The Great Subwoofer Debate: Ported vs Sealed - Which Sounds Better? KICKER Comp Gold

For musical accuracy, sealed. For being as loud as possible, ported

I’ve always preferred sealed boxes because I agree that the bass is cleaner and tighter. And just love kicker gold subs. I wish they’d re do the k label on the cap.

I prefer a sealed box. Tighter more precise bass

I ran sealed 32 years until now and I love it it can go very low and accurate..or punchy....I save space ..sound is better and perfect for me...but respect for my brothers with ported boxes they can be very loud!❤

Been a sealed box basshead since the 90's. I just love the PUNCH that a sealed sub gives over a ported box.

I’ve always been a fan of Kicker subs in sealed boxes. Back in the day, I had two 12” Kicker Comp VR subs (01C12VR4) in a small sealed box (1.0 cu. ft. per sub) with loose poly-fil in each chamber. I had a Directed 1100d amp running them and I could play any type of music with no problem. The bass was loud and deep with no distortion.

SHOP affiliate links KICKER Comp Gold 12" Subwoofer: howl.me/cjeBZJwe06B Down4Sound JP8 Subwoofer Amplifier: lddy.no/vvaw NVX 12" Sealed 1.3cu/ft Subwoofer Enclosure: amzn.to/3LdldVo Gately Audio Acrylic Enclosure: www.gatelyaudio.com/ RELATED VIDEOS KICKER Comp Gold 12" Anniversary Subwoofer Review: https://youtu.be/sIeybibnO7U KICKER Quad Box Unboxing and Review: https://youtu.be/mZceqPLn1lY KICKER Quad Box vs 6000W Amplifier: https://youtu.be/HiQDMary5_o Down4Sound JP8 800W Monoblock Amp Review: https://youtu.be/No3qCPI4LNw Down4Sound JP8 Extended Tests Video: https://youtu.be/RCHhKpM83FM VIDEO INDEX 0:00 Intro 1:27 Sealed Box 3:00 In Vehicle Tests 3:26 Sealed Box Flex 4:27 Sealed Box SPL Tests 6:26 Ported Box Flex 7:10 Ported Box SPL Tests 9:12 Pros and Cons 9:53 My Choice? 10:48 Song Playlist VIDEO AND AUDIO GEAR Camera - iPhone 13pro 1TB - amzn.to/3nCjGvc RODE Wireless Go II Microphones: amzn.to/3Q6NVHl Shure MV7 Microphone: amzn.to/3A4OICK Zoom H4n Audio Recorder: amzn.to/3BXjVsS 960 LED Panel: amzn.to/2Sxoq3S TEST BENCH EQUIPMENT SMD / D'Amore Engineering Amp Dyno: goo.gl/sJTcf7 XS Power D1400 Batteries - amzn.to/2BPFCKW XS Power PSC60 Charger - amzn.to/2CHGcfs Fluke 1000A AC/DC Clamp Meter: amzn.to/2Rw5WDA Handheld Dyno: amzn.to/2u2EgKV My Favorite Screwdriver Kit: amzn.to/2x0VzcE DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

I am so glad I found your channel. I have been a bass head since the 90's and I appreciate all of your testing methods and conclusions. Thank you for the helpful data!

Ran a 12 inch rockford punch behind each seat in my pickup in the 90s, sealed of course and was glorious. Fast, accurate, back massaging kicks. Unless your looking for booming bass, I'd go sealed.

I'm a rock rap metalhead and of all the systems I've ever listened to, never had one of my own other than a pair of truck boxes, I always leaned towards sealed for personal listening, If I were competing ported would be the only option, but for listening I always liked sealed

Love the way a JL 13W7 sounds in a sealed enclosure, powerful but tight and clean, it still managed to break the seal on my windshield after a couple years of use.

Thanks for all the work you put in to bring us quality content! I watch a lot of your videos, even though some are sponsored you still do fair and unbiased testing. If it's crap you tell us it's crap regardless of who's equipment it is. But what I noticed right off is that it took more power for the ported enclosure to put out its numbers than what the sealed enclosure needed to put out its! It tells me a lot. I've had debates about this many many times and this video has proved me somewhat right! By the way I only run sealed enclosure!!!

Depends on the subwoofer. I love some subwoofers in a large sealed. For a very deep detailed sound. While others, such as the old B52 subwoofers do not work in sealed, they want large ported but excel in bandpass. From 1995-2006 I use to be a electronic store manager and we sold kenwood excelon, orion, soundstream, virtual technologies hammer line. ETI sound systems, B52, I've played with a lot of brands back in the day. Kicker, rockford fosgate. We did spl competitions as well. DB drags. Was a fun time for audio. Old school 🚸

Awesome video as always. I always appreciate that you seem to do your best to provide accurate information on anything you cover and also try to be up front about what is opinion vs verifiable information and the ways it can still vary... Good stuff sir!!

I’m an old school bass head. In the 80’s I competed in SPL competitions. I had 18 -12” inch woofer. Orion subs if you wanted to know. All sealed. I loved it.

I've been enjoying your channel for a Lil bit. I love your OG Components reviews, 80s-90s RF, Orion, OG Phoenix Gold! It's great seeing the 50th anniversary Kicker! Gave me a 1990 flashback! I ran 2-12s Kickers in my 76 Camaro.😂 Super thorough testing! I appreciate your thoroughness and time sacrifice. YOU do A LOT of work, and put out TOP-SHELF Quality content!

A spectrum analyzer would have been a great addition to show just how much roll off there was at the lower frequencies. (indicated in part by the volume reduction at lower frequencies) A larger sealed box would have improved the lowest frequencies a bit at the cost of loss of volume at the natural box frequency. (a broader, somewhat flatter response)

Sealed seems cleaner

Box design (for ported) and Thiele Parameters play an important role on how each subwoofer will behave, even having the ability to go IB (QTS).

A neon Williston Audio sign behind that acrylic box would be freakin dope. You could do a lot of cool stuff with those. If you have a really nice system there's no reason not to make it look amazing too.