ported vs. sealed for 2 8's

i have a few posts on here regarding enclosures but this addresses a different part- sealed or ported? i had 2 10" kickers in a sealed box in my 1967 mustang and those were pretty damn good.. for my taco i have two JL audio w3v3 8"s.. i know every one is different when it comes to prefference as far as sound, so a lil background for ya, i listen to a lot of dubstep and bassy music, so i would like these 8's to get as low as loud as i can, given that JL arguably has the best SQ subs on the market.. both style have there benefits, but i wonder if ported box with these compact 8's wont sacrifice much SQ and make a good difference? need to make a decision soon!

 

i could be way off here, however i have been looking pretty much at this exact same thing recently. From what i have found the larger the speaker the smaller the sealed box tends to need to be. I am putting an 8 in my truck and it performs best in a ported box that is roughly 10" high and 46" long to accommodate the speaker (enclosure designed by hexibase). Personally what i would do based on what you are going for is hit them up and see what they come back with. They require the speaker(s) you want to use, and your space requirements. They then chart everything and give you box blueprints. Here is the sound graph for the box they designed me with 1 8"

 

If you're wanting to get the most out of the woofers port them...no question. Ported will ALWAYS yield better low end response. Sealed boxes are smaller; that's their only real advantage.

If you need a technical explanation we can do that.

 

ok good, so now that i know that, is it possible to make a ported box for these 8"s to fit behind the seats.. im trying to stay away from cutting also

 

I've seen 12's behind the seats so ported 8's is POSSIBLE....but I never said it would be easy or a drop in solution. I'm thinking someone makes a box but I don't know who besides Marv.

 

ok... ya im starting to lean towards going with a marv box... i cant see myself spending all this money on quality products and a sick system then cheapening it with a shit box... probably pay the xtra $$ and KNO that the box is of best quality and will fit perfectly.... u think he could make me a ported one for them 8"s? im thinkin i wanna try that since i've had sealed my whole life especially since i listen to dubstep and electro 80%of the time

 

Sealed will hit tighter, which for that type of music it a good thing. You need to be able to hear all the beats and often times the ported enclosure will cause those beats to wash together. On the contrary however, a sealed enclosure will make them seem much louder than they really are, and you will "feel" the bass much more. It will help alot on your low end.

Major down side to ported in a truck is that when your in front of a ported box, you can hear the air physically being pushed out of the enclosure, and it sounds windy and almost creates a distortion type sound. Since your in a truck where the box is in the cab with you, you may often times find that you can "hear" the air being pushed out and it will drive you nuts. Also, that air pressure is going to rattle the plastic behind your seats way more than a sealed enclosure would.

ported boxes are designed to be "rear firing". Your truck will have foreword firing subs, so I would place my vote with sealed. I think you will love the higher SPL and louder bass from the port (and yes its easily possible to port a box with 2 8's back there) but you wont like the overall sound quality. The trade off isnt worth it IMO.

 

Like Pro-Force said, you'll hear the air coming out the ports on low frequencies. Ported is really for people with trunks. Trucks are so small the best way to go is sealed... the sound quality is much better too. For your 8s I think itd could be a rough trade-off because I believe you could hit lower frequencies that your music taste would require.

 

Yeah with only 8s is gonna be a tough decision really. Port will definitely give you a more broad sound range and a little deeper bass, but it won't sound as crisp and the air will drive you nuts. Hard choice. But for a truck, I still vote sealed all day

 

thanks guys, i gave mr marv a few days ago asked the best... told my situation and he said sealed.. then i got smarter and did what he said lol... that guy really really knows what he's talking about... ive learned more about car audio from him in an hour on the phone than i have on this site for the past month hahaha

 

Ported for low end and harding hits. Where as sealed for transient response!

 

ported loud

sealed sq

 

Depends on how much volume your working with. I had an 8 in a small truck box that was ported. I then hammered a tshirt in the port and it was much louder! then I put the sane sub in a big ported box and it was louder then when I jammed a tshirt in the port. So check specs on volume and sub and use whatever your boxes volume is closer to.

 

if you have a proper port you won't hear the "wind". Other thrn that your spot on

 

well put, i have 2 of em in a custom sealed being built by mr marv.. they will be plenty loud enough and hit hard and clean

 

No, not well put. That's the dumbest shit I've heard in my entire life. A sealed box will not provide optimal low end and you'll end up using your EQ or the bass boost to compensate for it. So when you add 3db of boost to the bottom end you just LITERALLY doubled the power going to the speaker. Two things will happen as a result. Distortion will rise significantly due to the speaker moving farther and if you don't have a substantial amount of power you might drive the amp into clipping which is a special hell where speakers go to die.

But I mean hey, what do I know...I just build $6k speakers in my living room. Domo says ported is better than sealed (flared ports are best) so it must be true.
(picture taken yesterday)

 

If I had the space....I vote neither. Quarter wave or go home

 

If I really got bored...I might actually be able to do it if I made it the size of the entire back wall. Never thought of trying it before.

 

hahaha, i think i'll be happy with the sealed marv box guys... ive been doing a lot of research and there are a ton of people who are happy with just one of these in a regular box... i have 2 in a custom box with more than enough power for them... i agree a properly tuned ported box will hit and get loud all the same, but im no expert or audiophile and i dont preach to be one by any means... i just make sure i try to listen to the right people... with that said, i havent come across any one who says these w3's arent a good sub.. everyone swears for 8's they are suprisingly good(nice accurate punch, great sq, good excursion for 8", and suprisingly loud for size) i appreciate all your guys advice... i think with these woofers, it'll be hard to dissapoint me, considering from what i had before