Hey,
I have 3 10" alumq's and i was wondering if they sounded better in a ported box or sealed box. Someone told me that they sounded louder in a ported box but others are telling me to get a sealed box for them.
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tnpkhmerboy
It depends on the car or truck your putting them in. If your putting them in a hatchback, use a ported box. If their going in a trunk use a sealed box. Also just because the box is ported doesnt mean it's going to be louder than a sealed box. A ported box wont respond as fast or accurate as a sealed box. Sealed box's will produce a more clean/crisp sound. Sealed enclousers allow the sub to hit tighter, and be able to reproduce the sounds more accuratly. You definetly cant say the subs are going to be louder just because their in a sealed or ported box. Try each one out. Then you can decide what sounds best to you. Tight, more responsive and clear bass. Or more muffled and loose bass.
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143.5 Spl
It depends as well on what type of music you listen to. If you are going to go with some type of music that doesn't need a lot of SQ(read, rap and hip hop), then you would probably want to go with a ported box. Ported boxes will give you usually around a +5 dB increase, in a good situation. Now if I'm right and I think that Audiobahn makes the Alum Q's, I would venture as far to say that the SQ isn't too amazing. So in my personal opinion, I would go with the ported box. However, a sealed box does have some merits. For example, the sealed box acts as a rear support for the cone, so that the sub has some type of a "spring" behind it, if you will. This helps keep the punchiness of the bass up. You'll see the difference in mostly rock music, because they don't have long deep bass notes usually, it's a bass guitar playing some riffs... You get the idea. As well, sealed boxes can be built smaller and are the easiest box type to build, they are pretty forgiving if you make an error in design.
Sooo... here are some really general tips that might help you decide:
1. What type of music do you mainly listen to?
2. What is your expertise with building things from wood, if you are building your own box?
3. How loud do you want this to hit?
Answer these questions and I'll try to help you figure out what you need. If you want loud, go with your ported box. It's going to hit harder then the sealed box, but it won't give you as tight of a response or "punch", if you will. Hope this helped. Anybody have something else to add?
--mindctrl
Alum Q subs are somewhat like an Eclipse aluminum sub, designed for small sealed boxes, which is exactly what you should be doing. Yes any sub can be put into any type of enclosure but they will thrive in the box that they are designed for and in this case it is sealed.
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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.