Free Air?

[beckSHO 10+ year member]

Would giving a free-air able sub it's full RMS wattage ratings be a bad/good idea? I've never used a free air sub and wasn't sure about the wattage differences, or if there was any. And I can't find anything on the search....

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

The question is, why would you use a sub free air, other than to test it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

It's going to reach Xmax quicker without an enclosure...so you'd want to use less power.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

I assuming you are referring to infinite baffle?

But yes, unless the subwoofer was specifically designed to be ran without an enclosure, and the power specifications are based off of this....then you'll reach the subwoofer's mechanical limits (read: physically damage) with the full RMS power rating.

 

[beckSHO 10+ year member]

Well, the reason I want a free-air sub is so I can stick it in my rear deck. I don't want the heft of a subwoofer box in my trunk because I'd rather use that space for my football and track crap. So, I thought doing a little work to toss a smaller free-air sub in the rear deck would be a good idea. It would give me some bass, without taking up all the space in my trunk. Well, I guess that maybe just getting some speakers all around would be a better idea? Would I get good bass response if I hooked up some 6x8's(the stock size for my car) or even doing some work to fit some 6x9's in my deck? Of corse I would be amping them, so they get adequate power. Here's another question for you guys... what's a cheap (I'm in highschool) easy way to get some decent sound without using a subwoofer?

EDIT- What's infinite baffle? Sorry, I'm still on the noob side of things here.

 

[soulstace 10+ year member]

EDIT- What's infinite baffle?

What you just described. Speaker in the rear deck. It basically uses the entire trunk as the enclosure.

 

[ruger 10+ year member]

8" amplified Bazooka Subwoofer, its small compact comes with the

enclosure and amp.

or a infinity bass link small compact and amplified.

go to cc and listen before you buy.

 

[cleanblaze01 10+ year member]

cadence sells some 6x9 "woofers". i've never heard them but i've seen them in person and they look like some pretty tought speakers. here's he link--

http://www.cadencestore.com/ProductCart/pc/caraudio_detail.asp?idcategory=104&idproduct=280

 

[beckSHO 10+ year member]

cadence sells some 6x9 "woofers". i've never heard them but i've seen them in person and they look like some pretty tought speakers. here's he link--
http://www.cadencestore.com/ProductCart/pc/caraudio_detail.asp?idcategory=104&idproduct=280

Holy crap, thanks man. Do you think that's free-air able? It doesn't say anything about it...

Maybe I'd be better off with a pair of 6.5inch mid-ranges? Or would an actual set of speakers be better?

 

[beckSHO 10+ year member]

I'm thinking that just some decent speakers with an amp would be the best route to go....

 

[cleanblaze01 10+ year member]

those 6x9's are made to go in speaker locations..its basically a speaker that only puts out bass so yes its free airable. its pretty much a little sub made for applications just like yours, someone that wants some lows in their music but wants to put the sub or speaker in a speaker rear deck location. i think its your best bet..they also make that speaker with some tweets, i think you can get it as a three way..that pretty much means two tweeter along with the cone part of the speaker..like a regular speaker. im sure they'll put out some nice low notes if you give them the 150 watts rms.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

Just to clarify

Free-air isnt' something you want. A free air setup would have no baffle between the front and rear waves. It's essentially setting the speaker down without any sort of enclosure and powering it up, meaning you'd get little to no output.

Infinite baffle is just about the same thing, except that you isolate the front and rear waves. This is an actual enclosure type. Free-air isn't.

 

[Pickler 10+ year member]

Ive never heard a infinity basslink, but i heard they are really great. You should go check them out.

 

[NoRemoteNoTV 10+ year member]

I think the easiest thing would be just to buy a 8 to 10" woofer and put it in a tiny sealed box, if you just want some extra bass a 8" or 10" is fine for good clean bass

personally when my amp was fried I just ran a smaller 10" mtx 8000 sub in a bestbuy prefab sealed box and it sounded good for just some extra bass with almost no room taken up then just buy a small sub from ebay/online and either build a box to the specs or buy a sealed prefeab box

btw....imo free airing subs is never worth it....your box deturmines how your sub sounds...I didnt believe it at first but your box is really more important than your sub...an entry level sub with a good box can sound good still, but an amazing sub with a bad box will sound horrible....

 

[beckSHO 10+ year member]

Well, that 6x9 "sub" does seem to be my best bet. Putting that in my rear deck, it would be set up as an "infinite baffle" type speaker system thing... So, it would be safe to give that about 150 clean watts RMS if it is located in my rear deck? I have a spot where the factory put in a 6x9 "subwoofer". This was on the JBL premium system the year before mine. It changed to Mach, and now I just have a whole for a 6x9 in my deck... which is why I'd like that... Thanks for all the help though guys, if you have anything else, please let me know. I'm still trying to learn some stuff here.

EDIT: By the way, does this seem to be a well built product? What should I look for when selecting a sub like this?

 

[beckSHO 10+ year member]

Well, I just recently found these. Has anybody used this in an IB setup? I'm thinking two of those, in place of the factory speakers. It's either that, or find a decent 8" IB sub that won't bust my wallet. I don't want to spend much on it. Anybody know of some good IB subs?