Wassup Everyone,

I'm thinking about getting a new subwoofer (although I don't really need one)

I'm currently running a really old JL Audio W4 in a sealed box with about 1.25 Cubic FT airspace.

I'm trying to decide between 1 12" and 2 10" woofers.

I listen to mostly hip hop and like tight bass with some deepness.
I want to keep some as much of my trunk space as possible.

Looking to spend $200-$400.

1) What is everyone running - Make and Model
2) How much air spaces does your sub require and what type of box do you have (Sealed, ported, etc...)?
3) How much was it including the box.


Thanks!

 

JL Audio 12W6

Ported, around 1.25^3 BassMechanic designed the box size and port for me about two years ago around the music I liked. Goes VERY low and can be VERY loud.

Bought the speakers years ago, think $200 for a pair? Built the box myself, probley about $100 including the paint. Bottom, top, back is wood. Sides and front are fiberglass. Saved a ton of room that way. The box only comes as far forward as the bend in the tunk floor for access to the spare.

Here are some pics if you want to see the box:
http://www.sounddomain.com/memberpage/389428/5

 

2 kicker comp 12 inch subs. cuz that's what i could afford at the time. I plan upgrading in the future to a single higher quality 12. the ones i have now get the job done though.

 

JL 10W0...Pretty much perfect for everything. Pushes a lot of air if and when I want it, but can be sharp and crisp as well.

 

This isn't in the TSX, but I have an Infinity Perfect 10" in a sealed .66 sq ft box, w/about 350 watts. I know it's small but it really puts out a lot of high quality sound for something so small. I have this in my the back of my Land Cruiser and when people hear it, they can't believe I just have a single 10. I think I paid about $200 for box & sub (3 or 4 years ago).

Good tight and solid bass. It rattles the mirrors etc if I want it too, but it's probably not enough for some people out there. To me some subs just do boom, but don't really do other kinds of bass well and vice versa. I think this line (Infinity Perfects) handle a wide variety of bass pretty well. Probably not the best at a single thing, but good overall.

 

yeah mine is too boomy. i want to change to something that will be tighter. maybe i should go with two 10s. they were having a sale on imperfect Infinity Kappa subs on sounddomain.com

 

I haven't heard the regular Kappas, so I couldn't really say. Though I'd venture to guess they wouldn't be boomy. I've been toying with the idea of adding a second one too . . . The Perfects are a bit more sensitive than the Kappas are, in fact the Perfect 12 is rated at 96db in-car @40Hz. I've thought of just switching to a 12 also, but. . . too many ideas and too little $$$$.

What kind of box are you using? That can affect the sound alot. Bandpass boxes to me are only good for boom, where as sealed ones tend to be better for "music" but aren't as loud.

 

My friend used to have 2 eclipse titanium 12s with two bridged xtant 1000 watt amps pushing them...those things hurt, but still had good sound range. Eclipse titaniums still around?

 

I'm now leaning towards 2 10" woofers. I think they would be more boomy. Hopefully I could build a box that was more long and less deep. That way I would still keep more trunk space.

If I don't go with the 10" then I would probably with a JL Audio W6V2.

I have an old school amp. A Phoenix Gold ZX 250.

Here's the specs: http://www.phoenixgold.com/webfaq/ZX.htm

Do you guys think this amp will even be able to push a 12" JL V6v2 properly?

Also, I want to try to have minimal rattles. Does anyone think that 12" with itz deeper bass would make the trunk rattle more than 2 10" with the sharper bass?

 

JL 12" (see sig) & pics

$150 w/ box

Got it b'c of quality, tight sound, clean bass, and best value.

Setup


Space left


I should also add 1) trunk DOES NOT RATTLE, 2) it's in a sealed box. Great performer!

 

Hey Slo007,

Where did you get it for $150 w/ box?

How many watts max can the JL W3v2 handle?
And how many watts RMS is recommended?

I'm thinking that would be a nice woofer for me. Since I don't have the biggest AMP then this might be the one...How many watts does your AMP put out?

 

Alpine 12" Type R in a 1.0^3 sealed box, got both for around $135, but im gonna have a custom box built cause i dont feel im getting the most out of my sub and i blame the shitty brandsmart box i got for 35 dollars right off the shelf. still, the bass is tight and clean and can get boomy if i want

 

>> Hey Slo007,

Hey Tsx536!

>> Where did you get it for $150 w/ box?

From a local audio shop in Los Osos. The owner sells stuff online at eBay, but I cannot remember the store's name. Sorry! Sub was $96, box was $55 (+ CA taxes).

>> How many watts max can the JL W3v2 handle?

Up to 600

>> And how many watts RMS is recommended?

RMS rating is 300 watts.
http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/12w3v2.html (see PDF)

>> I'm thinking that would be a nice woofer for me. Since I don't have the biggest AMP then this might be the one...How many watts does your AMP put out?

My amp puts out a bridged 150 RMS watts. It's plenty loud and boomy with techno and dance (I never have it past vol. 32 as it's too loud). It's also very clean and pretty with classical orchestras. I highly recommend this setup.

PS: My OEM subs (rear deck) are still in their place, but disconnected.

 

Here are the specs for my Amp. Does everyone think this amp has enough power to push a JL 12W6v2?

ZX200/ZX250 SPECIFICATIONS:

Output Power:

4 ohm stereo @ 12/13.8 VDC
18/75 WRMS x 2

2 ohm stereo @ 13.8 VDC
150 WRMS x 2

4 ohm bridged @ 13.8 VDC
250 WRMS x 1

Crossover Frequencies (ZX250 only)
30 to 600 Hz

Crossover Slopes
24dB per Octave

 

Check the manual. 250 watts is the minimum recommended by JL.
http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/pdfs/W6v2_MAN.pdf

I'd purchase the 12W3v2 instead. You'll be giving it the optimum input, for best performance. Plus, you'll save some $$.

 

Well, it looks like I'm going to be able to get a used W6v2 for $180-$190.

Would you still get a W3v2 instead?


Also, in the specs for my AMP is says:
2 ohm stereo @ 13.8 VDC
150 WRMS x 2


How would i have to wire up the AMP and subwoofer in order to run it at 2 ohms?
The w6v2 has a Dual Voice Coil, I'm confused as to how I would use that with my AMP.
Would I just try to run everything at 2 ohms and then have the AMP push 150 W into each voice coil? Would this be enough power?

 

I think you'd be surprised at how different your sub will sound if you took out the OEM "woofers". My single sub sounded noticeably louder, and I don't think it was all in my head.

 

I don't want louder, only clean sound. Any louder than what I have and my ears will bleed.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

 

If you get a D2 sub (see specs, since they sell in both D2 and D4), you'll wire the sub differently (in the box), and the wires from the amp will hook up to outter wires only (see your amp manual, or page 2 in this manual for example). The subwoofer manual shows exactly how to do it. (see pdf I linked above) Note that a D4 sub cannot be wired as 2 ohm.

The question is, "What's the output when bridged?"

You wrote:

4 ohm bridged @ 13.8 VDC
250 WRMS x 1

so the output is 250 rms at 4 ohms. That's perfect for a W3V2 D2 or D4.

A W6V2 can handle twice that (800 watts max), and you'll be in the very low end of what it accepts, 250; which is not bad, but why pay more if you won't feed it what it wants?

 

12'' solo-baric l7 pushin around 450 watts, boom boom boom

 

BOW DOWN TO THIS SUB!!

http://www.nexxon.com/funkypup/funkypup.htm



Seriously though - here are some nice subs:

http://www.cardomain.com/item/IDSIDMAX12V3D2


http://www.adireaudio.com/TextPages/...eFrameText.htm

http://www.stereointegrity.com/Magnum12.html

Of course the JL W7, W6v2, and W3v2 have always been great subs.

I ran an IDMAX in my previous car and it used to scare the bejesus out of people who rode for the first time.

 

Hey Slo,
Do you have a D2, D4, D6?

Does anyone know if it's better to run a sub at 2 ohms or 4 ohms?
What are the pros and cons of each?

 

Hmmm - there seems to be a bit of confusion about D2 and D4 over here.

A Dual 4 subwoofer can be run either at 2 ohms or 8 ohms and for a D2 which is what you want you can run it at 4 ohms or 1 ohms.

It all depends on how you wire your sub to your amp ie series vs parallel.

Maybe this would help better than my explanation:

http://www.elliottelectronics.com/Spkwiringset.htm

 

my setup...12" JL W3 and JL 250/1 amp. Nice clean sound! Also removed the 6x9s so the bass comes into the cabin nicely.

 

i think im gonna try that out see how i like the bass pumpin through... once it stops raining, stupid hurricanes

 

Thanks for the reply focalmatic. Why to you suggest a D2 over a D4?

If I run a D2, then I would have 250RMS X 1 running at 4 ohms.

And if I a get a D4, then I would be running 150RMS X 2 at 2 ohms.

I'm alittle confused. Wouldn't getting the D4 and running it at 2 ohms give me more power going to my sub?

Or Is it more stable for my system to be running at 4 ohms instead of 2 ohms?

Thanks! Kenny

 

If you are going to be running a single sub and your amplifier is 150 x 2 at 4 ohms - it should be bridged to 250 x 1.

If you try to run a seperate voicecoil to each channel on the amp at 2 ohms each - it would not be favorable to say the least.

 

Thanks focalmatic. That is what I was thinking but I just wanted to make sure.

So I'll be getting myself a 12" JL W3v2 D2 and running it at 4 ohms.

Can't wait to get it!

 

It should sound great - do you have a box for it already?

Just follow the guideline set for it in your manual which is also online I believe and you should be just fine. I think that sub can go in as low as 1 cube, but 1.5 would allow it to play a little lower. If you want to save some trunk space - put it in a little over 1 cube and you can fill up the box with polyfill. The polyfill will trick the sub into thinking its in a bigger box. You can buy polyfill (batting) in any fabric section of Wal-Mart.

http://www.subzeromfg.com/rpseries.htm is a nice budget box that you may want to consider.

 

Why not?

 

Why: http://jlaudio.com/tutorials/dvc/diffsignals.html

 

The sub is one channel, not two. Please read the manual.

 

good catch electro, i couldnt have said it better myself.

 

I totally understand how DVC speakers work when they are getting different signals. It's worth remembering that this is the application DVC subs were invented for, though. DVC subs were the ticket back when bridging an amp was rare, and often required an external inverting module.

In the sub-bass region, most recording engineers don't actually record any stereo separation - it's already two-channel mono. Sure, the gains do have to be matched.

Focalmatic said "it would not be favorable to say the least". That doesn't match this tutorial's points or tone, so I'm still curious what negative events focalmatic was referring to.

And you're right, BM, that was well-written.

 

I was always under the impression that you can't do it, so that why I said it. It would be difficult to match the gains to each voice coil and they would not be able to play together in sync as well as they would if they were wired in series or parallel and the amp was bridged.

 

OK, cool.

I've heard DVC subs wired this way and I think the effects are negligible. Not that there aren't any effects, and not that they theoretically are objectionable, but for a sub in a trunk, it's just not very noticeable, in my experience.

On the other hand, I've read some articles and papers stating that anytime you wire two VC's in series, it reduces your damping factor at the amplifier, and thus creates muddier bass. I've avoided doing so as a result, and I haven't done A-B type comparisons... so which one is worse?

The answer, as always, will be found empirically, not theoretically. D0 we hear it?

A difference which makes no difference is no difference. Spock

 

For good subwoofers that don't need a lot of air volume, Elemental Designs seems to be an unknown subwoofer company that makes excellent sound quality subs. I have one of their older models in my camaro in a .9 cubic/ft of space sealed running 400 watts. The positioning of the sub in my camaro definitely isn't ideal but it still hits very accurately and will definitely boom if you turn it up while staying accurate. Nothing worse than a bad sub that makes a noisy boom a fraction of a second after its supposed to hit.

I have pics of the box with the sub on my cardomain site .

Sorry its not a TSX. I just got my black black 6speed with navi. I plan on buying edesign subs for the TSX and can't wait to get them in the trunk facing backwards which is an ideal position for subs. I'll def get another cardomain site up for TSX

 

I like your setup looks nice man! Welcome to the site!

 

Hey Slo007.

I'm going to get a 12" w3v2 D2 just like you man!
Thanks for the help. I just payed for it. I'm not sure how you got it for $150 w/ box though. I had to pay $150 for just the sub alone. That was the cheapest price I could find for a new one, from a reliable place.

How much airspace do you have for the sub?
Also, do you know how airspace is calculated based on Width, Height, and depth?

 

They dimensions for my current box are

14" W X 14" H X 15.5" Depth. Made out of 3/4" MDF

How much air space is that and how is it calculated?