Originally Posted By: d00df00d
rpn453, I tend to agree with you about ported vs. sealed boxes in general. The Hsu Research STF-1 made it on the list only because it seems to have been designed with exactly my priorities in mind and, like all Hsu Research products, is reviewed very favorably. The Wharfedale looks better to me on paper, but I can only find one review on it from a credible source (although it was overwhelmingly positive).
With so many manufacturers out there now, I don't know much about most of them. Really, my experience with ported subs is limited to the Paradigm lineup from the late '90s to the mid 2000s, a few cheaper subs, and a few car stereo sub boxes. It's possible that other manufacturers can make a good sounding ported sub. They're too common to be completely flawed! If you do get a ported sub, you can always seal it anyway if you end up wanting to modify the sound.
I don't regret buying my PDR-10. It sounds good now and it was a learning experience. I originally had it in an apartment and it was nice to have some bass at first. But when my car got upgraded to an Alpine R10 in a 0.5 cubic foot sealed box, I realized my Paradigm was lacking in the low range and wasn't very clean so I installed an Alpine S10 driver, which I knew sounded good in a 1 cubic foot sealed box as that was another sub I had sampled in my car before deciding on the R10 for the extra power handling. It was also appropriate for the 1.5 cubic foot ported PDR-10 enclosure. The S10 cured the lack of low range, but the sound still wasn't great on certain types of music and in many parts of the room. When I moved my system into my father's basement for another year of university, I couldn't get it to sound consistent enough to even be worth using and loaned it to my buddy - the same one who now owns the Elemental Designs 18" sub - since we were spending far more time there than at my father's place anyway. He didn't like the sound though, so he sealed it up, siliconed all the mating surfaces, and duct-taped a phone book into the bottom to reduce the volume. It sounded great after that, but his neighbors complained shortly after and he gave it back. I'd be content with that 110W RMS unit as my main sub, but I got an itch to buy the PS-1200 after another buddy got one. We had spent an afternoon sampling Paradigm speakers and subs for his co-worker, and he ended up unexpectedly walking out with a pair of Monitor 9s and a PS-1200, while the co-worker took home some Monitor 7s. I bought a PS-1200 the next week. Both of my subs still have some peaks and valleys in their respective rooms, but nothing like when the PDR was ported.
