Sub in a box or free air?

[Marvin willis]

Looking at adding a sub. Which will sound better? So far I haven’t heard any free air subs that blew me away. Not sure I want a 10” hole just for ok sound.

 

[jacoviii]

Are you looking for 1 or 2 subs? I put 2 12" Rockford punch PM212S4 in my last boat ( Yamaha Exciter) with a Prime R500X1D It hit hard low and loud. It was in a IB setup. The issue with a sub in a box is most people build a box to fit in the helm or head. With this the sub is behind a door. Withe the front cone of the sub not in the listening area you loses a lot of output. Sub in the trunk of a car. When standing close to it Yeah you hear the bass but you hear all of the ratters and buzzing first but far away you are like dam that thing pounds. This is because the way sub / low frequency tone carry. IB subs work best when there is more then one in the same space but this is hard on are boat if you already have one in the oem location. Seeing how you do not 2 or 4 under the rear seats is easy. IB subs need the front frequency isolated from the rear. The issues you see with most IB setups is the rear chamber is just too open. also they mount them to too thin of a baffle and as the sub does its work the baffle starts to move at the same rate and this cuts the linear movement of the sub in half.

 

[Marvin willis]

One 10” sub. Either in a tube behind the batteries or beside the captains chairs. Probably starboard Side bc of where the amp will go

 

[ripler]

I originally had 2 Rockford Fosgate 12" subs in sealed boxes, one one each side of the boat pushed way back in the under seat storage. They only vibrated the hell out of the boat and didn't add any sound. I switched to 1 10" IB sub mounted right behind the helm seat facing forward and I am very happy with this setup.

 

[BlkGS]

I am in the ame situation. Have a Rockford punch 10" waiting to go in, but can't decide if I want to cut a big hole for it, or try to finagle a box or tube in.

What I have seen in my research is that people who put their subs in a box in these boats typically then vent the compartment they use. So you still end up with a hole, but a smaller one.

 

[Hoyt]

A sub in a tuned vented enclosure will always hit harder then a IB sub. That being said there is the issues stated above on a boat with where to put it. My boat is a 2020,and I didn't want to cut a hole in it like my previous boat. I went the tuned vented enclosure. Mine is under the passenger helm. As stated above the door must be open to get maximum sound quality. This sub setup though can be heard, and felt over cabin speakers and towers. Below is a video of bass shaking the outer hull. This is with mooring cover on, and no towers.
Setup is :
4- wetsounds recon 5s cabin speakers with 65watts each rms
1-12" wetsounds revo 12 sub in tuned vented enclosure 500 watts rms
1-syndx6 amp pushing the above with no problem

 

[Jaylex]

I think it comes down to the type of music you listen too as well, and how much space you wanna give up.

From my understanding IB subs dont play low frequencies as well as subs in a enclosure. When I bought my boat, dealer showed me the sound system on a 242X and I was underwhelmed to say the least.

I went with a pair of JL 12w3s in vented enclosures, one on each side of the boat, getting 500rms each. I listen mostly to rap/hip-op and some Latin so I need my bass to bang hard, IB subs wont really hit the notes I needed.

Past that I think it looks clean and when exexuted right IB subs can give you some solid bass and avoid the issues of lossing space having to place sub boxes.

I think 1 good 12 in a vented enclosure could give you better output than 2 IB subs...not a fact..just my guess, and again depends on music you listen to and space you wanna give up.

 

[Dcrow]

I think it comes down to the type of music you listen too as well, and how much space you wanna give up.

From my understanding IB subs dont play low frequencies as well as subs in a enclosure. When I bought my boat, dealer showed me the sound system on a 242X and I was underwhelmed to say the least.

I went with a pair of JL 12w3s in vented enclosures, one on each side of the boat, getting 500rms each. I listen mostly to rap/hip-op and some Latin so I need my bass to bang hard, IB subs wont really hit the notes I needed.

Past that I think it looks clean and when exexuted right IB subs can give you some solid bass and avoid the issues of lossing space having to place sub boxes.

I think 1 good 12 in a vented enclosure could give you better output than 2 IB subs...not a fact..just my guess, and again depends on music you listen to and space you wanna give up.

Do you have pictures of the boxes? I have a 21 ar250

 

[Marvin willis]

Boxes take up room. Free air subs sound awesome.

 

[Dcrow]

A sub in a tuned vented enclosure will always hit harder then a IB sub. That being said there is the issues stated above on a boat with where to put it. My boat is a 2020,and I didn't want to cut a hole in it like my previous boat. I went the tuned vented enclosure. Mine is under the passenger helm. As stated above the door must be open to get maximum sound quality. This sub setup though can be heard, and felt over cabin speakers and towers. Below is a video of bass shaking the outer hull. This is with mooring cover on, and no towers.
Setup is :
4- wetsounds recon 5s cabin speakers with 65watts each rms
1-12" wetsounds revo 12 sub in tuned vented enclosure 500 watts rms
1-syndx6 amp pushing the above with no problem

Do you have a picture of the box setup?