a speaker is a speaker is a speaker. Playing a sub free air is no different the playing a 4" mid free air. Keep it clean and you will be fine

 

just got off the phone from a authorized JL dealer in CNY, free air is ok , for a SMALL amount of time, and NOT a lot of power running through it... extended periods of time, or more power = bad

 

I have worked for 2 places that sold JL as well.

yes and no..... A signal with low power will reach the clipping point much sooner then a signal with more power so saying more power = bad is not really correct.

Again people I dont' care if it is in a box with 1000 watts or out of a box with 5 watts the secret to keeping speakers from blowing is to keep the signal clean and unclipped. Anytime you hear a speaker clipping it is doing damage to the speaker. If you want proof I will let you know when my 15yr old mb quart 8's with 200 rms on them wears out in my stang. I play the hell out of them but I keep them out of clipping and they pound like no 8 you have ever heard.

 

it's general rule of thumb. 5 seconds. for high end equipment, and especially if the subs are made for free air, obviously you can do it longer. and it's bad for the sub because it can't effectively cool it's self as well as it can in a box, which brings me to why you shouldn't power the sub out of the box with what you have it powered with in the box(usually people have it right around RMS range.. hence the 'RMS wattage' statement as bad as the wording was).

 

thank you, you proved mine and your's point.

 

so true. i've seen people with some Nice D3s rnning only 500 watts to both subs(capable of atleast 800 together) blow the subs(back of one side of box was actually a little charred, beleave it or not) because he cranked the gains/input Volts on a POS amp && had 'Loudness' on. Plus sub and bass @ max.

but even if it is a clean signal, still not a good idea to free air a sub unless it's designed for it, again, they cannot cool near as effectively as they can in the box. Inverting is also bad for alot of subs, but can cool coils better than free air can, plus, Inverting subs is usually for looks/shows where they dont run much power to the subs.

 

You are so mis-informed my friend

I don't even need to say anything to that, the problem there is very, very apparent.

Hmmmm......

There is nothing wrong with running a woofer invert mounted, it is the exact same as running it mounted inside the box, only difference is you have to adjust your internal volume when doing calculations for building the enclosure.

Only reason a JL dealer said that was because 90% of people that ask the same question are inexperienced and will be A.) Underpowering the woofer in the first place or B.) Be running an amplifier with dirty power (whether it's just a junk amp, or the operator has the bass boost or gain cranked)

Both are reasons we already stated.

 

have to switch positives and negatives on sub too, and, usually(from installs ive seen) they but small fans by the coils. and there's many sub manufacters who advise against inverting their subs due to cooling reasons.

and, so, 90% of people are inexperiences, which means the OP could be, and we're saying it's a good idea for him to free air it with who knows what amp, at who knows what power, and if it's clipping or not.

 

Could be and if he is, he will ask questions on here before he does something like that. In which case we will again point him in the right direction.

Name one and show evidence of that.

Who puts fans by the coil? A consumer or a manufacturer?

 

i know soundstream advises against it on some of their lower model subs, and my Pioneer TSW3004's recommended against it. and the Electronic's warehouse around here ~~Have~~ some good looking fans they put on their gallardo show car. and Boomer Mcloud's did it on their 300C system.

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