95Probite

hi. just wondering. if a manufacturer, in my case, pionee, recommends that me premier subs are to be in a sealed box, does that mean that it will sound its best in a sealed over a ported box?? or is that just a preference they put? does it mean it will sound the best and loudest it can over a ported box of the same size, no matter what ported box you put it in?? and if you do put it in a ported instead of sealed box, will that hurt the sub any ? thanks

Eli47

The manufacturers recommendation are based on the "Compliance" of the speaker, in this case it was optimized for a sealed enclosure, a ported enclosure altho will work, it can also lead to accidental damage due to over-excursion of the woofer.
There are trade-offs for both ported and sealed enclosures.
Typically a sealed enclosure will yield a more accurate response, and have better attack, but will need more power than a ported box to give the same output.
A ported cabinet will provide higher SPL with less effort, and give great response(when done right) yet there is a point where the speaker will "not see a cabinet" and will lose(in a nutshell)some of it's SQ, and be more prone to damage.
I'm sure Pioneer also makes the same subs for ported enclosures, the model designation may be slightly different.