Comparing Sealed vs. Ported Subwoofers for Home Theater

One of the first questions many people ask when choosing a new powered home subwoofer or replacing an old one is, should I go with a ported or sealed box cabinet enclosure?

In this video, the SVS Sound Experts discuss the differences between ported and sealed home theater subwoofers as well the unique acoustic properties of each. You'll learn which type of subwoofer is ideal for max SPLs (sound pressure levels) and deep bass extension as well as which tends to be more musical, with tighter and punchier bass. We also cover the visual and physical impact each subwoofer has on a room and which is ideal for various listening preferences.

One of the SVS subwoofer design philosophies is to narrow the gap between ported and sealed box subwoofer designs. Meaning, SVS sealed box subwoofers have amazing output and low frequency extension and SVS ported box and ported cylinder subs are exceptionally quick with pinpoint accuracy and speed in transients.

[JC-blbo]

I have a PB-1000 and it just kills. I love that thing, just need to go dual next, too many dead spots but the sub itself is awesome. For the money it's incredible. I find it great with both music and movies.

[llIIIIlllIIIllI]

educating the public on the science of your product is really good advertising. i really think more companies should do stuff like this... and i'm not talking about fake advertiser talk, I mean real information like this video had.

[AztecHusBone]

I've has both ported and sealed subs. Ported gives you a nice rumble, but I find the sealed to be more satisfying for movies and music. Feeling the sound like an earthquake is cool and all, but I prefer the cannon ball blast to the chest that sealed gives you. Scarier.

[nitinkanchan]

SVS has one of the best customer service that I have experienced. I have had subs of different brands in the past but SVS is quick as lightening to respond and make you comfortable with your purchase.
Ed Mullen and the other team members like Jack Gilvey are really great to interact with concise and precise replies in clearing out your doubts. What I like about SVS is that they hear you out and don't make you over spend but rather improve your existing purchase with their expertise. Their reputation is built on hard work.
Pls note that I don't work for SVS but have been their customer in the past and have had a great experience with them.

[HiFimanu]

The acoustic suspension aka sealed box also has magnitudes less group delay.

[MrJjburgess]

I recently got a svs sb4000. Thing is amazing in my small/medium sized room . Watched Mad Max Fury Road. All I can say is wow. Unbelievable bass for its size.
I am considering adding a second one just to add to the experience and won't have to work that single one quite as hard.

[VINNY]

I made my own sub 12 inch woofer in a 4 order bandpass box feeding it 2, 400 watts in a 2 ohm load and it hits hard real hard!
Best of both worlds sealed and ported all in one!

[pete]

I just ordered a PB 2000 Pro. This is the first subwoofer I ever bought, not sure exactly what it will sound like in my room, but based on everything I read, I’m very excited for it to get here

[QuotidianHr]

As i see it, when you have power and response, sealed is always a better choice. Except in situations where speaker is small and you want to compensate that with a big box that helps creating the deep sound. For example, that is why pretty much all small 2.1 desktop setups are ported. But in this case we are talking about 500W rms drivers that go down to 19 hz or lower. For me, frequency response is most important thing. I want my speaker to be able to reproduce everything i play through it. Then goes the power. So, when you play music or watch movies you want your speaker to be able to reproduce sound as quickly as possible, driver has to be able to return to its "default" position as quickly as possible and sealed does that better because of the vacuum that helps it. I have a feeling that ported woofers create sound that doesn't really exist. Because its "free", driver moves a lot longer then in sealed one and it doesn't have the time to go to "zero" when new sound has already begun. That maybe sounds more fun especially in movies where there is continuous rumbling but in my opinion that is just not realistic. And that's especially a problem if you listen to electronic music like me...psy trance or drum and bass...A lot of fast sounds at the same time so speaker can't separate them because it never stops moving. But when you have a 500W pig that goes to down 19 and is sealed...it simply does everything great. Plus, its small.

Anywho, that's just my opinion and how i explain the difference to myself. You guys have great woofers and although i am currently using 1 ported 160w subwoofer connected to my stereo amp and second 400W rms sealed car subwoofer powered by car amp which is powered by 30A/13.8v laboratory power supply and connected to my computer sound card (yes, it works like hell, got me sued for disturbing peace in my building and messed up rigidity of my kitchen elements :)), i am definitely planing to get SB-2000 to replace them both in the near future.

[rmabgoi]

SVS subs are VERY expensive here in Europe !!! While americans pay $2.300/2.500 for the SVS PB16-ULTRA, we pay at least 3.500€ ( $3996, 04). Even the less expensive SVS SB-1000, we pay 600€ ($685, 03), while americans pay just $250/300. I would love to have dual SVS subs, but it´s just ridiculous to pay 7.000€ ($7992, 07) for two subs !!! For now i will keep my Rel Acoustics Storm 3...but one day i will buy an SVS sub...or a JL Audio sub. If i were rich, i surelly would buy the Legacy Audio Foundation subwoofer. Greetings from Portugal. Cheers

[davidharper]

well for my room the sealed sub is working fine...I would like to get two in the future!

[photomusicman]

I really love all your videos. They are explaining so much that has confused me for a long time. Thank you.

[mikelorigo]

Very good information. I just discovered this company about a week ago and am looking forward to adding some of your components to my theater room.

[DH-thhv]

You guys are great at responding to your supporters of the channel! With that being said, in the foreseeable future could there potentially be dual drivers in a single cabinet with the 16 inch drivers?

[lampim]

Some of the technical differences they left out is that in a sealed design there's a law of physics that states that every time you go down 1 octave in frequency, a SEALED speaker must stroke back and for 4 times further to produce the same volume (loudness). in other words if the speaker is moving just 2mm at 80hz it has to move 8mm at 40hz and then 32mm at 20 hz to keep up the same level of volume. This typically causes a sealed speaker to get quieter and quieter the deeper you play at some point while at the same time it moves more and more the deeper it plays. Eventually it will move too far and either "run out of steam", damage itself or have significant distortion (or all 3). A properly ported design overcomes some of this by essentially having the ports "help out" where the speaker starts to fall into this "roll off" area. The ports help to boost the volume where the speaker is starting to have trouble (as the notes get lower) and they also dampen the movement of the speaker so the speaker moves less and less as notes get lower instead of more and more (at least up to the tuning freq. of the ports).

[biologicalagent]

Talk about how the cheaper ported speakers can also offset the cone output and how the port can also make its own “wind sound”.

[pf]

This video was very informative . Learned a lot about the differences in ported VS non- ported. I've always wondered what the difference was.

[CheckthisRealquick]

Great video, questions answered and information exchanged very quickly. Thumbs up 👍

[MTA-tvfm]

Hi
I have two 30-watt 6.5-inch subwoofers that correspond to the old edifier r401 speaker.
I want to design a common subbox for both and then build,
So that it produces maximum volume and volume, as well as deep bass and sufficient vibration (the best and most optimal mode).
However, the space limit for this subbox should also be considered, which can be up to 35-40 cm wide, up to 50-60 cm long and up to 70 cm high.
In the speaker specifications, the minimum response frequency of the 32 Hz speaker is written, which is probably mentioned with its box.

[Anony_mous]

thats why im using a sundown sa 12 for my home theatre. going to build a custom ported box into 4 cubes out of my 8 cube shelf for an sa 15 to get the even richer lows, and so after displacement and box build its going to be perfect tune and spec for the sub