Subwoofer myths or reality?

ManoWar · Post by **ManoWar** » April 19th, 2005, 1:16 am

I will make a list of all the illogical and logical things i heard about subs and audiosystems in general and i will try to answer some from own experience and i will let other answers the one i dont know.

"Dont open your trunk, your voice coil is going to blow?"
(dunno about this one but logicly it shouldn't happen)

"Dont get a ported box it will screw up your sub?"
(and because they said that i did get a ported sub

2 months now and no problem)

"Capacitor are marketing bs?"
(Yes and no.... Capacitors are marketing bs because marketers give you the impression that caps will solve all your power problems: EX you have a 1200w system running on a 90amp alternator..... u can put 100 caps and it still wont solve the simple math involved in finding out that your alternator creates less current then the car needs. ON THE OTHER SIDE a capacitor will help your lights not flicker, thus it evens up the stress that is put on your alternator.... thus saving it from potential burning, in the same time when u start the car up the capacitor needs to charge to optimum voltage (13,5-14) thus drawing allot of power from your battery)

"Dont buy sony xplod subs they are sh*t"
(My experience in friends cars with sony subs has been awfull. Plastic on plastic is all i am going to say about these subs)

"Audiobahn is sh*t"
(I dont know about this one but all the arguments against audiobahn state this: You pay too much for what you get....... but i paid 130$ CAD (tax included) on my 12 inch audiobahn and it performs better than any other sub i've owned or was given to hear in the +- 100$ range..... Kickers, sony's and some other 12 inch subs i heard dont have the same low freq response as my audiobahn has)

Now i will let other continue with the list but i still want to know for certain a answer in the first quote.... it has really bugged me. On one side the argument is that car subwoofers are design for cars thus they only work in an enclosed space, but then again i know people that go to shows with their cars and keep the music pumping for 6 hours straight from their nice shining bling bling subs.

Chronicle-Rod · Post by **Chronicle-Rod** » April 19th, 2005, 2:16 am

Umm...the open hatch thing is just garbage. It's probably fed off the fact that our cars, as with all hatchbacks, can get "easy" volume because of the hatchback air volume - more air moving = more sound. Opening the hatch means you'll lose that 'bounce'...but you're not going to wreck any part of your sound system.

As for the rest...Xplod are decent for Walmart crap, but it's still crap. I wouldn't put them in my car. Same with Audiobahn.

Personally, I'm a fan of the JL Audio's W7. Never had a problem with them and they sound great.

93SOHC · Post by **93SOHC** » April 19th, 2005, 2:21 am

on a side noe: A kid I just met saturday when installing a system in my friends car(it was a friend of his) is sponsered by audiobahn. He has a 4runner w/2-15" subs and all Audiobahn components. He Has won 2 spl contests so far with it(which is what landed him the sponser) I agree with you that the price is outrageous, but its some quality stuff. If I had 5500 to blow on a stereo i'd be all over that sh*t

MX-SLICK · Post by **MX-SLICK** » April 20th, 2005, 10:35 pm

audiobahn, LOL... ever heard of anything GOOD? I mean beyond alpine and JL and rockford...im talking AVALANCHE, ADIRE AUDIO, Earthquake, RE audio,Memphis, CDT audio,image dynamics and there are quite a few more GENUINE quality makes out there. Maybee not to you guys but i have been into audio so long that when i hear an alpine type R system or an audiobahn system i think BLAH! too exaggerated and boomy, and out of tune. I hear an Adire audio Brahama 12" or a RE X.x.X 12" with a set of memphis or image dynamics components and EVERYTHING amplified (nothing being powered by the head unit) I just fall in love with the sound. Everything is just right with a little staging work and it can be turned up as loud as you would ever want it to go without audible distorion. Some of audiobahns higher end crap is better built but that doesent make up for the GOBS of power they require just to make some bass. And in my opionion a company that advertises "PHAT foam surround" (yes, lol, PHAT) is just trying to get stupid kids in to empty their wallets into polished chrome and PHAT foam surrounds, lol. Its not like i have not had experience with audiobahm...i sold it for a while with countless returns for poor sound quality, then i stopped because of the money it was costing me. You cant polish a turd!.

ManoWar · Post by **ManoWar** » April 20th, 2005, 10:51 pm

MX-SLICK wrote:audiobahn, LOL... ever heard of anything GOOD? I mean beyond alpine and JL and rockford...im talking AVALANCHE, ADIRE AUDIO, Earthquake, RE audio,Memphis, CDT audio,image dynamics and there are quite a few more GENUINE quality makes out there. Maybee not to you guys but i have been into audio so long that when i hear an alpine type R system or an audiobahn system i think BLAH! too exaggerated and boomy, and out of tune. I hear an Adire audio Brahama 12" or a RE X.x.X 12" with a set of memphis or image dynamics components and EVERYTHING amplified (nothing being powered by the head unit) I just fall in love with the sound. Everything is just right with a little staging work and it can be turned up as loud as you would ever want it to go without audible distorion. Some of audiobahns higher end crap is better built but that doesent make up for the GOBS of power they require just to make some bass. And in my opionion a company that advertises "PHAT foam surround" (yes, lol, PHAT) is just trying to get stupid kids in to empty their wallets into polished chrome and PHAT foam surrounds, lol. Its not like i have not had experience with audiobahm...i sold it for a while with countless returns for poor sound quality, then i stopped because of the money it was costing me. You cant polish a turd!.

While i am not chalenging your statement, i think that out of 4 ohms you can't get a heck of a lot out of a soundsystem. Also when half of your car starts shaking when subwoofer is blasting you wont notice the difference in the quality. All i am saying is that for 130CAD i got a 12 inch sub that beats all the competition (in the +-100$ price range)

Chronicle-Rod · Post by **Chronicle-Rod** » April 21st, 2005, 1:45 am

You guys are talking about two totally different things. No point comparing LOUD to QUALITY.

Quality speakers are almost always also loud. Loud speakers are rarely also quality.

93SOHC · Post by **93SOHC** » April 21st, 2005, 2:00 am

It seems like I get dissed for every comment I make here...The Audiobahn system this guy has put my buddys 5000 JL set up to shame. Way more clear at higher volumes, better respose as well. If Audiobahn is indeed trash, the guys competition must have been a bunch of people with sony xploder's, for him to win 2 SPL soundoffs...Dont matter, it aint my system anyway.

jbruynson · Post by **jbruynson** » April 22nd, 2005, 9:14 pm

because all you talk about is how great bestbuy type products are, when in reality they are low end in the car audio spectrum. You are right though, audiobahns will get loud, but they will sound like s--- doing so.

ovendenk · Post by **ovendenk** » April 23rd, 2005, 12:52 am

jbruynson wrote:because all you talk about is how great bestbuy type products are, when in reality they are low end in the car audio spectrum.

hey, what's wrong with best buy products????

i work there and laugh every time someone comes in and says they're building a high end system and walk out with everything for under $1500. sigh, go best buy!!

93SOHC · Post by **93SOHC** » April 23rd, 2005, 2:00 am

all right guys no biggie. My audio system is good enough for me, its done, no need to talk about it anymore. To each thier own.

Flashpoint2 · Post by **Flashpoint2** » April 23rd, 2005, 3:10 am

Lol audio systems make me laugh.. i have nothing but high(er) end stuff in my car, and it still sounds like garbage.

A few years back, one of my friends and I noticed that Future Shop was having a blowout sale on some 10" subs for 24.99/sub.. so..... we went in and bought 8 of them and threw them in a chevette

It was the funniest thing i've ever seen! we tested it on the mic, and it hit 151.4 or somthing silly like that.. not incredibly high, but not bad of absolute crap for subs

reaper of souls · Post by **reaper of souls** » May 4th, 2005, 3:10 am

holy s--- it's funny how we all like loud music and loud systems but s--- you even refer to a brand of speaker (wheither it be good or bad) and were all ready to rip each other heads off. my way of looking at it is if it sounds good to you go with it. but on the other had i like audibahn for some products and sometime you can get a good price on them. me i'm running a 10" pheonix gold octance r why not because i totaly love the company (i don't by the way) but because i got it free thats why i went with a clarion amp had to get something good.

PoisonDrop · Post by **PoisonDrop** » May 4th, 2005, 10:10 pm

The truth is, it doesn't matter what woofers you get...if you don't have a high-quality head unit and amplifier, your system will not have a high quality sound. The amp is the most important part. If you are going to drop a lot of $$ on your system, spend the most on the amp. That is my opinion.

OptiX · Post by **OptiX** » May 12th, 2005, 10:55 am

to my experience its all about the person.... and how well they can tune their own system.

... there are people that like volume (and the gino's that drive around in civics blasting their poorly tuned stereo systems and its distorted to hell) and there are audiophiles (which adore quality of sound)

now as far as it goes, im an audiophile, i perfer quality over volume, but i like the ability to go loud sometimes.

Speakers are speakers, the way they're made is virtually the same whatever way you look at it, you have a cone, a plenum, a coil and a magnet which all sits in a basket.

all your mid range and component speakers will be 4 to 8 ohms.

now as far as subs go, paper cone is fine, just dont beat the hell out of them for too long... again, the better the cone, the better the durability of the woofer and better response (less flex when pushing air).

coils are coils... the more winds = the better the power handling. (different rating)

CORRECT SIZE WIRES = HIGHLY IMPORTANT
(i saw a guy come into my friends store wanting 14 guage wire to power his 1000 watt amp, i laughed and told him he's going to melt the wire and set fire to his car... jokingly)

good size for aftermarket internal speakers = 10 to 14 guage.
300 to 800 watt amps = 8 guage
higher than that = 2 to 4 guage.
0-1 guage is good if you're going to split the line later down the line but its unnessisary unless you're using it to power 4+ high current amps.

now the highest IdBL recorded is 178.8
but you're not going to be in the car durring that or be completely deafened and cause irreversable dammage to your ears

as mentioned before in this thread i saw 151... thats a good level, dont bash it, i personally for my system (which i put together from semi-cheap products) is 162.6 (mind you anything in the 150 range is good... but its pointless if its just thump)

but RARELY do i ever turn it up that high... i keep it at a medium volume, and have an equal amount of treble to match my bass (2 Dual Voice Coil 15"s rated at 3000 watts max, 1400 rms)

2X 6X9's, 4X 6.5" coax's, 2X3.5, 1X center channel 3.5", and 4X 1" dome tweets
2X heavy duty A/B class amps to power the subs, and 2X 800 watt 4 channel amps to power the components.
2X batteries, Stinger SPSOFF (to eliminate the pop when i turn the system off), 2X 2 farad cap for both a/b class amps, and a stinger high current alternator (160 amp output)

and the system is TUNED for the best sound across all frequencies, the sound is crystal clear, no clipping(distortion) and its loud enough without having to blast it (which is stupid in my opinion)

total spent on my setup is just under 4 grand. and that built up over the years. not all at once.

im not going to name off companies of the speakers/woofers/components/amps simply because i dont want an argument on it. Im saying, it doesnt truly matter what you have, its all about how its tuned and if its tuned at the volume you perfer it at.

NOTE: PPL OUTSIDE THE CAR DONT WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC, DONT GO AROUND BLASTING THE STEREO SYSTEM IN RESIDENTIAL AREA'S ETC.

there's a time and place for that, respect those around you.

neverenuff · Post by **neverenuff** » May 12th, 2005, 12:00 pm

Well heres my 3 cents. As far as subs go the first thing that must be looked at is the encloser. If the encloser is not right the thump wont bump. As stated in a few posts up the amp is very important to a good sounding system. As far as the head unit well yes it does matter but not extreamly. Head unit quality differs from each other only because of the extra stuff that is added to it. For example how many channels does it have for output, does it have sub out, and a few minor other things, lastly, what different sub and enhancement opptions does it have. I see alot of units that have minimal enhancements and sound just as good as one that has none. Personally in a good quality system the loud enhancement should never be enabled and a unit with built in crossovers is always a plus. The major difference in head units that I have seen is FM reception and quality. some of the best are Pioneer, Alpine, and Clarion. Some of the worst are JVC,Panasonic, and Sony. These are just to name a few. I am going to post what I have so pleas eall oppions wanted.