Free air components?

[christiankills 10+ year member]

So I'll be getting my diamonds in once i cash my paycheck and put 200 of it into my checking account.

I'm going to hold my breath and do my first install for a couple of reasons.

1)Too expensive to professionally install components

2)I'm far too interested in car audio to not learn how to do this

But heres where I'm getting at.

i'm still in high school, money is hard to come by. i'll eventually **** it up and get deadening for my doors and trunk.

will components sound horrible at 75w rms in free air?

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[SAG3 5,000+ posts]

components dont need boxes man

 

[6spdcoupe 5,000+ posts]

Theyll sound perfectly fine in your doors, as thats how theyre intended to be used.

 

[christiankills 10+ year member]

ah.

just sound more amazing deadened?

 

[6spdcoupe 5,000+ posts]

Sound deadening will greatly improve sound, yes.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

At the very least you'll want to spring for ~20sqft of deadening to seal off the inner door, to separate the frontwave from the rearwave with a relatively solid surface.

 

[christiankills 10+ year member]

hmm.

I'm going to be scared to take off my door panel.

but once I get some extra cash, I'll go ahead and sound deaden. As long as it still soundsmore amazing than my stock, I wont notice a difference. haha.

then i'll deaden the entire thing, if im still short of cash, i'll take squeaks advice and do the rest later.

thanks for all of your responses!

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Some component sets are more picky about the way they're installed than others. But most will definitely benefit from having a door panel that's solid and airtight, hence why I used Lexan to seal off the large holes and provide a relatively resonance-free "enclosure" for them...the midbass response improves dramatically.

Just something to remember as you get more money.

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

the other thing is to make sure you get a good seal between the basket of the front of the woofer and the back of the door panel so no sound is lost (critical midbass) between the panel and the door- it all gets pumped into the cabin. Home Depot sells some foam tape for cheap that works really well for this, and if you have to shave the panel down for clearance do it slowly so you get that tight seal- a little at a time.