Sealed vs Ported Subwoofers

Timlub,

Very well said. Your reply zeroes in to the fact that cost is a major factor in loudspeaker design. While Wilson uses a ported design in it's flagship speaker it delivers sound that would take a much larger design, requiring a much larger room. If you have no constraints on the size of you room or budget you can always improve on commercially designed speakers.

Ported designs are a natural compromise that is utilized in many designs because of efficiency, both in size and cost.

Designing and building a loudspeaker that prevents the front wave and back wave of a driver from meeting is easy. Choosing drivers that crave that alignment is expensive. Doing it so that it sounds better than anything else is priceless! I couldn't resist saying that!!!

Ken

Drew,

Your comments remind me of the experience I had with a pair of Tannoy 15 inch Dual Concentrics I bought in 1956. They were $159 each new, whew! I put them in Hartley Boffle enclosures I built, who remembers what they were?

I drove them with Marantz model 2 amps and the voice coils bottomed out on the back plate continually. I sold them to a friend in 1962 after I built a pair of Electro Voice Patricians that rattled all the windows in my parents home. He kept them until a few years ago when he sold them; I wish I could've bought them back!

A great loudspeaker is like a great woman; If you find one, don't let her go as you may never find another.

Ken