subwoofer brands

[87vicFIVEO]

86vicfive0 is not completely wrong. sealed boxes are the most accurate but unless its in a hatchback or suv you you wont tell the diffrence. ported boxes require less power to make the same amount of sound as sealed. and a band pass is not the best for spl compition. bandpass boxes boost the peak frequency that the box was tuned for....

Hey, it's 87....lol

Bandpass boxes work well for competition because they will produce high a SPL at one frequency, which is often all that's required for bass-off style competition.

I know a couple of guys who have Cd's with sine-wave tracks on them that play a constant 40, 50 or 60 hertz tone. If you have a bandpass box tuned for that frequency you can get more DB per watt in theory.

[LTDMan83]

Personally,I will never own a speaker or amp that isn't Rockford Fosgate.I've seen the car audio quality & durability comparisons vs other popular brands first hand.I will never go back after switching and seeing how superior they really are to most of the crap being sold out there.My system sounds amazing,and puts out extremely clean sound.

[murphmobile2]

Q-Logic makes a good box.

Ford does too...

[Chachi]

ok, im wrong i don't know what i'm talking about. did i mention i am a M.E.C.P. certified installer with 10 years exp. and i have run many sound off competitions

[chrisjoyce]

sub

Visonik is pretty good, it's actually made by audiobahn. For example, adiobahn is the lincoln, and visonik is the ford Ma is also good. But in my own opinion, JL audio is the best!!! Im running two 10 inch JL's in my 94 Fleetwood, and it's loud!

[gadget73]

loud and accurate are unfortunately often completely unrelated concepts. To tell the truth though, you're going to notice distortion at low frequency a whole lot less than distortion at the mid-high range, simply because our ears are most sensitive in the vocal range.

Speaker quality with subs is often more about durability than actual sound quality. The speaker has to hold its shape properly, but thats as much to prevent physical damage to the voice coils from it getting off center in the magnet as it is to producing an accurate sound. That rattling noise from "blown" speakers is usually a voice coil thats hitting the magnet, either because the speaker construction failed and stuff shifted, or it melted or something. Paper cones will also shred and distort under heavy abuse, and the spider (its that accordian doodad on the back side of the speaker, behind the cone) can fail which causes the voice coil shifting. Poorly made speakers can also have the voice coil come right off the speaker cone, which makes them absolutely useless. Surrounds need to be supple enough to allow free cone movement, but not explode under high air and sound pressure levels. Ever crank up something with really old speakers and watch the surrounds blow right out?

And still, the box has to be considered. It will probably have more of an effect on the sound than the actual speakers in it. Some speakers are more efficient than others, and they produce more sound per watt (speakers are rated in db per watt) but thats going to be the really big difference most people would notice right away.

[Chachi]

A++ well put!

[GilroyRacing]

did i mention i am a M.E.C.P. certified installer

Cool me too.

[DuceAnAHalf]

Q-Logic makes a good box.

Ford does too...

the last time i looked at a Q-logic box they wree still made out of particle board, not MDF.

the boxes in my 97 are made out of 3/4" MDF, the seams have polyurethane caulk in them and on both the inside and outside of the seams. I used 1 1/4" narrow staples to hold it together. all interior surfaces are covered in polyester fiberfill one layer thick, except for the face the subs are mounted on. the subs are held in my 1/4" stainless T-nuts and stainless bolts.

each single box is about 45#s without driver.

BTW your boxes should be able to pass the "elephant test" meaning that unless you are 400#s you should be able to jump on it and not break it. a sub can produce immense pressure inside the box which can actually rip cheap or poorly build boxes apart

[gadget73]

I also like to use the grunt test for speaker boxes. If you grunt when you lift it, its probably worthwhile. Thin, flimsy boxes sound bad and don't hold up. Its really neat watching the corners blow apart in a crappy box.

[351wcrayz]

Subs...

Ok, I maybe only 18, but theres a trick or 3 I know on this very matter...lol

1-Head Unit Output-Basically, If your head unit is shit the rest will SOUND like shit, kinda like a a toyota engine in a vic....

2-Subwoofer BRAND-MA Audio, Alpine, Fusion Audiopipe, SoundStream and Sony Xplod are some A#1's that ya wanna start with...

3-The Subs RMS power is COMPLETELY different from the PEAK power, RMS is where you wanna put the most interest, cause your not gonna be doin SPL comps EVERY time your in the car, a subs RMS power and the amplifier power@ RMS should fall in around 1-300w of each other...

4-Boxes-a good durable box is usually 3/4" Plexi-glass(OOBER-EXPENSIVE!) or 3/4"+ MDF. a good rule of thumb with 10" subs is 2.0-3.0' cubic feet per sub.

5-Wiring-A system thats rated@5,000w still will sound shitty with shitty wiring, if running the wires on the floors of the car, etc, use a bit of foam, padding SOMETHING to seperate it from the bare metal (as it will then pick up road noise, etc)

6-Music preferance-
Rap-Band pass is fine, usually runs in 1-2 freq. ranges

Rock-Sealed is the best, cause of the bass guitar is NOT electronic/digitally made so there'll be a freq. change.

Ported-Boxes are good for loose bass in a SUV, Hatchback, etc...My cousin uses a Envoy now, but won 3&5 in the World SPL series comps (In his class)in a Ford Explorer with a ported box tuned to 40hz....

7-Your vehicle its self.
Trunks, truck, etc-Sealed box
SUV's, Hatchbacks, Vans Bandpass-ported will be fine (as theres more air availible, etc)

8-HEAT IS ENEMY #1-Ventilation is a huge factor in lifespan, response, and overall sound quality.

Pretty much anything else I HAVENT said or am a bit off on, talk to Chachi or Gadget, they can eplain.....HAPPY SPL-ing....LOL

[gadget73]

You can't pick up road noise from the wires laying on the floor. The only way to do it is picking up electrical noise via induction. I'm not going to get into a long winded explanation of why this is, but basically, if you run the power wires and the audio wires together there is a chance of picking up some noise. I've never had problems with this myself, but I also usually have a big cap in the trunk for noise filtering reasons.

[over2tonsofFun]

JL Audio is one of the best out there. I have used them in competition for over 13 of my 20 years competing. even taking me to a USACi world championship in 2002.

Audiobahn is pure junk sold only at pawn shops, flea markets and appliance stores. And is close to out of business. We sell a visonik powered sub at wally world. 500 watts on the headline on the box. keep reading it drops to 250 the the new rating in small print says 37 watts, what a joke.

MECP is a joke to me I have seen pure crap come out of some certified shops. I had an alarm put in by a certified shop because I didn't have the time or place to do it. When it started going out I tried to keep it going for a week till I had time to install my viper. come to find out that every wire was just wrapped and taped, even the starter kill. then and there I adopted the philosophy that unless I know the persons work and trust it no one touches my systems. That is about a dozen people in the country.
I do all my own work even when I did it professionally.

Tim