you would be stuck inside forever because nobody will ever hear you.

There is a problem with concrete as an enclosure - weight. Nobody wants to put an extra 200kg in the trunk of their car. It would be like suggesting, "I own a Mini, but I want the mileage and handling of an Escalade."

The typical, inexpensive subwoofer enclosure is made from sheets of MDF wood, cut, and then glued into the shape of a box. This design is one of the poorest for acoustic performance, but it is also the cheapest. To get the ‘scream muting’ quality of a proper enclosure, it must be as thick as an Acoustic Engineering textbook. And then adding more weight, professionals recommended extra bracing throughout the inside for strength. The box becomes as heavy as a third passenger.

Whack employs a strong cylindrical design in concert with light weight aluminium to produce a competition quality, hyper-lightweight enclosure. So light, in fact, that it is similar to the rubber part of your compact spare tire. It is the kind of engineering that you would expect to see on a Formula-One car. And that is precisely the point.

The Whack enclosure is designed to be the best performing in its class, like a race car, yet light enough to actually be in a race car. And this is useful for anyone who spends a little extra money for car parts made from light weight aluminium or carbon fibre. Heavy parts are terrible because they spoil all aspects of vehicle performance: acceleration, braking, cornering, body roll, and stability.

Since a speaker enclosure is a performance part, it only makes sense to build one out of light weight materials.

For example: A heavy single subwoofer box I could find on the Internet was 45kg. When placed into a 2006 Honda Civic, it constituted 4% of the total weight of the vehicle. That's 4% more work to accelerate, 4% more work to brake, and 4% more work to corner. 4% is like putting in an extra 20 minutes at the office... every day. And let's face it, at the end of the day, 20 minutes is forever.

The Whack enclosure works out to just 0.3% more weight - or putting in an extra 2 minutes at the office. That's about the time it takes to pack up your stuff and flirt with the secretary. I'd do that every day to listen to great music.

So there you have it. You can finally have your bass and race it too. This is part of an acoustic system that sounds the best and won't defeat your vehicle's performance.