Thinking of switching from Sealed to Ported

DodgeTheViper

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I’ve had a Sealed Subwoofer preference for a little while now and it’s fair to say that I’ve tried a few over that little while. But just recently I’ve been thinking about the Ported variant.

I fancy giving it a little tester.
 
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Which beast did you have in mind?
 
Having just gone from ported to sealed, I would not recommend going back to ported. Sealed is so much more articulate, whereas ported just feels slow and bloated.
 
Same hear went from bk monolith to bk p12-300. The volume of overall bass is now lower but the bass quality more than makes up for it.
 
mmm, that doesn’t sound particularly good but surely it can’t be normal and it’s more the exception.
 
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What are you looking to gain? Ported subs will offer more output for the money but at the expense of the very low bass (usually below 15hz). I love my ported subs, although they are DIY, the closest to them would be one of the new ported PSA offerings with the Neo drivers, they won’t ever be described as slow and bloated.
 
Not sure what I’d be looking to gain but maybe more testing the difference in performance etc.
 
I know some people have had bad experiences with ported subs, and I will agree that there’s more that can go wrong with ported subs (chuffing etc), but the sound signature differences between ported and sealed cabinets using the same driver (important) I don’t think are very audible. It’s a massive generalisation to say that sealed is more articulate etc or ported is slow and this imo doesn’t help the debate. Take a look at some of the top class hifi speakers, for example the B&W 803s, which are highly reguarded as some of the best speakers money can buy, and also ported 😉
 
mmm, that doesn’t sound particularly good but surely it can’t be normal and it’s more the exception.

Well with the way they are filtering lfe content these days it should indeed be the exception. But for BEQ'rs and those few ulf movies, when it does happen, it'll drive you nuts especially when you've experienced monster sealed subs that do not exhibit these quirks. However not all bad, they're great for efficiency and room pressurisation.
 
I’ve had a Sealed Subwoofer preference for a little while now and it’s fair to say that I’ve tried a few over that little while. But just recently I’ve been thinking about the Ported variant.

I fancy giving it a little tester.

Wasn´t the main issue size earlier, example SVS PB4000 / PB16U being just too deep?
 
Well with the way they are filtering lfe content these days it should indeed be the exception. But for BEQ'rs and those few ulf movies, when it does happen, it'll drive you nuts especially when you've experienced monster sealed subs that do not exhibit these quirks. However not all bad, they're great for efficiency and room pressurisation.
Properly designed ported cabs shouldn’t exhibit port chuffing within their drivers limits, the reason a few commercial subs do is due to compromises being made. Smaller compact boxes limit the size of the ports that can be implemented, and undersized ports will obviously compress sooner than larger ports.
 
It was. I’d just need to cut a piece out of the rug :)

No biggie then. :) Could themovierooms lend you either one to get a taste? I have a feeling you would want to stick with SVS as you clearly have liked what you heard and the service/support is 10/10. @dts197 had one PB13Ultra and he ordered dual Sub 3s which you owned, was bit underwhelmed and returned them. Got dual PB16U`s which was game changer! Clearly you can get similar/better performance from PSA products cheaper, but is the finish deal breaker? The new Arendal Sub 2V looks good too although still not same level as PB16U where it counts most (16-40hz).
 
I think two high end subs will provide plenty of output and low end, without the negatives of ported. My sbu13 copes fine although ideally I'd like a second, I think my pcu13 as single would be plenty, so need to get two sealed to close the gap in ported headroom. Didn't you own dual sbu16? That would be my ideal (but too tall, so maybe PSA 18" sealed) I've owned a few ported and sealed subs and I think I'll stay with sealed, sure a decent ported sub provides movies soundtracks that the sealed may kit match up, but for music sealed sub is better. Plus sealed subs are smaller, is the PSA 18" sealed subs are tiny, compared to ported version of it.

What about this JTR Captivator 4000ULF-TL — JTR Speakers
 
Worth watching, even though some of the personalities can be a bit challenging. Gene would be better to chair and not comment, Matt is very knowledgeable

 
Worth watching, even though some of the personalities can be a bit challenging. Gene would be better to chair and not comment, Matt is very knowledgeable



Great link. I recall watching that in its entirety on upload, a detailed discussion and very much worth a watch.
 
Thanks for sharing that, just finished it.

I think, given that I'll have a small sealed room, then I'm likely to get good room gain from just running sealed. Watching that, seems you can't really go wrong with either though.
 
Thanks for sharing that, just finished it.

I think, given that I'll have a small sealed room, then I'm likely to get good room gain from just running sealed. Watching that, seems you can't really go wrong with either though.
Room gain is the same for both designs, but as you’re room is very small, sealed is probably the better option as you may also get some useable ULF, and also more placement options!
 

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