Is free air bad for subs?

[TheSpeakerMan 10+ year member]

Well i was unscrewing my sub from box to put some weird headed screws in and i got hot so i turn on my car. Well when i turned on my car off course my amp turned on. So i was wondering if it is bad to sub to send about 1100rms to the sub free air. I have a 06 L7. It was only on about 5-10secs be4 i relized wut i did.

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[thch 10+ year member]

free air is not universally dangerous. if the Q of the sub is low, the woofer will probably overexurt which can be dangerous based upon sub design.

some woofers are made for IB and some are made for dipole use. both use the woofer in effectively free air.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Only possible failure would have been the subwoofer bottoming out/reaching it's mechanical limits.....which you would have heard as the sound of this occuring would have been obvious......

 

[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

reaching it's mechanical limits.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/imwithstupid.gif.ff72b14418b3c35ebdf1ccd38da21695.gif

If it did not, you are fine.

 

[Ruffy 10+ year member]

what does a sub bottoming out sound like? NEVER heard one.

I should just put 1000 watts to the JL 12" W04 I have. No ones ever going to use it and I cant sell it.

 

[CBFryman2 5,000+ posts]

it sounds like smack smack //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

that is if your spider hits the top plate or the coil bottoms out...if it is suspension limited the only thing that could have happened was you tore the spider/surround orbroke a tensile lead...if none of thoes happened and you didnt hear a smack smack you are fine //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

what does a sub bottoming out sound like? NEVER heard one.
I should just put 1000 watts to the JL 12" W04 I have. No ones ever going to use it and I cant sell it.

it sounds NASTY... you'll know what happened if u ever hear it

 

[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

what does a sub bottoming out sound like?

A horrible clicking/ticking sound.

 

[supraman1379 10+ year member]

It can be bad sometimes. But there are also some subs that are meant for free air. I forget who makes them tho.