Is the bass from closed speakers more accurate than that from vented speakers ?
Hello,
i read some comments about closed speakers being the only really accurate in the bass response or something of similar.
These comments make me think. I see that on the market the vast majority of the speakers have vents on the front or on the back.
Even high level speakers.
Are also vented speakers able to provide a bass that is really accurate ?
Thanks a lot and kind regards,
gino
Hello,
i read some comments about closed speakers being the only really accurate in the bass response or something of similar.
These comments make me think. I see that on the market the vast majority of the speakers have vents on the front or on the back.
Even high level speakers.
Are also vented speakers able to provide a bass that is really accurate ?
Thanks a lot and kind regards,
gino
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This old chestnut.
Have a look at the first few posts on this thread.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/subwoofers/250159-technical-question-sealed-vs-ported-subs.html
Have a look at the first few posts on this thread.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/subwoofers/250159-technical-question-sealed-vs-ported-subs.html
I've never owed a pair of closed monitors up until a few weeks ago, I got a pair of 3 ways just by chance and love them, LOVE them. I go through music just to find past material with good kick drum, single or double kick drum, or seek out unfamiliar kick drum I've never heard before. Guess what, I got a fever...
A 15" bass in a AS box is a good choice for good bass response. It depends on the system Q as well.
One can design a vented speaker to have much better transient response than the usual, if you design for a Bessel sort of low-frequency roll-off. The transient response won't be quite as good as sealed, but it can be made very close.
Thanks a lot for the very valuable reply.
I read the posts you mention and understand i have to focus on sealed boxes for sure. I like the clean and controlled bass.
I have always been perplexed by bass reflex. Now i am understand i am not alone.
Kind regards,
gino
Hi ! thanks and very interesting. Another point for sealed box.
It is a very important conclusion for me.
Actually my present speakers are AS and like them.
But i wanted to have some advice on this issue.
Kind regards,
gino
Thanks a lot for your kind and helpful reply.
I am quite excited because i have found the following calculator.
mh-audio.nl - Home
I am playing with it and interesting things come up.
Very useful for sure, if the TS parameters of the woofer are known of course.
I like it very much indeed.
Also with the AS there is no the problem of calculate the vent, and then maybe fine tune it.
I wonder if the simulated curve is reliable by the way.
Kind regards,
gino
Thanks a lot. For me the transient response is decisive. The music is rhythm. If a speaker is not able to follow the rhythm is wrong.
I wonder why vented speakers are so much more popular when they have important negative issues i think.
Maybe people like fake bass ?
Kind regards, gino
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You can use a smaller driver and extend the bass response. Also is more efficient. All this comes at a cost = fake bass 🙂
I have used a 15" woofer in a closed box for years. I think it works really well, nice tight deep bass. Just by changing stuffing, you can adjust the Q a fair bit to suit your preference.
Yep nothing like localization from a sealed enclosure, yes sir , it's right over there ... 🙄 🙂
Mass loading a driver increases transient response?
Me tinks you should investigate a bit deeper, too much mass generalization from those taking the easy way out. There are ways to do a bass reflex enclosures without these obvious "flaws" . The only way a sealed enclosure can match or better a good reflex design is if you went to a bi-polar configuration.
Bass reflex is the cheap way to get more bass out of a given driver. If done right, and the driver characteristics don't change over time, they can sound pretty good. Damping is good at the tuned frequency, but is poor on either side of that frequency (ring-a-ding-ding).
I'm a huge fan of closed box woofers driven with active EQ (ahead of the poweramps). The closed box gives the driver good damping at all the low frequencies (less ringing). With active EQ you can make them acoustically flat to 30HZ, with the tradeoffs being cone surface area, Xmax and how loud you want it to go (SPL). Plus, the optimal cabinet size (internal volume required) will be significantly smaller for a closed box.
I can share a great active EQ circuit if you're interested. One that gives you a 10dB peak at 30HZ (relative to 150HZ), and then rolls off fast below that (very important). dB and freq are adjustable if you know how to use a circuit modelling program such as SPICE.
I'm a huge fan of closed box woofers driven with active EQ (ahead of the poweramps). The closed box gives the driver good damping at all the low frequencies (less ringing). With active EQ you can make them acoustically flat to 30HZ, with the tradeoffs being cone surface area, Xmax and how loud you want it to go (SPL). Plus, the optimal cabinet size (internal volume required) will be significantly smaller for a closed box.
I can share a great active EQ circuit if you're interested. One that gives you a 10dB peak at 30HZ (relative to 150HZ), and then rolls off fast below that (very important). dB and freq are adjustable if you know how to use a circuit modelling program such as SPICE.
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Hi,
There is nothing fake about a properly designed vented box,
and some drivers have to be vented to get decent bass,
whilst some others should be used sealed, and others
can be used sealed or in a vented box ~ twice as big.
Nothing against sealed with the right driver, but nothing
against vented boxes done properly to your taste either.
rgds, sreten.
http://mh-audio.nl/ClosedBoxCalculator.asp utterly sucks ...
Try WinISD, WinISDpro, Unibox, Basta! ... etc
There is nothing fake about a properly designed vented box,
and some drivers have to be vented to get decent bass,
whilst some others should be used sealed, and others
can be used sealed or in a vented box ~ twice as big.
Nothing against sealed with the right driver, but nothing
against vented boxes done properly to your taste either.
rgds, sreten.
http://mh-audio.nl/ClosedBoxCalculator.asp utterly sucks ...
Try WinISD, WinISDpro, Unibox, Basta! ... etc
I much prefer closed, low Q (.5 or so) I do not like the sound of a LT forcing a high Q to behave like a low Q, but a little help for a low Q is OK. IMHO. Now a caviot: My living room main speakers are set up ported with a F3 of about 55Hz, but my crossover is about 65 Hz, so th etuning of the box really does not matter. In my movie room, I use the smaller sealed box right at 80 to match the AVR 2nd @ 80 to give a usable 4th to the sub.
It all depends on what you want to do. It just my perception the low Q sealed box is lower distortion.
See Linkwitz, and Elliot Sound for eq ideas.
It all depends on what you want to do. It just my perception the low Q sealed box is lower distortion.
See Linkwitz, and Elliot Sound for eq ideas.
it has its origin from before we got all this fine computer software
today the table may have turned, and now the closed designs are the difficult ones
and btw, don't believe all you read on the internet, and maybe not even this either 😀
Hi,
Regarding your caviat is does matter a lot, not that F3 tells
you anything about good port tuning, which optimises F6
to F10 with not disimilar F3 points to maximally flat, but
they droop above F3, maximally flat doesn't.
Its all about phase matching, room response and x/o integration,
and power handling in a lot of cases for small speakers x/o to a sub.
rgds, sreten.
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Sealed vrs vented, there is way more to it than that, Rare is the case when the same driver works well in both so driver quality factors in. And with at least an extra degree of freedom it is easier to screw up a BR, but there are too many other factors to make a blanket statement.
dave
dave
Hello and thank you all for the very kind and valuable input.
I need the weekend to read all the answer ...
Anyway can we say that for a beginner sealed box are less tricky ?
As i said i could easily trade low end extension for precise sound.
Maybe reflex speakers performance is also more room dependent ?
I say this because i have changed from a rear ported speaker to a closed one and prefer the bass completely.
Thanks and regards,
gino
I need the weekend to read all the answer ...
Anyway can we say that for a beginner sealed box are less tricky ?
As i said i could easily trade low end extension for precise sound.
Maybe reflex speakers performance is also more room dependent ?
I say this because i have changed from a rear ported speaker to a closed one and prefer the bass completely.
Thanks and regards,
gino
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