Sealed Or Ported?

[Autruche]

It's not difficult to get good SQ out of a ported box. Tuning and port shape can help quite a bit. The point is to get a nice flat, linear response from your subs. If you tune in the lower 30s, like 32-34, and keep the slot shape with a 1:8-1:10 ratio for height to width for the port you'll get a nice smooth, non-peaky response and still get loud.

[BJD3]

From what I've seen with WinISD, sealed boxes have fairly flat response curves and start rolling off around mid 40s to 60 hz. Ported boxes have a bumped response curve, roll off later, but when they roll off, they do it sharply. Most of the reading I've seen also agrees with this. Unfortunately, all the sealed -> ported moves my friends have made were with pre-fabs.

It could also be that I generally graph boxes with tunings that are far too low, WinISD differs from the real world, and (most likely) different subs perform differently under different conditions.

[mr.p]

ballsdeep

[BJD3]

ballsdeep

My life's philosophy?

What of it?

[PandorasCustoms]

Sealed boxes drop 12 db an octave below the Fs of the enclosure, and ported drops 24 db an octave below the tuning frequency.

It all really depends on what YOU want to do. If you listen to a lot of metal or high speed music (Techno, etc...), then sealed may be a better option.

But, if you like to bring down the house, go with ported. The biggest problem with ported though is if you are not careful you can rip the coil right off your sub. A subwoofer looses all control and "unloads" below the tuning frequency of a ported enclosure. This is why the roll off is so dramatic. A poorly designed box or an improperly tuned amplifier will destroy a subwoofer in a ported enclosure.

If you are really feeling brave, go with 4th Order Bandpass. They really aren't that hard to design, and some of the ones I have built were just incredible. I put a 300 watt bandpass system in a Passatt a year ago and that thing flexxed like it was 1,000 watts. It completely destroys my 650 watt ported system.

Edited June 13, 2011 by PandorasCustoms

[Rockbrook]

I went from Two of these Xplods in a nicely built Ported box to 4 of em in a decent Sealed box. I remember one day i pulled up bangin out with just the Two in the Ported enclosure and some guys actually stopped me and asked what i had, they didnt expect it to be Xplods nor did they expect to just see two of'em in the trunk too. All in all i think i like ported better cause the lows were great but i just love the semi-wow factor of 4 12's. and actually since i added the other two woofers i didnt miss many of the lows that i used to hit, i think Sealed boxed hit the punchy notes better in general, but maybe thats just a conception of mine.

Off-Topic But:

I really wanna do a 4th order now though, but i just need some serious help on that subject

[PandorasCustoms]

4th order is easy if you take your time and get your measurements right. Sealed on the backside, ported on the front side. Simple as that. Just think of it as two boxes mashed together .

If you want helping trying to set one up, I may be able to do so. But, that would need to go to PMs or another thread, as this would off-topic from OP original question,.

[homiewes]

i had 3 12inch type R's in a sealed box once, and it hit pretty hard.. it hit you harder in the chest then my 4 15inch kicker L7s do..

[fritosaregood]

i had 3 12inch type R's in a sealed box once, and it hit pretty hard.. it hit you harder in the chest then my 4 15inch kicker L7s do..

doubt that.. unless you tried and failed with a ported box for the L7s

[matt402]

4th order is easy if you take your time and get your measurements right. Sealed on the backside, ported on the front side. Simple as that. Just think of it as two boxes mashed together .

If you want helping trying to set one up, I may be able to do so. But, that would need to go to PMs or another thread, as this would off-topic from OP original question,.

agreed. 4th order = ftw.