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When to comes to Subwoofer enclosures which ones sound best to you, Sealed or Ported ?


Mike

 

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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

 

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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:

 

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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:

 

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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.

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:

 

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Any one else have any suggestions as to what works best for them?

 

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Ok I have an 85 Fleetwood D'Elegance and in my trunk my "spare sits in the back, so I have no choice but to sit my subs (when I get them) up close to the front.


My question is....

Should I get a "sealed" box and I want some hard thumpin bass, but I want clarity as well. I was thinking about getting 2 "12's". For those with the big caddy's what would be a good set-up, in my case?

Thanks

I just checked out your ride on Car Domain> Those Big Body Caddy's like you have need at least two 12" subs and a nice 1000 watt amp IF you like a descent amount of bass. I would go with a sealed box for your subs>upgrade your factory deck with a good quality one with 3 sets of RCAs and I would run 4 guage wire and high quality RCA jacks to your amps, oh yea ditch the spare and replace it with a couple cans of fix-a-flat. I would also run an Electronic 3-way Crossover with a bass remote to your amps, and look for either a 600 watt 4ch or 800 watt 4ch amp for your highs. A two fuse block and a ground block should be part of your install as well. Let me know if you have any more questions about equipment ok. Here is a good site you can use as a reference to the Electronic end of your 12 volt system.
http://www.bcae1.com

 

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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

Thanx for your input, and the rest of you guy's too I am getting ready to do a New Install in my Caddy. I have the old system out and my trunk is once again Empty. This thread and everyones input has gave me a great idea. I can fit Four 12s in my trunk>no problem, but then i have a decent amount of wasted space from where the magnets of my 6x9s stop the forward sealed box. So i thought i would build a Ported box for a single 12" sub and Port it directly in through the rear seats arm rest. That single 12 will have it's own amp that would run most of the time. Then the two Sealed enclosures that hold the four 12s would have 2 amps going to them on switches, with the dvc subs wired at 2 ohms. This way i would have the best of both worlds and be able to eliminate massive amounts of continuous "Current Draw" on my Alt. I will have to take my 4 ga. wire out and run new 0 ga. wire to a digital 4 fuse Block to run the 4 amps which include the amp for my highs. I will be working with one big Square port for the single 12" sub. P E A C E

 

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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.

Hmmm Im Not sure i agree with you on a Bandpass can make a good sub sound "superb" I haven't heard ANY that impressed me including MTXs Almighty 9500 series sub in their ported enclosure for $700.00

 

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Hello ALL,
I am in the process of replacing my entire system in my Cadillac, including changing out the old 4 guage wire and adding O guage for power wire, new head unit, class D amps and 2 ohm DVC subs along with some new processors. I also be replacing the old Sealed enclosure with a new one that will also be Sealed.
We have just purchased a 93' Lincoln Town car that we will be building two separate Ported enclosures to hold two 15" Subwoofers, the goal for this car will be SPL but it's such a large car im not sure how loud it will be, I guess time will tell.
Anyone doing anything different to your cars/systems/enclosures?
Let me know.

P E A C E

 

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soundadvantage... i sold my screen and recently bought 3 12" JL W0s in a big sealed box. they are all in the same space, but i'm going to build a box where they have thier own enclosures. I'm powering them with the JL 250.1 monoblock. it's nice, but i wish i could have gotten the 500.1. it was way too expensive tho. all this on the same old knuconcepts 4ga kit. it's okay, but not as loud as some stuff i've had. i need more amp. anyhow, that's what's new with my ride. sounds like you've got enough to keep you busy thru the winter. let me know how that lincoln goes... i'm curious to see how you read at the polls.. it's such a big car and all.

Hey Lac... Trying to drive all three subs sharing the same air space isn't the hot set up, but once you build a new enclosure so that each sub has it's own air space then your system should sound alot better.
You could find a deal on another 250.1 and run two amps, what are the WOs RMS rating? Are they single 4 ohm coils?

Mike