duckdown

Hey folks

People might remember that I posted in here looking to add some bass to my Acura MDX but not knowing what parts to buy.

As a self admitted complete newbie, I still don't have an answer on what parts to buy, however after spending a good portion of the night now reading online, I do know alot more than I did previously.

I know that everyone is big on 2 12" subs, and that's what almost 90% of the documented forum posts are usually regarding when people are talking about their setups.. I've learned some things tonight so far that I didn't know before, and one of the areas I hadn't even considered before was overall power and strain on your cars alternator or electrical systems when you've got 2 gigantic subwoofers in the car. Also I'm seeing videos on youtube of people with two 12"s in their car and they're literally rattling their doors off and vibrating their entire mirrors and everything like that, not even maxing out their system.

Call me crazy, but I'm starting to think maybe thats way too extreme and overkill for what I want.. I wanted some bass for the car, mainly low megahertz stuff like dubstep and drum and bass. But I still want to be able to listen to talk radio or let my poor old Mom listen to her oldies without blowing her away...

I also don't want to have to worry about having constant power issues and having my headlights dimming or so on.

And let's not forget the overall space too, retaining some kind of trunk space would certainly be ideal.

So I ask you, am I being silly? Is 2 12" subwoofers monumentally fundamental here or is one really high quality subwoofer going to be plenty for what I need?


I'm also wondering about just a single high quality 15" subwoofer instead of 2 12"s. I have read 9000 posts from google on the subject and everybody says that 2 12's is definitely louder and has more 'cone space', but really, I don't think I care. I doubt I'll ever be cruising the streets listening to my music at those ear piercing levels the more I think about it. And I still want to hear the subtleties of the music if needed. Plus isn't the 15" subwoofer best for low HZ music like dubstep. And doesn't one 15" sub use less power than having to power two 12"s?


Last but not least -- what about even just a single really good 12" ? Like the top end JL Audio model or something like that? I'm beginning to think even a single 12" should be *plenty* for casual listening, and then spend the money (plus more) on replacing the stock front & rear speakers as well instead of having a second subwoofer. Wouldn't that be an ideal combination of something that sounds great and has some good bass to go with it?


Thoughts? Comments? Opinions? I'd love to hear them all!

Thanks in advance for all the help guys! And remember that the easy answer surely is "Just use 2 12" subs! They are louder!" but I'm not looking for something to compete with, just something that sounds great. When I was in high school I would have wanted whatever just plain straight up produced the most bass, but that's not all I care about now that I'm in my late 20's.. Bass is great but so is the music!

Cheers!!

chigger_ns

Go get a single 12 like a 2 ohm Alpine Type R and get a box built to match a location in your MDX so it doesn't look out of place. You should find a decent amp for a good price that you wont have to run 45 pounds of copper to run decent.... haha

Dilatory

iTrader: (1)

The argument that you cant listen to anything other than dubstep once you add more than one 12" is kind of moot, there's quite a few options to lower bass volume or turn it off entirely with the click or turn of a button or two. Just depends how much bass you want on tap; However, a single ported 12" is a lot of bass, somewhere in the 300-500w RMS range will probably make you pretty happy.

madwarrior

iTrader: (3)

If you go to eBay and look up amp controller or car amp controller something like that there is a controller with a *** that you hook your RCA into and then it has RCA out for the amp. Run them to the amp and you can control your bass like that.

Also some amps come with control booster.

People say alpine I suggest a JBL sub. Around 350 rms and a JBL amp. Expensive but have great sound. I really have no experience with alpine tho.

Also if you get a good Bassworx box it will make almost any sub sound amazing because thats all they build is boxes lol. They got it pretty down packed.

Eugene86

I've gotta agree with this. Last summer I had a 12" JL sub in a ported box connected to a 600 watt RMS amp and it was more than enough for my ears. I usually kept it at around half power and it was already loud. If I wanted to really shake things up, I could turn it up all the way. Since you've got an SUV, you're probably gonna have even better acoustics than a regular car with a sub in the trunk so I would say just go with a single 12".

Sinemeup

Madwarrior - Bassworx does not just make boxes - they do amps/speakers/hardware hell, I even have a T-shirt

to OP listen to the guys on here and get something with a remote bass **** - nothing says SQ like turning down the 2 12's for more control

Or for even cheaper, get a switch

Get yourself the proper wiring, get a mono amp that will put out 500 RMS

Get friendly with a local shop that will let you try out different boxes

Try 500 watts on a 12 in a sealed box - for some people it is plenty

Not enough? Then put it in a properly designed ported box - more output

It's really hard to compare what I think is loud, to what you would feel is

Gee

iTrader: (1)

It seems to me, you could get away with an Infinity Basslink or any of the under the seats powered subwoofers. They'll never rattle your mirror off but the quality is pretty good.

1uvakind

iTrader: (1)

I've had two 10's in my car before, and I have always like the sound of 12's. I've been using two 12's for the longest time. I find 15's too low for my liking. I bought two 12" DD subs, was going to build a proper box for them, only to realize that it would require a lot of trunk space. I decided to finally build a proper box for just 1 of the 12" subs, and I must say, that this one sub outperforms my last box with two 12's.
I have found that a proper box that is best suited for your sub, makes a world of difference as to how much bass you can achieve.
Get a good sub, build a proper box for it, and get a pretty good amp, and you will have a good amount of bass.

AAAAAAA

iTrader: (7)

You can easily get the output and satisfaction from a single 12 in a proper ported box. It would probably sound better, just as loud and go lower then two 12's in a sealed box.

Lord Huggington

iTrader: (1)

I should have known suggesting 4 15's would be too much.

It's a myth that bigger subs equates to louder or the potential to get lower when tuned at the same frequency as a smaller/bigger sub.

I think you should decide on how much space you want to give up first.

Ask someone for a demo. If you can't, buy a IA 187 15" for $120, slap it in a 3.5-4.5 @ 30-35 Hz box, get a 250-500W amp and come back and tell us what you think.

A nice blending between bass & higher frequencies is right around 500W on a ported 10/sealed 12, enough to hear bass at all frequencies but not enough to be considered downright stomping on bass-heavy music.

You can always turn the bass down with a remote or even the gains on the amp.

Depending on the sub, a sealed box can get much lower, like the low 20 Hz though.

For reference, 200W and a .75 cube sealed Sony Xplod 10" wasn't enough for my 50-something year old blues/rock listening dad, but 1500W on a ported 12" was far too much lol, like the difference between them was staggering, enough so that 1/4 the increase would have been more than enough.