Sealed or ported

[Gray]

Hello All,
I've got a few qestions for you. I've got a small room 14'x18' thats a dedicated home theater room closed to the rest of the house. I'm trying to figure if I want to go sealed or ported.
I can tell you that I want to use two soundsplinter 15's and beringer 2500 amp and I've got a DSP1124P if I need to I'll sell it to get a DEQ2496 so I can make a LT circuit if I end up going sealed.
They need to be in two seperate boxes. If I go ported, I'm thinking around 300L or so for each box with a 16hz tune. If we go sealed, I don't know if it would be better to go with a big box 350L each or just go with 100L each? Will I use the LT circuit on both the sealed boxes or just the smaller ones?
I've read Steve nn threads and they helped a lot. Any input on which way to go would be a great help. I've got a idea of where I want to build them and how but that will be my next qestions.
Forgot to tell you that I watch movies 95% of the time. Sorry to bring something up that gets talked about so much.
Thanks for the help,
Gray

[peterS]

lower thd with ported and since it doesnt seem to be a problem id say go for it

[---k---]

It is a personal preferance thing.
You room is small enough and sealed off from the rest of the house, so I bet that two sealed subs would be enough power.

Sealed has the benifits of easier construction, smaller boxes, and slightly better sound quality. You may or may not need the DEQ to get the low low hz - depends on your room.

Ported has the benifits of a lot more output, and with a 16hz tune you will have more low low hz w/o eq. The big downside to the ported boxes you are describing is the box size.

If you've got the room, are more of an HT type of guy, and want enough output to shake you whole house go ported.

If you don't have the space and are a little fussy about sound quality, go sealed.

You won't go wrong either way though.

[SteveCallas]

If you are cool with the size of dual ported, by all means, go for it. Two of those will get you above reference level down to at least 15hz.

[ThomasW]

Only overly small sealed boxes require a real LT circuit (so the Qtc can be lowered). Largish sealed boxes do fine with standard EQ

[Brian Walter]

Only overly small sealed boxes require a real LT circuit (so the Qtc can be lowered). Largish sealed boxes do fine with standard EQ

Thanks Thomas, that's good information, I never thought about it, but it makes sense.

Brian

[Jack Gilvey]

Easy...ported.

[Jack Gilvey]

Go sealed.

[steve nn]

I think I'm going to have to go with Ryan and Jack on this

You know the size room your talking about (especially with it being sealed)..I would think you would have plenty of headroom considering your going with dual 15" RL-p's. Either way your going to be sitting good.

Any chance of giving us your seating arrangement and where you plan on loading your subs? One of the 300 liter subs would give you more than plenty of headroom as far as that goes and a single sealed would have a hefty amount to give also, especially if seating is up against a boundary/wall.

Hey I have a idea, build both and have fun figuring this out. In time you might decide you want dual ported or dual sealed. All you then would have to do is build another enclosure and garage/sell the other. I wouldn't be surprised if you found one of each loaded correctly (not ran at the same time) would serve you well. I would plan on the LT-DEQ2496 or the mono BASSIS with the sealed though.

If you are cool with the size of dual ported, by all means, go for it. Two of those will get you above reference level down to at least 15hz.

Criminy Christmas he sure would. There's headroom and then there's headroom. :lol:

[LunarD]

I am of the notion that room size and room openings determines what type of subwoofer you should initially try, with one exception.

Because of your room size and the fact that it is closed off from the rest of the house, I would definitely go sealed. You will get some good room gain below 25Hz going sealed. I would start by reading Ryan's thread: http://htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=16774

The exception. This is determined by the location of your room. Is it above a garage, or maybe below a large attic... In other words, is your room adjacent to a large non livable space? If so, I would use that space for an IB sub.

Remember I said initially try. If possible, try both sealed and ported. And an IB if you can. This is much easier said than done for most people. If you don't have the time to make boxes for each and try them all out, I would choose the following as MY preference for YOUR room:

1. IB if you have the adjacent space.
2. Sealed if you don't
3. Ported

Note that I have a two ported subwoofers. This is because my main listening room is open to the entire house. I've tried sealed, but it just doesn't work in my room. I am currently trying to convince my wife to let me try IB since I do have the attic space. You know women...

One last thing, please don’t get caught up in the sealed vs. ported debate. Subwoofers produce low audio frequency. That’s it. They won’t help you get women, they won’t help loose weight, and they won’t stop you from going bald. At least they didn’t for me.

As long as you follow the advice from the senior members here while building your sub, I'm sure you will be extremely happy with the outcome, whether you go sealed or ported.

John

“Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.”

[Scott Simonian]

One last thing, please don’t get caught up in the sealed vs. ported debate. Subwoofers produce low audio frequency. That’s it.

Im not gonna say anything...



:P

[Gray]

Thanks for the replys guys.
I'm taking in everything that your saying just a few more questions.
If I go ported it will have killer output to 15hz (around 120db) then it will fall on it's face after that. If we go sealed it'll have better extension (100db @ 10hz).......I guess my next question is the information worth it in movies below 15hz? Will you feel 100db @ 10hz in my small room?

Thomas what Qtc should I go for so the FBD can be used and won't need the LT circuit?

Steve nn I've got a projector so the subs will be built below the screen across the floor one on each side of the center channel, which is the one I built from the WTMW thread very nice center. I'll post in that thread how it did agaist the polk cs1000 there best center ever made :W
Starting the mains this week.

This is a great forum ;x(
Thanks for all the replys,
Gray

[ThomasW]

Thomas what Qtc should I go for so the FBD can be used and won't need the LT circuit?

Well 0.5 is considered 'critically damped' other than an IB, IMO 0.5 is as good as it gets.. :T

[H.T.C]

I think the idea is a accoustic thing, thier is supposd to be a more tighter and acurate bass with a sealed than ported speaker.