# Kicker 8c Freeairs - Anyone know anything about them?



## Buickmike (Aug 10, 2012)

I'm looking for some old kicker freeairs and found a guy selling a pair of 8c's They are newer than gold letters, but still seem to have a lot in common. I'm considering trading my 1st gen RF Audiophiles for them. Anyone know about any specifics on these?


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## firey_kimchi (Feb 5, 2011)

https://www.kicker.com/app/manuals/subwoofers/competitionFreeair/FcMan.pdf


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

The original punch audiophiles? I did 4 8s on a esx amp and it rocked. Had 2 15s and never got it sounding right.


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## Buickmike (Aug 10, 2012)

Thanks for the replies. I ended up doing the trade after listening to them. The Audiophiles were nice subs, but super finicky to tune. FYI after years of trying to get them right, I found a post from a RF tech years ago stating that 1 cu ft at 37hz was the sweet spot. He was dead on. I actually liked them ported at 35 because they got punchier there.


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## SUX 2BU (Oct 27, 2008)

Ported at 35 has been my go-to on pretty much all of my subwoofer boxes for 25 years of having car audio systems. And that has included 8, 10 and 12" subs of varying kinds but mostly Rockford. Always like those original Audiophiles. I'm running a gold-letter Kicker C10-4 right now. Those 8C's I'm sure will treat you well. I'm surprised they have the model number of 8C yet are free-air. Kicker used to have the "F" line which was their freeair (and ported) subs along with their regular "C" line for 'competition' (sealed).


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## Buickmike (Aug 10, 2012)

SUX 2BU said:


> Ported at 35 has been my go-to on pretty much all of my subwoofer boxes for 25 years of having car audio systems. And that has included 8, 10 and 12" subs of varying kinds but mostly Rockford. Always like those original Audiophiles. I'm running a gold-letter Kicker C10-4 right now. Those 8C's I'm sure will treat you well. I'm surprised they have the model number of 8C yet are free-air. Kicker used to have the "F" line which was their freeair (and ported) subs along with their regular "C" line for 'competition' (sealed).


Once I read the manual I found out that the official part number is F8c, which now makes more sense. They also had a C8c model, which was the competition series. So I think these are the last of the subs that resemble the originals. From what I can tell they seem to share the same or similar motor and cone material, however I think they stiffened up the cones on these a little. I had a set of gold letter C8's for awhile back in the mid 90's and was never overly impressed with them. I had a buddy with F10's in a large ported box and I thought they rocked. Kicker recommends .65 ported at 40 and that makes no sense. WinISD says they will peak at 90hz and fall off to -3db at 50. I tried going bigger, like 2cu ft ported at 35 or so. The response is fairly flat and low, but group delay below 40hz jumps to 35ms or so. Pretty sure I'll just run these IB, but still trying to get creative on a box.


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## Bayboy (Dec 29, 2010)

Had a pair of the F10c some years ago. Trying to use them in anything besides IB was a headache. Many ported them, but the box turned out to be so huge that you could have gone with something better with less hassle. IB wasn't that great either. Very dry, but that's subjective. 

If it is the F8c-8, BB6 database shows Fs to be around 59hz with a 4.1mm xmax. Got to remember this was back in a time where Kicker believed in mating the roll-off with the car's acoustics to produce a flat response. Not bad on paper, but with today's music, it would be somewhat weak unless it's a replacement for a stock setup. I sold my pair off some years ago and never looked back. Doing the same now with some Credence 8" rebadges of the Yin-Yang solos.


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## Buickmike (Aug 10, 2012)

Bayboy said:


> Had a pair of the F10c some years ago. Trying to use them in anything besides IB was a headache. Many ported them, but the box turned out to be so huge that you could have gone with something better with less hassle. IB wasn't that great either. Very dry, but that's subjective.
> 
> If it is the F8c-8, BB6 database shows Fs to be around 59hz with a 4.1mm xmax. Got to remember this was back in a time where Kicker believed in mating the roll-off with the car's acoustics to produce a flat response. Not bad on paper, but with today's music, it would be somewhat weak unless it's a replacement for a stock setup. I sold my pair off some years ago and never looked back. Doing the same now with some Credence 8" rebadges of the Yin-Yang solos.


My JBL 1000GTI has similar characteristics. High frequency Fs, stiff suspension, good for IB, but needs large ported enclosure to thrive. Done right it is one of my favorite subs because it hits hard and accurate. In the recommended box, it is choked and ported way too high....just like these kickers right now. I threw that sub in a 2.0 cu ft box ported at 35hz and it sounds amazing! Would have never known that looking at WinISD. I'm thinking to try the same with the Kickers. 1 cu ft at 35hz. Even in their tiny .65 cu ft enclosures ported at 40hz, they still have a cool sound that actually reminds me of solobarics. Better than I thought they would be. Most likely I'll be mounting these IB in my Grand Marquis. My JBL 10" is in there IB right now. It sounds good, but it is a low excursion sub and does not really fit in a IB config well. Not trying to get tons of bass here. Just want some clean low end fill without using up the trunk my wife insists I don't fill lol.


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## Bayboy (Dec 29, 2010)

Buickmike said:


> My JBL 1000GTI has similar characteristics. High frequency Fs, stiff suspension, good for IB, but needs large ported enclosure to thrive. Done right it is one of my favorite subs because it hits hard and accurate. In the recommended box, it is choked and ported way too high....just like these kickers right now. I threw that sub in a 2.0 cu ft box ported at 35hz and it sounds amazing! Would have never known that looking at WinISD. I'm thinking to try the same with the Kickers. 1 cu ft at 35hz. Even in their tiny .65 cu ft enclosures ported at 40hz, they still have a cool sound that actually reminds me of solobarics. Better than I thought they would be. Most likely I'll be mounting these IB in my Grand Marquis. My JBL 10" is in there IB right now. It sounds good, but it is a low excursion sub and does not really fit in a IB config well. Not trying to get tons of bass here. Just want some clean low end fill without using up the trunk my wife insists I don't fill lol.


I feel you on that. My setups are fairly meager in output capabilities, but it's quite enough for me. My sedan has a set of Cerwin Vega 8" IB that surprised me with extension, output, and response. The fronts are only 4" mated to a 1" tweet. It's a pretty quiet car so it doesn't take much to enjoy. You may get what you're looking for as long as you keep things in perspective. After all, the amount of power used during actual music playback isn't the same as sine wave rated amps & subs. Peaks, yeah, but average is pretty low.


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

Buickmike said:


> My JBL 1000GTI has similar characteristics. High frequency Fs, stiff suspension, good for IB, but needs large ported enclosure to thrive. Done right it is one of my favorite subs because it hits hard and accurate. In the recommended box, it is choked and ported way too high....just like these kickers right now. I threw that sub in a 2.0 cu ft box ported at 35hz and it sounds amazing! Would have never known that looking at WinISD. I'm thinking to try the same with the Kickers. 1 cu ft at 35hz. Even in their tiny .65 cu ft enclosures ported at 40hz, they still have a cool sound that actually reminds me of solobarics. Better than I thought they would be. Most likely I'll be mounting these IB in my Grand Marquis. My JBL 10" is in there IB right now. It sounds good, but it is a low excursion sub and does not really fit in a IB config well. Not trying to get tons of bass here. Just want some clean low end fill without using up the trunk my wife insists I don't fill lol.



Nice man, I LOVED my JBL GTi1500 in IB. I have AE SBP now and while the AE is louder its still lags the GTi in realism especially in uprite bass. Its not FAR behind but its noticeable


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