When it comes to good solid clean bass in a 12 volt sound system Computer tuned Sealed enclosure designs are the way to go. You can drive the subwoofers with more power and produce less distortion at various frequencys. You only gain 3db with a ported enclosure at the one single frequency that it is tuned for. I have tried many different enclosure designs using the same subwoofers in all of them, the results were amazing. My choice is sealed hands down
Dude, the best bass i have heard would be a bandpass box, my 10" kickers sound like other people 12's. Some people still dont believe me when i tell them they are 10's, because you cant see them, i dont have any glass on the box at all. I put 4 small 1.5" ports on the box and it sounds and feels great!!
Well,
It really depends on personal choice, and what works for you might not satisfy others, and alot depends on your vehicle > you have cabin gain factors involved, I myself have not found a ported or vented enclosure that satisfied me, but i am in to sound quality not SPL so there is a big difference in systems. I like my music to sound good Inside the car > no rattles > Smooth Bass > and Crystal Clear Highs > with 0%Distortion. I have found that people go through changes with their sound and usually progress from a system that can be heard from 5 blocks away to a Sound Quality/Mobile Video system that is more "enjoyable" to listen to.
Bandpass is the worst setup to go with, it only good for making $25 woofer sound better than they are, because your covering up the sloppy signal . Ported can sound very nice if tune properly, and you stick to music that is close in deep frequencies. But for all type of music your best setup will always be sealed, it will give you tight clean and accurate bass.
Bandpass -- Worst setup?? Is that why bose has all bandpass subs on their home theater system? Or maybe $2000 speakers are cheap and crappy, depends what you are looking at. I guess im lookings at the $500 and less here, lets not get rediculous. Really the bandpass is a sealed enclousure with a ported encosure so you get the best of both boxes in one package. Yeah! By the way MTX?? those are cheap speakers.
Bandpass -- Worst setup?? Is that why bose has all bandpass subs on their home theater system? Or maybe $2000 speakers are cheap and crappy, depends what you are looking at. I guess im lookings at the $500 and less here, lets not get rediculous. Really the bandpass is a sealed enclousure with a ported encosure so you get the best of both boxes in one package. Yeah! By the way MTX?? those are cheap speakers.
Wow that hurt, get a LIFE. I have these "cheap" MTX speaker because they retailed at $250-$300 and I got them for $52 each so yes they are cheap. I knew some idiot would bring up the highly tuned and advance BOSE bandpass that are multiple chambered, but too bad we're talking about car audio which is totally different. All bandpass is mainly crappy because you have to tuned their boxes incredibly well for them to perform decent on multiple frequencies, your basic bandpass enclosure will sound like crap next to the rest. Unless you like sloppy hard hitting bass, if thats the case get a pair of 15's.
Sealed Vs Ported 
When to comes to Subwoofer enclosures which ones sound best to you, Sealed or Ported ?
Enclosures 
Re: Sealed Vs Ported 
