So this is my question for anyone who can answer it....Should I get a ported or a un ported fiberglass box? for my xB?

 

a ported box will get louder if designed right...
Subs in a sealed box tend to have a more linear response...

a fiberglass ported is difficult to design and may be a lot more expensive...

 

yeah.....with fiberglass, I'd go sealed....unless you want it to be loud as possible with the equipment you have......as long as it's designed correctly, you should be happy with the end results either way.......

 

Don't take into account what material the box is made of when deciding ported or sealed. We make fiberglass sealed enclosures and I currently have a custom fiberglass 6 ft^3 ported enclosure in my xBox now. Take into account the area you have to work with and what type of sound you are looking for...sealed are more fool proof and overall have a flatter response and in general just sound better. They also take up less space! Ported boxes can sound awesome as well and are more effcient. However, you must have the correct size enclosure and the correct size port(s) in order for it to perform optimally. If not, you will be very dissappointed! You must tune the enclosure to the driver and its highly recommended to run a subsonic filter with a ported enclosure. I could go on and on but just read up on the different enclosures before deciding. Good luck.

For fiberglass enclosures, you can always fill it with gallons of water (1 ft^3 portions of foam peanuts work too) and do a conversion into ft^3 to calculate your air space!

Keep Jammin,

 

generally speaking, i think ported will give you the least low volume distortion and spl in an xB. being that it's designed like a box, and has an open air space, i havent seen too many sealed boxes beating a ported on (in the xB)

good luck with the fiberglass calculation w/ports.. should be intersting to see

 

I have always been a huge fan of sealed boxes. I like their better response and to me they hit harder. Ported may have a tad louder low bass, but I think sealed boxes are better cause they support all types of music, not just bassy types.

 

I usually go with sealed boxes for the stuff I build because of the space savings. If properly sized, they produce good response. Now if I was an all out adiophile with a big cargo space to work with, I would probably go with ported to produce the most power where I needed it.

 

Thanks everyone for the response....I'm going to be installing 3 10" Kicker Solo Barics L7's in the xB hopefully within the next month.

 

Choosing box types are very woofer dependant, among other things. Driver specific, for your L7, the short answer would be small, sealed.

The reasoning behind this is that the Solo's, at least when the came out, were designed for small, sealed enclosures. Kicker may have changed their ts parameters to allow for ported, but I'd consult with them, before trying anything but that. True, the debate between ported and sealed is subjective, and is very, very, opinion based. The fact of the matter is, there is no magic box. It's all a matter of choice. You have to determine which is the best application for you and your driver(s). Answering a few questions would help to determine your answer.

1. What does the manufacturer recommend for optimal performance?
2. How much floor space are you willing to sacrifice?
3. Are you building it yourself?
4. Is this the first box you've ever built?
5. Is this your first time fiberglassing?

If you want to take up the least flor space, generally speaking, a sealed box would be your box of choice, as they are, generally, the smallest of the plethora of types (sealed, ported, isobaric, bandpass, compression loaded, etc...) If floor space isn't a big concern, then you could start delving into the other box types, after consulting the manufacturer. If you're building, and it's your first time building a box, go sealed, they're the easiest to build, and you don't have to calculate the post dimensions or tuning for your driver. If you've never fiberglassed, again, sealed, as you'll have a hard time glassing period, don't make it even harder. The great box debate is one for the ages, and will go on forever. There is no right or wrong answer, just a bunch of subjective ones.

 

Personally I like a good bandpass box, those things hit! I have one with a 12" Rockford Fosgate Punch XL sub and it is crazy.

 

Bandpass are VERY VERY picky......each bandpass box NEEDS to be designed specifically for the driver going into it...if you want to know why, go here:
http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/magic/bandpass.html

this will tell you all about sealed, ported, bandpass, and isobarik type inclosures....

 

That's a great read! Thanks. My bandpass is a little different from theirs, kind of a reverse single-reflex. The back of my sub is in the ported section where the front of the sub is in the sealed section and the box was properly tuned.

I fool alot of people into thinking I have a bigger system than I actually do. They're always like "what are you pushing, couple 12's" and I'm like "nope only one and on 200 watts" then they're like . I love my bandpass.

I had the thing in my old Neon and one time when I folded the back seat down, it knocked the mirror right off my windshield. :D

 

yeah....when designed right, bandpass boxes can be VERY efficient!!! (produce alot of output with less input)....

 

[quote="riccochetrabbit"]



1. What does the manufacturer recommend for optimal performance?
2. How much floor space are you willing to sacrifice?
3. Are you building it yourself?
4. Is this the first box you've ever built?
5. Is this your first time fiberglassing?


[\quote]


Yes this would be my first fiberglass project for myself. I'm gonna go with what kicker has put out for there specs on the box. and just hope for the best.

 

Might I recommend a few things for you to make life easier on you for your first fiberglassing project?

First and foremost, buy a bulk box of latex (or latex free) gloves. If you do anykind of cleaning around the house or anything, you'l eventually use them all, better to be safe than sorry. Next spend some time experimenting with mixtures of resin to MEKP (hardener) to give you a working time around 20 minutes or so(more or less upon your discression). Cut out your skeleton frmo MDF, or wood of choice, mdf is cheap and easily obtainable, and works fine... Practice with laying up glass on other things besides your actual box for a while before diving right in. It's not going to come pout perfect on the first try. Fiberglassing is an acquired technique. I've got a DIY somewhere that I'll post a link to later, plus I have to go to get dinner for my sick GF, soI don't have the time to type out a full reply right this second.... I'll update the message later.

 

Yes they are. They sound EXCELLENT when properly designed, but can be very difficult to design, especially for the first time builder.

 

riccochetrabbit-
Just a head's up to you no immages in sigs. its in the rules. sorry if i seems like in busting chops

 

my bad, I have it on serverspace I have access to, but I'll change my sig...

 

does kicker recommend a small sealed enclosure for the L7? my friend who used to have a 12" L7 recommends a ported enclosure. I'm also considering a L7 for my future ride.

sorry if i'm thread jacking.

 

when they first came out, the L7's were meant to be in small sealed enclosures.....but now they're saying they both work well, as long as designed properly.....