Sealed Loudspeakers?

Hey Huard,

Just wondering what it is that you like so much about sealed cabinet designs. I have a pair of Hales Revelation III speakers which I love because of the incredibly tight bass they produce. The speaks are sealed. My Watt Puppy's on the other hand are ported and, although they reproduce bass at a reported 20hz, don't have bass that hits you in the chest like the Hales do.

Is it correct to assume then that this is the chief difference between the two enclosure designs, or is this oversimplifying the issue?

Anyone?
/Lee

or is this oversimplifying the issue

It's oversimplifying the issue. Sealed spkrs will have a higher F3 than the, otherwise identical, ported design but fall off there after with a shallower slope. POrted drops faster.

There are many other considerationa, one of which is that ported design used to be notoriously badly designed. THis is no longer true -- or at least, it doesn't have to be true. You can compute the port parametres (for those designers who are too lazy to do the math -- or can't, which is more often the case).

I have a pair of Hales Revelation III speakers which I love because of the incredibly tight bass they produce. The speaks are sealed. My Watt Puppy's on the other hand are ported and, although they reproduce bass at a reported 20hz, don't have bass that hits you in the chest like the Hales do.

Is it correct to assume then that this is the chief difference between the two enclosure designs, or is this oversimplifying the issue?

Yes this is the main difference when the port is used to extend bass response, as in the majority of designs. In these cases, a ported design will generally have a poorer transient response but will have more energy at lower frequencies (although the roll off will be sharper and there will be more distortion in the LF).

A sealed box is always better in transient reponse

Another manufacturer that uses sealed designs is
Snell. The Series 7 C7 looks most interesting to me.

I too use Hales speakers, Concept Twos. Play them full
range on high powered tubes and use a good sub for the last octave and with the right cabling they are very impressive.

Many ported designs I've listened to never made it past an initial audition. A few that did I've tried at home. The results were very one sided in favor of the Hales. I would like greater effeciency to play louder cleanly and a nicer looking speaker. I even tried Avalons Avatars. (also sealed) They were nice, even and tight, very focused. The Hales were close, maybe not as refined, but clearly more open and "organic"? (real) sounding. They also image like crazy. and are more spacious sounding.

Thanks for the posts, keep em comming.
Huard

The new NHT Classic Three that graces the cover of the latest TAS looks to be a very interesting sealed speaker. Instead of the standard two way monitor, it's a three way plus very attractive sculpted styling. It's refreshing to see a stand mount speaker than is different than the standard square box and not ported either. The price is also right at 800.00 pair.