Sealed vs Ported Boxes

[Wigzter]

I went to an installer yesterday because mine doesn't make custom boxes.

He told me that I should be running a Sealed box because of my trunk. Unless my seats are folded down in the back then I could do a ported box.

I'm currently running a ported box with I believe 3.0 cu feet.

So what exactly is the big difference between sealed and ported? I know ported can hit lower but I guess I don't know why a sealed box would be more ideal for a trunk.

Thanks!

[kg1961]

im more of a fan of sealed boxes smaller easier to make no port noise great power handling
they still get loud but a ported box will be about 3db louder
the box will be bigger and needs to be tuned or it can sound very bad

[ttocs]

a properly designed ported box will be louder at the freqs it is tuned too but might have less output on other notes it is not tuned too. after building hundreds of boxes for customers I am with mike that I have always gone sealed for myself. The way I see it once you build/tune the ported box, its done and short of plugging the port or adding mass inside the box to adjust its internal volume or a bigger amp, it is what it is. If you don't like it well you have the options I mentioned above or maybe through equalization you can correct what is wrong on its output graph. A sealed box will generally have a very smooth graph on its output and I find if you want a little extra here/there that you can add it with a bass cube or other means of equalization to get the desired results. If you don't like it on the next song, turn it off....

[vwdude]

As the others have touched on...if a ported box is not built exactly to specs for that sub it won't work right. A sealed box can vary in size and shape and still give great output. I like sealed myself, but that's because I like to fiberglass my boxes and while you can fiberglass a ported box, it requires much more calculating and effort.

It also depend so on the sub. Some are better in one type versus the other.