I have a pair of 10 inch Alpine E Series subs in a sealed box....I'm considering buying a single 12 inch Punch P1 4 ohm sub in a ported box. I listen to hard rock and rap so I want to be able to get that kick for the hard rock but also want to be able to get that boom for the hip hop......my question is which set up and sub would be better for what I want....the set up I have now..or the punch set up?

 

well typically sealed is much cleaner than ported.

So really its up to you. But remember sealed is tighter than ported but ported is louder.

 

Gotcha....my sealed box right now is pretty big and takes up alot of trunk space...if I went with a smaller sealed box how would that effect the sound of the subs?

 

smaller sealed enclosure = more power handling but loss in low frequency extension. Larger sealed enclosure = less power handling but more low frequency extension.


IMO, for the $$ you would spend on the RF P1, I'd get an Elemental Designs 13Kv.2 instead. ONly $75 after forum discount.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/edv2/pro...products_id=31

Here's the discount page

http://www.edesignaudio.com/edv2/adv...keywords=forum

 

I have a 12" Alpine type R in a ported box. It's great for deep thumping bass but you'll need to do some tuning to find a good level for rock as it's sometimes overpowering. I guess it also depends on hu and other speakers in setup.

 

If you want flat frequency response, go sealed. If you want a huge hump, go ported. The tC cabin is very small and a sealed sub with an Fc of about 50hz with a 2nd order rolloff will provide response in-cabin that's basically flat to DC. If you build a ported sub that's flat to 30hz in free-air, you'll have serious amounts of rising response in the cabin.

But, while I'm in a ____y mood and on my warhorse, the big problem with ported subs (sound quality aside) is that they bottom *SO* easily. Once you get below the tuning frequency of the box, all hell breaks loose. The output drops like a rock and cone motion skyrockets. If you have a ported box tuned to 35hz and you're playing a Bass Mechanik's CD full of 20hz fundamentals, well, get ready to bottom that woofer. Check this:
http://www.oceamedia.com/dirk/Excurs...-Quatro-15.gif
That's the peak cone excursion for my home theater sub, but the theory is still valid. You can see that I tuned the box to 20hz. Pay close attention to cone excursion above and below Fb.

 

^Wow, I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded hella smart...

 

LOL....I agree

 

is all that sounded like to me. I wish I knew what that meant. I didn't tune anything, just popped the sub in the box and had a buddy wire and adjust settings of amp. The only way I tune is by adjusting bass & treble and ssp settings on hu.

 

Got a link to the driver? I can simulate the drivers / box sizes and the effect they'll have on response.

And not hella smart. Just hella educated. :-D I've been building my own home audio speakers for years:
http://www.oceamedia.com/dirk/bravoxen.jpg

Only differences between car audio and home audio are that the rooms are a lot smaller and harder to work in!

 

...and you can usually get away with the "drop it in and go" method for sealed boxes, mainly becase sealed boxes are very forgiving and can be "tuned" by adding/removing some stuffing. A properly tuned box, though, will have much better power handling and the lowest possible extension. If your box is too small, you may be costing yourself some low-end efficiency. If your box is too big, it won't provide a stiff enough of an "air spring" to keep your woofer from flapping in the breeze when you crank 'er to 11.

 

agreed. i personally like ported box's. when i turn the radio up i want the bass to knock my head off. the same effect can be felt in sealed but with more cone space.

 

so to achieve more cone space do I need a bigger sealed box or a smaller sealed box?...the box I have now takes up about 75% of my truck space...

 

cone space is the speaker. for instance. 2 15 inch speakers in a sealed box built to spec will be louder then 1 15 inch speaker in a box built to spec. moving more cone space. 30 inches vs 15 inches.

 

gotcha......I think what I'm going to do is keep my 2 10 inch alpines and buy a smaller sealed box.....the specs on my subs are pretty similar to the punch P1.......and from what I've gathered here a smaller box will give me more punch.....

 

not necessarily true. my box is medium sized and it hits harder then my old 4 15's setup in a huge sealed. i only run 2 12's in a ported .. the 4 15's hit 144 and right now im sitting at about 146 and i havnt bumped the amp up to where it should be at.

 

Found the specs on those Alpines. Assuming they are teh SWE-1024's, and unless you're truly interested in trying a ported box, I'd say keep what ya got. Output-wise, they'll play louder than the 12" for the same 500W RMS input. Your two 10" drivers are roughly equivalent to a 12" with 18mm of Xmax and a sensitivity of 91.5dB@2.83V. So unless you find a 12" that is better than that, stay where you are and save your cash. However, if you want to try a ported box, you would need to look at a different driver, 'cause these Alpines would not make good ported woofs.
...oh yeah, and these things can take some serious beating. The two of them in a 1.5ft^3 sealed box could take almost 600W before distorting and almost 1,000W before bottoming out the suspension. Of course, the voice coils would have smoked by then, but that's a minor detail, right? ;-)

 

But let's be honest, my friend. Your response ain't exactly ruler flat... :D

 

voice coils are overrated!! lol who needs em

 

Those are the subs I have.....and thanks for the info.....I'm going to go with a different amp and keep the subs.....thanks for all the info