who knows a lot about stereo equipment and etc?

[Eurotuned_A4]

so recently i have been thinking about getting a mroe powerful subwoofer. maybe something like a 12" jl audio w7 or w6, but is the price between the 2 worth it. reading about the speakers and etc mean nothing to me, so some input would help. any other good and powerful speaker suggestions? i wont be doing this soon, but maybe within a few months.

[bigmerle]

Ok, to start this off I am a little biased. I work with Polk Audio so of course I am going to say to go with a 12” SR. BUT, I did grow up as a huge JL Audio fan…it really depends on what you are looking for out of your sub and how much power you have from your amp and how much room you are willing to lose for a box…..fill me in on these three questions and I can help you out further….

[Dompiece]

I was also considering the w7 last year but they were way too big; I went instead with the w6’s…I would have lost most of my trunk space with the w7. You will not be disappointed with the w6, they sound clean and hit ridiculously hard. I have 2 of them in a sealed box powered by 2 JL 500/1 amps.

By the way, its for sale, want to buy mine

[Eurotuned_A4]

pm me some pics!!

[Eurotuned_A4]

Ok, to start this off I am a little biased. I work with Polk Audio so of course I am going to say to go with a 12” SR. BUT, I did grow up as a huge JL Audio fan…it really depends on what you are looking for out of your sub and how much power you have from your amp and how much room you are willing to lose for a box…..fill me in on these three questions and I can help you out further….

trunk space isnt a big issue. it i need it, i can always take the speakers out. i have a soundstream 500w mono amp for my current sub, but i can go bigger if needed. I just want to clean up the trunk/stereo more and get more bass. i dont need to be the loudest car on teh street, but i feel like i need a little more lately.

and like i said, i am open to other suggestions for speakers.

[bigmerle]

IMO I would go for the SR124-DVC and run it at 2 ohms and you should be VERY happy.
http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/sp...inch/sr124dvc/
You really dont need "IMO" to run a JL W7 unless you are seriously tryng to shake the paint off your car and want extream spl. Its a great sub but with a big price tag. The SR124 sounds just as good as a W7 but requires less space, power, and money. But as i said...I am a little biased.

[Eurotuned_A4]

i like your biased. less space, less money, less power. maybe ill be different and try this out. so you work for polk?

[bigmerle]

You could say that :) I really do love the speaker and highly recomend it!!

[djwimbo]

I personally shy away from JL stuff, but they are one of the higher quality companies that can still hit high volume.
If space is an issue many people including JL have shallow mount subs that sound amazing. They're got a demo car that I heard that's very impressive. I got to see and hear it at the MERA event this year in Louisville.

I've always been a huge fan of sound quality over SPL. I've been rocking Harmon group(Harmon Kardon, Infinity, JBL) stuff for awhile now and haven't ever had an issue w/ it. Recently I purchased two Hifonics amps and haven't had any complaints about those either. I've dabbled into the Alpine stuff and have been really happy w/ all their products except their 4ch amp I had in highschool.
Basically what it comes down to is if you're willing to pay the price for the really high end stuff, and if you're doing it for braggin rights or not. JL comes w/ a pricetag.

So before I'd recommend anything I'd have to ask if you're looking for loud or sound quality.

[Eurotuned_A4]

cant i have both loud and sound quality? obviously i dont want crap sounding stuff.

[djwimbo]

cant i have both loud and sound quality? obviously i dont want crap sounding stuff.

There's a traingle associated w/ motorsports that kinda correlates.
Fast, Cheap, Reliable. Pick two b/c you can't have all three.
Your situation: Quality, Cheap, Loud, pick the one you want to sacrafice.

I'm sure a pair of W6's would be awesome, and I'd recommend it if that's in your price range. If you can't fit their box in your trunk build one EXACTLY to their specs. I've heard numerous JL speakers in the wrong enclosures, and they sound like death.
Otherwise XTant is being reborn this year, not a bad setup either, just lower power output. They add some serious styling though, you can stain the wood panels, and stain the leather on the speaker cones.... totally Badass.

[JaVa]

i have two alpine typr r's they sound decent. but its really how you power the subs that makes them the way they sound. i love all my zapco stuff its about the best i have ever heard for SQ but it has a price tag that matches.

[pac1085]

I'm a big fan of Oz Audio. Their matrix elite subs produce amazing sound quality, but can still get loud enough to hurt your ears.

[JaVa]

i liked the sound of the image dynamics subs too. eurotuned if you want to hear my subs im local...

[ZAvant]

Elemental Designs are really nice. Awesome sound quality, check them out.

Their customer service is excellent too.

http://www.edesignaudio.com

[onemoremile]

I'd go with Adire Audio. I ran their Shiva 12" in the Jetta with a 1200 watt Harman Kardon amp and a pair of 15" Tempests in the house with a bit more power. Excellent subs especially for the price.

I've run a lot of subs and price doesn't mean much. In one car I went from a pair of JL12W6 to a Soundstream SPL160 to a pair of SPL12 to a single 8 ohm Pioneer 12". That Pioneer was the best of the bunch and was about 50 bucks compared to several hundred for the others. The Outback has had a 10" MB Quart for 6 years and it is decent. My fave overall is the Adire Audio Shiva 12" sub. That thing is both mean and musical.

FWIW, one of the Tempest 15" subs did 146.2 dB in the house. They have more than double the power now and are still running at a 16 ohm load.

Check these out.

[Eurotuned_A4]

haha, so much of this stuff i have enver heard of before. shows how much i know. soundstream is on thing i heard of though. i run of their amps.

[zrowcool]

i thought adire was out of business? i remember the brahma was a badass mo'fo. i ran one before and sold it a while back. put out 142.3 on the TL off a brutus. I also have to reccomend elemental designs for their stuff. Great customer service and an amazing warranty which is rare for car audio. Get an eD Nine.1 and a 13av.2 and your set. If your budget is smaller get a Nine.2x and then get 2 10's or 12's from Mach5Audio. Great quality and very cheap.

[onemoremile]

Elemental Designs is excellent. Adire is out of business but their drivers are available through Exodus Audio.

I had thought about swapping out the Tempests for a pair of Brahmas but my lightbulbs can't take it. The Tempest have shaken bulbs until the filaments separated.

[Erock]

kicker 12l7 is what i run, yes the but for 235 a sub and the sound is incredible especially when hooked up with their 750.1 amp

[1hotA4]

so recently i have been thinking about getting a mroe powerful subwoofer. maybe something like a 12" jl audio w7 or w6, but is the price between the 2 worth it. reading about the speakers and etc mean nothing to me, so some input would help. any other good and powerful speaker suggestions? i wont be doing this soon, but maybe within a few months.

Seriously its whatever you want out of your system. What kinda music do you listen to we can start there?

I have all Jl Audio in my car. 2 12w6's powered by a 1000/1 and 2 sets of components.

I think first thing is first figure your budget and space. Space wise how much are you willing to lose for this system? Like for instance my whole trunk is a sound system. And cost wise its about 3000 grand in equipment in my car. Not including install. Your amps are always way more expensive then your subs are, normally. Pending on what kinda subs and amps you use.

Subs wise there is a a ton of companies out there that are good, JBL GTI series makes hard hitting subs and are not to expensive. (I think a 10" runs like 220$ on ebay.) Rockford Fosgates Power series subs arent that bad neither and again are not to expensive. Both subs run in the neighborhood of 200$ so not to bad. IMO I like the "Go big or go Home" idea, and Resonant engineering makes a sub called the "XXX" its a pretty bad ass sub. We put 4000 watts through 1 sub. (they run about 500$) Jl's 12w6 is a great sub. Good overall sound quality. Not to bad of a price. They have come down since released and are right arond 300$ on ebay. Again it all has to do with how much you really want to spend. I like the 12w7 for SPL competitions thats about it. It requires 3 cubes of space for maximum usage anything less it just sounds sloppy to me.

Your amps are a little different. You can always have more power out of an amp then a sub it truely rated for. So first thing is first find a nice D class amp. If the amp says 1000 watts of power. Its probably not really that much, look at the fuses on the side. You take your wattage normally 14.4 volts times amps (whatever the fuses are rated for) and you will get the true power outtage of that amp. Amps are a little more tricky as there is plenty of different styles, classes, looks so on and so forth. I think that if you plan on using that Soundstream amp your not going to see much improvement with spending the extra money on a new sub(pending on what kinda sub you are currently using.) I dont know a whole lot about soundstream, but from what i have seen i wasnt to impressed.

And then install wise. If you want clean and crisp sound you go with a sealed box. If you want better range, and louder go with a ported box. One sub is more then fine for most people as anything more is just a waste. And also by adding one more sub (not including cost) you will on gain about 3 db. Which for most people isnt a real big deal.

This is all my opinion of course. I have been doing custom fab on cars for many years. if you have any more questions give me a holler!

http://www.the12volt.com is a good source for questions too.

[onemoremile]

Soundstream is exceptional. JL is good but overrated - great marketing though. I was a dealer for both when I shut the shop down 12 years ago.

Sealed has better range (extension) than ported. Playing a ported sub below it's tuned frequency is bad. Ported can be louder though but will also require a sub with stronger suspension. None of this matters without figuring out what kind of space is available and how it will all be used.

[1hotA4]

Soundstream is exceptional. JL is good but overrated - great marketing though. I was a dealer for both when I shut the shop down 12 years ago.

Sealed has better range (extension) than ported. Playing a ported sub below it's tuned frequency is bad. Ported can be louder though but will also require a sub with stronger suspension. None of this matters without figuring out what kind of space is available and how it will all be used.

I agree 100%. did soundstream have the amp with the chrome looking plastic spyder on one of there amps or am i thinking of a different company? And Nothing really matters also pending on his budget as well. B/c audio equipment can get really expensive.

[JaVa]

i love my zapco amp but i got a steal on it used. i am trying to find another for the fronts but ther are too damn expensive.

[djwimbo]

Soundstream is exceptional. JL is good but overrated - great marketing though.

X 2.

I love soundstream stuff.
Yes they're the people that have/had the huge tarantula on their amps. I'd be rocking one of their amps right now, but I can't find any dealers for them, and I don't trust the online dealers. If I had the $$ I'd be rockin a bunch of their stuff.

We had a Chrysler Crossfire traded in that had a Soundstream 4Ch amp installed in it. That thing sounded amazing. Not quite as good as JL's new demo Mustang, but comparable and half the cost.

[1hotA4]

X 2.

I love soundstream stuff.
Yes they're the people that have/had the huge tarantula on their amps. I'd be rocking one of their amps right now, but I can't find any dealers for them, and I don't trust the online dealers. If I had the $$ I'd be rockin a bunch of their stuff.

We had a Chrysler Crossfire traded in that had a Soundstream 4Ch amp installed in it. That thing sounded amazing. Not quite as good as JL's new demo Mustang, but comparable and half the cost.

I had a guy with a old SKOOL impala on 24's had a couple of those in his trunk A few months back. And he threw it out after I fiberglass his whole system in his trunk. He had that and some other garage sale stuff that he probably got from a pawn shop. You know like 3 different types of subs in his trunk, 6- 5 1/2" in each of the doors. Like 6 speakers across the back. And a speaker box in the back that probably weighed 250lbs. It was rather amusing. Then he paid me to fix it all. Which required a retarded amount of work. B/c the guy that put all the stuff in really knew how to use a reciprocating saw really well. LOL

[iin10ded]

+1 on elemental being excellent - basic, tried and tested and great value.
+1 on JL being wildly overrated.

soundstream was great stuff back in the days of the 'reference' line. not sure about the new kit. it seems these days there isn't a lot of really nicely made car amps, but i'm way out of the loop.

i would do a single 12" long throw in a small sealed box. about the best weight / size / output compromise you'll get, imo. dual woofer systems add so much size + weight.

[djwimbo]

Then he paid me to fix it all. Which required a retarded amount of work.

Well, it happens. If there weren't professionals out there giving us a good name, the people that call themselves professionals would be screwing it up for eternity.

[iin10ded]

yep.. hell when i was selling / installing many moons ago i would say that 25% of our work was undoing / redoing the botchjobs of others.. sucks to buy the job twice.