Anyone did free air subs on E46 rear parcel shelf?

[Playtennis]

Hi Bros,

I am considering a pair of free air sub on my E46 rear parcel shelf and hope the bros who have done so can share the following:

1) What was the model and size of the free air sub?
2) How was the quality of bass produced (in your personal opinion)
3) Who did the installation for you, how would you rate his workmanship?

I have gone to some audio shops and they kept insisting that boxed enclosures are better, refusing to explore further. Are free air subs that bad or they are not sure how to optimise the sound?

Kindly advise. Thanks.:thinking:

 

[longhorn]

Re: Anyone did free air subs on E46 rear parcel shelf?

I found the following article fr the net Hopefully it helps you. I have one 8" free air sub mounted. But mine is E90, not E46.

"There are many types of subwoofer enclosures, which are commonly referred to as “boxes”, for your car’s stereo system. They vary with different types and size depending on the type of vehicle you have, the space available, and the type of sound you desire. An free-air subwoofer, also known as the “infinite baffle” subwoofer, is more or less designed for vehicles with smaller space available or for people who actually want to use their trunk for storage. It is preferred by many because of it cuts down on the cost and also on the installation time that you would go through building a sealed subwoofer box.
A free-air subwoofer enclosure is basically mounting the subwoofers to a board and then placed behind the rear seat or under the rear deck of the vehicle. The board acts as a barrier between the front of the speaker and the back, which keeps the sound from the rear making a path to the front and canceling itself out. The trunk acts as the entire box, so for the best performance, it is important to have an air-tight trunk seal. It is the simplest and easiest to follow design available to house your subwoofer.
The sound quality is great and easy to achieve because there are no strict measurements to follow. The only downside to this style of enclosure is that low-frequency bass will not be very accurate or define. You will also have to use a little of that extra trunk space for additional some additional amplification to make up for what it lacks.
Compare to Other Designs
The other types of subwoofer enclosures are: sealed, ported, aperiodic, isobaric, and band pass. A sealed box is the easiest to build and, by far, the most common. It has the best sound quality, but it will take up more room than a free-air subwoofer enclosure.
The ported enclosure has an air-releasing tube and is designed for re-enforced bass. It requires very a specific build or the sound quality will significantly suffer. Aperiodic enclosures lack in booming bass, however the bass is both tight and accurate. They are small and hard to design and tune. Isobaric subwoofer enclosures have the best bass for a small design. One of the subs is exposed so it is prone to damage. The band pass enclosure has more bass than the rest but it is over a narrower frequency range. These enclosures are also quite large."

 

[richlee7]

Re: Anyone did free air subs on E46 rear parcel shelf?

Hi Bros,

I am considering a pair of free air sub on my E46 rear parcel shelf and hope the bros who have done so can share the following:

1) What was the model and size of the free air sub?
2) How was the quality of bass produced (in your personal opinion)
3) Who did the installation for you, how would you rate his workmanship?

I have gone to some audio shops and they kept insisting that boxed enclosures are better, refusing to explore further. Are free air subs that bad or they are not sure how to optimise the sound?

Kindly advise. Thanks.:thinking:

it depends on wat you like for subs: spl? or quality depth? if spl, forget abt free air.
else u can get most reputed 12" free air subs, or even good strong magnet subs.
if u dun like to cut a hole in your rear parcel, also forget abt free air. you need to cut a hole.

i had an E46FL sedan previously, and i installed a 12" with strong magnet subs, as i only wanted accurate depth, but didn want it to intrude too much into the boot opening. i used a veri slim pioneer TS-SW1241D (mounting depth 86mm). reliable and accurate bass, using a underdriven (lotsa headroom) 600W Alpine ClassD mono-amp. it is satisfactory given the little space the subs took out.

realistically, i did connect some good boxes to check and compare, and I still find that only the well designed bandpass boxes with several better known subs sounded better than the combi above. the combi i did above was reasonable.

now this is just my opinion, n i'm sure there are gurus out there who may disagree:
i actuali chose japanese made components due to their lower deterioration (due to our extremely hot & humid weather) as I used to use (and change every year or so) the better known subs (focals, dls, jbl, lotus, jl) and no doubt some were superior when first installed, but they didn stay that good for very long... deterioration is faster than the good japanese makes... so as i prefer install-once-and-forget nowadays due to other commitments, so chose to compromise a little fo initial quality, but long term wise, relatively good.

just my 2cents.
p.s. i use a 701 for sound processsing. i think this is a necessity in case of my choice of setup. unless u can find a very well tuneable mono-amp, which i dun have much knowledge of, as i believe they are also quite rare, do consider a good soundprocessor to help you get your upfront, well tuned and accurate bass.

 

[Playtennis]

Re: Anyone did free air subs on E46 rear parcel shelf?

Hi Longhorn, thanks for the article.

Hi richlee7, thanks for sharing. Just like yourself, I am more into accurate depth and SQ. I don't blast the speakers. Was under the impression that the shelf could accomodate maybe 2 x 8"sub (max allowable space) but you manage to squeeze in a 12"sub! Do you have a picture? SQ wise, do you know if it's better to have 1 x 12"sub than to have 2 x 8"subs. I am suprise the branded subs didn't last you very long.

Can I know the name of your installer and the estimate cost you spent for installing the subs? (Can also PM me if not convenient to disclose).

Lastly, can I know if there has been any impact to the rear passengers by you installing the sub on the rear parcel shelf? Do they find it loud?(I have not sat in a car with similar installation before).

Cheers!

 

[richlee7]

Re: Anyone did free air subs on E46 rear parcel shelf?

Hi Longhorn, thanks for the article.

Hi richlee7, thanks for sharing. Just like yourself, I am more into accurate depth and SQ. I don't blast the speakers. Was under the impression that the shelf could accomodate maybe 2 x 8"sub (max allowable space) but you manage to squeeze in a 12"sub! Do you have a picture? SQ wise, do you know if it's better to have 1 x 12"sub than to have 2 x 8"subs. I am suprise the branded subs didn't last you very long.

Can I know the name of your installer and the estimate cost you spent for installing the subs? (Can also PM me if not convenient to disclose).

Lastly, can I know if there has been any impact to the rear passengers by you installing the sub on the rear parcel shelf? Do they find it loud?(I have not sat in a car with similar installation before).

Cheers!

yup the 12" fits good, n its very compact.

definitely 1x12" is better than 2x8" anytime, imho.

the branded subs didn STAY excellent for more than a year... though i'm sure they'll still work for a long while if i leave them there, but i'm rather fussy on the SQ, and their deterioration is quite dissappointing, considering they cost alot, and sounded so good when initially installed. i guess putting it on shelves do expose them a little closer to heat.

pix: sori, none that i can find.

rear passengers... i dun think so, cos if u tune it appropriately, you unless u're pushing the volume up alot, in which the front should be quite 'balanced' with the sub's boom anyway... so i think it shudn be too bad.

as for installer, i'll send you a pm if u dun hv an existing installer.

 

[Playtennis]

Re: Anyone did free air subs on E46 rear parcel shelf?

Hi richlee7,

Thanks for the recommendation. Will pay a visit to their shop. Good insight on the lifespan of the branded subs. I would have missed out on the japanese brands otherwise.

Cheers!