will the JL 10w7 sound better in the rear deck free-air, ported, or sealed?

I personally like a sealed enclosure best but it really depends on your taste and what you want to accomplish. You won't find many 3gen GS with custom stereos. Most have done the sub enclosure in the trunk, I have it tagged on the FAQ thread, and have an external amp to run. I did this and its nice but its lacking a full aftermarket set up IMO.

Funny u say many people dont have custom audio set ups in 3gs bc i got quoted $900 after a $35 "break" to replace all the speakers so 8 speakers in total (non ML) and an amp.

I thought this fool is ****ing crazy. Ill post the brand of each item later, i have the list but not on me atm.. the speakers n amp totaled at $600 ($300 in parts n labor).. the car audio place/guy claimed it was mid level quality

2 pairs of JL c3-650 = $434

Alpine mrp -300 50 x 4 RMS amp = $200

Labor + parts = $300

Total $900..

is that a rip off or what?

I have a 10w7 in a sealed box in my trunk with the stock sub removed from the rear deck. The sound comes right through the hole where the stock sub used to be. It sounds great. Excellent sub, but i believe it needs to be run in an enclosure, you cannot run it "free air".

yah cant run free air, i think an enclosure built to fit the stock location would be nice,

i've talked with JL tech support & they said the 10w7 can be ran as free air as long as the rear deck and trunk is totally deadend with dynomat or hushmat

Although you may be able to run it free air, that means you won't destroy the voice coil according to JL. It does not mean it will sound good. I believe JL recommends a 1.25 cu ft sealed enclosure for 10W7. Running it free air in the trunk would in effect make the trunk the box making it so large that the sub will not be able to hit the notes it is designed to. Meaning it will not sound good at all. Also if you power it enough you run the risk of blowing you rear window out.

Hey what are you using to power your JL 10w7? And did you get the sealed JL enclosure or did you make a custom enclosure? (because I am planning to get the JL sealed enclosure) JL 10w7, alpine mrp-m1000 (1000watt @ 2 ohms), and JL XD-PCS4-1B (4 Gauge Amp Kit) are on its way to my house.

Also do you have any pics of your set up?

A ported box will give you the most pounding bass if that's what you want. A sealed enclosure will give you tighter bass. Don't think it would sound good free air.

Im want tight responsive bass (fidelity - The degree to which an electronic system accurately reproduces the original, intended sound [if Im not mistaken]) over pounding power, so I will go with the sealed box. I figure the JLw7 is powerful enough already. It will be powered by the mrp-m1000 (listed at 1000watt @ 2 ohms, 600watts @ 4 ohms on crutchfield.com), so in between is 800watts @ 3ohms (the 10w7 is 3 ohms). So i figure I will have enough pounding bass; I want the fidelity along with it.

If the shop im getting the install at throws me a price too high (imo) for an enclosure, what do you guys think about getting this box? http://cgi.ebay.com/JL-Audio-10W7-10...ht_1711wt_1082

That tech should be fired! Using sound deadening material does absolutely nothing to prevent the rear sound wave from "meeting" the front sound wave, which is the whole fundamental of "free air" or infinite baffle.

A 10W7 will rip itself apart after a few months of heavy abuse in an infinite baffle setting unless the wattage supplied is reduced drastically.
The sub is rated at 750w RMS. I would run no more than 500w to the speaker to ensure it did not destroy itself.

Additionally the 10w7 has a QTS (a rating describing the speakers suspension) of .537 which is best suited for a sealed enclosure. Ideally, a QTS between .25 and .4 is used for an infinite baffle design.

Would this sealed enclosure i have linked above work well? It is almost the same specs as the one listed in the 10w7-3 manual. But they did some changes as they state in the description of the product.

Short answer: Yes. That box will work just fine.

Longer answer: Yes. There is a ton of leeway when it comes to enclosure volume in a sealed enclosure. The difference in frequency response between a .75 ft3 enclosure and a 1.5 ft3 enclosure is much smaller than you would think. Ideally a sealed enclosure should be built to fit its application since most any driver will work in it and small variations in volume do not really affect performance.

The box you referenced uses a double thick 1.5" baffle (face) which is very good. And it also uses internal bracing for additional structural rigidity. Reducing any flex in the walls of the enclosure will reinforce the soundwave from the driver. They also took the time to build the enclosure to 1.2 ft3 of USABLE airspace!!! Meaning they took into consideration the displacement of both the speaker and the internal bracing. Very nice.