Sealed or ported box for JL 12 inch W3's?

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

170 each

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

Anyone?

 

[zako 10+ year member]

OP your first sentence says exactly what you want- good sq without sacrificing loudness. Thats what a ported box will do for you. Tune it to 30-33hz and use bracing for rigidity and it will be louder and sound better than any sealed box you could put them in. Sealed boxes choke 40-60% of output compared to a ported box. Sealed boxes are like running a restrictor plate on your subs. You will have to have a ported box made for you. The pre made ones that you can buy are too small and tuned too high so they never will sound good.

I have heard exactly the opposite advice: if you want good SQ stick with sealed box. A ported box has a free air flat frequency response down to approximately its tuned frequency. However, in a car, you have this thing called cabin gain, which increases the SPL at low frequencies. This cabin gain increases at lower frequencies. If you don't have an advanced equalizer (possibly parametric), it's easier to obtain the flat frequency response inside of vehicle with a sealed box. Flat frequency response is the most basic tenet of SQ. In terms of getting loud, my ears are telling me that a decent subwoofer in a sealed box on just 300-500watts of power can get loud enough to blend with the fronts and provide good output and punch, but my eyes reading these forums are telling me that real men must run 1000 to 1500watts to a subwoofer to sound good, and it better be wired for 1 ohm impedance, and placed in a ported box or you're just another fool... anyways just 2c.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

You can still get a flat response curve with a ported box. The size will vary depending on the woofer. I'm doing a box for an MTX Thunder 8000 15 and its 3cu/ft tuned to 30hz and the response curve is just about flat. A perfectly flat curve would be 3.44cu/ft tuned to 27hz, so the ripple is very very small. Most woofers need a stupid large box and low tune to get a flat response curve. My Boston G5s are tuned to 33hz and have an fs of 28hz and I can play down to 20hz without unloading and my sharp rolloff begins around 25hz. According to winisd my f3 is 33hz.

Op said he doesnt want to sacrifice output and thats exactly what a sealed box does.

There are plenty of people on here who run single woofers on

This forum is slightly biased towards spl, so if you want true sq discussions, go hang out on diyma.

kthxbye

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

You can still get a flat response curve with a ported box. The size will vary depending on the woofer. I'm doing a box for an MTX Thunder 8000 15 and its 3cu/ft tuned to 30hz and the response curve is just about flat. A perfectly flat curve would be 3.44cu/ft tuned to 27hz, so the ripple is very very small. Most woofers need a stupid large box and low tune to get a flat response curve. My Boston G5s are tuned to 33hz and have an fs of 28hz and I can play down to 20hz without unloading and my sharp rolloff begins around 25hz. According to winisd my f3 is 33hz.



Op said he doesnt want to sacrifice output and thats exactly what a sealed box does.

There are plenty of people on here who run single woofers on

This forum is slightly biased towards spl, so if you want true sq discussions, go hang out on diyma.

kthxbye

Thanks both of yall for all the input! Do you think If I wanted a good mix of SPL and SQ (leaning slightly towards SQ) 33 hz would do it, or should I go lower?

Also, what does tuning exactly mean? For example, if a box is tuned to 40 hz, does it mean that is the frequency that it will play the best or what? Because I've heard generally that higher tunes (40's) result in more volume at the expense of SQ, while lower tunes (20's) are the other way around. How does the numbers relate in a real world way? Thanks!

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

You can still get a flat response curve with a ported box. The size will vary depending on the woofer. I'm doing a box for an MTX Thunder 8000 15 and its 3cu/ft tuned to 30hz and the response curve is just about flat. A perfectly flat curve would be 3.44cu/ft tuned to 27hz, so the ripple is very very small. Most woofers need a stupid large box and low tune to get a flat response curve. My Boston G5s are tuned to 33hz and have an fs of 28hz and I can play down to 20hz without unloading and my sharp rolloff begins around 25hz. According to winisd my f3 is 33hz.

Op said he doesnt want to sacrifice output and thats exactly what a sealed box does.

There are plenty of people on here who run single woofers on

This forum is slightly biased towards spl, so if you want true sq discussions, go hang out on diyma.

kthxbye

hahaa diyma ftw!

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

There are pletny of other subs out there that will do well in that price range.

Best thing I could tell you, us create a budget for subs, enclosure, and anything else you need and go from there.

From what I see in your posts a nice set of 12s(assuming you have the room) in a well designed and built enclosure will do exactly what you want.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

Best thing I could tell you, us create a budget for subs, enclosure, and anything else you need and go from there.

What did you mean by that sentence? Lol

 

[Jakerrr 10+ year member]

Get 2 sa-12s. 190 each but they can handle 1000 rms clean power and they get low and loud.

Edit: I forgot about the skar vvx they are great too only 180 each.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

What did you mean by that sentence? Lol

Sorry, on my phone at the moment.

I would set a total budget. One that will cover your amp, sub(s), enclosure, and anything else you may need.

Then start to look into what fits with in your limits. To be honest it sounds like the budget may be a little tight, so looking into a single 12 ported with decent power may be a good option as well.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

Sorry, on my phone at the moment.
I would set a total budget. One that will cover your amp, sub(s), enclosure, and anything else you may need.

Then start to look into what fits with in your limits. To be honest it sounds like the budget may be a little tight, so looking into a single 12 ported with decent power may be a good option as well.

I'm beginning to think a single sub might not be such a bad idea. I have a 2009 WRX and so it's not in a trunk, it's in the cabin area (the whole car is connected). The problem is I just sold my 400 watt memphis audio sub powered by an Orion Cobalt amp because I just wanted a little bit more of a prominent bass, but if I just get another single 12 inch again I feel like I won't have gained anything, just lost a bit of money. But the cabin space IS somewhat small, maybe I can figure something out that works well.

So you work for a company that sells boxes, how much would I be looking at for a single 12 inch ported box at around 33 hz?

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

I'm beginning to think a single sub might not be such a bad idea. I have a 2009 WRX and so it's not in a trunk, it's in the cabin area (the whole car is connected). The problem is I just sold my 400 watt memphis audio sub powered by an Orion Cobalt amp because I just wanted a little bit more of a prominent bass, but if I just get another single 12 inch again I feel like I won't have gained anything, just lost a bit of money. But the cabin space IS somewhat small, maybe I can figure something out that works well.
So you work for a company that sells boxes, how much would I be looking at for a single 12 inch ported box at around 33 hz?

I'm actually the owner //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif... lol

I would say before we go into quotes, the best option is to measure the area you would like to utilize for an enclosure. Then we can see what kind of space limitations we have to work with and figure out what will best work for your application from there.

As for the single sub. If you had a "prefab" enclosure with that setup, you will find that using a better quality 12 with a custom enclosure will net much better results per dollar spent. The equipment is important the but the install and enclosure make a huge difference in how it will perform in your application.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

I'm actually the owner //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif... lol
I would say before we go into quotes, the best option is to measure the area you would like to utilize for an enclosure. Then we can see what kind of space limitations we have to work with and figure out what will best work for your application from there.

As for the single sub. If you had a "prefab" enclosure with that setup, you will find that using a better quality 12 with a custom enclosure will net much better results per dollar spent. The equipment is important the but the install and enclosure make a huge difference in how it will perform in your application.

I will go measure my trunk area, hold on 1 minute

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

I have 14 inches of height, width and length are not very restricted, especially for just 1 sub. I have a curtain thing that is about 15 inches high though so it needs to fit under that

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

So you really have no limit when it comes to enclosures then.

If your looking to shave down to 1 sub, you can look at Obsidian, Sundown, DC, DD, Audioque, Skar, FI, and a few others.

What is your overall budget that you need to work inside? This will help narrow down sub/amp setups that are possible.