Stereo Subwoofer Question
 

I have 2 12' subwoofers that I was going to put in under the back seat. Well they wont fit under there so a buddy is offering to trade me 4 10' free air kickers. Has any heard free airs on a boat? If so how do they sound in comparison to the 2 12's I was going to run??

Thanks

I installed two 10" JL's in my boat under the rear seat and they sound great. I also have a friend that has 2 10"s under the seat enclosed and when you turn them up you can't even tell the difference between the free air and the boxes.
By the way he is running kickers.
Hope this helps a little.

I have never been able to tell the diff between the 2 in a boat. If it was in a car i would definitely do a sealed box.

Technically under a seat you would need free airs. I have 4 under my bench. Unless you build a box and put them in the cabin free air is the way to go. I dont like the way that free airs sound more punch than boom, but it is what it is. I have all JL Marine.

free airs typically want more power than boxes too

JL Audio rules. Best made IMO!!!

Actually the opposite is true. Free-airs, having no acoustic suspension from a well-enclosed speaker cabinet to help them, cannot handle a lot of power. In fact, many speaker manufacturers warn about a free-air installation on a speaker meant for a cabinet. They warn the user the speaker will be damaged if installed free-air.

As far as the sound quality, boxes are the way to go. But to get it up there in volume, big speakers and amps are needed along with the proper box. This adds weight and cost. Free-airs are easy and most 10" free-airs are only rated to handle between 100-200 watts each. For a boat, I would just do the free-airs, much easier and less money. Most people swear by the JL's as Kicker makes some as well.

The Kickers you have (if new) are rated at 4ohms/150 watts RMS-300 watts peak. Take the 4 speakers, wire them in parallel. That would present a 1 ohm load to an amplifier and the group would require at least 600 watts to function. Since slight overpowering is ok, find a single channel mono amp that can make around the 900ish watts at 1 ohm. + or - a 100 watts is ok for leeway. This is one way to set it up and it will give you the most volume and the cleanest sound possible from those speakers.

I was thinking of using one 10" JL sub under the rear bench seat but as far as I can tell they are not free air. Any opinions?
Dave

Only the marine line for JL subs is avalible in free air. They do sound pretty good for a free air system. I'm running a pair of JL 10w7's in ported boxes, the free air subs can't touch them, but then again, you don't need a box, or a huge amplifier and they are a third of the cost of a w7.

Here's the JL marine 10".

http://azoutdrive.com/audio-subwoofer-10in-p-37.html

Badkachina,
The Crutchfield website says the marine subs are made for sealed or ported enclosures. I could not find specific info on the JL website. I think I will call them on Monday.
Thanks, Dave