While repairing the subwoofer setup in my wife's IS300 Sportcross I wondered how much of a difference sealed and ported enclosures made as well as their orientation.
After years of using different subs, sizes, box types (sealed, ported, bandpass, isobaric, etc). As a bass lover a sealed 15 is the way to go for nearly all genres.
I'm looking for a good sounding subwoofer setup I want clean clear punchy deep bass that completes the music playing not just overly loud blasting bass that overpowers the music What box setup and size subwoofer do you recommend for this ? I've heard that 6.5 and 8 inches play better sounding bass because it's smaller and is faster producing more accurate bass is that true ?
I’m still using the same subwoofer I bought in high school back in 2005. The infinity kappa 12 vq. I love that thing. It just goes from car to car to car lol.
Same with my Kappa 6.5 Components. They've been in 4 cars now. Lucky for me that happens to be a pretty popular size over the years so it's saved me having to keep buying new ones. In my SVT Focus, I had 4 Alpine Type R 6x8. They were also great speakers.
Ported can go much lower if tuned properly but sealed will offer better sound quality and accuracy. However it’s still possible to go low with a sealed box but you’ll have to build the box very large. For example, my friend and I built a 3.25 cu ft sealed box for a kicker 12 inch sub and it peaked around 28hz.
I have done all these same tests as you and got the same results too. Rear facing always seems to improve "in-car" performance. Ported for more loose low end. Sealed for more accurate punchy bass. However, ive now gone for completely old-school method. I made up a 25mm thick parcel shelf which fits tightly and seals the entire hatch to form a very large sealed box effectively. I have 2x 12's in the shelf and for me its the best sound over all. Very punchy tight bass and insanely loud if you want it to be. For me offering the best Clarity overall combind with the other speakers in the car.
Old school is right! Back in 1987 I did 2 12" woofers in the rear package shelf of my 77 Trans Am. It sounded sooooo good and looked BAD ASS considering at the time people were used to seeing 6x9's back there. lol Then in 1990 I ended up building a solid wood panel behind the rear seat of the family sedan and sealing off the package shelf. I loaded 2 15 inch woofers onto that wood panel behind the upper seat cushion. It literally shook the car at 15-20hz like Godzilla picked up the car and was shaking it back and forth. LOL Now I have an "old school" Infinity 12" sub circa 2005 in a sealed box. TIGHT and LOW! Edit: Forgot info!
@@srp365 only useful if the mains actually dig 50hz and the 6x9's wouldn't reach that low with authority. Amateurs usually cross the mains and sub right at the port tuning of the mains rather than an octave before that so as to nullify the different phase of the port. The low pass and the high pass should coincide at the same desired slope in order for the sound to sum up well.
All you need is more power. The sealed box offers much better clarity than the ported box. My first box was an old school bandpass box. It was very loud compared to a sealed box but I hated it. I learned a long time ago that amp powered speakers and a powerful sealed sub offers the sound quality I want in a system.
I agree with you personally I prefer sealed I'll take Clarity and accuracy over loud all day long and like you said all you need is either more power or in my case inefficient speaker my sub sensitivity level is 92 which means that they don't take a whole lot of power to push but you know you have guys who don't care how the bass sounds as long as it's loud and shaking s*** they happy
You may also want to look at the Cerwin Vega Vpas 12st. It's a donut style sub enclosed with a built in amp. JBL also makes one called the JBL Bass pro Hub. They literally fit in your trunk or hatch in the recess of the spare tire. Totally stealth and leaves you with all of the space in your car. I have the Cerwin Vega, and it sounds really good. Back in the day I had a full on system, and this doesn't give me buyer's remorse. Like you, I have neighbors to consider, and also I'm not in my late teens and early twenties anymore. LOL. I don't need to shake the ground.
THANKs!!after weeks of back and forth your video just convinced me to go sealed and face them to the rear,i have 2 jbl GT bass pro 12 s now ,i had bought/built a custom sealed box and ive been wanting to transplant the woofers and amps for awhile but wasnt sure,thanks!
like the practical approach. Sealed. It's hard to get low. If you really want to go low, you need ported. As long as it is very well designed, a ported can sound accurate and fast, as far as I know of. Correct me if I am wrong. Do sealed boxes really sound more accurate than ported? Or, can a well designed ported sound just as accurate and fast response and get lower?
Ive gotten very low with sealed boxes in the past, not so much today. Back in 2003 ish I had the first kicker Comp VR 12s (the ones with the flame on the cap). Had them in a Q logic sealed box and they murdered the lows in the 20-30hz range. Seemed the lower it went the louder they hit. Powered by a kicker 400 watt mono amp. Same in 2007 with my single CVR 12 in a sealed hatch box powered by a phoenix gold XS 2150 (75wx2) bridged to it. Fast forward and I cant seem to find anything that slams the lows anymore, sealed or ported. Everything drops off below 35hz. Tried multiple amps, different subs amd its the same. Tried CompR 12s and the low lows were non existant, even when I tried them in the ported kicker box they came in. When a low low note hit you couldnt feel a thing.i slammed way lower with Pioneer IMPP 12s back in the in the late 90s with less than 300 watts going to them. I have a JBL 1001ez rated at 1000rms but does quite a bit more (1342 certified according the the SMD Dyno). The 500 watt version (the 501ez) did 717 certified when Steve Meade tested it on the amp dyno. I dont know if its the amps that dont go low or what. I remember when the first class d amps came out and how they didnt really hit the low lows. Heck my single Orion XTR 12 on an old alpine 2 channel back in 2000 hit the lows harder than my friends two crystal 15s with a huge earthquake class D. His was super loud but when something with a really low note hit there was nothing. You could hear it but not feel it at 20-25hz like my single orion xtr 12 in a sealed hatch box. At 35hz and up his system made mine sound like a clock radio lol. Right now I have 4 american bass 8s in my truck under the seat facing forward with my jbl 1001ez and its not very impressive at all. I expected alot more from four 8s with that much power. When something really low hits the cones barely moves. 45-50hz is pretty strong though. It seems they just dont make subs like they used to unless you have shit tons of power going to them and they are in a massive enclosure.
@@Jackmerius_Tacktheretrix I gotta say My L7 from 2007 destroyed the new L7s, skar sdr-12, ddx-12, and I remember my sisters dual 12” pioneers back in 2003 were fire and better than any system I’ve heard other than my 2007 L7. Pretty anecdotal but I am wondering what I can do to be happy. Currently running a ported ddx-12 at 1,200w in a skar ported box with armor spray or whatever. It just sounds the same as the sdr in the prefab box on 800w, maybe slightly worse. Im thinking trying one more ddx in a sealed box, idk. If that doesn’t work I’m just getting 4 90$ pioneer subs in a 4 way sealed box with 3k amp or something that has to hit lol
I just picked this sub up for $80 and a custom sealed box for my accord for only $40. Never had a sealed setup so this is literally perfect. Same exact sub.
Add fiber fill. I did this to my sealed box and was able to tune to 35hz. Every box and sub pairing is different so some experimentation is necessary...
Sorry took so long to give advice, sealed will require more power for it to be louder than ported, but as you can see, even now its super cleaner and a flat responce, which is better for a variety of genres, i would say either buy another of same ampand use each one for each coil or get a really powerful one and drop the gain almost completely and your have no distortion and an amazing headroom on your good sub,plus also use subsonic filter to cut out frequencies which u dont use it will clean up the sound even further.
Running the sub at higher power in a proper built to spec ported box will sound better all around. Only real benefits to sealed are space and power handling. You can tune a ported box lower if you want better lows.
Ported hits deeper bass. As far as sealed, if you notice that when you open your car window the bass sounds better. Well, that's because your car has become a speaker box and the open window is the port. By the way, if you have a dual voice coil sub you need to wire both sides in order to get the full power of the sub. It will also possibly draw more power from your amp if you wire the dual dual voice coils down to 2 ohms. You're definitely a car stereo rookie and should do some research before buying and installing.
Get correct size box for ported and sealed and retest!! Just look at size of each box and think? Ported box always needs more air space with correct port size and length!!
I think if you don't mind using up a lot of the space you have you would be very happy with a 1/4 wave transmission line box. They are known to have a great flat bandwidth of a sealed box but more of the output of a ported.
My dog!!! You done went the whole day with at least 1 homie there and had half of your collar folded backwards lmfao!!! Great video man, I listen to a lot of classic rock and reggae music and have a ported box. What you said about the “punch” with that type of sound is right! With my ported box it’s just not where the sound should hit. Very mushy like you said. I am going to build a sealed box today. Thanks for the info!
I have a 2015 VW beetle hatchback. I've tried every position and I found that mine sounds good on the side wall facing the other side. So sideways. DB competition 10" in a ported to spec's and it hits hard and sounds good on rock, country and hip-hop music.
sealed can get low add more power and try no poly fill i fould that in some boxes the poly fill takes away some of the lower fqz. every headunit, amp, speaker, box and car is different and you must experiment to find the best setup.
Yeah that prefab tweaker box has no air space for that skar and god knows what that port is tuned to. Probably 45 or 50 hz. Download the car audio app and use the box building calculator. My sundown sa12 displaces .14 cubic feet and needs 3 cubic feet in a ported enclosure. Try it.
I’m going to spring in for a skar rp2000.1d. Then slightly overpower my bro’s 2 old 10 inch subs and upgrade to 2 skar ddx12s in a sealed box and stuff to taste the sealed box. I prefer a linear sounding bass over a peaky bass.
I'd never mount a driver on one of those prefab "sealed boxes" with carpeting all the way up to where driver is mounted, that's not a true seal, you'll have air leaks.
Good stuff you need an amp with more power better speak a wire, and perhaps two subs, more highly rated and then get the amplifier and tune it until you get the best results and then that’ll be sweep spot because something missing off the tuning to the car not the box itself it Hass to be tuned to the carand then in business, I know I’ve been through it
I love the way you compared the subs. I do wish you did facing up, but it doesn’t really matter I suppose. It would be cool to see how a 15 sealed would do compared to the sealed 12 for low notes and metal.
Response in box size and tuning if ported !! Correct box makes all the difference!! Frequency response is the box being built correct!! Speaker size doesn’t matter except for spl !!
I prefer 10" in sealed box. I listen to mostly metal and rock and the speed of the 10 keeps up better than 12 or 15"speakers do in my personal experience.
@@rxtuninginc8444 I used 2 12's sealed on separate boxes for both 60-'s70's rock and classical music. I don't really listen to pop but when I do, it's from a fm radio at work serving as background noise.
I think his sub has 2 2ohm voice coils. If he used both then it will be wired at 4ohms, which is more resistance. If he only used one terminal it is wired to 2ohms, which is less resistance, meaning more power. My Skar sub is the same way
What size of sealed box enclosure is ideal for one 12 inch sub woofer, power rated 2000 watts rms, model number DB SA302D2 ? Plz suggest the dimensions
So basically this video just proves that you shouldn't buy a cheap box if you want your sub to hit low. I'm no expert or anything, but lower frequencies require more power as well, so you would probably want a more powerful amp. Were you hooked up to the stock radio? Factory roll offs bass pretty bad in a lot of cars.
I'll never run anything but sealed, ported is all washed out and lacks frequency response. Sealed is more accurate, has a much better frequency range and punches harder. I run four 12's in 100% airtight boxes of the exact internal volume specified and they hurt :)
Ported is only for people who want to rattle the shit out of their car. Sealed is better for actually listening to music. Only if the box is properly sealed and the correct size.
@@davidperry4013 they’re also quieter and you can’t usually pound on the subs like you can in a potted enclosure because there is no constant flow of cool air to cool the voicecoils down. There are def more downsides to sealed than ported. My 2 sdr 12’s from Skar are so tight and punchy they are more responsive than any sealed box I’ve ever had and still produce the output of a ported enclosure. A lot of it depends on the sub quality as well. You can have a quality musical ported enclosure.
Don’t worry that poor little cheap box well more than handle that 300 watt sub. 🤣. Skar always juices up their junk. I sold my tens for a single audiopipe 12. But not just any 12. A 750. Lmao. It’s a true 700 watt sub with a true 700 watt amp. Smokes a skar 15 any day. Unfortunately they are garbage speakers. But this really isn’t a fair test bc the boxes aren’t to spec with the subs. They have to both be tuned to the specs they require
Cap I’ve heard 2 12s by audiopipe with a 1200 watt amp and my skar 12 sdr with the 800 watt amp shits on those 12s I have the amp pretty high sometimes and it takes it no problem amp gets a little hot but that’s it
I say.. This guy is from Kansas ...sp that says something at mark one... This video was a waste of electricity, time and I want a refumd on my internet usage for watching this...
