Advice on subwoofers

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Are those og w3s?
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

Yes sir, sat in a closet a long time and my son got his first car I dusted them off and built that box, refoamed both of them and they hit like they did brand new

Those aren't o/s w3's. the old ones used to have hard paper gaskets whereas these have the rubber gasket ring were all familiar with. Another thing...o/s w3's used dustcaps, these use a 1 piece cone assembly.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Just in case someone stumbles onto this thread let me give an update. The planet audio started not turning off with the head unit and would only power down if I yanked the rca's. Next it started whining and then it went poof, smelled like **** and is now a doorstop.
Ended up putting 1 xfl 12 dual 2ohm due to the size of the box on a vfl444801d. I know there are a lot of die hard jl guys around but there is really no debate about this 1 AB12 hits harder then the two 12w3's (which slammed) especially on low notes. The jl's were punchier on real drums like rock country etc but the AB moves way more air and sheet metal! Here's the box if anyone is interested in going AB & the jl box it replaced (almost the same size btw). It is tuned to 32hz and the mofo kills a low note. I metered the amp on a 50hz sine wave and I am giving it about 1600 watts and I swear it wants more..

FYI sir..Nice box built for the XFL..Yet..I do recommend using some 3" screws to keep that box secured and keep sealed as that XFL will place alot of flex/movement creating leakage/if not damaging the enclosure by just being glued in place over a period of time.Ive beat the hell out of my XFLs,and they are hard to beat for the $, and really sound great at lower volumes too.Excellent choice for SPL for the $..2.6@32htz seems to be ideal on approx 2k clean rms:yumyum:

 

[Riggz]

Those aren't o/s w3's. the old ones used to have hard paper gaskets whereas these have the rubber gasket ring were all familiar with. Another thing...o/s w3's used dustcaps, these use a 1 piece cone assembly.

I know what I have //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif these aren't the original w3''s they did have the dome dust caps.. these are 12w3v2d4 which was the first of the inverted cap

I guess it depends on what you define as old school 14 years for subwoofer is what I would call old.. but we can maybe agree they are far from new?

 

[Riggz]

FYI sir..Nice box built for the XFL..Yet..I do recommend using some 3" screws to keep that box secured and keep sealed as that XFL will place alot of flex/movement creating leakage/if not damaging the enclosure by just being glued in place over a period of time.Ive beat the hell out of my XFLs,and they are hard to beat for the $, and really sound great at lower volumes too.Excellent choice for SPL for the $..2.6@32htz seems to be ideal on approx 2k clean rms:yumyum:

Thanks and yes I glued it, screwed it, and then clear siliconed the interior for good measure although most believe if you glue every joint you can skip the silicone. I didn't want to take any chances and don't like removing subs over and over with an mdf box so I ran the 8 gauge to ring terminals on stainless bolts running inside out and I can change just about anything without removing the sub

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

I know what I have //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif these aren't the original w3''s they did have the dome dust caps.. these are 12w3v2d4 which was the first of the inverted cap
I guess it depends on what you define as old school 14 years for subwoofer is what I would call old.. but we can maybe agree they are far from new?

Nothing beats the original w3's/w6's.....except maybe the W7 if one wanted to get into it.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Just in case someone stumbles onto this thread let me give an update. The planet audio started not turning off with the head unit and would only power down if I yanked the rca's. Next it started whining and then it went poof, smelled like **** and is now a doorstop.
Ended up putting 1 xfl 12 dual 2ohm due to the size of the box on a vfl444801d. I know there are a lot of die hard jl guys around but there is really no debate about this 1 AB12 hits harder then the two 12w3's (which slammed) especially on low notes. The jl's were punchier on real drums like rock country etc but the AB moves way more air and sheet metal! Here's the box if anyone is interested in going AB & the jl box it replaced (almost the same size btw). It is tuned to 32hz and the mofo kills a low note. I metered the amp on a 50hz sine wave and I am giving it about 1600 watts and I swear it wants more..

IMO most of these newer woofers do not do well tuned so low. They're not like the old stuff where you tune super low to get flat response, they really have limited bandwidth so you typically either need to do a lot of experimenting or just pick a place to compromise.

Anyway the box looks good (the old man has still got it) with the possible exception of the port wall. You may want to reinforce the port mouth inside the box (with a brace) and double up the side of the box that makes the port wall when and if you decide to get a beefier sub and double up the power.

Amazing how cheap power is these days compared to Audio Art and the like, but as you discovered, the really cheap stuff is cheap for a reason.

Thanks and yes I glued it, screwed it, and then clear siliconed the interior for good measure although most believe if you glue every joint you can skip the silicone. I didn't want to take any chances and don't like removing subs over and over with an mdf box so I ran the 8 gauge to ring terminals on stainless bolts running inside out and I can change just about anything without removing the sub

Indeed, for the 1.50$ cost of a tube of caulking it can't hurt.

 

[Riggz]

Just in case anyone stumbles on this thread I wanted to give an update on the new equipment.

Have had the American Bass 1222 sub in the car for over 6 months now and it not only has held up to the daily pounding a teenage driver gives it but is still nearly as stiff as the day I unboxed it.. If your not familiar with the brand and wonder how stiff are American Bass subs? That's easy, they are as stiff in a ported box as yours are in a sealed box //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I first powered it with a Kicker CXA 1200.1 which is rated 2 ohm stable but it played at 1 ohm with no problem for me.. the issue with this amp is ALL 4 mounting legs broke from the vibrations within 2 weeks.. so there was no way to mount it so I took it back to best buy.

I then ordered a American Bass VFL 44801d and have had it running ever since.

If you read reviews on these amps, or have had or do have one I can maybe help some common issues..

1. The amp will go into protect on massive voltage drops. I upgraded the ground wire in the rear, added an additional 4 gauge battery to sheet metal ground and a 0 gauge battery to engine block ground. I next ran 0 gauge from alternator to battery and a 0 gauge under the car in addition to the 4 gauge inside the car.. this helped and cut down on my power issues but after a month or so the stock 80 amp alternator **** itself.. I ordered and installed a 180 amp alternator and can now run headlights, heater, defroster, etc without issues.

So.. you need good power for this amp to perform well.

2. The crossover knob on the amp is better than nothing but it literally a step up from nothing.. do yourself a favor and use your head units crossover or install an electronic crossover because you will spend forever trying to guess where to set the knob and will still hear some higher end sounds (like voices) faintly bleeding thru.

So my real world review is that American Bass is cheap.. and good (which I realize doesn't even sound possible). 6 months of borderline abuse on the stereo (and the sheet metal of the car) and all is still working great.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Don't mount the amp to the box....that's why mounting feet broke. Your lucky the amp itself didn't fail too.

 

[Riggz]

Don't mount the amp to the box....that's why mounting feet broke. Your lucky the amp itself didn't fail too.

No better option in this particular trunk.. however it is much more because of the quality and the single tab design of the kicker that was the issue.. I'm not sure if they were plastic or just some wierd *** flimbsy metal but the amp isn't hanging on the box it's sitting on top of it.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

no pics of the new ab stuff?

 

[Riggz]

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

looks good man i think i may shoulda got a xfl.. did u try firing the sub rear before turning it around?, almost always lots louder in trunk..

 

[Riggz]

It was firing back originally then I switched it to see how it sounded facing forward and I think the only reason I didn't revert to the other way was laziness //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif I think it sounded a little better facing the rear but that was even prior to upgrading the electrical and turning things up.. probably worth testing again once it gets a little warmer

 

[aeroportspwn 10+ year member]

I've always liked American bass , even the new stuff is still pretty decent. I had a solid audio f2500d amp that basically used the same board as a American Bass XD3000 and absolutely loved that amp. It was a little older schoolish amp but was way way underrated and was clamped and capable of 4k RMS at 18 volts and 3k+ at .5 on 14.4 volts.