I am trying to build a box for my brother for his Jetta and I'm not sure whether to go with ported or sealed enclosure. I know there is no right or wrong answer, but I don't have a car with a separate trunk. I have a Scion xB and I have heard what both sound like in my car (I prefer ported) but does it make a difference in a car with a sealed trunk?
In my experience with sealed trunks, as like the jetta, it actually helps the sound of the subs. The trunk is not completely shut off from the rest of the car, so the trunk itself acts kind of like a larger sealed enclosure around the subs and helps it to resonate throughout the car. A friend of mine has 2 kicker 12 L5's on a 1000 rms in a factory ported enclosure and they are super loud in his Jetta. It all comes down to what he is listening to and his prefrence. If he wants loud, go ported, if he wants better SQ go sealed.
Its either gonna be a 10W1v2-4 or a 12W1v2-4. He's not looking for a whole lot of bass and I found an incredible deal on both of these subs used. So the consensus is sealed then?
Shawn that is kind of a blanket statement there...
A fairly high output driver (Fi Q, RE SE, AP Revo, SS RL-S etc.) will hit hard and low in a properly built sealed box, and without any of the artifacts and peakiness (3dB at the port frequency alone) of ported boxes. And maybe more importantly, sealed boxes also avoid the issues of reproducing frequencies below the tuning point, and eliminate the associated damage risks that require subsonic filtering.
For me, and I have built a few boxes in my time, I go sealed unless I have a very good reason (or application) not to. Sealed boxes have a flat response, hit lower (but without the accentuated peak), are more accurate sounding, and have a tight clean sound.
yes i have a camera but i probably wont be doing anything for a couple of weeks. this is my first build so im gonna take my time to do everything right.