WATCH BEFORE YOU BUY | Which SUBWOOFER Should You Choose? - Sealed vs Ported Subwoofers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ค. 2024
- A must-watch before buying your subwoofers.
In this episode of Kanto Explains, we give you a funny and detailed explanation of what sealed and ported subwoofers are.
There are two main types of subwoofers you can buy, sealed and ported.
It is very important to know what they are, what are the differences, and most importantly which is the one that best suits your needs,
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Chapters:
00:00 What is a sealed Subwoofer?
00:48 What is a ported Subwoofer?
01:53 Size Vs Performance
03:10 One key difference of sealed subs
03:35 Are sealed subwoofers more accurate
05:00 What is "chuffing" / Distortion
06:48 Conclusion - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Kudos to this guy. He gives concise yet simple enough explanations for normal people to understand the technicalities of the convoluted hi-fi world and presents it in a very entertaining manner.
Yeah but if your idea of an ideal subwoofer is one that booms the loudest and rattles the most nearby car windows at the stoplight, you definitely want a ported system.
I wanna be able to hear it and feel it
imo i want a clean sound that doesnt rattle but you can still hear it
I want that rattling
Nope an open BaffLED using the Trunk (if there is one) will do more damage...
My SEALED house speakers generate far more Vibrational bass, than my Ported speakers. The Port does not change make the speakers any more powerful. The Magnet strength, Coil strength, are what create the strongest potentials.
The Subs shown here, are not for Car Audio. They are for home theatre, and possibly also to add depth to music. Unless you live in the middle of the country... you cant blast High Air Pressure Subs, in a typical apartment.
Furthermore, Its Immoral, to blast Car Subs in the City. People live in the apartments above the storefronts... and it Ruins these peoples Sanity, and Lives. It also ends up dragging down property values... when the local Drug dealer parks their car, and keeps blasting their sub, at 3am.
Keep pushing people like myself... and you will find out, just what can happen...
Been designing speakers for many years and speakers have changed a lot. Some are best in ported and some sealed according to the speakers parameters. Personally I will take properly designed ported sub over a sealed box. It's all in how much you spend and how good the box design is but really it's all about personal preference in he end.
Yep that what he said, well designed engineered ported box will sound same if not better than sealed
How would you determine if a chassis ist best for sealed or ported? I've read that if fs/Qts is around 50, it's best for sealed while a value around 100 is best for ported. What do you think about that?
@@doemaeries This is called EBP and it's a good starting point but you can still make a high EBP driver work, the box size might just not be optimal. If you already have the driver you can make it work you just need to model it and see what you're in for. If you don't have the driver yet it would be best to buy the driver to fit the style of box you want to build.
@@algniazdo 100%
Until you get to extreme high end and then only sealed make sense
That's the most comprehensive explanation of the differences or ported and sealed I've seen, and easy to understand the pros and cons of each. Great video!
Thank you Jason, finally a clear explanation on subs. Well done!!
I love sealed subs also!
The car system I ever had was in a 1985 single cab Toyota truck. I sealed 4 8” subs behind the seats. It punched so hard and crisp.
I think of ported subs like wholly cushion.
I thumbs up soon as you gave the bottle demonstration. That's such a perfect example!
I used to always automatically go for large ported subs. It seemed common sense they would dig deeper and be better for movies. This all changed when I was gifted a small little Martin Logan Dynamo 10" sealed sub. It utterly destroyed my SVS. It plays clean to the low 20s and also has really tight punchy bass. Best of both worlds and I've never owned a ported sub that did both of these things well. Was blown away by that little ML sub.
Which svs...? Ultra 16?
@@Stan_the_Belgian no way possible it was a 16 ultra. The 16 ultra would lay waste to that Martin Logan 10…
@@benboyer2776 agreed but he's talking about a large ported svs...
@@Stan_the_Belgian maybe pb1000😂
@@benboyer2776- design and quality components matter. That Martin Logan was probably much more expensive too. I went from a huge 400w sub to a REL (T2) 10” with passive radiator that was better at basically everything. Music and movies. It was more $$$ of course.
Recently i bought epos els sealed 10 inch sub...it changed completely my home theater experience ..wow...amazing..it gives immersive experience through out the whole movie
I have the Kanto Yumi set up with the Sub 8 and it sounds great the 8 sounds as good and goes lower than my mb quart 10 in. I do find it moves on me on a smooth surface. Great video
Put some rubber washing machine pucks under them and your sub won't move again;)
I've always preferred sealed. I also like just ten inch subs for the much tighter quick hard hitting bass they reproduce. Though in my huge roomy 85 GMC Suburban, just wide open no trunk, bass lacked in that wide open environment. The same amp/sealed box/speakers in my Ford Tarus was much more pronounced sitting in the trunk then in the Suburban. The type, how they are arranged, the box and the amp can really make a huge difference depending on the setting they are placed into trying to get the sound you are looking for.
Oddly enough, Ford used the trunk space in the Taurus to be a 'box' to help with bass. There were two 6x8 speakers in the rear shelf standard but there was also a spot for a 6x9 speaker that was meant to be used with the JBL systems that were optional on those cars. I didn't have the JBL system in my Taurus, just the MACH audio, but with some work I managed to add a line driver before the main MACH amp. The line driver had a subwoofer line out which I ran to a small (300 watt) sub amp and a 6x9 speaker I added in the rear shelf. I didn't have it loud but it added quite a bit of low end bump. Depending on what I was listening too the inside of the car would shake at a moderate volume. I miss that car and the system (I kept the components.) The factory Sony system in my Fiesta just can't compare.
A good sub of any size can produce punchy bass. I have three 21 inch subs in my theater that can reproduce anything from 15Hz to 200Hz with no problem. When you go to a concert and hear the quick drum bass it is from ported 15 or 18 inch subs, just for reference.
Two words. Passive radiator. Best of both worlds. Put one in there and I might buy one.
That is my experience as well, when testing subs the REL with a passive driver sounded the tightest and is roughly the size of the Kanto :)
@@jedics1i cant stand port chuff. Thats the worst part of porting.
not exactly... passive radiators have uneven frequency responses. If you want more QUANTITY out of sealed... just add more power + EQ or drivers. I DESPISE boomy flabby bass. The first time bass wowed me was infinity 4 1/2" 2 ways! the bass was soooo tight and fast, if not chest thumping. I'll take quality every time
Thanks for this explanation! In building custom boxes for my truck I noticed when I added ports as I was meant to I lost clarity, this clearly tells me that what I want is a sealed box 👍
I always used sealed boxes, my last had 2 JL w3s nice and clean. Miss them.
Are you sure those ports were properly engineered? Probably not.
You forgot to mention the third sub, a combination of closed and ported: passive radiator
I was thinking the same. Like the old Kenwood ported sealed box I used to have.
You forgot to mention the fourth type of sub. The douchebag. The DB comments unnecessarily on videos that aren't discussing the subject they think it is.
It behaves like a ported sub with a steeper rollof
It's not a combination, the port is replaced with a pr
"slot loaded" (not resonant tuned like altec and ATC ports), isobarik, transmission line, open baffle, and varovents exist too. the frequency response of passive radiators is more peaky
There's a third design too-subs with passive radiators, I own two of them
Ported for Home Theater. Sealed for music. POrted is going to give you that steady deep rumble when the jet liner goes across your screen. Sealed is going to give you that tighter, less boomy sound for music. I have 2 HSU VTF-2 MK5's used for 95% home theater.
Ported Is mainly made for and sold by musicians. A frequently purchased subwoofer is, for example, the Yamaha HS8S and JBL LSR310S. Then a ported turns out to be better 🤔
This is a really good video. Well done. You saved me from worrying and wasting time about something I don't need to worry about. Sealed sub in my car for me! Thanks!
This is not always true ive had both sealed and ported i promise you if you put a dual or single skar sdr 12 in your care you will be so much more happy than with sealed ive had and used both and I still have one bc it gets deeper sounds better and it still articulate and musical but loud you don't have to give it all 1200 watts if u dont want put it at the volume you like
In my personal opinion both sealed and ported are in the past but less ported than sealed because passive radiators are a perfect balance you get deeper and louder than sealed and just as small without having to worry about port noise
@@valorantorion1588 Car subs with passive radiators have had their niche for a long time but never really picked up. Why do you think that is the case?
No, they're not the same size as sealed boxes and they have almost exactly the same problems as basreflex subs. The car audio market is dominated by basreflex subs because they're so efficient and people want to install as few extra batteries as possible. It's as simple as that. Maybe electric cars will change that.
Ported enclosures are far superior but the trade off is that they're way more expensive and need more space, specially if you want a well made box. But I ported enclosure will be way louder than a sealed enclosure and will be more efficient. If you like loud bass, 100% vented.
@@valorantorion1588 0
great video!
Very interesting and easy to understand, I found all the answers I was looking for.
This guy is great!
We'll let him know 😄
@@KantoSolutions What's the best subwoofer to get with my Kanto TUK's?
Subwoofer sealed is better to Bass sound. For drum sound is better subwoofer ported 🔊👍
Thanks 👍 I appreciate the difference now.
You are very connected to your expertise with comprehensive understanding that's very enjoyable to learn from.
SPL car audio & HT: Ported, SQ car audio & high end home audio: Closed.
Great explanation there sir!
I made my own 15” 600w PA sub with a wave guide that I built in it
The port has a 4inches in height and 16,5 inches in length
It’s hits hard!
I have a ported and a sealed in my bedroom, perfect combination.
Best explanation of port noise I’ve seen. Many thanks!
Great video! Explained very well. Thanks man!
Good overview. I'm trying out a semi-hybrid design, the RSL SpeedWoofer 10S MKII. It has a non-traditional elongated front firing port (rather long & thin, not round) with extra internal baffling, that is supposed to permit better pressure and response like a sealed enclosure. Everyone I hear is raving about it for a sub
Just ordered my Sub8, to pair with my YU2s. Gets here on Monday, too excited!
Works different in car audio. All kinds of figures to put in the equation. Cabin size , power supply, wire size, driver parameters, location . I have a 4 door pick up and the only place to fit an enclosure was under the seat. Your backwards on the frequency you get with a sealed box. For lower resonate frequencies a sealed box has to have more air space. A ported box can reach lower frequencies in a smaller enclosure . Trick is to make the port proportional to the available air space and get the dimensions as close as you can to the recommendations of the specific driver's manufacturer. On mine it was real tricky. I had to make a fiberglass base for the subs I needed for the results I wanted. Port was made to spec with dual taper to increase sound compression , multiple chambers for a variety of frequencies. Of course the box was made specifically for the drivers I used.
...and this is why I love the classic Large Advents speakers. Back in the day your 2.0 system was really a 2.2.
very good explanation.
i like a sealed dual subwoofer architecture where the chassis are opposing each other.
Testing subwoofers without sounds LOL
this channel certainly has potency :D
Would you recommend getting an external sub over a 3 or 4 way speaker like the Fluid Audio Image 2 or EVE Audio SC4070? I want to extend the low end in my studio.
Brilliant informative and clear video. Thanks
Summs it up. Building a sealed speaker has the advantage that you can quite precisely create your desired "Sound-Design" by the inside Volume (Qtc) of your housing. For a good vented speaker your driver probably will be more expensive then the driver matching a sealed Box design. If you want low bass range for a small driver you have to go for the ported speaker. If you want low bass range in a sealed subwoofer the housing easy gets huge. For people who don't really car much about sound a cheap 2.1 system with a vented sub will just do fine. I got one of these, was under 30$ and for that money it can't get much better. On the other hand, you can buy high prized speakers that are crap. It's mostly just about marketing. A good speaker system is one, that you can enjoy listenimg too all day long, without getting nuts.
I put a capacitor and a small coil on the negative line. Slowing it down and therefore creating a lower frequency. In a small space enclosure ( under a car seat ) it gives the thump that you’re looking for.
Really easy to understand every details, thanks so much...
For the whole video i kept thinking that the presenter will show both sub woofers performance effect on that box filled with water... 😆 🤣 how many agree?
Literally thought so until I saw this comment😂😂😂
I honestly like ported subs. My mom has one and I just love the way the bass is so deep. I never liked the full, movie theater type of sound with low frequencies.
You’re def not the only one
I own a Genelec subwoofer with Laminar Spiral Enclosure bass reflex cabinet. It provides excellent laminar flow characteristics with minimal turbulence noise and allows for a long reflex tube into a small space. It sounds amazing, no chuffing, and is perfectly clear no matter how loud.
I have one as well, and it has a crossover to limit the bass going to my Genelec mains. Sounds great.
Incredible video. Thanks for the laugh AND the information!!!
First time since my studies someone brought up the Helmholtzresonator without mentioning the name or formula. Gr8 video.
Great video, just one question....more companies are using passive radiators instead of ports. What are the pros & cons of these ?
Interesting video!! Watching this, my mind went straight to those JBL speakers that use "passive radiators" to emmit their bass, but are essentially still sealed
it is similar like vented regarding the frequency characteristic. but there is no port noise and you maybe have a tiny bit more dampening which leads to more accuracy.
Very good explanation! My personal favourite is sealed with dsp boost for extended range. Then you are almost as deep as ported with none of the negatives! Really got to watch for going past the excursion maximums though!
Equalization does not magically make the negative go away. Ported subs go lower, louder, more efficiently.
@@dizzywow yes, but the sealed enclosure can now go deeper with the dsp. You are correct on the efficiency though. You definitely sacrifice volume.
@@aktionp20 Closed subwoofer is old crap crap ass technology is developing that is not done anymore
@@kotim1142 sealed is and always will be better for sound quality. No phase reflections like with a ported. Very minimal difference to the ear but it is there.
@@aktionp20 it is full crap not good much worse little brat A closed subwoofer heats up more than a ported subwoofer because it has an air hole It's an old technique and invention, Technology is moving forward and developing better Owl head Yes I know
Great explanation. I learned a lot with this video. Thank you
Very nicely explained.
Much appreciated 👍🏻
Nice really good presentation. The ported subs are really nice for movies and the new Yamaha twisted port subs are really good with interesting design features like the square cross section driver wires. I think they have done a pretty good job.
We appreciate this AWESOME tutorial
You guys rock!! Awesome subwoofer science!
i put the sealed 8 inch Kanto sub with a pair of Kanto Tuks hooked to my PC....WOW i love them
What is the best setup for a truck? I want hard hitting bass but I also really love boomy sound. I had a JL W7 in my Tahoe and I loved it. I now have a 2022 gmc Sierra AT4X and there isn’t that much room I can fit under the back seats so should I go sealed or ported?
There's a saying with subs... they can be good, small, or cheap - pick two. Since you want good bass in a small space you'll have to spend more on a powerful amplifier and a sub that can handle high wattage. For you're application you'll want a shallow mount sub in a sealed box to save on space. I heard good things about Sundown to I modeled their SD-4 10″ D2 in WinISD and you can get down to 40 Hz at -3 dB in a 1 cuft box which is pretty great - if you have the ability to increase box size you'll get louder bass in the lower frequencies.
@@KantoSolutions Yeah I gotcha. I really wish there was a way I could put 2 12” JL W7’s in that truck. That’s my favorite subwoofer ever I had one in my Escalade.
What subwoofer would you recommend someone to buy between Kenwood, Pioneer, Mobile Authority and Sony xplod
I built by own box and designed my own port for a sub to go in my 96 civic in high school. I paired it with a cheap pioneer amp and woofer. tried to set it all up to roll off pretty heavily around 40 hz. I thought that would protect the speaker. I was the designated driver to a party one night. my friends were all pretty excited to hear the system I put together. non of us cared to much about sound quality at the time. we cranked the volume and destroyed the sub. I learned the hard way that if you are using a ported box you need to quality sub that won't rip itself apart easily. I never did replace that speaker.
Frequency below tuning will damage the speaker.
You ported it too high
What about a sealed or ported sub that is filled with a dampening material I currently have a dual 12 inch sealed box but I want to know if I should line the walls with thick fiberglass wool to create a better sound affect.
Adding a dampening material to a sealed sub effectively lowers it's tuning frequency. It doesn't inherently change the sound.
great explanation, thank you
Very informative, thanks.
I have tried many sealed boxes but I went ported because I love to hear that mean bottom end bass that turn heads..
Once I opened a subwoofer that it had a ported vent, BUT INSIDE THERE WAS ANOTHER chamber with a SEALED SUBWOOFER. Dayum that design sounded FINE! super precise bass!
How doyou call this double chamber design?
I need product breakdowns for all Kanto products from this guy.
Dude, solid! Thank you
This is an amazing representation
I use a Veliodyne IMPACT-10 ported subwoofer and it's awesome. i prefer ported over sealed because not only does it provide louder bass output, it also provides cooling for the plate amp and the driver itself. In a sealed box, the heat generated from the amp has nowhere to go, and that could be a bad thing. I don't know how they manage to keep sealed subs from breaking due to overheating.
Put a bottle of ice water near the port to chill it out. It will thank you...
1. Class D
2. Plate itself is a cooler, some amps have heatsinks on the outside
3. There's a significant amount of air inside the box, in a lot of cases its capacity is more than enough to cool down what's needed
they manage tho
with a modern class D amp the cooling is not a problem at all.
Very good demo. Make me want to try out. Maybe seal sub qith passive tranducer can be best of both worlds.
What about subs with a passive radiator?? Is that essentially a port with a flex covering?
Really usefull information. Thanks
Someone might have already asked this, but why doesn't the YU2 have a low-frequency roll-off switch, say at 80Hz? This would make them so much more usable with a subwoofer, like the Sub6 or Sub8. The YU2's image like crazy, especially with vocals, but when the volume goes up past 85db, the little mid/woofer driver just can't hang, and distortion, buzzing, and general sound stage incoherence becomes a problem. PLEASE update this wonderful little speaker with that roll-off switch. It would make the YU2 a sonic wonder with a sub, rather than a love them/hate them experience.
how does air inside the sealed sub affects the speaker membrane etc. at more volume, when you want it loud... ?
what about the bandpass enclosures? or passive radiators? 0 quality? or they are even good in some way?
Wicked video, thanks for explaining this in layman's terms
Nice video,i have a question,can you close a port?Sorry for mine bad english,i am dutch.
What about passive rads on sealed subs?
This was my question to.
I t think it all depends on how much musical power (pressure) you need. All subwoofer at big concerts are always open. There is one trick for every speaker to make it sound lower and louder, put it on the hard floor. The way you explain everything is really good.
means down firing
I have a dual kelton type sealed thx technics subwoofers... amazing (would love to know more about this type of design... SB-TW50)
is the sub8 ok to pair with Yu2?
I have a Wharfedale sub that combines both designs! It’s a very beefy box with two ports on the front. When you look inside, you see the back of the driver unit which is facing upwards, and it’s attached to a wooden plate which divides the inside of the box into two halves. The cone of the speaker is sealing the upper half of the cabinet air tight, so that would technically make it a sealed subwoofer. What’s your take on this design?
I know more car audio and that sounds like maybe a 4th order box? I could be wrong though
@@dr.jellyfinger8132 I was going to ask what a 4th order box is, but I Googled it and wow, there’s a whole science behind it! I think it is a 4th order box, but its build is a bit different from the images on Google
Damnn very informative video really learned something
I have a polk audio psw 10. At what range should the low pass filter should be kept to get a good balanced performance?
crossover point is dependent on your speakers. You want to set your crossover point at the frequency of which your speakers start to drop off in bass response. For full size bookshelf speakers, 80 Hz is a good starting point.
@@KantoSolutions I want to know regarding the value of low pass filter at the back of the psw 10 subwoofer!
perfect explain
Are you guys going to release any new speakers?
Good explanation , sealed subs have always had musicality on their side . They are able to recreate the lower registers of the musical spectrum. A ported sub is good for bang bang -- boom boom , personally I would much rather have lower musical notes that just a bang and a boom !!
And the boom from a sealed sub is usually still exciting and impactful (vs not having a subwoofer)
Below the tuning frequency, ported sub driver has enormous excursion as you go down. Sealed on the other hand has limited low excursion even below tuning frequencies.
One more advantage of sealed is that the woofer membrane remains rigid compared to vented because the pressure difference in case of sealed across the woofer stays high at extremities as compared to the woofer in vented.
What is the slope of the crossover on the sub, please?
I invented a sub based on the transmission line design and registered it with the AIPO. Australian Intellectual Property office.
I'd worked in HiFi shops and wanted to make a better sub than was available commercially at the time. I succeeded. I tested Ported designs and settled on a sealed design. Chalk and Cheese. Sealed subs are tight and fast as this video attests. Kudos Kanto!
It's aways a matter how they are tuned and designed.
With port noise it's off course a matter of size and how each side is rounded off.
I build my own speakers and Experiment a lot. If the port tuning is very low (in my case my sub is tuned to 15hz) The group delay caused by being ported is much lower to the point that one can only seperate the sound of it from a sealed sub because it goes lower. IF using the same driver! That being said. Driver choice is a HUGE factor in this!
I just built some Bookshelf speakers with a Punktkilde AUGWL0016-JN03 woofer in a about 17liter ported box tuned to 40hz. I expected the group delay caused by the higher port tuning to ruin bass clarity but it didn't. It's actualy the best sounding bass i have heard so far. The next most authentic sounding thing was a PA subwoofer on a concert.
So it's always a matter of the sound engineers choices when building a speaker.
My choice of drivers is Vifa.
@@marcelmolenaar5684 They make very good and affordable drivers!
Sealed and ported! Sealed for suspension control and porting for the tone desired
can i close the hole in ported sub with passive radiator?
3:50 I laughed so hard not expecting that 😂
thanks!
So is Kanto subwoofer cheaper than quality ported one?
So question. Would there be a benifit to a box that is split? Meaning one side using ported and one enclosed. Would you get the best of both worlds? Obviously you would need more room.
I have almost this setup in my vehicle, I have one box ported to specs, and one box sealed to specs (same model sub). You do kind of get the best of both worlds, but it is more of a middle ground. I get more low end with one of them ported, but not as low if I had two ported. And, I get better response and punchiness with one sealed, but not as good if I had two sealed..
So a middle ground.
Sealed here baby!
Hi
I have two 30-watt 6.5-inch subwoofers that correspond to the old edifier r401 speaker.
I want to design a common subbox for both and then build,
So that it produces maximum volume and volume, as well as deep bass and sufficient vibration (the best and most optimal mode).
However, the space limit for this subbox should also be considered, which can be up to 35-40 cm wide, up to 50-60 cm long and up to 70 cm high.
In the speaker specifications, the minimum response frequency of the 32 Hz speaker is written, which is probably mentioned with its box.
So how would you compare the sealed subwoofer to one that has a passive radiator?
that's what I thought of
A passive radiator essentially mimics the effect of a port so would have the same advantages/disadvantages musically. However, the passive radiator makes it MUCH easier to tune the box (change sizes, change weights, etc) without having to build a port. It eliminates chuffing as well.
I have developed rumbling in my sub8 that is constantly on even when not playing any audio. Can't seem to find anything about it online. The only way to stop it is to turn it off. Any ideas?
What if you have a ported design with a bigger box and a powerful amplifier?
Hip hop ,house ported all day had to send back ma 12 inch sead vs ported 10
Some people want to sacrifice accuracy for more loud booms. But I am a person of quality over quantity, thus happy with sealed sub.
Hey how did you fit that dude in that square at the bottom of the stand the speakers are sitting in behind the black subwoofer on the table ? lol
I was a hater for sealed subs until I sealed a 4 inch soundbar subwoofer Lol😂, before seal (poor port design) 72 Hz Fs, After Seal response down to 44 Hz! Soothing bass
You need high spl driver + eq with sealed. Then it is no competition. Wins hands down.