Sealed or Ported?

2461 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by sub_crazy, Aug 11, 2009

SAY IT LOUD

Discussion Starter · Aug 6, 2009 (Edited)

Hi i had a chat with a very experienced speaker builder in queensland last night and he told me FORGET about porting all sub woofers are best SEALED. I didnt know what to say as i was gob smacked. Thought i would share this with you? Next i will be told porting is best! Oh he didnt have time to tell me why SEALED ONLY. LOL Cheers

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atledreier

· #2 · Aug 6, 2009

Well, he's a speaker builder so he MUST know everything, right?

Obviously it's ALOT more nuanced than that. There are drivers that work best sealed, and drivers that need porting. Sealed seems easier to both manufacture and get 'right', but ported can give real gains in some circumstances. Saying sealed is always best is just silly, imo.

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Ricci

· #3 · Aug 6, 2009

Both have a place and have strengths. Neither is strictly better than the other, only better for a certain application. There are also a great deal of other alignments besides just sealed and ported.

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Mike P.

· #4 · Aug 6, 2009

Ricci said:
Both have a place and have strengths. Neither is strictly better than the other, only better for a certain application. There are also a great deal of other alignments besides just sealed and ported.

+1.

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spanish68

· #5 · Aug 7, 2009

I vote for a PR design. Today I started working in one, a AV15X with PR18-2100's, tuned to 15.5hz. Yes it is more money but also is a smaller box than ported and no port noices to worry about. Maybe a PR design sub has the best of the ported and sealed design subs, any opinions?

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sub_crazy

· #6 · Aug 7, 2009

Ricci said:
Both have a place and have strengths. Neither is strictly better than the other, only better for a certain application. There are also a great deal of other alignments besides just sealed and ported.

I feel the same way.

I have owned excellent sealed, ported and PR subs in the past. The best happened to be the JL Audio Fathom F113 which is sealed but I have heard in a showroom a pair of Wilson Audio XS Subs and they blew my mind and are ported.
Aerial makes and excellent ported sub as well so I think the designer and builder have a lot more to do with what makes a better sub than just ported or sealed.

For DIY I prefer sealed so far as watts are cheap now and the enclosures are easier to make. I have never built a ported sub but have made a PR design which I am going to compare to the same driver in a sealed box. I definitely need to make a ported sub soon so I can see if I am missing out.

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SteveCallas

· #7 · Aug 8, 2009

spanish said:
Maybe a PR design sub has the best of the ported and sealed design subs, any opinions?

Not really. It has the steepest rolloff of all 3, the distortion around tuning will be higher than ported, and what seems to be ignored is that a lage enclosure improves subwoofer performance. Using a PR to get some of the benefits of ported while getting away with a small enclosure is a compromise.

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tcarcio

· #8 · Aug 8, 2009 (Edited)

I am alway's surprised to hear some people say things like that. It is so closed minded. I have both kind of subs and as mentioned they both work well in certain environments. I even have sealed and ported subs running at the same time and I get a great response according to my sms-1.

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mgboy

· #9 · Aug 8, 2009

You should probably tell your "expert speaker builder" friend that he is no expert, at all. Unless he wants to qualify his statement without any generalizations but, as been said here - there is no single best.

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spanish68

· #10 · Aug 8, 2009

SteveCallas, yes I heard of a PR's subs having a steeper rolloff than ported or sealed subs. The distortion of the PR sub being higher that the ported at tuning, I did not know that, the difference is minimal, right? I've heard of quite a few people having port noises when pushing the sub hard, even some that are lower tuned so I guess that's one disadvantage of the ported design. Also, in my case due to space limits and WAF I had to go with the PR design. Like it has been mentioned before, each sub design has its strenghts and weaknesses.

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SteveCallas

· #11 · Aug 8, 2009

Yes, the steeper rolloff and distortions are minimal - I'm speaking more from an idealistic standpoint. A PR is a good solution for many to get what they want in the space they want, but it doesn't have the best from each design.

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jambam

· #12 · Aug 10, 2009

I too before only thought that sealed subs were the only subs for audio use. But recently i heard a big ported sub prove me wrong !!

One must try and experience things before concluding

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sub_crazy

· #13 · Aug 11, 2009

On this topic I just finished comparing my pair of Audiopulse Axis 12", 1 was in a sealed 1.4 cu ft and the other was in approx 2.5 cu ft with a Mach 5 18" passive.

They were both driven by QSC PLX amps but the sealed box was fed twice the power. They were both placed in the same exact location and eq'ed with a SMS-1 to be flat and the levels matched.

I ran through the usual tests from Master & Commander to LFDH and a few DTS demo discs.

It should come as no surprise to most that the PR box played lower and louder with less strain. As far as SQ with music and movies they were about the same except when things starting getting really loud, you could then hear the sealed begin to struggle.

I was actually much more impressed with the PR box with the Axis then I was with the same set-up and the 12" TC2K which the box was initially made for. I eventually will make a ported box for the Axis to try out as well, I just need to figure out what would work out best for this driver, any thoughts?

If space is a concern then the Axis 12" in a small box is an excellent performer, you just need to add some boost and a lot of power unless you have a small room. I am actually blown away by the Axis in a small box and I normally run a Mal-X so I am hard to impress.

You can check out some pics of the 2 subs at the thread I started to find some options for a ported alignment.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...audiopulse-axis-12-worth-port.html#post180197

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