4-12 VS 2-18 Comparison....

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Regardless eith only 3kw of power he can easily get away with 2 18s and save quite a bit of money over 4 12s and get very similar results. 4kw and up is where I would lean more towards the 12s.. has nothing to do with "motor force", it has to do with more coils having better heat dissipation, but most big boy subs, especially 4inch coils will be just fine on 1.5k. That's also why bass race cars use more subs, they have to move less overall vs a setup with less cone area and they don't get as hot as setups with less actual coil area. So lots of cone area and many coils work the best.. for daily budget pounding you can be in between and really just need to balance space, budget, quality concerns, and power available to find what's best..
I'm conservative when it comes to hoe much power to put on subs usually.. many cat audio subs can take a lot of power, but its because they are god awful at actually using the power to make sound.. super stiff suspensions and bug heavy coils.. I try to use subs that aren't like that, and use effecient boxes. On a 3inch coil I would not go over 1.5k.. sure some can handle up to 2500, but they tradeoffs they made to alloe it aren't worth it to Me.. if you want a musical sub to handle 2500 watts, it needs to be a 4inch coil.

But thanks for the input. the 2 18s would be easier as i already have 1 NIB OA 18 in the closet lol so i would just have to find another one which i already have a guy holding one for me now. So yea i think im going with 18s on the 3kw. Still not 100% sure on the port either 1-10 or 2-8's. The 8s seem like they will be better because they provide more sq-inches per cube @ 10.15 sq-in vs the 1-10 @ 7.92 sq-inch per cube, though i know 1 one port is suppose to be more efficient then 2.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

More subs = more cancellation due to phase
Also, bigger box = less cabin volume which can often lose on the meter since a vehicle's interior is a bandpass enclosure of sorts

I'm guessing you have no real world experience with this.

THE loudest guys playing music for 30 seconds do it with a LOT of subs and large enclosures. Look up Jeff Rowlands and Steve Mick....flat wall and 4th order. Both go against your theories and both are VERY successful...

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

I'm guessing you have no real world experience with this.
THE loudest guys playing music for 30 seconds do it with a LOT of subs and large enclosures. Look up Jeff Rowlands and Steve Mick....flat wall and 4th order. Both go against your theories and both are VERY successful...

Sometimes the extra coils will have less power compression and make up for the cancellation. I'm just saying that a more efficient enclosure with fewer, better subs is almost always better than a non optimal enclosure with a bunch of cheap subs

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Sometimes the extra coils will have less power compression and make up for the cancellation. I'm just saying that a more efficient enclosure with fewer, better subs is almost always better than a non optimal enclosure with a bunch of cheap subs

3

i see what your saying. ive been doing alot of searching and im thinking im going to stick with the 2 18s. I have 10 cubes net after all displacements if i choose to do 2-8" aeroports which i think i am for sure to have alittle bit more port per cube then 1-10 will. After speaking with a few enclosure designers on here as well as some other guys local who do builds and designs, they said that with this amount of power the OA v2 18s will be fine in 5 cubes per sub.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Sometimes the extra coils will have less power compression and make up for the cancellation. I'm just saying that a more efficient enclosure with fewer, better subs is almost always better than a non optimal enclosure with a bunch of cheap subs

I wasn't talking about cheap subs, not worth the time IMO. I see so many people do a "budget build" with a bunch of junk subs just for the novelty, which wears off in a hurry.

I agree that you sacrafice some things to gain in other areas, but lots of good subs/cone area is what does the job 99% of the time when doing 30sec avg classes...

 

[n8skow 10+ year member]

One other advantage of 4-12's (versus the 2-18's), especially if your talking about a music run - is heat dissipation.

With 4 woofers - your spreading your power (and thus generated heat) over twice as many coils. A bit less cone area than the pair of 18's - but I'd take the 4-12s personally.

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

I wasn't talking about cheap subs, not worth the time IMO. I see so many people do a "budget build" with a bunch of junk subs just for the novelty, which wears off in a hurry.
I agree that you sacrafice some things to gain in other areas, but lots of good subs/cone area is what does the job 99% of the time when doing 30sec avg classes...

Well, it comes down to the vehicle and individual install.. there's no one answer that's always correct, because we all know how finicky SPL is.