[Skie]

Hey guys I'm currently in the market for a sub, the lack of bass in my car is starting to drive me bonkers. Now, I have a vague idea of the difference in the enclosure types but I'm not all that savvy on the details. Like is there a sound quality difference? Is one more suited to certain styles of music than another? I would appreciate some enlightenment on this subject if anyone would be be willing to send some info my way =) Oh and for the record i listen to Lots of heavy metal(think death metal, thrash and some hard rock) and also a good dosage of rap and hiphop( I like boom boom too )

 

[slobalt]

Crutchfield: LCD TV, Car Audio, Home Theater, Speakers, Plasma TV is the best place for beginners to read about this kind of thing, check it out.

 

[Nosfuratu9]

well slobalt pretty much sent you to the best place. but i'll lay some info down real swift like...if you get a ported box you'll have deeper bass. if you get a sealed box you'll have punchier bass. sealed has better sound quality *SQ* ported gives you more sound pressure level *SPL* if you mainly listen to rock and things that have actual instruments you'd most likely be better of with a sealed box because of the lil bit better SQ. you still could get a ported box, but its just not going to sound AS good. i personally like my ported box and i listen to all KINDS of music. it sounds pretty good too. it also depends on the subwoofer. if you have a 15" sub, dont expect to have amazing high bass.

 

[slobalt]

right on... if you get 8's or 10's expect tighter quicker bass if you get 12's or 15's expect slower sloppier bass, it also depends on your frequency levels of the subs as well. The frequency to me is key depending on music.

 

[Nosfuratu9]

yeah, if you get say....a 10 JL W7 which is one of the top competition level subs *not saying its the BEST..just saying that before anybody says anything haha* it'd be ridiculously low and still pretty high. but if you got the 8 you'd get less low.

 

[Skie]

Ah thanks for the site slobalt, gonna check that out later, andthanks for the info nosferatu! Yea I was also trying to decide what size to get. Was planning on one 12 but from what you said slo I may end up going with a 10, had an 8 before but I found it hard to hear over all the road noise sometimes

 

[07CobaltLS]

All I will say is that I prefer a sealed enclosure. I was always a fan of 10" subs until my 12W6v2. I enjoyed that much more than my 10W0 (obvious reason why) and even my 10W6v2.

I would get a sealed enclosure myself, ported is OK (my second choice). I wouldn't even consider a bandpass box though. They just sound like crap to me.

If you're looking for a lot of bass, get a pair of 12's in a ported enclosure. If you're after SQ, get 1 or 2 10's in a sealed enclosure.

I was always more into SQ rather than how loud I could make it. I have friends who work in a car audio shop and do all custom work (that was enough loud for me...didn't need to do it myself). They have some great looking/sounding cars/trucks. One of the shops trucks had 16 Memphis subs with 8 amps. It was putting out over 10,000 watts. We took it to Denny's one time and I swear the cups on the tables were rattling.

 

[msteeg]

if you get anything JL it will have a quick response and sound great in a sealed box that is within the required volume for the sub

 

[burksdb]

i have 2 10's and they sound great they bump when i want them and also when i want to turn it down and just hear the bass they sound clean and clear.

it depends on the amount of trunk space you have also. i'm pushing 2 10's in a sealed case pushing around 600watts and ive also got 2 sony xplode 6x9's and i've got a 200 watt amp bridged to them and everything sounds really clean

 

[cobalt07ls]

I myself have 2 12" Memphis M3's and a 500watt Memphis 500.1D Class amp in a custom ported box. It hits so hard that the roof flexes, the rear glass flexes, the trunk flexes, it pushes out the back bumper on the side....it's insane loud. But that's what I wanted. I don't ride with it that loud all the time. I usually have the gain turned down to -10 and when I want it that loud I turn it up to +5.