debate of how to face subwoofers

You'll just have to be careful about making the box TOO big. The box size that is on the PDF is designed to take advantage of the speakers Qs and give it the best performance (best response and clarity for loudness) Like MSS said, GENERALLY the bigger the box, the smoother the response, but it not like that in all the cases.

Now you said you were also looking for sound quality... I am assuming that you are looking for street bass quality sound and not competition SQ (which means flatline... REALLY bad for those looking to make their system a daily listener)

Such is the case, here is a brief summary of possibilities (though not all, jsut the most likely ones):

1) You go with the design specified by the PDF. You'll get excellent response even though it does seem that the box is on the tiny side. It will work for it. The Qs can support most boxes, but the way they designed and engineered it, it would seem that it was made specifically for sealed.

2) You go slightly larger and/or fill with Poly. You'll get deeper response notes and it will seem a bit louder because the Poly is absorbing the extra vibration and pressure from the back side of the sub. Clarity MIGHT, but not much if any, be lost unless you fill the box with more than 2 lbs of poly. If you go poly route, I recommend no more than 1.5 lbs of poly (really deep response).

3) If you go with a bigger box, any box below 4cf will suffice, after that, the speaker will think it is running outside a box and it is not designed for that, ie really poor sound. Based on the numbers for a sealed box, I wouldn't go past 3cf. After that, the speaker will suffer greatly in performance.

If you want my opinion keep reading... Otherwise Read past this paragraph Xp

Well I hope this helps out somewhat

Ganbatte ne!

polyfill actually has the opposite effect on SPL.  it raises accuracy at the cost of loudness.  all woofers have a min box volume and a max.  if the box is too big the woofer has to rely completely on the stiffness of the surround and the spider to keep it from "unloading" or over-excursion.  you should lower the power going to the box if you go bigger than what the actual sub specs call for.  daily drivers can sound very good with smooth response boxes.  mine is a good example of such.  the more accurate the better, but some people are more concerned with spl.

>.< oh yeah... now that was a dumb mistake hehe... Well a girl can't be right all the time right? Just 99.9999999999%