Subs, Amps, Boxes?!?!?!?!

[cujo613]

Want my advise, do not waste your money with lower brands. Because that's all you'll be doing, wasting your money.
Now, in my large amount of testing and trying out different stereo equipment, this is what I've come up with so far:
My favorite decks are Alpine & Pioneer because they give you plenty of control in an easy to control fashion.
For amps, you get what you pay for...I've tested out Pioneers, Kenwoods, Jensens, Rockford, Kicker, MTX, etc. I have to respect Rockford, but MTX and Kicker have worked better for me.
Subs...what can I say....I'm a huge Kicker fan. They've always worked phenomenal for me. Runner up has to be MTX.

To sum it up, $500-600 won't get you much anything that satisfy your ears. I recommend saving up some more, say $1000-2000 and maybe try something like I did. You can check out my page on cardomain, which you can access through my profile, for details.

You know lower brands is really an opinion.Kicker and MTX to me are both lower brands with too much hype. The L5 and the L7 are way too over rated

In your price range you can always pull a nice packeage like some rockfords or alpines.

But to me $1000-2000 is a beginner system

Look into they fosgate p1 subs. decent bang for the buck on the rockford 3001. Now is the time to go down and try to strike a bargain cuz of all the shops looking to move the last year stuff

average price for rockfords at a shop

$75 for p1 12" subs.

$149.99 for a 3001 mono block

$99.99 for a box,
That will leave you $100.00 left over for wires and an install.

This system actually sounds very nice for a starter system, and has a good bass output. You dont need to step up to the plate with anybody but yourself. Do what you want to do and enjoy man. This turns into a hobby for you, not anybody else.

Everybody has their preference, most of the time my opinion is their preference is wrong, but hey its not my car or my money. Most know what my preference is

 

[Beelzebubba]

... The L5 and the L7 are way too over rated...

check out Circuit City's clearance site on e-bay. Trading Circuit.

They occasionally sell other brands of subs that are blown, but at any time they'll have a bunch of L5s and L7s blown the hell up.

Little too high on the failure rate for me.

 

[Slick_99]

You know lower brands is really an opinion.Kicker and MTX to me are both lower brands with too much hype.

In your price range you can always pull a nice packeage like some rockfords or alpines.

But to me $1000-2000 is a beginner system

Look into they fosgate p1 subs. decent bang for the buck on the rockford 3001. Now is the time to go down and try to strike a bargain cuz of all the shops looking to move the last year stuff

average price for rockfords at a shop

$75 for p1 12" subs.

$149.99 for a 3001 mono block

$99.99 for a box,
That will leave you $100.00 left over for wires and an install.

This system actually sounds very nice for a starter system, and has a good bass output. You dont need to step up to the plate with anybody but yourself. Do what you want to do and enjoy man. This turns into a hobby for you, not anybody else.

Everybody has their preference, most of the time my opinion is their preference is wrong, but hey its not my car or my money. Most know what my preference is

ROFL!!! ROFL!!!! I seriously like the too much hype comment. I personaly have a 1501D MTX amp and raped two 12' HX2 after the proper break in period, the rubber surround completely blew off and the cone was just left. It was disgusting. Soo much I had to go to infinity subs that could handle a good amount of power this amp was throwing out. If that isn't quality but hype let me know.

Second, have you ever touched an RF amp after a good long bass period? Hot as a motherfucker. MTX amps stay considerably cooler.

Sorry, the only people who hype products are RF with space age sub designs, stay whats true and classic not some plastic s**t. MTX and Kicker are your best best when it comes to sub woofers and amplifiers

I would recommened Infinity components through out your car.

 

[Beelzebubba]

Second, have you ever touched an RF amp after a good long bass period? Hot as a motherfucker. MTX amps stay considerably cooler.

.

Sheesh. I used to have a Profile California amp and even it's cheap ass never got "hot as a motherfucker" got pretty warm, but never so much you couldn't handle it.

In fact, that cheapo amp is still powering my old Polk EX10s in my cousin's 'lude through a Clarion DB245 that he got at Fry's for $49. Sounds halfway decent. Better than Dual anyway

 

[rolakers]

2 12" are too much. I'm not trying to out-thump anybody, all I want is good sound. I got an Orion amp wich everybody praises, a 12" Alpine type-R sub and sony explod speakers in the back and even this small setup gives me a lot of power. I can't even turn it up all the way it's so damn loud. Plus the sub boxes and the sub itself are heavy and it's like there's another person sitting in the car. I'd rather spend my money on performance stuff.

 

[Civicboy10]

I appreciate everyone's opinion on here, it makes a discussion a discussion.
Some good points made that I wish to state my agreement.
I agree with much of what Snoopy say....Kicker & MTX are not the best out there, though they are some of what I believe to be the best " bang for your buck", and yes that's a pretty decent system there that he mentioned for the alotted price range. Is $2000 alot for a system? No, if I had more to spend on stereo equipment, I would.

Why so many torn up Kickers? I couldn't tell you too much there, I'm just saying that for what I experienced they are more that tough enough. Mind you, any sub put under too much power for long enough will breakdown.

Just one last note here....Personally, I see no need to put 2 12" subs in a civic. 1 properly setup 12" in more than enough, and I've got the trophies to prove it.

 

[Tek-C]

how much power to run your subs all depends on your setup and not so much as how much you are willing to spend. you gotta do research as to how much is good. for instance, I have 2 JL audio 12W3V2s in my car. they have an rms of about 300W and peak at about 600W. I have a 500/1 JL amp that pushes 250W to each which is perfect. My s**t hits, loud as hell.

My entire set up cost me $2k, that was about 2 years ago. I got a Kenwood 3D Mask head unit; JL highs, Mids, and Tweets; Alpine amp pushin them, and a useless cap. best set up I've ever had.

 

[cujo613]

ROFL!!! ROFL!!!! I seriously like the too much hype comment. I personaly have a 1501D MTX amp and raped two 12' HX2 after the proper break in period, the rubber surround completely blew off and the cone was just left. It was disgusting. Soo much I had to go to infinity subs that could handle a good amount of power this amp was throwing out. If that isn't quality but hype let me know.

Second, have you ever touched an RF amp after a good long bass period? Hot as a motherfucker. MTX amps stay considerably cooler.

Sorry, the only people who hype products are RF with space age sub designs, stay whats true and classic not some plastic s**t. MTX and Kicker are your best best when it comes to sub woofers and amplifiers

I would recommened Infinity components through out your car.

Well if you "raped" the subs, the amp was obviously tuned wrong.

And yes RF amps are inefficient, so they get hot.

MTX push nothing but pure distortion. Sure if you want a powerhouse amp, mtx is fine, but has no sq whatsoever.
But then again I run a Zapco 1100.1 with a Zapco 360.4 So to me MTX is an overated amp to me. Sorry, like I said Its just an opinion.
My subs are ImageDynamics. I run 550 rms to a 400 watt rms sub and they lay waste to to almost anything that they go up against, and these are sq subs, no fat rubber surround just a pair of idqv2 fifteens.

so I do get a little biased, I have also been doing this for ten years and come to appreciate good sound versus lots of bass

 

[rolakers]

I just want to apologize for uploading that huge pic, didn't realize it was that wide