Free Air Subwoofer Vs Enclosed Subwoofer

Subwoofers are speakers designed to produce low-frequency bass or sound. The subwoofer adds great value to the music. If you want to enjoy some decent bass in your car, then the subwoofers are necessary with the speakers in your car. Subwoofers reproduce bass and make the music more enjoyable and loveable. It could also make the sound louder.

When you go out to buy a subwoofer for your car or home, it will come in two forms enclosed or free air subwoofer. It might be difficult to get the right device for you if you don’t know about the technicalities of the sound. In this article, we are going to give a comprehensive comparison of free air subwoofer vs enclosed subwoofer. Both have their pros and cons and you can choose the one which is most suitable for you.

What is a free air subwoofer?

A speaker without having any enclosure is called free air subwoofer. These speakers, despite being mounted at the rear side of the car, sound very good. These are passive-speaker subwoofers without having any sub-box. There will be no amplifier in it and you have to connect an external amplifier for power.

In this kind of speaker, you don’t have to lose bass due to less space availability. It can move more air and demand less power from the sound system. Other than the back deck side, you can also mount it in between secondary lounges and storage space. The biggest advantage of having these speakers in your car is that these speakers take much less trunk space and give you highly reasonable bass at the same time.

Pros

Space-saving: The most important benefit of the free-air subwoofer is its space-saving feature. You can easily fit it on the car doors. You can easily install it as it doesn’t come with a sub box. In this way, you can install multiple subwoofers in your car at each door with speakers and tweeters on the dashboard. In this way, you can enjoy a full-range speaker system.
Cheap: free air subwoofer is much less costly than an enclosed subwoofer as it doesn’t come with an enclosure and built-in amplifier. It makes it ideal if you are tight on budget or if you already have an external amplifier.
Power: Free air works in an open-air environment. It transfers more air than an enclosed subwoofer. Owing to this, it takes much less power than an enclosed subwoofer having the same power and rating.

Cons

Bass: You could not enjoy tight and accurate bass with this subwoofer as it operates in an open-air environment. Moreover, you could not enjoy booming or earth-shaking bass in this subwoofer. Many bass enthusiasts don’t like to have this subwoofer due to its lacking-bass issue.

Tips for installing a free-air subwoofer

First of all, you must isolate the sounding waves from interfering as it will greatly impact the sound of the subwoofer. There must be vibration and sound-absorbing material at the mounting place where the subwoofer is going to be installed. You might use a material like “Dynamat“. A more rigid surface also might reduce the rattles and vibrations.

With the free-air subwoofer, you might get punchy bass due to its installation at the rear side of the car. If you insulate the speakers, then you could enjoy the better sound.

If the subwoofers are mounting through the package, then you have to make large holes that are not repairable. Otherwise, the insulation and sealing might add some weight to your system.

Thus, the owners of the car having little trunk space must consider a small ported sub-woofer rather than free air subwoofer.

What is an enclosed subwoofer?

An enclosed subwoofer is fit in the cage for sound purity and to keep the noise away from the sound. It produces a roar or thunder to give you the actual effect of the sound. With a flat frequency response, it plays tight and provides you with full bass. Sealed or enclosed subwoofers come in a very compacted form and can easily fit in your car.

Pros

Tight bass: It is usually enclosed in the seal or box. A sealed box is an airtight box that doesn’t allow any additional air than a little bit required. That’s why the subwoofer is ideal for producing tight bass.
Booming bass: other than tight and accurate bass, you can also enjoy booming or earth-shaking bass in this subwoofer.

Cons

Space issue: sub box is necessary with an enclosed subwoofer and that’s why it takes a lot of space. The size of the subwoofer is directly related to the size of the sub box. Thus, if your car is not spacious enough, then you could not use the enclosed subwoofer in your car. It also depends upon the trunk space of the car.
Expensive: if you compare the same size, power enclosed subwoofer with the free-air subwoofer then you will find the enclosed subwoofer much costly than the free-air subwoofer. The built-in amplifier also increases the cost of the enclosed subwoofer.
Power: The enclosed subwoofer has an airtight design. That’s why it demands a lot of power for the amplifier to move the cone and coil.

What is the actual difference between them?

The basic difference between these two subwoofers is their mounting place. In the free-air case, the subwoofer is mounted on the rear side of the car while in the enclosed set-up it is mounted in an enclosure. When we experienced them closely, we came to know that when we play ‘pop’ music then the free-air subwoofer shows a muddy or punchy voice but the enclosed subwoofer is much better in this kind of music.

On the other hand, if you play ‘Rock’ music, then you can experience emphatic bass from the enclosed subwoofer but just a louder sound from the free-air subwoofer. In the case of classical sound or Electro/dance mode, the free-air subwoofer will provide you with quality bass and a more natural sound than the enclosed subwoofer.

In a nutshell, we can say that the enclosed subwoofer is perfect for producing tight and accurate bass for some specific kind of music while the free-air subwoofer sometimes falls out of tune. The enclosed subwoofer is also good in providing you with a perfect beat and melody. These things make the music flow with the original rhythm.

Free air subwoofer vs enclosed subwoofer: which one is better?

There is no final opinion if you ask the above-mentioned questions. It wholly depends upon your preferences. You can choose any one of them if you have certain preferences in listening to music. An enclosed subwoofer is perfect for booming bass, tight bass, or if there is no space issue in your car.

On the other hand, a free-air subwoofer would be an optimum choice if you are tight on the budget or you don’t have enough space for a subwoofer in your car.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you really need a subwoofer??

The subwoofer provides you with rich-sounding bass from the car stereo. It will greatly improve the audio coming from the system. The addition of a subwoofer will energize the stereo. The subwoofers would greatly improve your music listening experience by improving the bass response of the sound system. If you are a music and wants to enjoy state of art sound while travelling, then you must choose from free air subwoofer vs enclosed subwoofer.

How to choose the required subwoofer for you?

It wholly depends upon the type of your vehicle or the kind of music you want to enjoy. With a usable trunk, it is better not to use a baffle system but a free-air setup. It is ideal for small vehicles. If you are forced to use an infinite baffle system, then you must be fully aware of the power you are giving to the system. You might get a distortion or destroy your subwoofer if you are giving too much power.

Can you put a free air subwoofer in a box?

Many people are confusing between free air subwoofer and infinite baffle system. They consider it the same thing. But you must be clear that the free air subwoofer works without any box while the infinite baffle system comes with a large and sealed box.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, there are a lot of high-quality subwoofers available in the market. If you have quality speakers along with a powerful amplifier and the car is full insulated from the inside, then you can take any subwoofer free air woofer or enclosed subwoofer. Both of them will give you a nice bass response.
The selection between enclosed and free air subwoofer might depend upon some other factors like your car size, budget, passion for the music, size of the battery, etc. The key factor would be the kind of music you like to listen as it will determine the bass and box type you need to have.