How important is Efficiency Bandwidth Product (EBP)

[Guiria]

As the title states how critical is EBP relating to sealed and vented boxes.

If I have a driver with EBP of 58, should it always be in a sealed box for best performance?

Likewise with EBP of 128? Should it always be in a vented box?

For arguments sake, if I use the driver with an EBP of 128 in a sealed box what problems / performance degradations will I run into?

Obviously extension will not be as good.

It seems that most drivers now a days are designed to be used in vented enclosures.

 

[annunaki]

EBP's between around 50-60 can go either way. EBP's substantially higher are usually good bets for ported. Low EBP's are good candidates for sealed.

Using a sub beyond its intention is not recommended. It would be as silly as using a purpose built race car as your daily driver.

Typically most manufacturers are building woofers to have EBP's around the 40-60 range for a variety of uses. Purpose built woofer will usually mention that they are suited for specific enclosure designs.

If a sub had an ebp of 128 you would simply not use it sealed, period. If you did I am guessing the enclosure would be very big or extremely small and very peaky for response.