Ported or sealed?

[Jonny Rotten]

Looking for sub advice.
Focal chorus 814 mains
focal center
Yamaha rx v673
50/50 movie music split
Room size:24wx20dx8h carpet
speakers will be on the 24ft wall,12ft off it is wall 12 ft is open to the rest of house.
Im wondering if I need a ported or sealed sub.Someone on another thread mentioned svs 12 sealed sub.Did some research and it "appears"its meant for a small room.Where ported are meant for larger rooms.
Any advice on a sub for my setup? Ive heard svs and Outlaw are good?l
Id "like" a sub in the $1300 range.But Dont have the dough,so looking for something in that range used I could get for less.I need some ideas to start looking up craigslist Ebay ETC..Im in no rush and can wait till something pops up.
Noob with no idea what to look for
Thanks

 

[lsiberian]

Looking for sub advice.
Focal chorus 814 mains
focal center
Yamaha rx v673
50/50 movie music split
Room size:24wx20dx8h carpet
speakers will be on the 24ft wall,12ft off it is wall 12 ft is open to the rest of house.
Im wondering if I need a ported or sealed sub.Someone on another thread mentioned svs 12 sealed sub.Did some research and it "appears"its meant for a small room.Where ported are meant for larger rooms.
Any advice on a sub for my setup? Ive heard svs and Outlaw are good?l
Id "like" a sub in the $1300 range.But Dont have the dough,so looking for something in that range used I could get for less.I need some ideas to start looking up craigslist Ebay ETC..Im in no rush and can wait till something pops up.
Noob with no idea what to look for
Thanks

SVS is probably your best bet. Ported is best if you have the floor space and don't mind a heavy box because it gives you even response into 20s. Sealed is best if you are limited on space.

I personally use a sealed sub because I move often and it takes up little floor space.

SVS, JL Audio, HSU and others make great subs.

 

[Steve81]

Room size:24wx20dx8h carpet
speakers will be on the 24ft wall,12ft off it is wall 12 ft is open to the rest of house.Im wondering if I need a ported or sealed sub.Someone on another thread mentioned svs 12 sealed sub.Did some research and it "appears"its meant for a small room.Where ported are meant for larger rooms.

A ported subwoofer will tend to have a flatter response down to its tuning frequency, which is useful for a large room with little or no room gain (which is likely to be the case for your room).

A couple simple examples:

ported Rythmik FV15HP
Data-Bass

sealed Epik Empire
Data-Bass

EQ can help, and some sealed subs are equalized to deliver flat response down low; however, if you're pushing things to the limits, the natural response will show through.

Any advice on a sub for my setup? Ive heard svs and Outlaw are good? Id "like" a sub in the $1300 range.

The PB12-Plus and PC12-Plus would be in that range, as would the aforementioned Rythmik FV15HP. In terms of bang for the buck, the latter would be at the top of my list, although since you're going used, current SVSs have a bumper to bumper five year transferable warranty which could give some peace of mind. Other than that, duals of the some of the better $6-700 range subs would be appealing, ie the Outlaw LFM-1 EX, Hsu VTF 3.4, or SVS PB12-NSD.

 

[ImcLoud]

Whats your actual budget, I think of subs this way, music I want fast and sealed, movies I want low, loud and ported....
I would look into hsu vtf2 on a budget, my room is similar to yours with higher ceilings and it shakes the house with ease... And they are on sale rite now

 

[Irvrobinson]

Whats your actual budget, I think of subs this way, music I want fast and sealed, movies I want low, loud and ported....

That's really old-fashioned and inaccurate thinking.

 

[ImcLoud]

That's really old-fashioned and inaccurate thinking.

Thats exactly what I was shooting for, thanks Irv...

I tried a few ported subs, even tried my vtf2 plugged, unplugged, and half plugged, and the sealed sw300's sound the best with music.. My brother got a pair of sealed small svs subs, and they also sound awesome with music, he has an ultra {he loves svs} too and compared to the dual 12's the ultra doesn't do as well with music... And on the flip side the sw300's I have and the 12's my brother has do not make the thunderous movie bass my single vtf2 makes... Soooooo there must be something to it, I have moved this stuff around a lot and tried tons of different material with them... Granted they are not identical subs in sealed and ported cabinets, but they are what I had to compare, and I find sealed sounds better with music even when I go and listen to systems elsewhere..

Even HSU says their uls15 {only sealed they offer} is their most musical subwoofer.. {and I heard them I agree}.... IMO and others I talk to sealed subs have lowest distortion, ported have lowest range.....

I don't know many people with a sealed sub in their theater, and on the flip side I couldnt find a ported sub that sounded good for my music system...

 

[Jonny Rotten]

I spoke to Ed at SVS.He spent a 1/2 hour with me on the phone.First he said the 13 would be better for my setup.I told him the 13 would need to go behind a couch.I told him I could get duel 12's next to my mains and he said that is a no brainer way to go.He also said call in and they will dial in entire system over the phone for optimal performance.customer service like that with a quality speaker is hard to beat..I think Im sold

 

[jbrown15]

If you stretched your budget just a little you could get dual Power Sound Audio XS15s. Power Sound Audio is a new company that was started by Tom Vodhanel and Jim Farina both of which started SVS years ago from what I understand.

 

[ImcLoud]

I spoke to Ed at SVS.He spent a 1/2 hour with me on the phone.First he said the 13 would be better for my setup.I told him the 13 would need to go behind a couch.I told him I could get duel 12's next to my mains and he said that is a no brainer way to go.He also said call in and they will dial in entire system over the phone for optimal performance.customer service like that with a quality speaker is hard to beat..I think Im sold

them dual 12's will rock, then you can come on here and tell everyone how good sealed subs work with music, my brothers really sound good... I have 4 sealed sw300's {12" 300w wharfedales} 2 in each of my music systems and they sound awesome too, but you can get the svs's cheaper..