sealed vs. ported vs. tubes

souljurn

which of these gives out the best bass? bass that you can actually hear once you step out of the car. i have two gnx124's in a sealed box and they dont HIT! (that hard) will putting them in tubes work better? ive been told that tubes make your subs sound loud and deep as hell and are better for suv's. im running both with a rockford 351m amp. or will bringing two more into the mix and another 351m amp really help the impact of the bass?

HELP!

sntnsupermen131

i dont understand what you mean by tubes...
they have bass tubes that you buy with the subwoofer and usually the amp already together for you
ported will give you more bass...but ported boxes are kinda tricky...im sure polk has specs for a ported box for your subs somewhere...cuz if the ports are too long..or too small...it will sound funny
band pass will offer even more bass...but will cut some frequencies and sound like absolute crap(my opinion)
but if youre just going for spl(sound pressure level...aka volume)then the bandpass would work...but if youre going for a little bit of SQ(Sound quality), then go with the ported...i would...i think they are but you might want to check if they are designed to handle ported box designs...b/c some subs arent...like the momos
-Cody

sntnsupermen131

and yes 2 more will help with another amp...but thats a lot of space...you could go with the new db series or my preference would go with the old DX...gnx's arent that great...and if you want real slam...350 watts...or even 700 with 4...isnt going to do much in a suv...one of my momos was pushing 600 watts rms...and i have 2 and it hits pretty hard...well did...til my amp had serious internal injuries and is now in intensive care under the supervision of doctor vince
but i would try 2 dx's or even 2 momo's...
or one id max v3
-Cody

RuSsMaN

Porting is a no-no with Polk subs, no? Bandpass will sacrifice quality, but give more 'slam', in my experience.

Why would you want to hear it *outside* of your car? (great advertising for thieves imo) Personally, I'd say 99% of the time I'm with my car, I'm inside it.

I think by 'tubes', he's talking Bazooka style.

Cheers,
Rooster

PoweredByDodge

*looking at cody's post* -- i've converted him!!!!


hahahahahahaahahaa!!!!!!

dude a couple momo's would prolly sound 10x better than the gnx's -- the cones are flimsy as hell, low mass, and low power -- that's not gonna add up to much.... its like a skinny kid, with no muscle, punching a brick wall versus a big ol sledge hammer with a lotta weight behind it.

momo / id / old polk / its all good... if u wanna stay w/ the 351M - then u can prolly dig up a pair of JBL GT 120's from crutchfield for 140 bucks and they'll slam a lot better than the polk's will -- but that's more my opinion that actual fact -- they're pretty similar in characteristics... i just think the GT is a better sub -- when i think about it u prolly wont notice much difference...

u want more slam -- get bigger / heavier / more power hungry subs.

other than that u can bandpass those GNX's --- they'll be louder but sound like dog **** .

good luck dude

sntnsupermen131

dodge, i heard 2 v3s in the back of a mustang(i think they had to take the trunk off to get the box to fit) and DAMN, i need to get some of those
they were as clean as the momos in my truck and a lot louder...my next subs(in about 5 years...lol) will me ID's
-Cody

PoweredByDodge

oh they are a fine delicacy...

... just takes a small army of midgets to push them.

Jstas

A tube is just an odd shaped ported box. There are different kinds of tubes but really, the only thing practical for a car is your typical tube with the required cubic footage of space for a ported enclosure. The other tuned tubes would be too large and cumbersome for a car or truck and not very practical at all.

All of this enclosure theory has been discussed in detail before in both this forum and the subwoofer forum. A ported box will be louder than a sealed box because it is a more efficient enclosure. However, the ported box will not have the frequency reproduction range of the sealed box. A bandpass will be louder than both of them but it will have a limited band of frequency reproduction. As far as how they sound, that is subjective. Some think they sound good, others don't. Personally, all I use a bandpass for is loud, earth shaking bass. If that is what you want to impress your friends and be heard miles away, put those 12's in a bandpass and run as much juice as they will take through them.

And running Polk's in a ported box is not a no-no. Running MOMO's in a ported box is a no-no because of thier high mass cones. They can handle alot of power and they can get moving pretty hard and fast. A ported box does not provide the support that a high mass cone requires to keep from tearing itself apart. However, a bandpass box is a type of ported box design. So, technically, all Polk subs are OK for at least 1 kind of ported box.

In addition, the GNX and GXR subs will work fine for a ported box because they are both low-mass cone designs. Low mass cones work well in ported boxes because ported boxes are efficient air movers. This makes them a great idea for a low-mass cone that can't handle alot of power. Infact, because of the fact that they are low mass, low power cones, I'd think of a ported enclosure for them before any other enclosure.

So, for souljurn, I suggest you goto a hardware store and get a drill and an adjustable hole saw, cut 2.5 or 3 inch ports in the box for your dual 12's and get yourself some port tubes. Either that or buy a new, ported box and sell the sealed one.

Jstas

Actually, after looking, the port size is recommended at 4 inches and the port length is recommended at 12 inches. So there you go.

Also, part of the problem with ports is the noise associated with them cause by the air rushing out of the tube and creating high pressure areas around the mouth of the port. The reason for this is because the air does not have a smooth transition. If you can find yourself a port tube with a flange that has a tapere opening and a rolled edge, you can reduce 60-70% of the port noise coming out of the tube, if not more. It will also eliminate port whistle.

PoweredByDodge

notes on porting your particular situation...


if the boxes you have now are "perfect to spec" for sealed-- i belive they polkies suggest something like 50% extra air space for a ported box...

if you dont want to take the time right now to go hacking up a new box--- u can probably stuff the hell out of it with polyfill and get about a 25 - 30% "fake" gain in box size... that'd prolly do ya good for now -- then u can decide if u are pleased with the woofer's performance, and if u are, build a ported box to 'perfect' specs, carpet the sucker, and call it all a day.

porting probably is best for those me thinx. i've always hated low power subs -- but i've heard several 50 to 100 watt home theatre subwoofers that look like they're made of utter junk but are ported and in a decent size box and they sound quite good on both music and movies -- they're not winning any home audio awards, but they would certainly keep me content... so i dont see why a similar improvement couldn't be achieved with your subs.

Jstas

Nope nope nope! For his sub, it's the same space ported or sealed. You can go up to a 1.50 cubic foot box but recommended is 1.25 cubic feet sealed or ported.

C-Man

(Another Shameless Advertisement)

Just by my two Momo 10's. Brand new, cheaper than ebay, and I'll pay to ship them.

PoweredByDodge

1.25 ported or sealed? hmm.. that makes life easy then ...



why is that that way though? isn't it normally that when u port a sub u've got to give it more air space (just in general across teh board w/ most mfg's) ?