Ported 12 Inch Subwoofer Boxes

How to Choose a Ported 12 Inch Enclosure

Start from the driver

Every driver-matched cabinet here is cut to one driver's published parameters and states its tuning. Pick the driver first and the enclosure follows. The brand filter shows every driver line we cut this size for.

Read the tuning, not just the volume

The tuning frequency tells you how the box will sound in the car; the volume only tells you how big it is. On this page tuning runs 28.5 to 39 Hz, and the lower end of that range is for drivers with a low free-air resonance, not for every driver.

Tuning by what you listen to

Genre is a shortcut for where your music's bass lives, and it maps onto the tuning printed on each card.

• Hip-hop, trap and bass-heavy electronic music lean on 808s and synth bass that sit roughly between 30 and 50 Hz. The lowest-tuned 12s here put the port's output down there: the Rockford Fosgate P1S2-12 wedge at 28.5 Hz and the JL Audio 12W0v3 wedge at 30 Hz are two.
• Rock, metal and country live on kick drum and bass guitar, most of it from about 40 Hz up. A higher tuning, around 35 to 37.5 Hz, keeps that punch where a very low tuning would leave it thin; the Stereo Integrity SQL-12 wedge at 37.5 Hz is built that way.
• A mixed playlist does best in the middle, about 32 to 35 Hz, which is where most of the cabinets on this page sit.

The driver still has the last word. A low tuning only works with a driver whose resonance and excursion suit it, which is why each driver-matched cabinet's tuning follows its driver first and the genre second. The subwoofer tuning calculator puts the same starting points in terms of build goal, sound quality, daily driving or SPL, if that is the easier way to think about it.

Ported or sealed

Ported gives more output around its tuning for the same power from a larger cabinet, and asks for a subsonic filter. If depth or height is the limit, a sealed 12 usually wins. If the space is there and output per watt matters, this is the page.

Do not add polyfill

Every sealed cabinet we build ships with polyfill. These ship dry: damping material changes the volume the port is tuned against, so stuffing a ported box moves the tuning without shortening the port.