[JRJOHNKC]

Bandpass, ported, sealed... ?

What is everyone's preference when it comes to sub enclosures? Bandpass, ported, or sealed...???

I personally have always been partial to bandpass enclosures, because I used to have 2 Cerwin Vega 10's in a bandpass box. I'm currently trying to figure out which way to go this time and was curious on your opinions since I've never had ported or sealed... :shrug:

 

[Guest]

I think the sealed box would give you the lowest bass and SQ would be at a premium. The bandpass gives you a little more boom and if designed right will go as low as a sealed box and still have reasonable transient response. Ported and bandpass boxes are loud but they cant ever achieve that healthy bottom end of a sealed box.

 

[EDawg99]

it all depends on what you want out of your system, if you just want it to sound really loud, go with ported or bandpass. if you want it to sound good, go with sealed. just my .02

i personally have a sealed box and it is still freakin loud.


-Eric

 

[tropiccougar01]

Porting all the way. Larger boxes, but a lot louder, and you can tune the port to certain hertz so you can decide what type of bass u want.

 

[crazyoldcougar]

i would have to say go with the sealed...unless of course you like the loud obnoxious unpleasent sound of off key...resonating...distorted sounds of a ported or BP..Sealed gives the truest more harmonic sound...your call but my sealed 12 is just as loud or probably even louder then my two ported tens...and it sounds a whole lot cleaner...also on the plus side it takes up a lot less room...

 

[mercurycougar]

I have two 12's in a sealed box and 2 12's in a ported box. But I haven't had both hooked up at the same time. Maybe this will achieve a medium

 

[99CouGSweetRide]

don't do bandpass. I've known two people who've had it and it sounds like @$$. Go sealed!

Mike

 

[Guest]

i now have a sealed 12s and i totally love it...
they say that you give up volume with a sealed but my 1 12 sounds louder than my 2 10s... not from me but from the people giving me dirty looks...

 

[Lukydogg]

Well I say all of them work for whatever application needed. Just depends on what sound is desired. But I prefer a simple small sealed enclosure, even though the one I have right now is ported. The sealed type is designed to make the most out of a smaller amplifer because the air suspension helps build up pressure inside the enclosure. I belive the sealed creates the best bass guitar and drum kick sounds. A ported enclosure blows all the pressure out at a tuned frequency which needs more power to force the air out and make up for the suspension loss. Most used in SPL competitions to create the loudest sound. Tuning the port is the main concern because you can make it sound terrible with just an inch difference in the lenght and diameter of the port itself- and as where its located on the enclosure. Bandpass has better low response but no high end punch. More suited for music with alot of low end bass. Most lesser subs are blown out because you cant hear any of the distortion that the bandpass creates. A high end "flea market" seller because they boom the loudest in an open room and hide the distortion.

 

[99Cat]

As said above...sealed does the clearest/tightest jobs. But bandpass gives you that big thumping sound that you can hear 4 blocks away.

 

[99CouGSweetRide]

Originally posted by: 99Cat
As said above...sealed does the clearest/tightest jobs. But bandpass gives you that big thumping sound that you can hear 4 blocks away.

that's really annoying. I guess if you're into competing you get that, because I like to hear music with my bass.

Mike

 

[topgunz1]

sealed. tight response that can still boom WAYYY down low

 

[b]

ported.
and if you like to hear some music with your bass then get another amp and some good components.
and if ported boxes are built right, they do NOT sound sloppy like the impression im getting from a couple people

 

[JRJOHNKC]

Ok, so I bought a Q-Logic sealed box for a RF HX2 12" sub (500w RMS) powered by a RF 400S amp (it was given to me by a friend)... Will that amp do the trick or is it underpowered???

 

[99Cat]

First, I thought you had two 10's...now you have a box for one 12...unless you're using just the amp. :shrug:

What Cerwin Vega's are they...and that might help ya out.

 

[Guest]

he used to have CV's... now he got RF set up...

that RF amp, is that 400 # indicate max output or continuous?
for the best performance, you should give that subs 500 watts.

 

[JRJOHNKC]

Originally posted by: Sharkie17
he used to have CV's... now he got RF set up...

that RF amp, is that 400 # indicate max output or continuous?
for the best performance, you should give that subs 500 watts.

Thanks Shark... I was thinking of buying the RF 400S (400w x 1 RMS in bridged mode) to save a little $jack$... But I guess I could spend a little more and go with the RF 500S (500w x 1 RMS) to push my sub... :thumbsup:

 

[blades2iceman]

A Bandpass box will always give you the lowest bass but at the cost of space in the car. A sealed box the least. It will take MORE power to reproduce any given frequency in a sealed box due to the resistance to air movement within the box because......its SEALED! Ported and Bandpass boxes don't cause subs to blow because they force the sub to move so much air (this is backwards thinking). If anything they blow because most people who think they want really loud bass (which is wrong in my opinion, because you should want low bass, and thqt is something you don't hear) give the subs too much power and since in ported and bandpass boxes there is LESS resistance to the movement of the sub they fail. If you want low bass with less response go with bandpass (at the cost of your entire trunk if you want the bandpass box to be good). If you want exceptional response at the cost of low bass (which in most peoples cases will be 10-20 Hz in comparison to ported. In the low end this is quite a lot but for most people quite acceptable) go with the sealed. If you want a combination of the two with not that much more sacrifice in space as compared to the sealed go with ported.
Any sub is going to sound like crap if you have a box that has not been built well.

 

[drummerboy827]

Just a comment on matching subs to amps... I like to personally have the sub to be able to handle a lot more then the amp can put out this way there's no way it will blow by running it hard for a long time. In my old truck i had a 600rms profile amp and a 1000 watt rms audiobahn 12 in a sealed box i bought from one of those trade shows for 30 bucks. This was louder then any of my friends who bought 2 crappy 12s from best buy easy. if ur gonna go with 1 sub get a 12

 

[VHull03]

i had sealed originally... loved the tight bass. then went to ported (audiobahn techies recommendations) did not support it, too loose.
so im goin to sealed fiberglass.

i prefer bass that is felt more than heard. with the sealed you could feel the bass rattling your head and the ground and anything within a half mile radius... then with the ported it was :tonguepppp and you could hear more of the car rattling instead of subs.