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subs for car?

youngs

youngs

Apr 7, 2007
457
0
Boston MA
#1
Hi guys. this is the first day for me in this forum.

I am looking for a subwoofer for my civic si 03(hatch)

I have spector ns-2 and yamaha TRB and I like the sound of SWR(2x10) or ampeg(4x10). I know it's hard to compared to the instrument but anyone who have some idea as a bassist please let me know.

I like 10" sound for the instrument but I really don't have any idea from the car audio stuff. and I usually listen JAZZ and soft Ballads. any suggestion?

help me guys!

thanks.
 
#2
They are nothing alike, not even a little.

Usually the "Boom" you hear when you hear a sub woofer is the Speaker playing octaves... for say, rap... The sound engineer usually puts a layered 'Bass' backbeat, and on that beat, he'll have the same note, two octave's down... The result is a sound our ear's cannot pickup, and a "boom" that you feel, with the higher "Bass" (In our ears range) on top of the layer, thats why Subs undergo so much stress.... Much more than a a bass amp.


All that being said... Just go for something simple and good sounding... and cheap (To start with)

Go for a single 12" sub, id recommends a Rockford Fosgate P2. They are decent, not too costly and sound pretty good, and have plenty of "BOOM" for when you want it. You will need to have it powered by an amplifier, either a one channel running power just into it, or full four channel amp powering the car.

I run a Rockford Fosgate P2, 10" (Limited space) with an MTX Audio amp pushing 500watts into it. It does all I need, I can bump hard if i want to and I can have a nice, clean sound as well.



EDIT: Also, its pretty important to pick a head unit (CD player) that has a subwoofer out, and adjustable sub pre-amp so you can dial it in how you want it.
 
#8
Rakie said:
They are nothing alike, not even a little.

Usually the "Boom" you hear when you hear a sub woofer is the Speaker playing octaves... for say, rap... The sound engineer usually puts a layered 'Bass' backbeat, and on that beat, he'll have the same note, two octave's down... The result is a sound our ear's cannot pickup, and a "boom" that you feel, with the higher "Bass" (In our ears range) on top of the layer, thats why Subs undergo so much stress.... Much more than a a bass amp.


All that being said... Just go for something simple and good sounding... and cheap (To start with)

Go for a single 12" sub, id recommends a Rockford Fosgate P2. They are decent, not too costly and sound pretty good, and have plenty of "BOOM" for when you want it. You will need to have it powered by an amplifier, either a one channel running power just into it, or full four channel amp powering the car.

I run a Rockford Fosgate P2, 10" (Limited space) with an MTX Audio amp pushing 500watts into it. It does all I need, I can bump hard if i want to and I can have a nice, clean sound as well.



EDIT: Also, its pretty important to pick a head unit (CD player) that has a subwoofer out, and adjustable sub pre-amp so you can dial it in how you want it.
Click to expand...

Thanks man. I really don't need those boom(sound pressure level) I just need soft bass like fender jazz or TRB sound. And
I don't listen any RAP or so. I only listen JAZZ and some soft rock. but you still think I shoul get 12" better than 10"?

ps.I put eclipse avn5435 as a HU and it isn't too bad as a controller for the woofer(I will need amp anyway)
 
#10
youngs said:
Thanks man. I really don't need those boom(sound pressure level) I just need soft bass like fender jazz or TRB sound. And
I don't listen any RAP or so. I only listen JAZZ and some soft rock. but you still think I shoul get 12" better than 10"?

ps.I put eclipse avn5435 as a HU and it isn't too bad as a controller for the woofer(I will need amp anyway)
Click to expand...

lol... they all do the boom thats what they're made for, but they dont randomly just go BOOM BOOM BOOM, its reliant on the music you want... If you put a subwoofer in your car, even if you listen to jazz, you will get some "BOOM" like you're listening to rap, its what they are MADE to do, and its how they work, while it will be significantly less than if you were listening to rap or something... Its going to be there.


If you want "Nice smooth bass" i suggest you get some really, really good speakers and turn the bass up a little, I like eclipse, they capture a lot of bass... and its smooth and clear... You wont get the sound you are describing if you get a sub woofer.

Of course, you could get one and turn down all the gain and sub on the amp... But I just don't think you understand what sub woofers do.


to somebody who knows subs, talking about the boom is basically talking about quality, you can put subs side by side and hear the distortion on the bass when the sub hits.
 
#11
Rakie said:
lol... they all do the boom thats what they're made for, but they dont randomly just go BOOM BOOM BOOM, its reliant on the music you want... If you put a subwoofer in your car, even if you listen to jazz, you will get some "BOOM" like you're listening to rap, its what they are MADE to do, and its how they work, while it will be significantly less than if you were listening to rap or something... Its going to be there.


If you want "Nice smooth bass" i suggest you get some really, really good speakers and turn the bass up a little, I like eclipse, they capture a lot of bass... and its smooth and clear... You wont get the sound you are describing if you get a sub woofer.

Of course, you could get one and turn down all the gain and sub on the amp... But I just don't think you understand what sub woofers do.


to somebody who knows subs, talking about the boom is basically talking about quality, you can put subs side by side and hear the distortion on the bass when the sub hits.
Click to expand...

That's too bad. so how do you guys listen the music in your car when you are driving? I need more clear bass...

I already put polk speaker at the front it's preety good one actually enough for me. OMG this is so hard....

ps. there are few people who called SQ guys they don't really like the boom boom thing. but they don't play bass sigh...
 
#12
youngs said:
That's too bad. so how do you guys listen the music in your car when you are driving? I need more clear bass...

I already put polk speaker at the front it's preety good one actually enough for me. OMG this is so hard....
Click to expand...

I listen to jazz, funk, blues, rock, Techno, jungle (Drum and Bass) metal, Heavy metal and Death metal... my sub is bumping no matter what, I love bass, and I love the "bump" it give's... When its too much I just go straight on the receiver presets and turn the bass down a few points.

Usually whatever im listening to rattles my Mirrors and I like it that way.


It doesn't sound like you would, Sub woofers do NOT equal Smooth bass, unless you have a nice system and can dial in the subs outputs and tone... and, i could be wrong, but I doubt you have that kind of system.
 
#13
Rakie said:
I listen to jazz, funk, blues, rock, Techno, jungle (Drum and Bass) metal, Heavy metal and Death metal... my sub is bumping no matter what, I love bass, and I love the "bump" it give's... When its too much I just go straight on the receiver presets and turn the bass down a few points.

Usually whatever im listening to rattles my Mirrors and I like it that way.


It doesn't sound like you would, Sub woofers do NOT equal Smooth bass, unless you have a nice system and can dial in the subs outputs and tone... and, i could be wrong, but I doubt you have that kind of system.
Click to expand...

I see... that makes me really sad. Anyway do you have 12" one? and which is the less BOOMER?
 
#14
It all depends what you want. When I want a good sounding music system I want one that has a flat frequency response to start with. A lot of car audio stuff that I see has quite an overkill of subwoofers. There's no reason they can't have it, but to me, that's not the way to listen to music. Cabin gain in a car is so tremendous that you really don't need a huge subwoofer and a lot of power to get a flat frequency response at reasonable levels.

Unlike what some people have said, it's not difficult to get "smooth" bass from a subwoofer. You have to start with the right enclosure and a quality driver.

Anyway, I don't like the "boom boom" thing and I play bass. ;)
 
#15
Geoff St. Germaine said:
It all depends what you want. When I want a good sounding music system I want one that has a flat frequency response to start with. A lot of car audio stuff that I see has quite an overkill of subwoofers. There's no reason they can't have it, but to me, that's not the way to listen to music. Cabin gain in a car is so tremendous that you really don't need a huge subwoofer and a lot of power to get a flat frequency response at reasonable levels.

Unlike what some people have said, it's not difficult to get "smooth" bass from a subwoofer. You have to start with the right enclosure and a quality driver.

Anyway, I don't like the "boom boom" thing and I play bass. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks bro. so which one do you prefer 10" or 12"?

What's better for soft bass?
 
#16
In my experience if you want less boom and more of a low end extension for your speakers, go with a sealed box for whatever you decide to get. Ive had two sealed boxes and a bandpass box, and the box made a huge difference in how the bass was. Now I run two 12s in a sealed box. The subs are very clean and clear, though I can get the huge BOOM if someone riding with me insists on listening to rap (I dont really care for the stuff except for that occasional time just to hear some really loud bass). For your car, I would go with a single decent 10 inch in a sealed box with a good amount of watts behind it. Try to find an amp that allows to you filter out really low bass. Mine has that, and it really tightened up the bass a lot.
 
#17
My friend has a single 10 in a sealed box inside her ep3.

Ive got an 06 SI w/ the factory sub and wont be changing that anytime soon. Ive got my hands full paying for insurance and gas.

The 10 sounds good, and is very good with the space. Id say get yourself a mid-entry level sub w/ 300 watt amp. IMO, purchasing a high end sub that will overpower your speakers seems unnecessary. Id also suggest an alarm because people suck and steal things.

Also- Do your research online before you go buy. Ive heard nothing but horror stories about people whom walk in without alot of knowledge on car audio and leave going over their budget and unsatisfied.

Good luck.
 
#18
Dave said:
In my experience if you want less boom and more of a low end extension for your speakers, go with a sealed box for whatever you decide to get. Ive had two sealed boxes and a bandpass box, and the box made a huge difference in how the bass was. Now I run two 12s in a sealed box. The subs are very clean and clear, though I can get the huge BOOM if someone riding with me insists on listening to rap (I dont really care for the stuff except for that occasional time just to hear some really loud bass). For your car, I would go with a single decent 10 inch in a sealed box with a good amount of watts behind it. Try to find an amp that allows to you filter out really low bass. Mine has that, and it really tightened up the bass a lot.
Click to expand...

Like he said, its reliant on the amp (IME) You will have to turn everything down pretty much to get smooth bass
 
#19
Thanks guys. I'll let you know what I got , and how it sounds.

over all from the online searching I think 12" is good for me. I'll go with sealed 12" and I am still searching for the brand.

today I'll go to several AUDIO SHOP and figure it out.

Thanks again guys. btw can't wait to see my warwick infinity.
 
#20
I really don't know what anyone means by "soft bass". IMO, the point of designing a quality subwoofer is for an accurate reproduction of the input signal. The best sub for that, IMO, is a sealed sub with a Qtc somewhere in the 0.5 to 0.7 range (0.5 is critically damped - transient perfect).

Like Dave has mentioned, the box makes a huge difference. Some people simply don't know that you shouldn't slap any driver into any box. Other people spend years tinkering with box size and fill to get the sound they want.

Since cars have so much cabin gain, I would probably only use a sealed box. Cabin gain basically means that the low-end is boosted by about 12 dB/octave starting in the vicinity of 70-90 Hz depending on the car (the smaller the car, the higher the frequency that this happens at). The nice thing about this is that sealed boxes roll off at about 12 dB/octave (depends on the Qtc) and so in a car you can effectively use a sealed box with an f3 (-3 dB point) of 70 - 90 Hz and achieve a very flat frequency response for pretty much any signal you're going to run into in most music. Unfortunately in a room in a house the gain typically doesn't occur until about 30 Hz or so, which makes ported boxes much more attractive. Here's a shot of my home theater subs (those black tubes):

DSC02585.jpg


What kind of budget do you have?

A friend and I are doing new subs for our Integras. We'll be using these drivers in a 0.2 cu ft sealed box which has an f3 of about 83 Hz and Qtc of 0.517. We're looking for about 300-500 W of power.
 

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