sealed box for home theater?

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

I have a 15" avalanche in a 2.5^3ft sealed box. Is this box HT ready or will I need a larger size box? I was thinking about buying a low tuned ported box for HT use, but if I can just use what I have then I will stick with it in the future.
What is actually better for HT, sealed or ported?

Just build a large ported enclosure tuned between 16 - 18 hz for that beast. They make great ported HT subs. The enclosure for home is just like for the car. Neither is better in terms of end all performance. It depends on many factors. Budget, Size of room, Driver specs, Power, etc.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

If you look at most home theater rooms that are designed just for HT most use huge sealed boxes with lots of drivers or go infinite baffle. When you buy a 12 or 15 already built they are usaully ported to get more output out of a smaller box.

 

[chargers 10+ year member]

It all depends on how much amplifier power you have to feed it and what application you're going to use it for mostly. Mostly movies or music too?? If you have sufficient power I would stay with the sealed. If you need more efficiency I would think about a ported box.


BTW.............sweet avatar.

It'll be used heavily, usually every day:

40% games - (mainly guitar hero), very important

40% movies - very important

20% music - important, but not as much as movies or games

If I should use a sealed box, what size should I build? Like I said, I already have a 2.5 cubic foot box. Will my current box be fine?

Also, what kind of amp should I get for my sub and how many watts? I'm new to this, so I'll only be building a cheap 7.1 setup for less than $800 for my small bedroom.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

Stick it in there and see how it sounds if you already have the box. As for an amp, check out some plate amps from PE. Just get the biggest one you can afford. http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?Webpage_ID=3&CAT_ID=43&ObjectGroup_ID=505 I for one though prefer to use a seperate power amp, like one that sits on your shelf with seperate processing.

 

[Crown_amps]

Most high end home theater subs have sealed enclosures.
All the top Velodyne's do, so do the new HT subs from JL Audio.

ya but thats really pricey yo for what i payed my bass stage on my ht pleases me

all ya really need is a good plate amp and a ported box i have the EXTACT same sub [ differnt coil tho\]

ported is 1.5 cf @ 32 hz [read on medium size rooms you dont need to tune to 20hz]

and the sealed is 1.2 sealed front firing BOTH are still under the box size alpine says and i can really only listen to the ported on it still has a lot of sq due to the low power application of use

type s 12 and i HATE it sealed it sucks for music or movies sure it will be a lil more solid on punchy notes but i rather get looooooooooooooooooooooooooooow and still have a lil punch . //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

but thats just me i have never been a big fan of sealed boxes in general

 

[bigbirney420 10+ year member]

Most high end home theater subs have sealed enclosures.
All the top Velodyne's do, so do the new HT subs from JL Audio.

Thats not true at all, I own a Velodyne and have had a Klipsch and Definitive Technology and they are all ported. Some of the really high end stuff like the Sunfire Cube and others use a Passive system, one side of cube has active sub and the opposite side will be passive but they are not sealed. Most HT subs are larger and ported, but tuned a lot lower.

 

[chargers 10+ year member]

Stick it in there and see how it sounds if you already have the box. As for an amp, check out some plate amps from PE. Just get the biggest one you can afford. http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?Webpage_ID=3&CAT_ID=43&ObjectGroup_ID=505 I for one though prefer to use a seperate power amp, like one that sits on your shelf with seperate processing.

Ok.

As far as amps, I have been looking at the Partsexpress amps for a while and was looking at the 1000w and 500w amps. But the avalanche's is only 800wrms, will it be fine with 1000? Otherwise I will just stick with the 500w.

I did push the ava with as much as 1500wrms from a PG tantrum, but I am new to home audio and I want to be careful not to blow anything starting out.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

I have a Velodyne F 1000 that is sealed with a 10" driver and an 80 watt internal amp. I have it in a corner and I have more bass then I thought I'd ever need. It's only weakness is that it struggles out in the middle of the room.
Oh and did I mention I've had it since '94.

i lost the amp in mine, which was weird. it has the 1000 watt rms internal amp. sent it in to velodyne and they had it back within the week. awesome customer service.

with my sealed box, i too have way more bass than i need. it is always turned way down, and even at that it is wanging at appropriate times.

i got the bass dialed in to where you have no traces of it when there isnt supposed to be, no thunder when a door is slammed, no pounding when someone is walking on hardwood, no feedback when talking. that is something i have found it way harder to do with a ported enclosure in a home setup.

 

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

Ok.
As far as amps, I have been looking at the Partsexpress amps for a while and was looking at the 1000w and 500w amps. But the avalanche's is only 800wrms, will it be fine with 1000? Otherwise I will just stick with the 500w.

I did push the ava with as much as 1500wrms from a PG tantrum, but I am new to home audio and I want to be careful not to blow anything starting out.

I'm sure the 1000 would be fine for that. (I have one for sale too)

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209438

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

i got the bass dialed in to where you have no traces of it when there isnt supposed to be, no thunder when a door is slammed, no pounding when someone is walking on hardwood, no feedback when talking. that is something i have found it way harder to do with a ported enclosure in a home setup.

I have a friend that has the thundering car doors and POUNDING foot steps. Pounding foot steps would be ok in Jurassic Park but not if its just some guy walking across the room. HT bass is a much more exact science than most people think. I had to move my sub around a bunch of times before I found a happy medium for music and movies. Some locations were very efficient but turned out to be too much for music and sounded muddy. Some locations sounded nice and tight and accurate for music but lacked in low end impact for movies. I now have it just out of the corner and I'm getting the best that I can get for BOTH applications. It helps that it's servo-controlled. I have thought about getting a second sub that I just use for movies. Like one of those combos from Parts Express and I can put it where it has the most impact. Then I can put my Velodyne where it sounds the most accurate and use it for just music playback.

 

[chargers 10+ year member]

I'm sure the 1000 would be fine for that. (I have one for sale too)

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209438

$300 seems way too much for me right now.. maybe if the price was a little lower.

But I am also watching an amp right now that might sell for less than $200 soon.

I'm nearly sold on building a new HT system. When I buy a new car, I'll get back into car audio.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

What is the VC config of the Avalanche?

 

[chargers 10+ year member]

What is the VC config of the Avalanche?

d2.

Will I have to get a d4 sub? If so, that will ****ing ****... and I probably won't make a HT system because I will be spending more money than I want to.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Post your woofer T/S specs.

Add this amp to your list of candidates. Class D. ~ $250

http://www.thebuttkicker.com/buttkicker%20amplifier_home.html

Guts;

http://home.pacbell.net/lordpk/proamps/buttkicker.jpg

Recent review of the amp driving Brahma 15's.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=807801

 

[chargers 10+ year member]

All avalanches are d2 and I have definitely seen them in at least three HT setups. So I don't think vc configuration matters with my ava, right?

I don't have the T/S specs and they are hard to find on this forum.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Edit: found a picture with a 12" ava:

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2253770&postcount=229