Getting subs

[r33p04s]

Its about enclosure than sub and power(though they are important). I'm running 1 Alpine Type-R in a 1.5ft^3 ported box getting 500w rms on a dedicated amp with an Alpine head unit. It bumps and does the job with coaxials in all 4 doors on their own amp. From what I understand it could use about +150w rms and a bigger box/port and it should get even louder. This is in a '01 Tahoe. That sales man is just trying to sell 2 subs instead of one.

 

[WrenchGuy]

Ok, take this for what it is, coming from someone who has dropped the cheese on many different variations.

My current setup will take your breathe away and all for less than 900.00

My first setup when I bought my Hoe was 2 12" Kicker CVR Comps powered by a 500 punch mono block. It hit but it didn't give me the ump I wanted. I have IMHO yet to see a Hoe with 2 12" setup that does it for me. I have been in a ton that "Hit" but not the hit most are looking for.

My second setup was 2 12" Kicker VX's running on a Hifonics 1600 watt mono block. Still same scenario as above.

So after all that I tried a single 15" L5 running from a kenwood 1800 mono block...sounded like total ****
Took it back 15" L7 same deal, sounded like ass by it's self.

So, my end solution was as follows.

2 Kicker 12" comp VX running off a mono kenwood 9104D 2ohms
1 15" Kicker L5 running of a kenwood 9104D 2ohms
I paid as follows
200.00 each for the amps new form the local flea market
200.00 for the L5 new from same Flea
250.00 for the VX's in box from same flea

I removed the speakers from the prefab, made my own enclosure consiting of the 15" in the center and the 2 VX's on each side. I have no cap, optima battery, stock HU with a LOC running from the rear of the HU. This system is the loudest I have ever owned. Even so, when I had them all in the prefab boxes it hit just as hard. My ears and chest can't tell the diff goign to a custom enclosure other than it looks nice.

The single 15 sounded like crap, so did the 2 12's in the box. But with all 3 going....booyah my neighbors so hate me. If they thought the 3 W7's in the Benz was bad, they are even more pissed now.

If I was you I would try to find someone local with a Hoe and a system and see what they run and how it sounds first befor you make the money mistakes I and possibly others did.

Whatever u go with good luck to you.

I'm not even going there...lol We should all throw different sized subs in the ride.

As far as salesmen I always love to stump them on what subwoofers T/S Parameters are. There is science and equation to a sub and its enclosure. Just do research. If your trying to build pressure levels then cone area is more of a concern for that. I just thought we were going for good sound and noticeable lows.

 

[boostaholic]

I love my sealed 12" L7, should sound even better with a good head unit and more power.

 

[Animosity]

I'm not even going there...lol We should all throw different sized subs in the ride.

As far as salesmen I always love to stump them on what subwoofers T/S Parameters are. There is science and equation to a sub and its enclosure. Just do research. If your trying to build pressure levels then cone area is more of a concern for that. I just thought we were going for good sound and noticeable lows.

It is what it is....

Anyone can sit in front of a computer all day, researching speaker designs, quality, technical specs and many other things to baffle a salesman, then in the end what do you have? A baffled salesman and a ****ty sounding stereo system. Mine, Your's, His, anyone's stereo system is only going to sound as good as they can hear. Obvisously no one is going to buy and instal a system that sounds good to someone else.

Again, the OP should get in other peoples rides, listen to what they have, make his own sound decision on what he likes, test stuff out, make his own choice. I love the sound of my speakers, they give me deep and mid bass levels and the stock bose sounds great when powered by an aftermarket amp or stock. To me, my setup sounds great and has tremendous bass. To you, it may sound like ****, it may seem wierd to have to 12's and a 15, but fact is, i'm not here to impress you or make sure it sounds good to you or to what you think is right, what counts is my opinion. Sorry you don't like my setup, have a good one.

 

[WrenchGuy]

It is what it is....

Anyone can sit in front of a computer all day, researching speaker designs, quality, technical specs and many other things to baffle a salesman, then in the end what do you have? A baffled salesman and a ****ty sounding stereo system. Mine, Your's, His, anyone's stereo system is only going to sound as good as they can hear. Obvisously no one is going to buy and instal a system that sounds good to someone else.

Again, the OP should get in other peoples rides, listen to what they have, make his own sound decision on what he likes, test stuff out, make his own choice. I love the sound of my speakers, they give me deep and mid bass levels and the stock bose sounds great when powered by an aftermarket amp or stock. To me, my setup sounds great and has tremendous bass. To you, it may sound like ****, it may seem wierd to have to 12's and a 15, but fact is, i'm not here to impress you or make sure it sounds good to you or to what you think is right, what counts is my opinion. Sorry you don't like my setup, have a good one.

Yet again another customer fooled by the Bose system. What could be recommended is way more pricey than he wanted. I was suggesting something as an affordable start.

Yes it does come down to what it sounds like to the owner. If your buying aftermarket add ons your obviously missing something. I was merely suggesting what he could get. Your just throwing subs in to make it hard.

Why deal with salesman? The research done on your computer saves way more money in the end.

You haven't impressed me at all so you don't have to worry about it. Have a good one.

 

[Animosity]

Yet again another customer fooled by the Bose system. What could be recommended is way more pricey than he wanted. I was suggesting something as an affordable start.

Yes it does come down to what it sounds like to the owner. If your buying aftermarket add ons your obviously missing something. I was merely suggesting what he could get. Your just throwing subs in to make it hard.

Why deal with salesman? The research done on your computer saves way more money in the end.

You haven't impressed me at all so you don't have to worry about it. Have a good one.

Cool, if I haven't impressed you then quit taking the time to reply to my post and let it be.

If you must feel the need to be the dominant E Tuff guy on threads when they don't go along with your feelings, thoughts or opinions on an issue or hardware then by all means, you got it.

I never told the guy he SHOULD buy what I have, I merely stated WHAT I have and that he SHOULD do his own research and check out other peoples systems prior, so he can make a 1 time sound purchase and not a ton of purchases and waste money.

Again, to each there own.

From reading your threads you seem to feel threatend with anyone who does not share the same idealistic thoughts on issues as you do. So you have an arguing match over the internet. Again, you win, your penis is bigger, mine is smaller. You are right, I am wrong. Now that it is out of the way, hopefully you will feel better? If not, sorry.

Again, to the OP, hope you get something you are happy with.

 

[WrenchGuy]

MadMedwyn just get me a vid of your setup! I wanna see it at least. I just had an array of setups in my Tahoe and pretty much figured out good sound and output so if I seem defensive my bad.

Its like knowing the answer and not getting picked....lol Its really no big deal.
I'm glad you took the audio plunge and can't wait to see future upgrades.

Pics and Vids!

later.

 

[Polecat]

I don't think it was one woofer, or two that sounded like crap, but more of install adn power. Don't get me wrong, if your happy now, fine, but sounds liek you just needed more cone and power....

 

[MadMedwyn]

Alright heres what I have sitting in the boxes right next to me:

RF P550.2 amp
Rockford Fosgate Punch Stage 2 12" (two of them)

They take 250W RMS a piece so I'll be straight sending 275W through them. The local shops going to build me a custom box and go by RF's reccomendations from their site so it should sound fine. Soo once I get the last $350 together I'm going to throw the stuff in there asap. This will be influenced on how quickly I sell my Basslink T and also possibly my 3rd row seats lol.

I think I'll be satisfied with what I get. Right now my focus is not getting monstrous bass. I'm trying to get all-around good sound. My next thing two things are going to be the Alpine ida-x100 and an Ipod Classic so I can get rid of my CDs and enjoy better sound quality. When I'm done with the entire system, I can turn around and get some more powerful subs.

 

[MadMedwyn]

Ok good news, this is all getting thrown in tomorrow. I'm dropping off the truck tomorrow at the shop before school and I'll grab it after school. Hopefully this will be one hell of a weekend.

 

[WrenchGuy]

I don't think it was one woofer, or two that sounded like crap, but more of install adn power. Don't get me wrong, if your happy now, fine, but sounds liek you just needed more cone and power....

If you hadn't noticed he didn't want monstrous bass but went with more cone anyway. He's got to learn I guess.

 

[Polecat]

sometimes more, is less....

 

[MadMedwyn]

Ok everything's in. Sounds great. It hits ranges that the Basslink could never hit, but that's probably thanks to the enclosure more than anything else. What really surprised me is how well this setup does with double-bass drums in metal. I played "The Heretic Anthem" by Slipknot Live 9.0 and it was probably one of the best listening experiences I've had.

But now I've got another problem. My battery's going bad. The guy who installed everything pointed out in my dash that my voltage dial would gradually go down if the amp was pushed at all. So far, the amp has gone into safety mode three times, and that was when I had the gain turned way down from when I got it. I'm going to get an Optima yellow top and do the big 3.

One more question. Is 10awg wiring good enough for my amp? It's doing 550w rms bridged at 4ohm. I even left a note yesterday morning when I dropped it off telling the guy to change to 4awg, but he left the original 10awg in there that used to power my basslink T. He said it was to "save me money".

 

[MadMedwyn]

Here:

One other thing. While listening to a song, my subs sometimes get louder, as if I turned up the bass boost a bunch. It's probably still my battery though. Oddly enough, the basslink would do the same thing, but not nearly extreme as this.

 

[WrenchGuy]

That system shouldn't hurt your electrical at all. Just get a new battery. Big Three just cuz...lol I try not to go smaller than 8GA for little amps. I usually use 4GA as the smallest for everything audio.

That peak in loudness may be the tuning frequency of the box. I would assume anyway.

Looks good! Cool to see you got em. I though they'd put the amp under the second row its such an awesome spot.

 

[MadMedwyn]

Yeah the audio shop guy said big3 wasn't necessary. I just thought it might be good to knock it out while I'm throwing a new battery in there.

The "subs sometimes getting louder issue" isn't frequency related, althought I understand what you're saying. For example, I'll be listening to some double-bass, which is essentially the same sound being produced over and over throughout the song. I'll have it rocking just how I like it and suddenly my subs will start hitting alot harder out of the blue, when nothing else is changed. It's as if I turn my bass boost up all the way because it really becomes overpowering.

And I think that guy was crazy for not at least getting a bigger power/ground wire for that amp. I'm going to order 4awg tomorrow probably and do it myself. He also said the amp was too big to fit underneath the 2nd row seat. That's where I would have liked it too.

 

[WrenchGuy]

Could be a voltage issue then. Sounds like your getting to it. Battery and Wire should help you out.

 

[dye4metal]

Bump your wire up to 4awg and you wont have as bad by far of voltage drops, and the big 3 can do nothing but help. i cant beleive he put 10awg wire in for a amp. and how did the amp not fit under the seats? i have my whole set up under my seat?

 

[WrenchGuy]

Bump your wire up to 4awg and you wont have as bad by far of voltage drops, and the big 3 can do nothing but help. i cant beleive he put 10awg wire in for a amp. and how did the amp not fit under the seats? i have my whole set up under my seat?

The seat thing makes me wonder too but the install is done. If he moves it why did he go to the shop in the first place?...He already is replacing the wire.

 

[MadMedwyn]

Bump your wire up to 4awg and you wont have as bad by far of voltage drops, and the big 3 can do nothing but help. i cant beleive he put 10awg wire in for a amp. and how did the amp not fit under the seats? i have my whole set up under my seat?

Yeah it dissapoints me that he left that 10awg in there. If anything else, it's a year and a half old and I've had it since my Basslink T. I even left a note that morning telling him to change it but he still didn't. :mad2:

Right before I left with the Yukon I asked the guy one more time: "so you're sure that old 10awg is good for 550w rms?" And he goes "yeah dude you're not really pushing 550 watts with that amp". I dunno what that's supposed to mean. The numbers are stated on the box lol.