I was having a conversation the other day with a friend of mine about the differences between to the two types of Sub enclosure. What it basically came down to other than a difference in size... a ported enclosure will sound louder than a sealed one for the same given power and wattage with all else being equal.

Because of my sub needs (just a little kick to my music) and the idea I had for mounting it.. I am limited to roughly three quarters of a square foot.. a little bit more than I would need for a either a ported 8 inch sub or a sealed 10 inch.. but not enough for a ported 10.

With with that in mind, how much louder and smoother do you think a ported 8 inch sub would be over a sealed 10? All else being equal in terms of speaker make, power, and wattage pumped through the system.

 

I would go with the 10in sealed for sure. I think ported boxes only gain you another 3-6 decibels anyway. Ported gives you the louder sound because the sub can flex just a little more than it could in a sealed box. Since the sub will flex a little more it wont last you as long, but for comps it would be worth it.The 10 will hit those lower tones better than an 8in. And because its still only a 10, it should give you a nice punch for non-rap/techno music.

I think those numbers are right, can anyone verify?

 

Maybe what i'm about to say is non relevant to this question.

You have:

1) Ported subs
2) Sealed subs
3) Ported subs, but with passive radiator

The diffrence betweeen 1 and 3 is that you don't have the "woeshhh" from the port from air rushing through, because the passive radiator vibrates on the same frequency as the woofer. It creates a less "boomy port" effect because there's no air travelling through the port but it's being absorbd by the passive radiator.

I've build one for my HT set, not for my car.
http://home.planet.nl/~oechi006/sub1.jpg (Woofer)
http://home.planet.nl/~oechi006/sub2.jpg (Passive radiator)

 

hmm, i would go for a super small box and port a 10 you just have to find the speaker that will allow you to go small. they are a few out there. but i'd port and 8 solo-baric

 

Mad, I agree with all of what has been recommended to you so far, But I have to ask, where exactly are you planning on placing said enclosure??

I have designed mine to fit between the rear strut towers, under my kspec rear strut bar, and between the rear seat backs and my GK cargo net (where the 1st of two screws on each side hold the peice that the "shelf" sits on)

There is enough room in that roughly 12" x 12" x 35" space for my box (1.2497 CF) for a JL 12w6 (original model, sealed) plus a cap, two amps, two component crossovers (rear) and all the distribution. And I will still be able to access my spare, but just barely.

If you are planning on using that same space, you could probably fit a small volume ported 10" box plus an amp in the area behind just one of the seats.

 

sorry man, this is totally unique.. you are going to love it! Top secret stuff

 

Yea like tibwrcsbj said, go with JL, maybe like a w0 or w3, they need only little spaces to put out a big sound.

JL 10W3v2 needs about .7 cu ft sealed or 1 cu ft ported, so with that sub you could get away with having a 10in ported box. I still say go with a 10in sealed though.

 

Sealed is definately the way to go. Ported boxes need to be made correctly for them to sound good. Go to any local stereo shop and try out their ported subs. Chances are most of THEM doen't even sound that great! You may find one or two that do. They have to have the correct length and width for the port, correct placement of the port, and then it probably still needs to be tuned correctly. Also, to do ported, you really need to shop around for a sub that is designed for a ported encloser. And finally, good ported enclosers are tuned to hit hard for a specific low range, thats why you tune them. So if you are a rock junky, you tune it up, if your taste is Rap, you aim for the lower frequencies. In essence, you miss out on the entire range that the sub could generate if it where used in a sealed application.

Just my 2 cents. Well, probably 4 or 5 cents! smile.gif