OF THE TWO BOXS SEALED BOX OR A PORTED BOX IAM GETTING A PAIR OF 10 KICKER OR ALPINE THEN THERE IS MTX TO GO WITH KAPPA 62.5I DOORS AND 32.5CF DASH ALL GOING IN 91 COUPE(DONT KNOW WHAT AMP IAM GOING WITH RIGHT NOW)
Well if you are just hooking up a small amp to them subs then maybe a ported box might be your best bet...I personally like sealed better, but I"m running over 2,000 watts.
my take IMHO - properly built and tuned ported enclosures will be substantially louder than a sealed box "at or near the tuned frequency." This is the preferred setup for SPL competition. For non-competition, I prefer a sealed box built to the subwoofer manufacturer's specs - to my ears it gives a "flatter" response across it's output range. Ported boxes are larger too - in Stang, that could be very important.
There is a total of three types of boxes = Ported, Sealed, and Bandpass- generally ported seems to work out the best, Bandpass you have a hard time hearing the distortion.
As everyone has stated bass reflex(ported) will sound louder for a given power level. A sealed enclosure is best if you have power to spare . If you are short on wattage the ported enclosures are best. I run a sealed enclouse but I also have 1000+ watts going to my single 12W6-v2 sub, using about 1.25 cubic feet of volume..fairly compact.
12w6v2 How do you like that sub? I'm seriously thinking of dumping my 2-10" Polk MOMO's (ugh) - and moving to a single JL 12w6v2 in a sealed box - actually thinking of buying the sealed ProWedge from JL. It'll fit (just!), and give me lots of my trunk back - a second alternative is the JL StealthBox with a 10w3v2 - that'll give me LOTS of my trunk back. I'm running an Alpine MRD-M500 (591w RMS into 2ohms benched) - that should power either of those subs just fine. I'm not a spl guy - gotta sound good on all types of music - I'm leaning toward JL because they really stand behind their product.
Grodgers, In my opinion for the money you cant beat the JL subs, they are somewhat pricey, I paid a litte more than $400 for my 12w6-v2 when they where first released about 18 months ago. Sound quality is awesome very clean, (i'm not into SPL either). The sub needs 250w min to 500w max to be driven cleanly. You cant go wrong with the JL products. This is a picture when I first installed my system..its ugly but you can get an idea of the space required(sharp eyes will not I have the sub box upside down in this picture). The triangle shaped fixture is what I made to hold my amps, The amps are fairly long..deep and that was the only way I could get the sub and the amp all mounted you fold down the seat and see everything .. I was trying to cram everything up close to the rear seat so when I open the trunk its looks clean..see second photo for shot from trunk. the second pictures show the look from the trunk.
Thanks, Keith I can't see the pictures cuz your IP range is blocked by my company's firewall...ugh - i'll see 'em when I get home this evening. I've got some "stuff" that I need to move before I can make the investment - but it's coming soon <g> - I'm just afraid I'll bite on the 12w7 that's been calling my name - nahhh need to big a box for it