70% of your sound of your sub woofer is due to the design and build quality of your sub enclosure. When picking a sub woofer box, deciding to either go sealed or ported will determine how your system will sound.

Sealed sub woofer boxes tend to be much smaller than ported enclosures, since they use the air inside the box as a spring for the enclosure. If you don't have much space, it would be a good idea to go with a sealed box. Not only is there a size difference, but there's also a difference in sound compared to a ported box. Generally the larger the box gets the lower the tone of bass is achieved. However if the box gets too large the "spring" effect that the air creates may be lost losing on loudness and crispness. Sealed enclosures produce tight, accurate bass and have a flat frequency response curve. They are the enclosure of choice when quality is the ultimate goal of the system set up.

Ported subwoofer boxes can get very large and have many varying factors that will determine their size and bass output. For example the port has to be relative in size to the boxes volume depending on how much loudness vs quality is desired. Ported enclosures create louder bass than sealed enclosures, and allow you to tune the box to a specific frequency to determine how the bass will sound. Higher tuning on a ported box will get louder, but you will ose on sound quality. Lower tuning will still get louder than a sealed box, and at the same time deliver good sound quality. Generally this is a box for a set up where "boom" is the ultimate goal. Port area plays a major role in these types of enclosures. Too little a port area can result in port noise, which can severely detract from the sound quality. However, if your goal is to get loud bass and you don't care too much about the sound quality, a ported box, tuned high, with a large amount of port area is the way to go.
...read the full guide with pics here

 

I vote this be a Sticky!!!!!

very helpfull

 

The problem is its too simple. There are so many different variables you couldn't fit it in two pages yet alone two paragraphs.

 

who the fuck does he think he is??? I should delete this crap, but its helpful to the noobs

 

he just c&p that info....some subs sounds better with either type of box so you cant really say that either one of them is better

 

i get the feeling this was more of a covert way of posting his ebay profile link onto a forum without getting banned/deleted since he has yet to return.

 

+1.

 

What? How is that possible? Your subs will either sound better, worse, or the same. There is no way to make them sound better in both boxes. Unless you are comparing them to no box and just playing them lying on the floor.

 

The type of enclosure you choose just depends on what you're looking to do. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and should be chosen accordingly.

 

i mean to say some variety of subs will sound better either with a sealed or ported...for example...some car audio "experts" say that CVR Kickers sounds better in an sealed box instead of a ported box....idk something like that