Open-air Subs

[Wagoneer855]

I think I'm ready to change out my 12" kenwood sub/amp and put in some nice open-air subs. I want open-air since I don't have room for a nice box in my location. Right now I have my 12" in the spare tire well in my wagon but I couldn't fit two since the box volume wouldn't be enough. Even if their mid-bass speakers, I think if I have two with a nice amp it'll sound decent.

I'm looking at J&L's 8inch mid-bass speaker right now. It'll handle anything down to 40hz so I think it might be what I'm looking for.

I was also thinking two 6x9s back there, but I don't think they'd drive enough bass, and all the treble would just wasted under there.

Any suggestions on open-air subs or mid-bass speakers I'd be happy to hear them.

sorry for the double thread, don't know what happened.

Mods, can you delete this one?

[BEJinFBK]

There's really no such thing...Back in the day, people installed baffle boards

betwen the trunk and the back seat and created "Infinite Baffle" woofers.

A thick chunk of MDF that's mounted to anything you can reach.

You have to seal up ALL of the gaps between the front and rear so the front

wave of the woofer never interacts with the back wave.

It's a huge PITA and STILL sounds like crap.

And you'll need a "Free Air" Woofer. (Do they still make those?)

And overall, they aren't very efficient.

If you really wanna bump, and bump clean, start looking at something custom

under the floorboards or a box in the back. And remember, solid mounting

means better bass coupling to the car body! Feel That Thump... B)

[Wagoneer855]

Free-air, that's what I meant. Didn't know open-air was a difference.

I'm not a bass junky, I listen mostly to classic rock. So all I need is some good punch. That's why I'm kind of leaning toward some mid-bass speakers back there instead of a woofer. Just wondering if it would be enough.

[GPollman]

Look at pioneers saucer subs, they only need like 3" inches of mounting depth and fairly cheap at 250 a piece

[wmartinlsmith]

eff pioneer subs/ they suck ass. if you want low mounting depth you can fullfill that with lots of other companys pieces that arent nearly as spendy. power acuostik has just released some low power slim line subs and so has audiopipe. true car audio enthusiasts will for go the box shops for true audiophile equipment.

and yes. free air subs suck balls too.

[Owned]

The slim Pioneers leave a lot to be desired.

Do a small 8" sub in the cargo area of your trunk. A sealed box won't take up much room at all. You can even use some polyfil to downsize it a bit.

[Wagoneer855]

The slim Pioneers leave a lot to be desired.

Do a small 8" sub in the cargo area of your trunk. A sealed box won't take up much room at all. You can even use some polyfil to downsize it a bit.

I actually have been playing with the idea of two 8" subs with in a ported box filled with that stuff that allows a smaller cubic volume.

Do free air subs really sound that bad? I've only heard one system with them installed and it sounded nice and tight. But that was with two 10s in a truck. I'm guessing the resonance and thump would be different in a larger volume cab like a wagon?

What about my original idea about having two (or more) 8" mid-bass speakers in there. Anyone think that would give enough bass?

[GPollman]

I agree pioneer subs are over priced but hardly "suck" especially when your looking for shallows since only 3 or 4 companies offer it... i however go highend and went with a focal eutopia 33wx, doesnt get any better then focal

[ryan850-t5]

if you like sound quality def go sealed. much better sound but not quite as loud. i think a single 10 would sound really nice in a custom sealed box. look for a good sq woofer. the jl w6's are really good sq woofers and sound very nice in a sealed enclosure.

[Owned]

I actually have been playing with the idea of two 8" subs with in a ported box filled with that stuff that allows a smaller cubic volume.

Do free air subs really sound that bad? I've only heard one system with them installed and it sounded nice and tight. But that was with two 10s in a truck. I'm guessing the resonance and thump would be different in a larger volume cab like a wagon?

What about my original idea about having two (or more) 8" mid-bass speakers in there. Anyone think that would give enough bass?

You want a sealed box because they are roughly half the size of ported. Polyfil does not work with ported boxes, either.

Mids would work but it's not really going to give your desired result. If you did some mids I would do them in the rear door with a decent 2-way in the front door. I run 6.5 inch subs in my rear doors as mids.

[Owned]

I agree pioneer subs are over priced but hardly "suck" especially when your looking for shallows since only 3 or 4 companies offer it... i however go highend and went with a focal eutopia 33wx, doesnt get any better then focal

If I was forced into a shallow mount Pioneer would still be my last resort.

Focal is nice but it's definitely not the end all be all. You also have to know the lines well enough to pick the right stuff, since they don't actually put things in order. Do a side by side comparison of an Access comp and Polyglass comp and you'll see what I mean.

I bought a set of 165K2P's for my car and ended up with Bravox Kevlars. Even in a kick designed for the Focals the Bravoxes blew them away. List price was less on the Bravox and I didn't have to look at those ugly phase plugs. :lol:

[leurven]

I managed to fit this in my trunk and have the amps in the spare wheel well and I have plenty of room for luggage and such. Also this is for sale if interested and is a direct bolt in to any 850/V70 wagon without modifications. All the panels are suede covered along with the sub box. The subs are JL W6v2 10" and boy do they sound clean.

[Wagoneer855]

Leurven, that's probably one of the smartest/best looking setups I've seen in a wagon. But I'm almost certain it's out of my budget, all my money mostly goes into performance mods so the stereo always gets the leftovers. I also use the seat-folding function a lot so I don't think this would work in my case anyways. I'd like to keep everything under the cargo covers like it already is.

[leurven]

Sounds good. A nice JL 8" woofer in a sealed box would do you wonders. You could probably mount the amp to the underside of the box also. There is tons of space in that spare wheel well.

Hell you could even fit a JL 10" in there and get even bigger sound.

[BEJinFBK]

If you do some digging, there have been a number of posts for spare tire well enclosures here at VS.

A sealed 8 or an isobaric 10 will probably go in a flipped over spare with some custom glass work.

If you can go without the spare, there's even more room for a larger woofer in sealed fiberglass enclosure.