i need to get a new box and am not sure what type to get. What box type is the best? What are the pros and cons of these three types? What is louder and clearer?

Thanks,
-Kevin

 

Most of it would depend on the type of sub your using. Me i would say sealed hits the best.

 

from what ive learned from sitting on the sidelines watching my friends tinker with their crap and what ive heard around, this is what ive come to:
sealed - good SPL, excellent sound quality when done correctly.

ported - good for a little more boom boom then sealed, but if your port length and diameter is off then your system isnt gonna be performing at its best.

bandpass - goes BOOM BOOM BOOM. nice for alot of things, however, they need to be built right in order to be the best.

like alot of things, boxes are really personal preference. if you want good sound quality then get a sealed box, if you want decent sound quality and some boom, and youre serious about making high SPL get a ported box. if you want big boom and are extremely serious about systems then get a bandpass box. i prefer sealed or ported boxes in our cars because bandpass boxes can get a little big.

i dont know if everything in this is right, but its what ive heard over time.

 

sealed = for the most part, nice tight bass.
ported = more spl generally, but the tuning band is narrower for playable frequency
bandpass= for the most part, use it with cheap subs, it hides distortion too well. take up alot of space.

the most important thing is BOX DESIGN. talk to someone who has done it alot, your favorite installer, the sub manufacturer, whoever.

adam

 

There are some generalizations that you can make on sound quality:

Sealed: Smoother response
Ported: higher output, deeper bass response, much sharper drop-off below port tuning frequency
bandpass: even higher output, even sharper dropoff below tuning frequency, and ABOVE upper frequency.

Generalizations on box size:
Sealed: Smallest box you can get with any particular sub
ported: larger than sealed. 30% to 50% larger on average
bandpass: AT LEAST twice the size of a sealed box, usually even bigger when you take the dimensions of the wood into account

Of course, different subs also tend to work better in different style enclosures. You can generally tell what type of enclosure your sub will work best in by determining the EBP (efficiency bandwidth product) by dividing the Qes by the Fs. A subwoofer An EBP of less then 45 is suggested for a sealed box and greater then 65 for a ported box.

Anyway, you can more or less rule out a bandpass enclosure in a thirdgen. They take up so much space that you're going to pay huge money for a custom box that can fit in the back. This leaves you with sealed or ported. There are pros and cons to each. Sealed will be a lot easier to build. As for sound quality, that's another subjective situation that no 2 people will ever agree on, but *generally* if you want a little extra bump, a ported enclosure is probably best, and if you want a smoother response with usable output in the lowest octave, then a sealed box is probably your best bet.

 

ive heard sealed , ported and my bandpass and so far i love bandpass. my friend has a ported box with 2 MTX subs and my other friend has 1 10 or 12 in jensen sub and well i have thge jensen bandpass box and out of the 3 mine is louder and is better.

 

how do you figure out what size ports you need

 

Thanks for of of the help. I'm going with the bandpass because i want a ton of bass. I probably should of mentioned that this is for my Tahoe, not my Thirdgen.

-Kevin

 

www.linearteam.org

DL WinISD and install it. Pic your sub from the list or add it if its not on the list (you will need the T/S parameters which the manufacturer should supply). You can get box size, port size and length, response curves etc.