Quote:
Originally Posted by Cakes982
What about open air 
Speakin of Image Dynamics, I had a set of horns, big under the dash things, SP-1's I think were the #...never had the chance to try em out though, ended up giving them away. |
generally "free air" subwoofers have a high Qts (total Q) meaning the sub is very mechanically and electrically damped and therefore the "air spring" afforded by an enclosure for control is not needed. These higher Q subs also tend to work well in reasonable sized ported enclosures. Now it is possible to put them in even a small sealed, but the response would be very boomy, and efficiency would be horrible
The ID horns (HLCD - Horn Loaded Compression Drivers) were pretty cool, and yielded great results, but also required alot of patience. Best thing about them is that they play a very broad range of frequencies, to you can have a single point source for most of your listening range, especially if you could couple a good midbass close in proximity to the compression driver (fire wall mounting or very forward in the kick pannel work great here). Now add to that that thier placement helps with equalizing path lengths and couple that with incredable efficiency and you've got a very attractive alternative. Big downfall is expensive and require ALOT of wotk (meaning more money)to get to sound good. Placement is very critical, as one inch or the slightest degree off from what is optimum for the way the two sides relate to each other and your soundstage is shot. Now also factor in very erratic frequency respose deviation and your inexperienced installer will make them sound horrible. Here is where a good 3rd Octave EQ (minimum) and an excellent tuner are indespensible. BUT, some of THE BEST sounding cars I have ever heard had horns, also keep in mind, many very very serious studio monitor style speakers, where sound quality is first priority, use horns. I once checked out a studio set up built by a highly respected sound engineer, it was probably one of the best, if not THE best, listening expeiences of my life. He had 2 Compression Drivers, that each cost more than I make in a year, each with a custom made 16 foot long horn with 3 foot wide mouths, and then coupled with 15" midbass/subwoofers in HUGE ported enclosures. it may not sound like it, but that defined soundquality for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by High_Revs_17
To add onto what others have said:
Sealed is for a precise tight bass response, they're excellent for listening to drum and acoustic bass sounds from certain recordings.
Ported is for a echoey elongated bass response, more of what you'd hear from digital recording from rap tracks.
Both can produce a clear, thumpy responses if the right equiptment is used, overall it just depends on the listener's taste.
|
Once again, maybe in general but not necessarily, it's all in enclosure design for the specific sub parameters. Many variables come to play.