Just wondering why the majority of subwoofers have a lower QTS and designed more for a vented enclosure. Yes, you will see maybe +3db from a vented vs a sealed similar enclosure, but is that always that crucial? I've built plenty of sealed enclosures in the past that have sounded great, and had great curves. Plus the you have the advantage of a smooth roll off, and generally allows for higher power usage with its better cone control. Then you have to think that many users don't know about subsonic filters and freq tuning. I'm not being biased towards any enclosure, they all have their uses whether sealed, vented, band pass, isobaric, free air, etc but it just seems that back in the day manufactures offered more options for sealed enclosures, and these days everything is geared towards vented enclosures. Is this a trend for higher output levels or is there something I am missing.

Forgive me if I am not up to date on everything. In all honesty most of my experience was from the early '90's to the early '00's and just getting back into everything.

Edited December 12, 201113 yr by jdblya

Well, when you say sealed can handle more power yes it can mechanically.. but also many powerhouse subs use stiffer spiders to to combat mechanical issues when used in ported boxes so.. tada, problem solved there..

You will see ported designs in use today using 5kw per driver or more.. so when looking back at sealed.. i do not see a low QTS driver waiting to accept that kind of power.. why? because it would be inefficient.

I've ran sealed and just do not like it in the past. The low end is lacking. Ported can still offer very smooth rolloff and increased efficiency, just bandpass the x-overs properly and good to go.

Prolly 90% of consumers buy subs to get loud. Manufacturers build to sell.

My only grip with sealed is low end extension.

A sealed enclosure will be the smallest (for a given response shape) and will have good low frequency extension but may not have the best low frequency extension. If space is limited, this may be your best choice.

A ported enclosure will generally have a better low frequency extension for a given response shape (alignment) but would require a larger enclosure. If you made the enclosure as small as the sealed enclosure but ported it to gain the low frequency response, the output would deviate from the desired flat response.

If you can have higher efficiency, with more power output, the only drawback is a larger gross volume, isn't that a worthy compromise? Vented enclosures just add flexibility, removable/adjustable port designs for changing response and efficiency is a great thing. There is nothing wrong with sealed enclosures, but ported enclosures do everything a sealed enclosure does and more, why not use them?

If you can have higher efficiency, with more power output, the only drawback is a larger gross volume, isn't that a worthy compromise? Vented enclosures just add flexibility, removable/adjustable port designs for changing response and efficiency is a great thing. There is nothing wrong with sealed enclosures, but ported enclosures do everything a sealed enclosure does and more, why not use them?

But doesn't a sealed enclosure have a much flatter response then ported?

You can get a ported box to have as flat of a response as well and extend lower.

If you can have higher efficiency, with more power output, the only drawback is a larger gross volume, isn't that a worthy compromise? Vented enclosures just add flexibility, removable/adjustable port designs for changing response and efficiency is a great thing. There is nothing wrong with sealed enclosures, but ported enclosures do everything a sealed enclosure does and more, why not use them?

But doesn't a sealed enclosure have a much flatter response then ported?

Depends on the driver used, and the vented alignment being used with it.

I prefer ported because the potential to be louder and extend lower. A properly designed ported enclosure can have a flat response.

I still enjoy sealed -- I typically like very low F3 drivers, though, which either require a good bit of juice or a big box.

95% of my customers do run ported, though, for reference

Sealed boxes don't always have better mechanical power handling, especially above resonance (where they are intended to operate) of a vented alignment. Actually, sealed boxes often require more stroke, more distortion and greater thermal compression.... But sealed alignments are easier to build and get a flatter response out of. The debate on merits of each will go on for ever. I prefer vented most of the time because I do mostly home audio, and size isn't ever of concern... I have built probaly 100 sealed aligments in the past 20 years, so I wouldn't say I am totally biased...