Is there any reason one's better than the other? For what kind of applications?

 

Well they both have there pros and cons

I think the JL site can explain this a lil better than I can

http://jlaudio.com/tutorials/magic/index.html

 

yeah that link pretty much sums it up... the only way you can find out what is right for you is try them all.. build a box, try it.. build another box, try it and so on until you get what sounds right to you...

 

IT DEPENDS WHAT YOUR LOOKING FOR. IF YOU LOOKING FOR DEEP LOW EXTENTION BASS GO FOR A SEALED BOX, THEY ARE KNOW FOR CLARITY. PORTED ARE KNOW FOR LOUD EXCUSSION BASS VERY SLOPPY LITTLE OR NO CLARITY AT ALL

 

If you are asking for opinions, I like sealed. Easy to build and they sound great. They need a little more power than ported but, I love the flat response they give.

 

"ported are know for little or no clarity"... sindaygostl you must have never heard a properly tuned ported enclosure... like jl said dont you think if there was one superior enclosure that every competitor would be running the same type... it comes down to taste, space requirements and speaker design...

 

Depends on the sub you're using as well. My CDTs will only work in a totally sealed enclosure. Even the smallest amount of leakage makes them sound terrible. They are 100% SQ subs.

 

I can argue that point to be false. IF a ported box is designed right, for the right subs it will sound awesome. I personal have tried all types of boxes and never had a problem with a ported. Now I see how u are saying it to be sloppy, when a box is tuned correcly it is cleaner than a sealed box. If u have a box thats tuned at 40hz thats gonna be sloppy. I ahve a box that is tuned at 26hz and I dont miss a beat and bass goes really low and again people where suprised how the box was ported and not sealed. All studio use ported boxs due to they produce cleaner bass in 70hz to 28hz range.

 

Right you are, a properly tuned ported box will def not sound sloppy. Basically when you have a ported box it will be almost twice as loud with that same sub sealed. However the higher you have the tunning set, the more sq you will loose. And with a low tunning of between 26 and 28 hz you will maintain almost all the sq of a sealed and actually have better low end extension. Ported boxes are also more efficient so with the same wattage it will be louder than sealed. The only clear disadvantage of a ported box is that they are almost always larger than the reccomended sealed box for that sub. In the end it all up to the listener, get what better fits ur needs.

 

studioes use ported enclosures because in a typical room, there is no cabin gain (there is, but not much). tuning the box at low freq will gain spl down there, and with a bit of EQ, you'll get a flat response or close to flat. another thing is efficiency. to fill a big room, u need and efficient system.