I have 12" RE re's in my car in a sealed box powered with 250rms to each. I work at circuit city and so I listen to the CVR's all day and they sound damn good. In a ported box they are loud, musical, accurate, and punchy. I don't know how they would sound in a car like mine head to head against RE's but what is the difference?
Sealed would sound acoustically better, being that it gives a deeper sound and has greater power handling. Ported won't be as deep sounding and has less power handling.
Personally, I choose to forgo the 3dB of SPL and keep my SQ.
RE re's have a little more than half of the power than the crvs, so they will sound louder, but the RE's will be more accurate and musical in a good box.
but still, the CVR's sound really really good in that custom kicker box. I really don't know the SQ difference. In a big room in the store you can feel it in your chest. That is pretty amazing and punchy. When I put it in my car that will be the real test of how good it sounds. Maybe my RE's are 10x better. I am gonna pick up that kicker custom box with 2 12" CVR's in it and play around with it. I can get the whole deal for about 150-200 bucks.
Could it be the box?!?! What type of box would get the most out of those subs? I am running a "prefab" box but was hand built by guys at local audio shop. Perfect condition 3/4" MDF etc. It has 1.25 cubic feet per chamber. That SHOULD be just fine... Of course a little air leaks from the subs just a little but I am sending them back to take care of it. And the back window is rattling against the rear upper tail light.
chris you need to test them in your car and not go by the soundroom sound. They are meant to sound very good in a sound room to sell them. I like the cvr's I think they are nice entry level subs but you need to demo them if you could.