KICKER L7 's

[adamsjstt]

What do you think would sound better a L712 in a sealed box with a ix1000.0 or a L710 in the mid sized ported box with a ix500.1?

[Link]

I am installing an L7 12 in a sealed box with a zx1000.1 when I tested it out last night it sounded great. I went with a sealed box because I listen to a wide range or music and the sealed box fit better under the driver's area.

[Timmy!]

I think sealed boxes have more of a perceived loudness than a vented but I've always like vented because the lows seem to shake everything more.

[ds@earmark]

Never judge a bass-reflex enclosure based on someone else's bad design and execution. Most of your music is engineered on bass-refex studio monitors and most of the esoteric high fidelity speakers are bass-reflex. For example, like a $35K pair of Wilson Audio or a $25K pair of B&W. Check out the B&W 801s in the Apple studio. And, these speakers do not gravitate towards or compromise any particular type of music. Properly aligned and damped a bass-reflex subwoofer will deliver close to 3dB extra output (equivalent to doubling your amplifier power) in a linear manner over a fairly broad bandwidth plus result in lower cone excursion and lower distortion within a specific range.
Contrastly, many box builders go for an undamped peaky tuning that has much more output but sounds boomy or like a single note resonator. I don't advocate that and consider that approach a misalignment. Others run a ported box that isn't really tuned at all and don't have the tools to impliment bass-reflex correctly. That's simply a crap shoot. We see and hear this commonly.
For the confines of a vehicle cabin, I usually like acoustic suspension (small sealed) because the earlier but softer roll-off offsets and compliments the opposing curve of the rising low frequency cabin gain. However, in the open field environment of a boat I would choose the added leverage and responsiveness of bass-reflex whenever possible. To me the combination of subwoofer and sub amplifier that is running most conservatively sounds the best and bass-reflex usually facilitates this.
When you consider the extra internal displacement, port wall and port volume the external displacement of a bass-refex enclosure will often be double that of a sealed enclosure. The dimensions certainly won't double.
You can modify the bass-reflex enclosure to a smaller version that uses a smaller port surface area and/or a longer port to tune at a similar frequency but you may be sacrificing performance such as power handling or adding noise at higher output levels. So I wouldn't force fit a bass-refex sub.
While an acoustic suspension system is usually easier (harder to mess up), keep in mind that you can also misalign a sealed design. If the sealed enclosure is too large for a particular driver then you may get deeper bass extension at the cost of power handling, attack, midbass, transient response and perceived output. An enclosure that is too small will have less deep bass extension, more of a peaky single-note response and that pronounced hump in the response may be interpreted as higher output. But I'm not a fan of that coloration.
So in any case, always follow the Thiele Small Parameters provided by the woofer manufacturer or the guidelines that they provide for optimum performance.
I strongly recommend that you decide on the enclosure displacement and type that best fits your particular boat and let that enclosure dictate the best woofer for the job. For instance, its been my experience that you get more usable output from a bass-reflex 10-inch over a sealed 12-inch. Its not a rule but rather a generalization. Every individual boat may dictate something a little different but recognizing that is precisely how you will get the best subwoofer. So in sequence...the boat determines the box and the box determines the woofer and type of loading.

David
Earmark Marine

[Timmy!]

Thanks for the tech jargon David

What I was trying to say is that to the human ear a sealed box can sound louder, but on a meter the vented box will have more db's.

[Dan and Christy]

I have a L7 12" in a ported box being pushed by a ZX1500.1(thanks to Mike aka chpthril) and it POUNDS! The box is huge though.

[Timmy!]

Adam, were you looking at the compact vented design(1.75 cu ft) in the Kicker manual? That will fit under the helm very nicely of the RZ2. Getting the 3.25 box in there will be a little tight, especially if you have a heater. You could probably do like a 2.5 cu ft or something, just make sure you get the tuning right.

[kko]

Never judge a bass-reflex enclosure based on someone else's bad design and execution. Most of your music is engineered on bass-refex studio monitors and most of the esoteric high fidelity speakers are bass-reflex. For example, like a $35K pair of Wilson Audio or a $25K pair of B&W. Check out the B&W 801s in the Apple studio. And, these speakers do not gravitate towards or compromise any particular type of music. Properly aligned and damped a bass-reflex subwoofer will deliver close to 3dB extra output (equivalent to doubling your amplifier power) in a linear manner over a fairly broad bandwidth plus result in lower cone excursion and lower distortion within a specific range.
Contrastly, many box builders go for an undamped peaky tuning that has much more output but sounds boomy or like a single note resonator. I don't advocate that and consider that approach a misalignment. Others run a ported box that isn't really tuned at all and don't have the tools to impliment bass-reflex correctly. That's simply a crap shoot. We see and hear this commonly.
For the confines of a vehicle cabin, I usually like acoustic suspension (small sealed) because the earlier but softer roll-off offsets and compliments the opposing curve of the rising low frequency cabin gain. However, in the open field environment of a boat I would choose the added leverage and responsiveness of bass-reflex whenever possible. To me the combination of subwoofer and sub amplifier that is running most conservatively sounds the best and bass-reflex usually facilitates this.
When you consider the extra internal displacement, port wall and port volume the external displacement of a bass-refex enclosure will often be double that of a sealed enclosure. The dimensions certainly won't double.
You can modify the bass-reflex enclosure to a smaller version that uses a smaller port surface area and/or a longer port to tune at a similar frequency but you may be sacrificing performance such as power handling or adding noise at higher output levels. So I wouldn't force fit a bass-refex sub.
While an acoustic suspension system is usually easier (harder to mess up), keep in mind that you can also misalign a sealed design. If the sealed enclosure is too large for a particular driver then you may get deeper bass extension at the cost of power handling, attack, midbass, transient response and perceived output. An enclosure that is too small will have less deep bass extension, more of a peaky single-note response and that pronounced hump in the response may be interpreted as higher output. But I'm not a fan of that coloration.
So in any case, always follow the Thiele Small Parameters provided by the woofer manufacturer or the guidelines that they provide for optimum performance.
I strongly recommend that you decide on the enclosure displacement and type that best fits your particular boat and let that enclosure dictate the best woofer for the job. For instance, its been my experience that you get more usable output from a bass-reflex 10-inch over a sealed 12-inch. Its not a rule but rather a generalization. Every individual boat may dictate something a little different but recognizing that is precisely how you will get the best subwoofer. So in sequence...the boat determines the box and the box determines the woofer and type of loading.

David
Earmark Marine

If you dont get help at charter get help some place else!!!
Good God I got one of them there cluster headaches reading all that!!!!!! Your a great resource but dear lord man take it easy on us....will ya!

[ds@earmark]

^^^In other words, I like ported boxes when they fit.

[Timmy!]

Just giving you crap David! Thanks for the info in the WW post on the Boston 555!

[chpthril]

If you dont get help at charter get help some place else!!!
Good God I got one of them there cluster headaches reading all that!!!!!! Your a great resource but dear lord man take it easy on us....will ya!

David is the one on the left and Oden is on the right

[kko]

^^^In other words, I like ported boxes when they fit.

Thank you sir.

[ds@earmark]

There are tons of keyboard experts on the net with opinions that are all over the map...some are based on a small or flawed sampling and some are just a recycle of what they read elsewhere. I try to provide something a little more accurate, in depth and expose people to a few fresh concepts. And sometimes I get a little to "into it". But hey, its what I do and I'm passionate about it. No apologies.

[kko]

There are tons of keyboard experts on the net with opinions that are all over the map...some are based on a small or flawed sampling and some are just a recycle of what they read elsewhere. I try to provide something a little more accurate, in depth and expose people to a few fresh concepts. And sometimes I get a little to "into it". But hey, its what I do and I'm passionate about it. No apologies.

None needed..just having a little fun with ya!

[ajholt7]

If you dont get help at charter get help some place else!!!
Good God I got one of them there cluster headaches reading all that!!!!!! Your a great resource but dear lord man take it easy on us....will ya!

That's funny