When to comes to Subwoofer enclosures which ones sound best to you, Sealed or Ported ?Mike
Sealed Vs Ported
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When to comes to Subwoofer enclosures which ones sound best to you, Sealed or Ported ?Mike
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Depends entirely on if you want clarity or thump and the type of trunk set up that you have. Generally i would say i like ported
Enclosures
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
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
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If you want SPL then go ported, otherwise stick with sealed.
ports?
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!!
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. :spin:
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. :spin:
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.
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.cl1986 said:
Have you ever noticed that most all the Factory Loaded Bandpass enclosures have the "Cheapest" subs the Company makes in them? Infamous Lac is right> Bandpass enclosures do make "Cheap" subwoofers sound great, but I would Never want to install premium grade subwoofers into one, Like i said before and keep in mind i am in this business > I have tried many different sub enclosures using the same subwoofer and amp and every time i installed that sub in a ported>vented or bandpass enclosure i had to turn the amp way down to keep the sub from distorting and the actual "sound" of the bass diminished greatly. When you have heard what high quality subs sound like in a computer tuned sealed enclosure, you will never go back to the bandpass style enclosures. :spin:
Well i guess thats alright if im an idiot, but i have built about 20 bandpass boxes from scratch, and yup, most of them dont sound that great. But what happens, when you do put a good speaker in one, its amazing. I have some $8 subs from jcwhitney that dont sound too bad in a bandpass, so yes, they do make cheap speakers sound better. I did get lucky on two of the boxes i made. One was in an 86 monte carlo, and one was in a honda accord. The monte has the 2 10" kickers and distortion?, I only have a 50 watt/channel amp on them so there is none of that. But they do sound as good as some poeple with 300 watts on each 12" woofer that they designed. So I am very pleased with them. Then came the honda accord, that blew my mind. One 12" rockford in a gigantic bandpass with dual 3" ports, holy cow. He put a good clean 200 watts on that with a lightning cap and that shook the whole car. By the way, older honda accords are awesome cars for stereos. Its like they were designed to be ugraded. Oh, bandpasses dont sound worth a shit unless you set the crossover to 50 Hertz and less. Besides, your good high end speakers will reprodue the rest of the frequenices anyway.
Agreed > And if you will note at the beginning of this thread the question was > Which one Sounds Best to You! We all have our own special preferences when it comes to the sound we like and our music. I will have to hand it to you Jodean > building your own bandpass box can be very difficult and time consuming > alot of trial and error when using different combinations of subwoofers, but you seem to be very determined and you must enjoy the challenge which is a good thing. I did hear one ported enclosure that i liked, it was hand built in a Mazda mini truck, it had four 10" subs and four ports at the bottom of the box, it hit Real Hard > i was impressed, the guy had two Orion 225 amps driving the four tens, seemed to be a great combination. There are many variations in 12 volt systems today, each one should be as unique as the individual who puts them together. :spin:cl1986 said:
A few years ago I had a 92 Accord with two Cerwin Vega/Vega series 15's in a giant ported box that was ported into the cabin. The bass was a bit sloppy, but got so loud you couldn't tell! Lets remeber these are all opinions, I just have a meaner way of getting mine out.
Any one else have any suggestions as to what works best for them?
Sealed. No question about it. Nowadays you can buy a single sub (and the amp to match it) that handles more power and more efficiently than 4 subs just a few years ago. You can have both SPL and the SQ you can only get from a sealed enclosure.
Bandpass are great enclosures as well. Sure, they can make a lousy sub sound "ok", but they can also make a good sub sound superb. Only thing, the enclosure has to be perfectly built. By the way, some of the finest subs in the car audio industry are specifically designed for bandpass enclosures...
Ported... sure, if you prefer loudness over quality.
Bandpass are great enclosures as well. Sure, they can make a lousy sub sound "ok", but they can also make a good sub sound superb. Only thing, the enclosure has to be perfectly built. By the way, some of the finest subs in the car audio industry are specifically designed for bandpass enclosures...
Ported... sure, if you prefer loudness over quality.
I think Sealed is also a better way to go. Also its good to see what the manufacturer actually reccomends for their subwoofer; sealed, ported etc. You can hurt some subs that arent meant for sealed boxes because of pressure holding the cone back.
i will always by a bandpass box, my system in the caddy sounds amazing, just one thing that i love about bandpass boxes is the cool things that you can put into them for lights and stuff.tight bass just doesn't sound right to me, where as a bandpass creates that nice wave effect when it travels back into the vehicle.SoundAdvantage said:
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sealed is nice, its less hit or miss than ported, but ported boxes have lower bass extension. that 3db that you can gain is a big deal. it can mean a lot when you are looking to hit say a 35hz tone. the sealed box is real easy to make, takes up less space but for overall listening quality the ported is the way to go. you gotta know what you are doing a whole lot more with the ported setup. i personally like both sealed and ported. ive built hundreds of boxes both ways. some drivers require a ported box because of the xmax and air that they push from the back of the cone. in most cases if you are inexpierienced you should just go with sealed. usually .75- 1.25 cu. ft. is sufficient for a 10" or 12." anymore questions feel free to ask. peace
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