which is better ported or sealed box for subs?

[peejayy]

i had the same problem, util i decided to do everything from scratch. Made me a false floor and a custom enclosure. Its slealed and a little smaller volume wise than spec, still sounds great

[eternityz]

how long did it take you to do that?

[Wayne]

im wondering what is the best volume for the JL w7 12" in sealed and ported.. i heard my friend said it need to be very big to maximize its performance.. =)

[peejayy]

how long did it take you to do that?

half a day or so. Ive got all the tools and i'm pretty handy with DIY fabrication though. If you havent done this kind of stuff before id double that and dedicate a whole day...

if you wanna see more of my audio set up and how its evolved, visit my progress thread

[DC5TYPER]

i got a MTX thunder 4500 12" =\

heres the pic, abit dodgy using my camera phone at night

That box makes any basic entry level sub sound mad!

Ive got that same box running a cheap JBL 12inch and I can hit 139db and sound really good around the 30-40Hz Range.

Box is just under 2cuFt and port is tuned around 35-37Hz.

Mtx built a really good box.

[amurray]

its all down to preferance... for " bigginers " a sealed box is probly a better option. make a box to meet manafactures specs u cant go wrong.. but. if u know how to build a box and tune the port then i would go ported... my everyday music box in my civic is tuned to 50hz.. and due to the shape of my car it works really well. also does 147db lol.

[TYP32]

Ported or sealed enclosures.. its like asking do you want sound quality or db, with both boxes built correctly, the sealed enclosure will be better for sound quality. All depends on what results you want. If you want tight, deep bass forget either and build an aperiodic membrane box. Obviously something you can only build for certain vehicles.

[arverson]

sealed for me because of its simplicity. making a sealed box is easier when you're fibreglassing a custom box that moulds into the rear corners of the boot

theres no wrong or right tho. both work well, just depends on the application & sub.

[peejayy]

Ported or sealed enclosures.. its like asking do you want sound quality or db, with both boxes built correctly, the sealed enclosure will be better for sound quality. All depends on what results you want. If you want tight, deep bass forget either and build an aperiodic membrane box. Obviously something you can only build for certain vehicles.

That is Hardcore. Just did some googling to find this about Aperiodic Membrane Boxes:

4.9 What is an "aperiodic membrane?" [CD, DK]


An "aperiodic membrane" is one part of a type of subwoofer enclosure.
It is an air-permeable sheet which has frequency-dependent acoustical
resistance properties. The original design goes back to Naim, for use
in home systems, but has been applied by several individuals and
companies in car audio.

The completed system will be aperiodic, which means it will prove to be
over-damped with a Q well below 0.7. In contrast, the most commonly
used sealed enclosures have Qtc's in the range of 0.8 to 1.1 which are
considered, by definition, to be underdamped. When improperly used, a
high-Q system may have poor transient response, nasty peaks in
frequency response, and high rates of roll-off. Aperiodic systems will
feature excellent Aperiodic systems are characterized by better
transient response, flatter frequency response and somewhat extended
low frequency response.

Another benefit of the system is that you can pretty much choose
whichever driver you'd like to use, as long as they are big. The
Thiele/Small parameters (which would normally determine what kind of
box would be used) are taken into consideration by the membrane
designers so that the response is extended and overdamped, regardless
of the characteristics of the driver.

Physically, the aperiodic membrane isn't for every car. It requires
sealing the trunk from the passenger compartment in an air-tight
manner, as well as sealing the trunk from the outside for best results.
The drivers are then mounted into the baffle between the passenger
compartment and the trunk, as would be standard in an
infinite-baffle/free-air set-up. The aperiodic membrane is then placed
either in front of the driver or behind the driver, depending on the
type. When mounting behind the driver, the membrane is used as the
rear-wall of a very small box which the driver sits in (as in Richard
Clark's infamous Buick Grand National). So, in short, it's not
suitable for trucks, jeeps, R/V's, or hatchbacks.

You should probably only get an aperiodic membrane if you've got money
to burn, lots of amplifier power, some big subs, a sedan, a desire for
trunk space, and no wish to boom. If your tastes lean towards
bass-heavy booming, as opposed to well-recorded acoustic instruments,
you're not going to be pleased with the result.

[EGB18CT]

also depends on if the woofer is suited better a ported or sealed enclosure.

[TYP32]

yea peejayy, not alot of people have heard bout aperiodic membrane enclosures, my guess is only those in the industry and a hand full of tech curious bass-heads have heard of them. I've only ever built 2 ap boxes in my time, both sounded fantastic, both in sedans tho. They were used in comp cars, both cars cleaned up, sound quality only tho. There is no way you will pull competitive dB out of ap boxes.

Glad to have suprised you with somethin new, but yea, you probably wont see them too often.

[eternityz]

i went to elizabeth(SA) autobarn, check the sealed box for 12", they said it cost $90.

i cant really build myself a box im bad with cutting timbers and etc :S