gettin some subs..need some help
 

So i was looking at some of the MTX subs on crutchfield here http://www.crutchfield.com/S-jfLNYqE...RT12X2A&tp=112

And i was planning on gettin the Profile AP1200 to go with it...

I am completely new to this hav spent the last 3 days lookin around on this forum so i figured it was time to ask for some help...

Im not necessarily goin for LOUD so i thought a sealed box would be good... Im not sure if i should go with the mtx subs at the link above or if i should build my own box..or spend a boatload of money on some ported kickers...

Basically i just want somthin that thumps pretty damn good without spendin too much ( like over 200 for some subs - amp excluded)

Those subs/box are fine for a first system w/o spending alot of $$$

Amp should work as well. As for building a ported box IMO no, unless you are really good covering it with carpet, or it will look like sh1t (IMO)

aight thats good....do u think i should replace the rest of the speakers, or will that setup sound fine with the factory ones?

go wth my setup.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/101_0407.jpg

they're only $25 each, get three of those, make your own box, and it'll be more origional and probably better. I havent used a db meter yet, but i will tell you, 6 of those are loud.

lol...wat do u hav powerin those??

:heh: cute hitch.



I have two 12" MTX 7500 series subs, in a MTX ported box. They are loud and still arent sloppy. I love MTX

only problem with the 6 subs is with a box like that...your trunk is history. if you go with like 2 10s or 1 12s u still have enough of a trunk left to make it useful and not just space dedicated to your system. i mean originality is great, but this is your daily driver and you still need/want/like to have a place to put stuff you buy in a store and what ever else out of site

thats a good first system. you should be very happy with it. the amp you chose will work fine because you will bridge it to one channel.

dont worry about building your own box. just use the MTX one because its made for those subs specifically, so they will sound best in that box

if any of this is confusing to you, PM me...ill be happy to help

my trunk is obivously useless but im working on a new setup. My cute hitch pulls cute toys lol. And i have an audiobahn av160000 amp...or somthing like that, i dont feel like going out to look at it.

another piece of advice i would say is dont half-ass it on your system. i did 2 times before i got it right, and i wasted a ton of money because i didnt want to save up and buy a real system.

im not saying anything bad about the MTXs and the Profile Amp. both are good companys. im just saying, dont half-ass it.

What subs are those by the way Ryan?
I'm looking for some smaller ones for mid-bass.
My 12's can handle anything low...
But my mid bass totally blows.
Well, considering I have only 6 1/2" up front and no rear speakers... that may have something to do with it... :p

heh who said you got it right the 3rd time? lol jkjk ur fine. nah seriously tho, if you want a good set up, stay the hell out of best buy and what ever the clueless individual says sounds "amazing". just out of curiousity:
-do u plan on installing it yourself?---if u do, you'll save 80-100 dollars depending on where you go.
-are you getting a head unit?--if so, 1 you'll have better control over your system and 2 everything will sound better.
-did you figure in 50-100 dollars for an amp kit (20 foot power from batt to trunk, 18in ground, RCAs for the signal to your subs, turn on, speaker wire etc etc)?--look on ebay for some, best buy will rape you over on them (100 bucks if i remember right...ebay has a the kicker kit i used for like 45 or so and its a great kit)
-keep in mind; simple designs of products are usualyl better than the crazy neon and LED models.
-oh ya one more thing....car audio is a freaking addiction dude. i began it by replacing blown rear 6x9s, proceeded with a deck, then my subs along with new door speakers, now to wrap it up im amping my speakers. im affraid to look at how much i've spent on this stupid hobby but in the end i got a pretty nice sounding and looking system that i've done 100 percent myself. i love car audio and i enjoy every moment that i do it; even figuring out the minor glitches alone the way lol.

so ya bottom line is expect to open up ur wallet more and more as time goes on...

thanks for the tips...i definitly dont want to halfass it and get a cheap system and hav to replace it after a month..im plannin on installing it myself and i already got most of the wire/ watever else i need.. and i can completely see myself getting addicted to this (it wouldn't be the first time gettin addicted to an expenive hobby..lol)

Yeah, doing it yourself is actually really easy.
When I first started, I was like WTF did i get myself in to...
But it actually turned out to be so simple and fun now when I look back on it.
I look forward to wiring up my new audio stuff when I get it ^_^

Just don't rush things.
and read stuff through.
That was my mistake.

Back to the ghetto we go!

x2 all the way. its pretty simple to do if you have any clue on what your doing. and god....this crap is soo addicting, look at my not even up to date list of mods:

i guess i'm the only one that really woundnt recomend those subs. there cheap, and thats how there going to sound.

i would get a pair of these MB Quarts. there a hell of a deal right now, and there a good woofer.

http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=3415

the box is going to put you over budget a bit though. you can probably pick one up in town for about $50. or you could build one, if your good at math.

thats what i would do. i'd save just a little bit more money and go with the Quarts. they sound awsome, and you wont be disapointed.

Sh!t was that deal on the MB Quarts goin on like 2 months ago?

its been going on for a while. they must have really overstocked them, cause there just dirt cheap.

i dunno...those r some pretty high-end subs...prob too much for a first sub... u think 1 of those will sound better than 2 of the mtx's??? i can def build my own box i if had to but id need a list of stuff to buy (unless its a kit)... For a fist set of subs i might just go with the mtxs though unless u strongly recommend i dont..

Pshh not going with a nice subwoofer because of it's price I can understand..not going with a nice sub at a crazy low price is nuts. I definitely would have jumped on that deal had I known about it a while ago.

Anyways my friend had those MTXs in that box and they sounded cheap IMO. He pushed them with a Kicker ZX300.1.

yea..ur right.. i really wanted to go with dual subs...but im having second thoughts...i might just buy one of the quarts and pick up a cheap box somewhere..most likely ported.. so in other words still spend like 150 -200, but on one sub instead of 2...sound good??

personally, getting a box setup for the subs would be a better idea. i want with a pair in a pepboys box the first time around..sounded good for my needs but nowhere NEAR as good as it could've sounded.

with a little know how, some instruction, and tools, you can build a decent custom box to get the most out of your sub.

ok. first off, i really dont think you'll like those MTX's. if i thought you'd like em, i would have said go with them. but i've seen too many people who buy cheap stuff thinking it will suit there needs, and then get totally let down. they end up selling it for whatever money they can get outta hit, take a loss, then go out and buy somthing better. IMO, just buy that somthing better to begin with. its saves, time, money, effort, stress, and its worth it.

i recomended those Quarts cause there a good sub, for a good price. now if you only want 1 sub now, i have a differnt recomendation. you can get a better sub then the Quart. and thats 1 Quart, not the pair. I still think the pair would be your best bet. but if yuo just want 1 woofer, then this is the one i'd recomend.

http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=4995

and this woofer will like a ported box more so then the Quarts will. it will sound just as good, but it will give you more volume. this is a really good sub. Image Dynamics is a really underated brand IMO.

now as far as building your own box, i highly recomend not doing that. i recomend going to a private car audio shop and having them build it. building a box is not as easy as you think it would be. especially if you port it. if you port it the port lenth has to be so big, and it depends where the port is, and it depends what freq you tune the box to. in other words if you think your box is awesome, but any of those things i just said are off, your sub is going to sound bad. the box is where its at. if you have a bad box, i dont care how much the woofer is, its not going to sound good.

i'm not trying to scare you from making your box, i'm just letting you know how much work/math goes into a box.

cant you just get a box that is made to what your subs need? i mean ebay has a GLUT of boxes for like 45 bucks shipped

you could. but how much are the boxes after shipping? boxes are big, and cost a lot to ship. thats why i recomend a shop. that and if they do a sh*tty job you can always take it back. thats much harder to do with a online purchase.

1 - that box on crutchfield is not what will make you happy
go with one Kicker solo 12 or a smaller box with tens. Someone on here are pix of my old set up that had 3 mtx thunder 6000 10's in it. had plexiglass etc...stayed small so i still had a trunk - and hit plenty hard...i sold it here too

the box i have in my jeep right now is this one....love it!....no need for anything else...i have to keep the amp half way down as it is
KICKER VS12L7 12" SOLO BARIC L7 SUB BOX ENCLOSURE 2 ohm...bought it on ebay shipped and saved about 130 bux over all the shops in my area - which there are plenty to shop around at
http://i22.ebayimg.com/02/i/07/06/17/b2_1.JPG


No need to fill your trunk with 50 smaller speakers in a massive box - the 90's are over

lol I was just givin ya ****


...I ride my cute toy instead of pullin it :) http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...ike36/asdf.jpg :attention

i hate to say this.....but i paid i THINK it was somethin like this:
.99c for the box (bid) and $38 for shipping
when it came it turned out to be a decent box...and it was the size my subs called for. im happy. saved 50 bucks from best buy, and didnt have to do it myself.

all i'm saying is a ported box is very hard to build to spec. its also very hard to find one that is the right size, port, and everything else online. sealed boxes are easy. ported take time and skill.

and for the record, i'd never buy a box from best buy. i'd always have them made, or make them. its well worth the extra few $

I say go with a sealed box bro..both for your budget and the simplicity of making the sub sound good. I think you'd be satisfied with it.

yea..im prob gonna go check out some of my friends systems...see how they sound..ported vs sealed..n they prob know so local places where i can get a good box..im leanin towards the dual quarts...if i can save up the money... hopefully that sale will last

spend a good amount of money and get something nice, precise, accurate bass = ten times better than ****ty sounding bass for cheap. save your money buy some JL w1's or W3s ... and you'll be satisfied you saved money... thats if u think music is worth it.

sealed=poppy bass sounds better
ported(like mine)-get that low bass constant.. ****'s loud.

i'd go with sealed though.

In my experiences, 4/5 times the problem is the enclosure, not the subs.

As said already in this thread, ported boxes are tough to get right. If you're just picking up a pre-built box, you've got a better shot of getting lucky with a sealed box, where really only the volume of airspace in the box matters.

Ported is tough, because in addition to airspace, you need to deal with port length and diameter, which will both effectively 'tune' how the sub performs. And, every sub will have different port requirements for what most would consider 'perfect' bass. They're not bad if you take the time to design and build a proper enclosure, but in addition to sealed being easier to get right, I prefer them for most music.

Ported is great for home theater, though. :)

dont you have to tune your box to the resonating fuequency of your car or something like that?

No. I'm pretty sure you only do that math if you're trying to go for maximum SPL, but I could be wrong.

You need to tune the enclosure for the sub(s) that's going into it. With a sealed box, it's just a matter of airspace inside the box. With ported, there's more involved.

maybe thats what i was thinking of, for SPL.

is that even a valid thing to do ever? (tune the ports to the resonating fuequency?)

Right now sounddomain/cardomain has amazing deals. They are clearing out a lot of inventory. Use coupon code BLOWOUT and you'll save even more. I picked up a Rockford Fosgate Power 1000 for under $416 shipped(Michigan has to pay says tax or it would have been under $400).

http://www.cardomain.com/features/rocktober


Edit:
Also, ported enclosures can be difficult to design for someone new to audio, but good manuf's like kicker & RF will give ported design specs that suite the vast majority of listeners. It takes the headache out of designing a ported box. The previous posters are correct that it is difficult to find a properly spec'd ported box, but a simple solution is to buy a sealed box that is the correct size and install a port kit. All you have to do is cut a simple hole in the box. It doesn't even have to look pretty if you get a port kit that has a big flange, like the flared port kits at partsexpress.com. The only trick to flared ports is that you have to cut the center port tube so that the length of the port is 1" longer than the recommended manuf spec, and make sure you have one diameters worth of clearance at the end of the port to the nearest wall. So if you have a 4" port you need to make sure the end of the port is at least 4" from the closest wall.


And jperryss is correct about tuning to the car's resosnat freq. Only do that for SPL comp. The numbers add up that way, and you will get a massive peak in response at that freq. A massive peak in the freq is what causes "one-note-wonders". The most major cause of one-note-wonders is bass boost that is centered at a specific freq, a very common feature on amps.

Personally i would say just save your money and get something thats well worth it. I started off with 2 12"cvrs and it was loud for like 2 months and then i had the itch for something louder and i upgraded to 2 12" fi ssds getting 1500 watts and i want to upgrade again to something thats running around 2500-3000 watts. But i dont really like throwing down all that cash for the extra batteries and 1/0awg wire :\. But if you were to get something cheap i wouldnt save up for something of the JL line. Dont get me wrong there really good but imo you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

As for ported vs sealed.... i would recommend ported if you like louder bass. I use to run my 2cvrs in a 2.5^3ft sealed enclosure, and when i built a 4^3ft ported enclosure to 32hz i will never look back to sealed. Im all about the lows being loud and that really did it for me you could notice/feel the diffrence in the levels DBs..

Thats just my 2 cents... like said before i would go sealed if you feel like keeping it simple and saving space