Looking for advice on single 12”

[JoeyWelch]

Hi all. New here and have been enjoying all the knowledge on the site. Thanks

 

My current project is a Jeep (2015) Wrangler JK 2 door. I’m installing a single Skar

EVL-12 subwoofer. The box ID’s provide 2 sq ft to work with. That’s max.  Sealed specs call for 1.75 and ported call for 2.00. On ported, after backing out port area and displacement Im down to well below 1.4 sqft. 
 

Which way do I need to go? Ported or sealed? Sub will have max power on it if needed.

I’m thinking I should stay with the manufacturer’s recommendation and go with the enclosure sealed.  
 

But I don’t have enough experience to know how smaller volumes affect ported enclosures.

Thanks for any advice

[SnowDrifter]

Volume is after displacements. Net volume. Generally speaking, stick to spec. There's a 15-20% fudge factor in there that's still acceptable and can be tweaked to personal taste / needs, but 1.4 is really pushing it.

If you don't have the space for a ported box, just run 'er sealed! I reckon you'd have an easier time with a properly sized sealed box vs. an improperly sized ported one.

I'm going to generalize *really* hard here because there are a *ton* of variables.... But the issue with going too small on ported being that it's a resonance system, and losing air mass really boinks the behavior - your response curve will tend towards higher frequencies / peaky response. Sort of like how prefabs only really get loud on  A Milli.

[JoeyWelch]

Then sealed it is. Thanks for explaining that. That clears things right up for me.

Thanks SnowDrifter

[Joe X]

You should try ported specially if you have a soft top, a box can be many shapes and many times is possible, sealed will likely be a failure, other than that probably 2 8"s or a powerful 10" would have made things easier for you.

[Mattc43]

2 hours ago, JoeyWelch said:

Hi all. New here and have been enjoying all the knowledge on the site. Thanks

 

My current project is a Jeep (2015) Wrangler JK 2 door. I’m installing a single Skar

EVL-12 subwoofer. The box ID’s provide 2 sq ft to work with. That’s max.  Sealed specs call for 1.75 and ported call for 2.00. On ported, after backing out port area and displacement Im down to well below 1.4 sqft. 
 

Which way do I need to go? Ported or sealed? Sub will have max power on it if needed.

I’m thinking I should stay with the manufacturer’s recommendation and go with the enclosure sealed.  
 

But I don’t have enough experience to know how smaller volumes affect ported enclosures.

Thanks for any advice

Ported boxes are louder than sealed. If you want louder bass than ported is the way to go. I’ve always had ported boxes and have liked them.