hey guys just got my Q in today and it looks awesome, great build quality and pretty beefy. Im building a fiberglass enclosure for it in my integra and am trying to decide whether or not i want to give up the space for ported. Anybody with experience have any opinions? is it a world of difference between ported and sealed with this sub? Obviously ported is louder, but a lot? more sq sealed? etc..

thanks for any help

A properly built ported enclosure will sound better and louder than a sealed enclosure.

A properly built sealed enclosure will sound better and a ported enclosure will be louder.

Here, fixed it for ya!

I would deffinatley go ported, its worth it. Mine is ported and it sounds fantastic, and gets loud enough. As long as it is in the proper enclosure that is.

Wes

I had my Q12 in both a sealed and ported box. From my experience with a XXX 12, I assumed that they Q would like a ported box better.

Maybe its my box building skills, but I didn't quite get the gain that I expected from the ported box. It sounded great in both setups and you'll be happy either way.

For my personal tastes, I'm going back to a sealed box.

depends on your listening tastes and vehicle setup. different boxes are better for different vehicles. if you want sheer SQ and you're design skills aren't amazing, then a large sealed enclosure will yield some excellent SQ with ease. if you want to make a small range of frequencies boosted in loudness, then a ported box could be good for you assuming your vehicle can handle the size and such. a ported enclosure always has the drawback of frequencies playing below the tune sounding like crap and not being that efficient at higher bass frequencies. if you want to emphasize a range of frequencies so it gets quite loud in that range, then ported can be your friend. for an easy SQ box though, large sealed is your friend. for anything more than that, you'll hafto go to someone that knows bass better than i. i went to hexibase.com/forum and asked pete for help. he's a bass genius

Sealed enclosures also are less forgiving in your box building and in my opinion have the better transient response of the two enclosures... Bare in mind though sealed enclosures usually have a high cut off point and lower sensitivity.... Sealed usually requires more power to get as loud as a ported enclosure (mistakenly some people think that sealed enclosure means the sub can HANDLE more power when in reality it will require more power for it).

Ported systems IMO are ideal for one sub set ups since the port acts "like" the second sub...

I feel they have less distortion and can handle a bit more output within the tuning frequency.... Once outside the tuning Freq. distortion increases... Ported enclosures also increase the low extension and offer much better SPL output... BUT there is little to no room for error on building ported enclosures...

Last thing to note

Ported uses more space then sealed....

Edited March 13, 200718 yr by theabunai

A properly built sealed enclosure will sound better and a ported enclosure will be louder.

Here, fixed it for ya!

You didn't fix it for me, i meant what i said. In theory a properly built ported box will be cleaner sounding than a sealed box, at any given output level because for a sealed box to play at the same output level you are requiring more power and thus the amplifier is doing more work and creating more distortion, and the subwoofer is working harder, and therefore creating more distortion.

Lets look at it this way: ported enclosures are more efficient, more efficient speaker systems are cleaner, that is why compression horns are viewed so highly in the sq world.

*note that i said a PROPERLY BUILT PORTED ENCLOSURE, the ultimate enclosure for sq is infinite baffle for sheer frequency extension, but is even more complicated to build properly than a ported enclosure.

So there clarified and fixed for myself

see ive had many setups before....my last being a 12" RE Audio SX in a ported box and i was satisfied with the output. im trying to save some trunk space though and im building a fiberglass enclosure for my Q. I'm wondering whether to go through the trouble of porting it and using more room than id like, or to go sealed with it. Im looking for opinions based on the driver in these enclosures, i know all the benefits/disadvantages of each. I just was wondering how this sub performs in each in comparison

ok heres what its come down to:

Car: Acura Integra Hatchback

Amp: eD Nine.1 (1200 watts rms)

Sub: 12" FI Q

Enclosure: 1.2 ft^3 sealed OR 1.8 ft^3 ported (at whatever best frequency for this driver is)

which do yall recommend?

its a hatchback i'd try the 1.2 sealed... you may be surprised what the output is

the thing is...im making a fiberglass enclosure that will cost $75-100+ dollars. I dont want to just "try" an enclosure and be very disspointed with it. This is an enclosure that I will be using for months or even years. Will I be happier with 1.8 ported @ 32hz or so? Is 1.8 enough space for ported? if its not I think sealed might be the way to go for me. any opinions?

A properly built sealed enclosure will sound better and a ported enclosure will be louder.

Here, fixed it for ya!

You didn't fix it for me, i meant what i said. In theory a properly built ported box will be cleaner sounding than a sealed box, at any given output level because for a sealed box to play at the same output level you are requiring more power and thus the amplifier is doing more work and creating more distortion, and the subwoofer is working harder, and therefore creating more distortion.

Lets look at it this way: ported enclosures are more efficient, more efficient speaker systems are cleaner, that is why compression horns are viewed so highly in the sq world.

*note that i said a PROPERLY BUILT PORTED ENCLOSURE, the ultimate enclosure for sq is infinite baffle for sheer frequency extension, but is even more complicated to build properly than a ported enclosure.

So there clarified and fixed for myself

But what do you notice more...the lower THD produced by the speaker, or the hump in frequency response?

A properly built sealed enclosure will sound better and a ported enclosure will be louder.

Here, fixed it for ya!

You didn't fix it for me, i meant what i said. In theory a properly built ported box will be cleaner sounding than a sealed box, at any given output level because for a sealed box to play at the same output level you are requiring more power and thus the amplifier is doing more work and creating more distortion, and the subwoofer is working harder, and therefore creating more distortion.

Lets look at it this way: ported enclosures are more efficient, more efficient speaker systems are cleaner, that is why compression horns are viewed so highly in the sq world.

*note that i said a PROPERLY BUILT PORTED ENCLOSURE, the ultimate enclosure for sq is infinite baffle for sheer frequency extension, but is even more complicated to build properly than a ported enclosure.

So there clarified and fixed for myself

But what do you notice more...the lower THD produced by the speaker, or the hump in frequency response?

I hate the hump.

That said, I just ordered a fullyloaded 15" btl. For a Sq ported box.

ok back on topic...

is 1.8 ft^3 enough for a ported box for a 12" Q or would I be better off just using a 1.2 ft^3 sealed box?

Edited March 15, 200718 yr by Daher2323

ok back on topic...

is 1.8 ft^3 enough for a ported box for a 12" Q or would I be better off just using a 1.2 ft^3 sealed box?

Can you build a "temp" ported box out of MDF to see if you like the sound/output? If it's not what you like then glass up a sealed box....

cant really do that bc of time constraints. this is a one time deal so trying to find the best option for this. I know a lot of people have experience with this subwoofer...give me some input please

ive decided to go ported bc havent been able to get much advice with the sealed box. I'm looking at making it somewhere between 1.8-2.0 ft^3 @ 32hz. Is this a good tuning frequency and is this enough space for the driver?

If at all possible Daner keep the box around the 2.0 area (2.0 would be ideal)

You could tune around 32 ~ 33 hz and be amazed and what the output you'll get...