Best 8" or 10" subwoofer options?

[hoppy6698]

Okay, so I have NO clue about subwoofers, will just start there. I am looking for something smallish to put in the trunk to replace the B&O stock sub. I have an 09 B8 A4 with the Bang and Olufsen system, but the itty bitty sub stinks.

So, I'm looking for info on what small enclosure subs would sound best matched to the B&O. Smaller the better, just as long as it's stronger than the stock.

Thanks for the help!

[AudioS4]

Audiomobile Elite 2208, Arc Audio ARC 8, and Dynaudio MW182 are just a few of many subwoofers with great sound. If you replace the subwoofer in the rear parcel shelf, a newer, stronger trim ring to mount the woofer should be fabricated, the entire sheet metal parcel shelf should be sealed with sound dampening material, and it may even need to be reinforced to keep from flexing. If you don't mount the sub in the factory location and decided to do some sort of enclosure in the trunk, make sure that the factory sub is removed to better allow the sound to pass through into the cabin of the vehicle.

[naiku]

Agree with AudioS4's suggestions, I have also heard that the latest Alpine Type R's are a good sub and not all that expensive either. "Best" is completely subjective though, and you will need to remember that the best sub money can buy will sound crap if your install is crap.

[AudioS4]

The Type R's are a nice sub for the money. I did an X5 recently with three of them in a vented enclosure tuned to 30hz in the spare tire well under the rear floor. It sounded very good, playing the upper and lower range of bass notes with very similar output resulting in a very nice musical sound. The only downfall I see can be the large magnet/frame can limit your options for placement in the vehicle. I mentioned the Arc Audio because it has one of the smallest profiles for an 8" subwoofer, has very good output, and overall is one of the best values in it's size category. I heard from Arc Audio that the founder/former owner of Image Dynamics helped with the design. It's basically an Image IDQ woofer, without the cheap plastic composite basket. I think it's good practice to leave yourself several options regarding what equipment to go with until you actually take the car apart and see what fits. Keeping your original goals in mind, you can then evaluate trade-offs vs. cost of install for each piece of equipment.

[WB650]

DAD subwoofers, DC Audio, Sundown Audio (SA-8) 8" sub is a great sub

[hoppy6698]

Update - Decided to go with Sundown Audio 12 (SD-2 12D4). But now I need an enclosure and a good enough ($200 or less) amp to hit 500w RMS.

Any advice on where to get a custom enclosure, not fiberglass? What are good names in amps that I should shop around for as well?

Side question - other audio forums are asking how I plan to tie the amp into the OEM sub line. Do I need some sort of special hardware, line out converter or some such? I have no clue where to start on this bit.

[Eshoti]

You would not notice a difference when running a sub at 2 or 4 ohms. Sub frequencies are not subject to the extreme distortion of mid and high frequencies. Distortion is almost undetectable on bass notes, which is essentially all that happens when you go to 2 ohms on a speaker, a little more distortion is introduced. Go ahead and run it at 2 ohms for additional power.

As far as your sub, I have always liked 12 inch drivers myself, just for the accuracy and low end extension. I think that saying that an 8 is more 'punchy' than a 10 is a little incorrect. Any 10 inch sub designed for sound quality should sound just as punchy as its 8 inch counterpart. I personally think you should go with the 10 to gain a little bit into the low end frequency extention. An 8 inch driver was not originally considered a subwoofer, rather just a woofer but in recent years is sometimes called a subwoofer. Some companies like Illusion Audio are making a mid-range bass https://atfulldrive.com/best-car-subwoofer driver in an 8 which covers frequencies above what your subwoofer typically will.
ll leave one Youtube video here, may be it helps someone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DopW8ZTzFAA

In my experiences, the 10 will not only give you more output than the 8, but lower extention. The IDQ 10 you are mentioning, is one of the highest SQ drivers ever made as well, but don't expect huge output at all.

[toitle]

5 year bump, nice.