Ported or Sealed?

[ranger098]

I have read different threads on different forums and hear equally that both are better, so which is it? I am talking about in a BOAT application. I personally prefer ported in my truck, and have a good amount of experience making ported and sealed boxes for auto applications. I really believe that ported works well in cars becuase of the cabin pressure created, so what happens in the open area of a boat? I am installing one 12" sub at the driver's feet of my 04 X2. I know ported is a bigger box, and am willing to make the bigger box if it will produce more volume, just as in a car application. My concern is that the sub will tend to 'Fart' and distort without the cabin pressure of a car. Thanks all!

[David Analog]

Your assessment of why a ported woofer works in a car is way off. But that's okay.
Ported (bass-reflex) offers similar overall output as compared to a sealed (air suspension)enclosure. Let me explain.
Sealed typically has a bit better transient response. Sealed rolls off earlier, more gradually, but ultimately extends deeper.
Ported is a tuned circuit that sacrifices output & extension well below the meat of the bass but gives you more output (+3dB in a conservative alignment) throughout the most coveted bass region and provides an extra one/third octave of low bass extension before reaching its half power point.
You can manage what you want a bass-reflex enclosure to be. You can have a one note resonator with a giant boost over a narrow peak range (SPL monster) or you can create a well-damped broad-band linear response for SQ.
A majority of the world's most expensive esoteric home speakers are bass-reflex (many selling for nearly $200K per pair). Believe me, those owners will not accept anything but perfection. So saying that one sounds better than the other is nonsense. The difference is absolutlely in the driver/enclosure selection and the execution.
No, a bass-reflex enclosure will not 'Fart' if done correctly.

[MLA]

Originally Posted by David Analog

Your assessment of why a ported woofer works in a car is way off. But that's okay.
Ported (bass-reflex) offers similar overall output as compared to a sealed (air suspension)enclosure. Let me explain.
Sealed typically has a bit better transient response. Sealed rolls off earlier, more gradually, but ultimately extends deeper.
Ported is a tuned circuit that sacrifices output & extension well below the meat of the bass but gives you more output (+3dB in a conservative alignment) throughout the most coveted bass region and provides an extra one/third octave of low bass extension before reaching its half power point.
You can manage what you want a bass-reflex enclosure to be. You can have a one note resonator with a giant boost over a narrow peak range (SPL monster) or you can create a well-damped broad-band linear response for SQ.
A majority of the world's most expensive esoteric home speakers are bass-reflex (many selling for nearly $200K per pair). Believe me, those owners will not accept anything but perfection. So saying that one sounds better than the other is nonsense. The difference is absolutlely in the driver/enclosure selection and the execution.
No, a bass-reflex enclosure will not 'Fart' if done correctly.

Where's the "like" button when you need it.

Like David said, a ported will yield more output. But, not every woofer performs or sounds best in a ported. Some woofers do better in a sealed, some in a ported and some are middle of the road and go both ways. Ported and sealed also sound different. Some people like one over the other.

[BudmanV24]

One factor I've always thought about is that a sealed enclosure should keep the woofer dryer...since I know a lot of ppl use non marine subs.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by ranger098

I have read different threads on different forums and hear equally that both are better, so which is it? I am talking about in a BOAT application. I personally prefer ported in my truck, and have a good amount of experience making ported and sealed boxes for auto applications. I really believe that ported works well in cars becuase of the cabin pressure created, so what happens in the open area of a boat? I am installing one 12" sub at the driver's feet of my 04 X2. I know ported is a bigger box, and am willing to make the bigger box if it will produce more volume, just as in a car application. My concern is that the sub will tend to 'Fart' and distort without the cabin pressure of a car. Thanks all!

Where do you want to place the box? If it's in an area where the floor, side panels and other surfaces act as a boundary for the acoustic output, these boundaries will act to boost the low frequency output, so it may not be necessary to use a vented design. However, this doesn't mean you can use the same driver. Woofers designed for sealed don't work for vented and vice-versa and one of the Theile-Small parameters can be used to ball-park this (Qts), in order to scan through the wide variety of woofers. In a placement like this, a sealed enclosure can do a better job than vented, especially if the port tuning results in a large peak.

[David Analog]

Originally Posted by BudmanV24

One factor I've always thought about is that a sealed enclosure should keep the woofer dryer...since I know a lot of ppl use non marine subs.

That's definitely true if the woofer uses a paper cone whether or not it is behind an exterior poly dustcap.

[Greenster]

Keep it sealed for marine applications. If you build it correctly then you will have more than enough good clean bass. Look on the hometheatershack forum for a lot of great info.

[bsloop]

IF you have read other threads, good info but nothing that has not been said in every other thread.

Ported is my preference for non-salt water applications. A decently designed box will not fart but will provide the boom most people are looking for. Sealed will often leave you wanting more.
Go 12" vs 10" if at all possible.
Look for speakers with rubber surround and plastic cone for minimal problems.

[skitilldark]

I'm certainly no where near the expert level of those who have already weighed in, but I can tell you though that I have a ported enclosure on my front 10" sub, and a non ported on the rear 12" (same brand) and the 10 kicks the crap out of the 12.

[markismm]

I have had three different subs in my boat and all required different enclosures. MY most recent sub is s kicker solobaric L7 12. I built a box for it sealed and one for it ported. The ported box ended up providing a lot more sound in the open air than the sealed box. I certainly prefer this sub in a ported box. Again, those who have indicated that the sub itself should dictate the type of enclosure are correct though as my two prior subs performed and sounded much better in a sealed box. What type of sub are you running?