Free Air Subwoofers a Lie?

Morning,

I have an 09 CTS, it has the factory subwoofer and I wanted to upgrade to a free air sub with more bang (Add amp of course), however the local shops told me they do not "actually work" and stated I need to buy an enclosure. I prefer to keep the trunk clean and am unsure if I am being led wrong?

Any thoughts guys if there is any validity to this? They do not even stock free air subs.

Thanks

I would hope that you misunderstood them. Free air subwoofers are also refered to as infinite baffel. They are designed to use the trunk as the enclosure. Most subs nowadays are not designed for this type of install. Newer subs need a precise size/design for an enclosure. Trying to use one in a free air application will likely damage it if pushed hard. Thefact that the sub works in your car is proof that they do work.

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sparky

Proper installation of a free-air sub (IB), still requires sealing the trunk 100% from the interior of the car. It needs no box in order to work efficiently.

Using free subs sacrifices deep bass compared to properly designed sealed or ported systems. This is true to even the best of trunks, where sonic isolation is not an issue.

You don't have to actually seal the trunk 100%. In a Infinite baffle/free air application, you first must use a sub that is designed for the application. Next, you should have an amp with a subsonic filter as well as low pass filter. THE FRONT OF THE BAFFLE MUST SIMPLY BE ISOLATED FROM THE REAR OF THE BAFFLE! So in other words, the area on the deck should probably be sealed up with the likes of Dynamat or Hushmat. You don't want any holes for air to slip thru. Your Cadillac trunk is probably sealed up enough to make the application work or else you would probably already have issues with water leaks and road noise. Those shops are full of it...
You will notice some weird nuianses with free air that you just don't get with and enclosure especially when you have things in the truck etc... It is true that loading a sub into and enclosure makes for a much more predictable sound and control of that sound. But with a little trial and error, you can make free air work just fine in your Caddy sir.

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there can be only one.......

There is no such thing as a "free air" subwoofer, if by that you mean just having it out in the open and expecting low bass from it. The sound wave created by the back of the woofer must be separated from the sound wave created by the front as much as possible for low frequency reproduction. Mounting in a rear parcel shelf or wall and using the trunk space as the enclosure is common and the woofers that work best in that alignment are generally IB (infinite baffle) woofers. There are many of those on the market. They tend to require lower power levels as well, which can lower amplifier expense.

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Support the12volt.com

I'm a firm believer in free-air/infinite baffle subs, especially since I've used them. Pioneer used to make some awesome ones. It's been a while since I've used them, but I'm sure there are good ones out there. In fact I'm in the process of trying to find a pair right now! I have no room in my trunk for a box, as I'm a handyman and my trunk is always full of tools. So I have no choice but to go with free-air subs again.

Everyone who said you have to seal the front waves from the back are 100% correct. ABSOLUTELY MUST do this. Otherwise you won't get your sub's full potential, and they will sound awful. As for damaging them, I can't say what it would do.

Here are a couple pics of my last car that I had free-air 12's in. It's a '76 Dodge Dart. I was running them off a 600 watt profile amp in bridged mono for a 2-ohm load in parallel. They bumped HARD! Harder than I expected. And YES, I sealed the front from the rear. Notice I removed the seat back, cut the braces, then installed MDF and sealed it with silicone. Amazingly enough, the seat back still caught the hook things, so I was able to install my entire back seat even with the subs!

Yep, free-air subs are perfect for those of us with no room! Sure, you lose a LOT of the lowest lows, but then some of us don't go for the lowest, we only appreciate hearing some bass guitar or bass drums.









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Wasn't one of my better installs, but I did what I could with the little money I had. Was only a college student living off pell grants and student loans. But hey, it sure impressed everyone.

Oh, those 6x9's were RARE and hard to find Phase Linear Graphites, which were bi-ampable and handled 250 watts each. One of the best sounding 6x9's I've ever owned. Paid $200 for a pair in the early 80's, but found these on ebay. You can clip a jumper wire and run separate amps to woofer and midrange/tweeter.

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If you are having a hard time finding an IB sub keep in mind that many Marine subs are made to be free air so you can always look that direction. Kenwood for example makes free air marine subs.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer