I want tight, not that mushy bass I hear in everyone's cars. I don't listen to much rap. Mostly alternative, classic rock, jazz....

Sealed, bandpass, wtf do I need. I don't want booming, just nice clean bass. I'm gonna do door speakers as well. Probably Diamond Audio

Anyone thought of putting woofers in the rear doors? DA makes a set of rear fill speaker that are just woofers. Wonder if that would give me enough boom without the subwoofer.

Oh and I want to keep as much trunk space as possible.

I think Dhiren (Stylin Silver Sled) did his sub on the floor above the spare tire. That looked nice.

 

If you really want clean, tight bass. Get 2 10s and put it in a sealed box. If you are really picky, change the front speakers to 6 1/2 midbass/midrange and for the rear doors, try to see if you can fit in a slim 8" or 7" midbass. That's some $$$$ though.

Go with 2 10s first.

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Honda-Acura.net TL Forum Moderator.

1999 Silver with factory body kit, spoiler and burlwood instrument cluster and shift knob. Joshua Tree Wood dash kit. Hella air horns. Tint all around. Razo competition pedals. MOMO Sport 18"X7.5" with 225/40ZR Pirelli P7000SS. Weapon-R intake. Comptech springs, exhaust and headers. Inspire Tailights, homemade ram-air and Polarg M-12 front turn signals. Comptech front and rear sway bar. Axxis Metal Master front and rear pads. Mugen front grille. 2 Polk/MOMO 10" subs, Orion Xtreme 500.4 amplifier and Alpine CD changer.

My AcuraTL Homepage

NEW: '01 Acura MDX Silver Premium

Front 35% tinted windows. Running boards. Roof rack. Tailgate deflector. Moonroof visor. Rear mud guards. Razo premium white headlight bulbs. PIAA yellow plasma ion fog bulbs. More to come later......

 

why does everyone suggest 2 subs? ive got 1 10, and sorta wish i got 1 8inch

the 10 in my sealed box provides the low end i need

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Follow as i ride
99 Satin Silver
Bridgestone RE-730 225/55/16
oem kit
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system

 

most ppl suggest 2 subs because it is easier to get a four ohm load on the amp. Also it provides more volume. Lastly it is symetrical, which makes for an even looking install.

You can get tight bass w. a single sub. Try a single 8 or 10 DVC JL Audio sub, put it in the smallest recommended box made of thick MDF, pack it with insulation or cotton, and place a steep bandpass filter on it around 90hz or less.

just my 0.02

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Photoshop Chop Shop
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get the alpine type R or the orion. The alpine will give you more sounds but the orion will give you more tight bass. I'm getting 2 12 orion xtr-pro subs with a custom trunk. I'll tell you how it sounds when it's done. Hopefully this saturday

Mr.T

 

O yeah but I think orions are low end for you since your playing with PG amps hehe. Dayam you

Mr.T

 

For low distortion and low tight bass a sealed box is a must...IMHO

Some speakers are designed just for that application. One example of this is the kicker solobaric. This speaker works well in a very small sealed enclosure. There are many other brands that will accomplish the same goal.

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2002 Acura TL-S Aegean Blue with Factory Spoiler and Ebony Wood Kit.

 

If you want tight tight tight bass get a 15 inch or 2 12's and jus make sure the box or boxes r a lil tighter than what specs say or what the volume is on the inside of the trunk and run DVC type of subs cant beat it

 

Sealed box facing into the cabin would be preferable, otherwise you will have to damp the trunk interior pretty heavily to prevent resonances. Also, a sealed box requires more power... I am guessing 300W RMS would be sufficient??

 

i agree with TripNBeats just a 15'' with a custom sealed box and hook an amp to that sucka

 

any kinda box requires power but since everyone in here is systems nuts so it's not like it wuld make a big deal

 

first of all, if you are going to get a box, it must be facing the rear of the car, not the cabin, it needs to bounce off and enter the car on the rebound, otherwise it will sound like ****, if you are a die hard bass phanatic, and you want madd bass, go for the two 12''s in a box, i got a set for sale for kicker competitions series in a custom box, if you just want a clean system a single JL 12w3 or 12w6 will be perfect for you, in a sealed box, and it will not take up as much space as two speakers, if you are interested in the box, send me a pm, or in the JL's, i can get wholesale prices on brand new speakers and amps in their original boxes, with factory warranty, almost any brand, so before you do go with ur final choice. let me know what you choose so i can tell you the best price i can get you.

 

I THINK THE BEST SOUNDING SUB IS THE L7 SOLOBARIC, THE SQUARE SPEAKERS. ITS HAS THE RESPONSE OF AN 18" ROUND SPEAKER.

ANYONE NEED A HOOKUP ON AUDIO EQUIPTMENT EMAIL ME
DJREKKA@OPTONLINE I'M SURE I CAN HELP YOU OUT.

 

custom box ported into the cabin through the rear deck where the stock sub it... sounds a lot clearer

 

I would say a single 10" or 12" in a sealed box facing the rear. The 12 would be tight, but still hit deep. As for brands, lots of people have given advice. A dual-voice coil is nice so you can have a single speaker seem like a 2 ohm load. Or, if there is a specific sub you like that only comes in single voice coil, just get a monster of an amp to push it.
Oh, and should he just remove the stock Bose POS sub so it doesn't distort the sound?

 

NSXNEXT:
Heh okay time for my reply...you want reactive bass. In that case you will want to go with sealed box, or a low cutoff tuned bandpass box. I suggest sealed. This is good for you because it's less taxing on the subs, and it means less volume and easier/cheaper to build. My personal suggestion? Go with the two JL 12w6's I'm selling for $300, put them in a sealed box, and let her rip. That will give you very solid upper bass response...we're talking 50Hz+ (which is what you get from your type of music). No, I am not pushing the ones I'm selling. If you don't want to buy those new ones from me...go buy them somewhere else, but JL w6's are good in sealed boxes. Infinity's are always clear, period, the Perfects. Image Dynamics are also clear. And for some reason, I really think you'd do good with some Polk's too.

-AcuraTL: What he said is correct about the front imaging. You will want GOOD midbass speakers up front...muddy bass comes from a bad front image as much as boomy speakers in the back. Having a good 6.5" component, or even high end coaxial set will keep the image really clean, and will help as much as nice subs.
-mr tl: Good question...I guess people like 2 vs. 1 because they think more = better. However, splitting say 300W over 2 10" subs, versus 1 15" sub, will be clearer over the 10's (all things being equal)...although the 15" will probably push more air.

-sneuxstorm: I disagree with everything you said Most people say two subs because they just do. It's no easier to get a 4 ohm load on two subs than it is on one sub...why? DVC subs ended that issue, and practically everyone offers DVC for that reason. Explain why JL nuts get two 12's? They're 3 ohm voice coils...so you can never get 4 ohm impedance load...they just do it because it looks more aggressive to have more. As for the more volume comment...not sure what you mean...however, if you mean it pushes more air...go take a look at say, the new JL w7 series. Check out two 10s versus 1 13.5. The 13.5 pushes more air...because it will have a higher Xmax and a large cone area. In fact...say 2 10's versus 1 15. The 2 10's sound like they'd push more...but 2x(10/2)^2xpi = 50pi < (15/2)^2*pi ~ 56pi, and the 15 will have higher Xmax. Also you said "place a steep bandpass filter on it around 90hz or less." A bandpass filter passes a band of frequencies...usually 30-40Hz...steep is considered about maybe 20Hz. So if he placed a filter centered at 90Hz in his wire-up...he would effectively have 90 +/- 10Hz of F response...and so would respond from 80-100Hz. Why is this bad? Because that's getting to the midbass range. Where is the hard hitting, solid bass? 35-55Hz. And you've now totally filtered that out. The car will sound like it has the treble all the way up and the bass all the way down. What you should have said is a low pass filter, and you want it centered around 80-90..so that you pass bands <90Hz. Of course, you will end up adjusting this higher or lower...depending upon the components in the front...if they can't handle low mid-bass, then the subs will have to...but the more they can handle the better.

-TripNBeats: "jus make sure the box or boxes r a lil tighter than what specs say or what the volume is on the inside of the trunk and run DVC type of subs cant beat it"
I don't really see what making the box tighter has to do with it...do you mean tighter as in better screwed together? That should always be the case. So I assume you mean smaller. That's not quite true either. You would effectively raise the frequency response of the subwoofer, because you would have less air to compress, so that air would be harder to compress and more springy, and if low freq. waves are like riding over bumps with coilovers at the softest setting (less rebound), and high freq. waves are like riding over bumps with them at the highest setting (more rebound)...then you would make the sub ride on tighter coilovers per se The problem with that is that you would end up distorting the sound, and it would sound terrible. You want the box within the suggested specifie range period. And DVC type subs also have nothing to do with the bass of the subs or anything else. DVC (dual voice coil) is purely a wiring issue. They're not any better or worse than single voice coil (SVC) subs, they just use the coil split into two parts so that they can be wired in series or parallel for proper impedance matching while wiring. A common misconception.

-bnaderi: "first of all, if you are going to get a box, it must be facing the rear of the car, not the cabin, it needs to bounce off and enter the car on the rebound, otherwise it will sound like ****"
I disagree. To be honest, as I have said plenty in here, without proper modelling, or just trial and error with an oscilloscope, you really can't tell how our trunk will react to reflective waves. Can you explain why your suggestion is correct? Because I can explain why it's not. From physics, wavelength=speed of sound x period=speed of sound / frequency. Now...we're talking about a low bass wave, which has a very large period, and of course the speed of sound is ~ 350 meters/sec. So whether you face the wave to the rear of the car and it reflects back, or any other place, it won't matter in terms of destructive intereference. The wave is just too long for it to matter. So since that doesn't matter at all let's talk about the other two problems...diffraction, and absorption. Now, when you send out sound waves and they reflect off your trunk, they won't stay straight (and in fact propagate outward) and they will hit pieces in the car and bounce up, down, sideways etc. This is bad for sound because, just like diffracting light, it's no longer as strong (aka light through fog...same concept). So you want it to have the fewest things to reflect off of before it gets to your ear. Second, you have absorption. Not only do those sound waves reflect off the trunk, but they pass through the trunk as well, going outside in terms of vibrating your trunk. This can be fixed with dampening material, which just kills those waves, but now they're gone...so again, less sound for you. So what you REALLY want, when it comes down to it, is the least amount of distance between you and those subs as you can manage. And you want the least diffraction as well. So if you take those subs, and face them to the front of the car, the waves are now directing through the rear wall, into the cabin, and to you. With your method bnaderi they are reflecting off the back of the trunk, getting diffracted and absorbed, coming back through and hitting the box, traveling through and around, going through the rear wall, and hitting your ears. The best method is to port them into the cabin through the rear wall or rear deck, thereby avoiding transmitting through the rear wall, but if you don't have a ported box, then this is your best solution.

Also..."i got a set for sale for kicker competitions series in a custom box"
Bnaderi you sound like you know something about car audio...and you'll know that Kicker is known like RF is known...for boomy loud nonclear bass...which is what some people want but I don't think NSXNEXT does. Also there are quite a few bad workmanship issues with Kicker subs. Lastly, Kicker is not even on the level with brands like Infinity, IDQ, a/d/s, JL, etc.
NSXNEXT, you should be able to easily build your own sealed box. You've done car mods so I'm sure you have some craftsmanship. A sealed box consists of 6 wooden 3/4" MDF panels, one with a hole cut in it...and if you want to get fancy corner braces, beveling, and diagonal braces. Building boxes for customers of mine who want a standard carpet or vinyl wrapped sealed box takes no more than 45 mins, including the wrapping and sealing...and I charge usually about $80. Keep that in mind before you go buy prefab boxes Installers like to really soak up money on those. I have a good many wholesalers also by the way...and if you're not interested in my JL 12 w6's, which new for $150 apiece is a better than wholesale deal, I just have had them sitting for awhile in my closet waiting for a buyer and now I want springs (you know how that goes)...but I can either send you their way or get them for you. My JL guy gives me most stuff for somewhere around 10% markup from cost. Not too terribly bad.

-DJREKKA: Although the L7's are a cool design...there's a reason why they have a notorius 10% warranty replacement figure. They're not properly built. This sub is THE sub, in my eyes, that gave Kicker a bad name with me. They don't push much either...
the 12" L7 has ~.3 Xmax, and 12"x12"x(.3)" = 43.2 cu. in. of air
the JL 12 w6 has (12/2)^2*.44*pi ~ 50 cu. in. of air
the JL 18 w3 has (18/2)^2*.5*pi ~ 128 cu. in. of air
The problem with Kicker is that they rate their Xmax differently, it's not just one way linear standard, the conservative rating, they use one of the more exaggerated ratings, which makes them look better. That .3 is estimated, but is what I seem to remember as one way linear. Also the comment about having the response of an 18" woofer...frequency response is I assume not what you meant...you mean air movie capacity...and the JL Audio 18 w3 has roughly 3x the SPL ability that the 12" L7 does.

-Samzilla: I completely agree with you.

-SimTypeS: Yes he should..it won't distort the sound per se, but it will color the sound. Not only will it be producing different sound waves and so WILL cause a destructive interference pattern, but the sound waves will be ahead of the subs, and so you will hear the stock sub first...this will sound extremely strange...like your audio system is stuttering if you listen well.

Oh and I wasn't trying to start an argument or disagree with anyone...just lay a few common misconceptions aside and give my advice...sorry if I made anyone mad.

Austin519

 

By the way guys...I actually had to shorten that post above because I passed the 10,000 character limit on a post (which I didn't even know was there!) so sorry if that was long winded

Austin519

 

Not sure where everyone's been. but I've had my sub for quite some time now.

CDT MS-100 10" in an Element Enclosure

 

didn't notice the date on the original post

 

Neil,

Why would you want a fish in your car?

:-jon

 

NSXNEXT:
Hey man, I'm interested in the Element Enclosure you have there. Was it worth the extra money (about $199, right)? I've FINALLY decided to get an Image Dynamics IDQ 10' sub but the problem is that the max requirements for a sealed enclosure is 0.60 cubic feet. Since the box you have is 0.65, I'm not sure if it will sound very good.

Also, I'd like to hear about the front speakers you have since I'm getting the exact same thing. How much power are you giving them? Do you have any regrets of not getting components which "should" give you better imaging? How much spacing did Ron use in order to get them installed, 3/4 inch MDF? Sorry about all of these questions, but I'm in the final stages of putting my sound system together and I would appreciate the info.

AUSTIN519:
I know that we have talked about which direction to face the sub before, but I would like to hear your opinion about this scenario....

Let's say that you have a sealed box, like NSXNEXT has, and you have decided to face the sub toward the rear seats. Since we don't want the factory sub, we will remove it, but do we seal the hole up or do leave it? You would think that we would leave the empty hole as it is BUT we may have a problem with reflecting waves.

Another thing is the issue with the pass thru door in the trunk. Should we remove it to allow the sound waves to enter the cabin more easily or just leave it installed. I'm worried that the plastic parts would cause a nasty vibration if it's left there.

 

what do you guys think about the alumanpro 10' sub encloser? I think the model number is BP10.

 

NSXNEXT:
I'll tell ya what happened...DJREKKA happened

Austin519

 

ya'll need to stop worrying about unwanted resonance inside the cabin...w/enough bass, you wont hear anything rattling in the trunk...just bass.

that is how it is in my car, and all i matted was the trunk lid. now if you're standing outside the car, thats another story

 

systek:
Heh heh heh...I would beg to differ my friend. I just assume you turn your bass up enough not to hear it. But next time I see you I'll point out the vibration to you...although with a dynamatted trunk it'll be harder for you to hear it if you don't know what to listen for

Austin519

 

trunk rattle is ghetto as hell... when i see a '77 whatever rolling on gold wire rims, i kinda expect the trunk to rattle, not a TL though...

 

NSXNEXT:
I'll tell ya what happened...DJREKKA happened

Austin519


WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SUPPOSED TO MEAN.

 

I would say if you want something small and unique, get the Element. I have the CDT MS-100 sub and it sounds good. I'm into tight crisp bass, not a lot of it. Biggest tip is to seal the he!! out of the enclosure. Any air leaks will make it sound like cr@p. I had mine stuffed with polyfill which helped too.

The CDTs are amazing. I am running the Helix Precision HXA-500Q amp which provides 60x4 + 150x1 for the sub. I only have 60 watts running to the fronts and they hit hard. I can't believe how much bass they put out, as well as the other frequencies. Yeah, I am almost positive Ron used 3/4" MDF spacers. One suggestion is to dynamat the door really well. I was told by the guys on http:\\www.teamamp.com

Good luck,

Neil

 

DJREKKA:
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SUPPOSED TO MEAN."

It means you replied to a 6 month old post and bumped it up to the top

Austin519

 

NSXNEXT:
Thanks for the info. I'll try to keep in mind what you said about sealing the empty sub hole when it's time to do the installation.

 

NSXNEXT was referring to sealing the sub enclosure in reference to the CDT MS100 being installed into the Element Enclosure . These subs will give phenomenal SQ but they need to be extremely airtight as with any sealed box system.
As to filling in the stock sub hole, I would suggest experimenting with polyfill, foam, ect., or nothing. Do whatever sounds best to you.

 

Thanks Todd, didn't catch that. BTW, I may be finally getting my sub back. Kirk received it this week. He's gonna test it and then I'm gonna have him tune my system for me. Woohoo.

 

random fact: I have a sealed box in my trunk with the stock Bose sub in place.

My system hits at least twice as hard if I open my ski-pass through. I just realized this the other day... stoooopid!

Now it BUMPS (like a 1000w rms Solo-baric should).

 

yep, that usually helps...the main thing to remember is that every car is different, and i havent seen too many ppl on here state that they experimented alot w/sub placement to figure out the best way/direction to fire the subs to get the most bass out of them...i did. my first experiment yeilded alot of low end bass, but very crappy higher bass....50-80hz...so i tried my old box facing forward towards the seats, nope...it sounded good, but not as loud as in my cl. so i simply turned the box around, so subs face the trunk and viola..!!! that sub bass was back. now if i still have my eclipse eq, i could make it sound even better, but too late to cry about that now.

the 50-80hz range got tighter, but not as tight as some of you sq guys might like.

the only way to get that kind of response is to have the subs fire straight into the cabin or better yet, mount them ON the rear deck so they are not simply ported but actually playing inside the car...!!



austin, you never sat inside the car, so how can u be so sure u can hear any rattling in it???

i know for a fact that the only audible rattle is the radar detector and the sunglass holder. remember, i matted the cabin very well, and the sub box behind the back seat acts as a sound barrier between the cabin and the trunk. the only faint rattle was the locking mechanism on the trunk, which i have to address, but maybe this saturday...right now im more concerned w/getting that box sealed up.

 

Master G:
Sorry...I didn't see this post -
"I know that we have talked about which direction to face the sub before, but I would like to hear your opinion about this scenario....

Let's say that you have a sealed box, like NSXNEXT has, and you have decided to face the sub toward the rear seats. Since we don't want the factory sub, we will remove it, but do we seal the hole up or do leave it? You would think that we would leave the empty hole as it is BUT we may have a problem with reflecting waves.

Another thing is the issue with the pass thru door in the trunk. Should we remove it to allow the sound waves to enter the cabin more easily or just leave it installed. I'm worried that the plastic parts would cause a nasty vibration if it's left there."

But in response...definitely remove the factory sub...and definitely fill the hole. Preferably with the same material as the rest of the rear deck. If it's a heavier material (more dampening) I doubt you could audibly hear the difference, but with a lighter material you may still have slight sound coloring. You definitely do not want to leave the hole open...as now you've created a strange bandpass enclosure...strange because the sub is in a sealed box but is firing through a ported enclosure the size of the trunk into a port the size of the hole left from the rear sub. This is definitely not an optimum configuration (the trunk is obviously not tuned to the correct frequency), and will create some sound lag as the sound from the port fires out through the port, bounces off the rear window, and then goes toward your ears, whereas the sound emanating from the rear deck, already slightly diminished, will be ahead (although I'm not entirely sure of this, I would obviously have to do a material analysis to see what does what to what). But I can say with certainty this is a seriously bad configuration, like having the subs in one of the worse tuned bandpass boxes you can imagine, with a lot of air leakage, badly tuned and positioned port etc. Hope that helps.

systek:
"the 50-80hz range got tighter, but not as tight as some of you sq guys might like. "

Exactly That's my problem.

"the only way to get that kind of response is to have the subs fire straight into the cabin or better yet, mount them ON the rear deck so they are not simply ported but actually playing inside the car...!!"

That's also true...which is why I am most likely going to fire my subs ported through the rear deck. However if you mount them on the rear deck you either have to use IB (infinite baffle) subs, or you have to build the box so that the rear deck is one of the panels...have fun with that keeping it air tight...but not having to rebuild the whole rear deck.

"austin, you never sat inside the car, so how can u be so sure u can hear any rattling in it??? "

I ducked my head in for awhile and listened...remember? When you turned it up and made your poor wife get out of the car into the cold

Austin519

 

you fail to realize most ppl would find this adequately acceptable, especially if their mids cover the upper bass range in all four doors.

as for IB or rebuilding rear deck...its a no brainer...rebuild the rear deck...get rid of all that metal, and most components that are mounted there by acura. relocate if ya have to..but DONT use the sheetmetal as a mounting board....F!!!!!

 

systek:
"you fail to realize most ppl would find this adequately acceptable, especially if their mids cover the upper bass range in all four doors.

as for IB or rebuilding rear deck...its a no brainer...rebuild the rear deck...get rid of all that metal, and most components that are mounted there by acura. relocate if ya have to..but DONT use the sheetmetal as a mounting board....F!!!!!"

Agreed on both accounts...but you fail to realize that probably most people won't want to rebuild the whole deck...most don't even know how And no definitely not...you use fiberglass or at worst, wood.

Austin519

 

Is anyone a fan of the "Earthquake" brand of subwoofers? Does anyone know abything about them. I have a 10" sub box in my old car and i wanted to move the box and the amp into my TL

 

TommyTL:
"Is anyone a fan of the "Earthquake" brand of subwoofers? Does anyone know abything about them. I have a 10" sub box in my old car and i wanted to move the box and the amp into my TL"

Well Earthquake Magmas are a pretty good competition sub...up their with the higher model Rockford Fosgate. A lot of people like their sound. Personally if you were going to go that route I'd suggest Kove Audio Armageddons....but well...

Austin519

 

dude you totally took out the ski pass! LOL. There is the right, the left. I need my ski pass.