Stereo/ subwoofer question ( not which brand is better question)

[macjazzy]

Being as that the space they are in in almost enclosed now. Can I just use some silicone to seal the cracks and small holes etc to attempt to enclose it fully? Does the box have to be exact in size and shape?

My boat often times becomes the sound for dock parties and raft-ups. So I end up playing a variety f different music, although my tastes are not hip hop or rap oriented at all. More classic rock and 80's- 90;s music.

[fund razor]

A real box is screwed and glued. I don't think the result of trying to seal a space that was not designed to be a woofer box will be that discernable. Plus, you don't know the natural resonant freq of the space. The volume of the space is relevant to the performance of the woofer and the volume that the woofer is designed to resonate the best in. If the natrual resonant freq of the space that you are working with is outside of what you want, you may not be doing yourself any favors.

The car audio guys would say you might as well build a box. I say you might as well slap a couple of woofers in there and go boating.

[macjazzy]

That is the way I am leaning. It sounded very good last year, with subs no one seems to mention as being good ones ( Sony) and they were an odd 6ohms per channel speakers. So I think just an upgrade in quality will result in some upgrade in sound output.

Where they are mounted now would not lend itself to a real sub box and I dont want to do any major surgery do accomodate it or chang the layout of the boat to build in a box. As it is now I lost no storage where they are and were easy to route wires to, are out of the way etc.

So I will just go free air subs. I am still confused about JL or Alpine though. I don't want to replace th amps I have. They are not very old, and still work fine. I am open to having someone do the correct adjustments. But they are class D mono amps so they should work fine, I would think.

[fund razor]

Just a note: your 6 ohm speakers would pull less power from your amp than a 4 ohm speaker.
Switching to a 4 ohm will increase the potential output from what it was with a 6 ohm. So, going by your descriptions we can predict a theoretical increase in sound pressure, all other things remaining equal.

I'll bet that making sure that your gain structure is good would go longer toward preventing future voice coil failure than choosing a speaker with a higher potential power rating. But that's from having sent goo-gobs of clean non-clipping power into speakers for years. I would have no issues hitting a speaker with twice the rated power if I knew it was a good signal from the head unit.

I think that you will be ok either way, again... based on your own descriptions.

[fund razor]

I am sorry that I am not closer, I would have been happy to come check out your settings for a beer.

[macjazzy]

Thanks for all your help, and I appreciate the offer to check all the settings for me. I would have no problem paying in beer for that