I am very excited to meet everyone and hear some fantastic subs. My primary focus will be on detail and dynamics.
What I am really hoping to learn from all of this is really to give myself a definitive answer to the age old question of what I prefer more ported or sealed subs.
See back in my car audio days I really only liked sealed. I came to this conclusion by testing out LOTS of different subs in a lot of different environments. The thing is most of the car audio subs resonant frequency is somewhere between 30-45hrz. So normally when you put them into a ported box you would get what I call a BOOM box where you get a ton of output at one or just very small range. Somewhere near the the frequency of what the port is tuned to. This is great if you only want to hear that one note really loud but not if you are listening for detail in your music. Where a sealed box would give you less output on that same note without a lot more power. It would have a much smoother response through out its range. But in a car I was never on a quest to get to >20hz. One thing I did learn about ports is that once you get below its ports tuning range the sound would pretty much fall apart in one way or another. Where with a sealed sub it would just get quieter the lower you went. And in a car where space is a premium you would either have to take up a lot of space to get a port tuned low enough or just go sealed and through money at the amp.
I am a bit more limited on my theater sub experience but I have yet to hear a sealed home theater sub that I would want to own. I find a ported sub tuned to around 15-20hz ideal because what little they lack under that range is minimal but room gain normally makes up for that. I had a small sub tuned around 35hz and although for the most part it sounded great in a small room. Once I really got into blu-rays I quickly learned it couldn’t play deep content and would not only give me port noise but in larger rooms it would bottom out my diver. I upgraded the driver but to no avail. Now I have heard a few sealed subs that have sounded really good but they either didn’t have as much output or cost far more then I would be willing to spend because I could get a ported sub that would have more output and cost much less because it didn’t require as big of an amp.
Now I don’t currently have the biggest or greatest sub on the market not even close. But I do have what was once one of the best “budget” subs on the market. SVSound 12PB-NSD. I have heard much better and FAR worse theater subs. I will be using it as my reference sub as well as what I heard from Archaea’s Caps the other night. Now I know I have not heard my NSD in this room. But I do have a pretty good idea of what to exspect based off passed experiences. I have had it in many different rooms and I know that output wouldn’t be the same but the detail should still be close. Just as the Caps should have blown me out of my chair with output and probably would if they were in my room. But due to his room they didn’t. But I was able to tell that his Caps dig much deeper then my single little SVS. No need for a full review right now
To sum up this overly long post. I really want to like a sealed sub and this shootout is pretty much no holds bars test of what you can put into a theater if money and size is no object.
I for one can’t wait!
Seriously though, getting excitied about the meet. What's the itinerary shaping up to be? Are the Submersives confirmed? I should get in around 3:30 friday afternoon. Just trying to plan my sleep. I'll be flying out shortly after my 12 hr night shift. :/
