I have a 12" Pioneer sub in a cheap Walmart box right now. It hits pretty hard but almost seems like it's louder outside the truck than inside. I have a Supercrew and always leave the rear passenger side down so the box is just sitting on top of it. I'm probably going to order another 12" and get a good box. I have 760w Pioneer amp and the speaker is 800w max. For some odd reason I have to turn the amp way down for it though. Anyway, my main question is should I get a ported or sealed box?

 

760 is probably way over the RMS power handling capability of the sub that you are using.. This is more than likely why you have to turn down... 800 is the MAX power for the sub (speaker will be trash after you put a full 800 watts on it for any duration of time)...

ported will be louder, muddier, and more efficient (and a bigger box). Ported boxes are more difficult to build correctly.

sealed will be cleaner, less efficient, and a smaller box.

so, if you want lots and lots of low, constant bass... go ported.

if you want tight clean bass, it's generally better to go sealed.

 

The reason its louder outside is you are letting all the waves built up by the subs in that small space inside ur truck out...

 

According to Crutchfield.com Building a ported box is much more difficult and less power efficient as a sealed box is easier to build and is more power efficent. You can put more power in a sealed box than a ported one. If you mess up the demensions of a ported box, you could possibly be running your sub in a free air environment and can completely ruin a sub if it was not designed to be run in the free air(no box enclosure)

 

Good point.

Ported boxes are a pain in the ****. Seal that bad boy.

 

This is all true except for one statement. (I know I'm being picky)A ported box is actually more power efficient than a sealed box.

By this I mean that watt for watt you will get more sound out of a ported box than you will a sealed box. it is this way because the speaker is allowed to operate in a more efficient manner. Sealed boxes allow speaker to operate in a much higher air resistance thus decreasing efficiency. Damping factor will be higher, however, which means it will be easier to get the sub to respond quickly to changes in frequency.

 

So which do you think would be better in an open space like on the seat?

 

if we are casting votes... I vote for the sealed. It's an easier box to build, takes up less space, and will sound much cleaner in almost every application. Buy a decent sub, and stick to your RMS power rating on that sub... you should be happy.

 

The whole design of ported enclosures limits the frequency range at which they are effective. If you want a monotonous drone of booming bass that can be heard for city blocks, a GOOD ported box will do the trick. A poorly designed and built one will not. They are quite complicated, if done properly. And the vehicle that a ported box is used in is very important. The enclosure and tuning should be done specific to the vehicle. In other words, a trophy winning box taken from its vehicle and placed in another will NOT perform the same.

 

you seem like you have little space. Sealed sounds good for punchy type base. Whereas ported will require a larger box but will be louder. The amount of amp power in a ported box is less than if you pushed an amp in a sealed box. Sealed requires alot of power to sound good.

That is if the dimensions are correct. That goes for both sealed and ported.\


Oh yea, the walmart pioneers suck ***. You could have bought a WAAAAAAAY better 12" for the same price off of ebay. I have one of those pioneers and it bumps, but when you get a speaker that matches the RMS of the amp, it will sound ALOT better.

Do a search on the net for your speaker or read the box for what its RMS is. I bet you that speaker is RMS is 150watts. The amo is probably rated at 300 rms. SO your over doing that speaker. Before to long your voice coil will be fried or the speaker blown.

Get a speaker off of ebay, the hell with pioneer unless you get the HIGH END stuff, and you'll be better off....