What sub are you guys running?

[JJCRU23R]

I have a 12" Pioneer running on a Pioneer amp. The sub is in a sealed box and sounds pretty good. Is there much of a difference in sound from a ported box to a sealed box? Most home audio systems have ported speakers and seem pretty smooth with bass. Does it make much of a difference in car audio?

found this in yahoo answers

Sealed Enclosures

Straightforward in design, the sealed box is nothing more than an airtight enclosure whose purpose is to enhance speaker performance. When a woofer is installed in one, the sound waves that emanate from the front of the speaker cone are separated from the rear-firing waves. This improves bass response, since opposing waves can cancel each other out when they aren't isolated. Superb damping, good power-handling capability, and simplicity of construction make the sealed-box enclosure an ideal candidate for a variety of installations. A sealed enclosure will be the smallest (for a given response shape) and will have good low frequency extension but may not have the best low frequency extension. If space is limited, this may be your best choice.

Vented Enclosures

Vented enclosures – also known as ported or bass-reflex systems – are more complex than sealed boxes, but the extra construction work required to install a vent has its rewards. Vented boxes are more efficient than their sealed counterparts, since they channel sound waves from the front and rear of the cone into the listening environment. Other virtues of the vented design include better reproduction of low bass, a reasonably flat response curve, and low distortion – provided the box is properly constructed. A vented enclosure will generally have a better low frequency extension for a given response shape (alignment) but would require a larger enclosure. If you made the enclosure as small as the sealed enclosure but ported it to gain the low frequency response, the output would deviate from the desired flat response.

so in short...

sealed box = simpler to make, good space saver

ported box = harder to construct, might sound better, but requires larger space to get the sound you want.

Edited September 2, 2007 by JJCRU23R