Subwoofer placement for beginners

[Launchman2000]

I have 2 10" subs to put in the boat. I was thinking of cutting holes on both sides right below the storage shelves. (black circle in the picture)

I figured I could adjust the sound by packing the inside around them with some type of acoustic insulation. I dug around on the forum and could not find anyone who did the same thing, Most everybody else puts them under the driver's console in a box, but I wanted to leave that open for storage.

Any suggestions here? Would the subs sound OK?

[wotan2525]

Unless your subs are designed to run in a free-air environment, they will sound horrible. One good 12" in a proper box would sound much better and you can probably push it far enough forward in under the drivers footwell to be out of the way.

Plus -- there probably isn't enough room behind there for a sub, anyway.

[Launchman2000]

tks wotan,

they do say "designed for free-air installation" I am pretty sure I have the depth in the bulkhead.

[haugy]

I've heard free-airs that sound good. I know a Baja that had 4 of them, and really hit hard. You're going to need some serious subs and a lot of power to get them to the level a box would get you to.

But if they are done right, they can sound awesome.

[Launchman2000]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'll probably go with a ported box, they are pretty cheap online. I have a 6 channel amp, the 2 sub channels are 250W rms / 500W max each, same rating as the subwoofers rms 250W/max 500W.

The more I think about it, I am not thrilled about cutting into the sides of the boat.