8 or 10 Subwoofer

[SlipTap 10+ year member]

Hey guys, looking for a little advice. I'm looking for a smaller sub woofer to compliment my stock audio. I have the Bose system in my car and I'm pretty pleased with how it sounds, but looking to add a little in the low end.

Ok, on to the important stuff. Looking for an 8" or 10" and probably a small sealed enclosure (want to save space in my trunk, because I'm in college and need a lot of space to travel home). Sub will receive about 100 watts @ 4 ohms. I'm not new to car audio, but I definitely don't know much about enclosures and sub measurement parameters. Finally, I'm looking for something to get low and sound good. I've been looking at Tangband speakers (think they look pretty cool) and some others.

I appreciate any advice I can get. Is this even possible with what I have (I can always sell the amp and try again)? I know there are plenty of cheap subwoofers out there, just don't want to get screwed lol.

Thanks,

Tyler

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[SlipTap 10+ year member]

TTT, hope someone can help me out.

 

[spltuscon 10+ year member]

Go for a single 10, much better output than an 8 and not much more space. If you're only using 100w then look for something efficient. Check this one out Elemental Designs

 

[SlipTap 10+ year member]

Go for a single 10, much better output than an 8 and not much more space. If you're only using 100w then look for something efficient. Check this one out Elemental Designs

Thanks for your advice; I'll start looking at 10"s and go from there. Do you have any advice for what makes a sub "efficient"?

 

[Josh_101 10+ year member]

A combination of stuff, subwoofer suspension, size of the enclosure and whether its sealed or vented. Best efficiency you can have on 100 watts is a well designed vented enclosure, but that's not what you're going for. A small sealed enclosure is gonna need quite a bit more power, because it has to fight against the enclosure's internal pressure.

 

[SW9152 10+ year member]

http://www.stereointegrity.com/docs/Efficiency.pdf

 

[SlipTap 10+ year member]

Thank you guys, for the good info. I really enjoyed reading the subwoofer efficiency pdf, but wished it went into a little more detail about specs. Anyway, I guess the KISS meathod still applies there, right?

I should be able to do a thin ported box thats really wide, right? That, or I could look into aeroports or something like that. That might almost be easier to install. So, lets say I could do a ported box. What volume and port tuning should I look for?

Thanks again for the help guys, I do appreciate it.

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

1 cube for that elemental would be perfect vented

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

but i think this is more suitable for your needs

Boston Acoustics G110-4 (g1104) 10" Subwoofers Car Subwoofers Car Audio Car Audio, Video, & GPS Navigation - Sonic Electronix

100 rms would supply this great in a sealed box and will get much better sound quality

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

Boston Acoustics - Car Audio - Quick Specs

recomend .5 cube sealed

 

[Josh_101 10+ year member]

For the same amount of space that a 10" sub needs, you can easily run that same amount for an 8" sub in a vented enclosure. And some 8" subs can perform pretty dang good in a ported enclosure with not a lot of power! I was screwing around with a RE Audio 8" sub in a ported Logitech subwoofer enclosure (it was originally for the computer), it got fairly loud for an 8, but how low it got really surprised me, I think it digs a little deeper than my current two 8" subs in a .6cf sealed enclosure. It was such an efficient setup on 200 watts that I could push that little RE to its mechanical limits and it wouldn't distort, since I wasent pushing the amp to its limit. My current subs now are getting 400 watts combined and they make the amp clip just before they hit their mechanical limit/bottom out.