Increase your bass SPL/dB

[fredster34]

here's some facts for those wanting to design a sound system for more bass, especially deciding between sealed vs. ported boxes and amp wattage.

let's take a sub, a JL Audio 10" (10W0), for example. it handles 125W RMS and can be used in a sealed or ported box. it will work great in a 0.75 cuft sealed box and a 1.25 cuft ported box. for any given wattage, the sealed box will hit tighter and lower, while the ported will be louder. u can modify the sound of either box by changing box size and/or port size.

let's say the sub puts out 100dB at 125W in a sealed box (its probably lower than that). if wattage stays the same, the ported box will give a 3dB increase, so u'll get 103dB with the ported version.

for a sealed box, to increase SPL by 3dB, u have to double the power. so u can get 103dB from sealed if u feed it 250W. but now the speaker cant handle that much power.

so u have to decide what type of bass u want, accurate vs. loud. then decide how u want to increase SPL, by porting or by doubling the power?

one last thing, all else being equal, doubling the amount of subs will increase SPL by 6dB.

[Corollacrazy42]

IN most cases I would say you wouldnt wanna sacrifice the speaker by overloading it. Even more if the sub is just for normal use, because you will want it to last.

Mainly im not sure what you trying to get at though.

But ported will sound worse like you said but provide a little more db's. It is probably most beneficial to get a sub that can handle alot of power and has large excursion. This will produce the most about of air movement. So basically a big sub with a high power rating would probably be best. knwoing you can load the sub beyond its RMS power if need be. If you do design a port it shoul only be so big because you want the sub to still be able to rebound.
But even from your writings, you can tell the a sealed enclosure is the better outcome. You will get better sound, more accurate and loud too. Ported will sound sloppy and slow but *slightly* louder. You wont notice much difference in a 3db change.

[Y0tA _CaM]

ported to me sounds way better. i had a 12" L5 in a ported box and then got a kicker ported enclosure and it made a huge difference. my friend had it in his car w/ 600watts and u could hear it from down the block.

[Iceman91]

I have had SO MANY SYSTEM SET-UP's and PORTED SQL box's are the best. They sound GREAT and hit HARD I made one for my set up in my sig and it is CRAZZZZZZZZZZZy LOUD & CLEAN. It is all the box design and make. I have built over 100 box's for my friends, fellow competitors, customers, & myself. It just takes experience, knowledge, and time to make the perfect box.

Now for what fredstar is talking about ya some is true, but it is all the amp efficiency, box, and woofers. What I usually do is make a sealed box for my woofers to brake the woofer in, then put them in a ported enclosure and you would be set.