Budget SPL

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

Hey, guys, I'm trying to put together a new system and want some balls in this one. My current setup is just one Premier TS-W1241C, which doesn't get nearly loud enough. I want something that will be heard by all of the hicks at my school that are amazed by their Pyramid Imperials and JL 10w0's. Ebay currently has a few subs that I have been looking at that are priced very well and are more SPL oriented drivers. I have heard good things about some of them, but would like your opinions on them. I will probably only have room for 1 12" in a good sized ported box. The subs are:

Phoenix Gold TI12 - 500w RMS

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3055865265&category=18803

MTX Thunder8000 - 400w RMS

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3055755480&category=39778

Pioneer Premier TS-W2000SPL - 750W RMS

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3055149940&category=48615

All of these subs seem to be of good quality, but I haven't personally heard any of them. Could you guys shed some light on which sub will have the best SPL, SQ, and anything else about the subs. I will buy an amp according to the sub, so assume that I will feed them right at their reccomended RMS power. I also plan on going with a large ported box to achieve the best SPL for daily driving situations.

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[Ricktc 10+ year member]

I would go with the Premier, I have seen these get decently loud in the right installs, should be ok with around 900 RMS or slightly more if you are careful. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wave.gif.002382ce7d7c19757ab945cc69819de1.gif

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

of those three, I believe the Pioneer will be the loudest, but I have not heard it H2H against the MTX

 

[Bavarian3 10+ year member]

what about a single 12" RE SE? http://www.respl.com would blow away those subs

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

From what everyone on this board says, the SE is a great sub, but all of the ones I listed are under $120 shipped. How much are these SE's, I can't seem to find the price on the website. Also, is 18mm a pretty large number for one way XMAX? It seems to be pretty good, but nowhere near the huge SPL subs that a lot of people use. The Phoenix Gold TI12 that I listed also has an 18mm XMAX with similar power handling; how do you think these would compare to the SE?

 

[Bavarian3 10+ year member]

From what everyone on this board says, the SE is a great sub, but all of the ones I listed are under $120 shipped. How much are these SE's, I can't seem to find the price on the website. Also, is 18mm a pretty large number for one way XMAX? It seems to be pretty good, but nowhere near the huge SPL subs that a lot of people use. The Phoenix Gold TI12 that I listed also has an 18mm XMAX with similar power handling; how do you think these would compare to the SE?

yes i have 2 10's and theyr sealed and they get crazy loud and sound great. The subs u listed wont come close to the performance of the SE. The sub willl cost more than 120. It will something like 150-170 shipped. call them tomorow for pricing shipped. Thats the only place u get em from.

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

Even the TI12? It has nearly the same specs from what I can see as far as power handling and XMAX. Also, the Pioneer handles more power than the SE. What about the SE makes it so much louder? If I feed the SE about 600w RMS and the TI12 the same, are you saying that the SE will be louder or just have better SQ. I don't mean to question your opinion, I just find it difficult to see that the sub will be waayyy better given the same enclosure and power. I thought that the Phoenix Gold Titanium subs were supposed to be a really nice combination of SPL and SQ and the one I listed is only $120. I thought that would be pretty hard to beat and since I'm going to have to buy a new amp to power whatever sub I get and build or buy a new box, a $50-$70 price difference is quite a bit. Thanks for your help, this makes it much easier for me to choose my new equipment.

 

[Bavarian3 10+ year member]

Even the TI12? It has nearly the same specs from what I can see as far as power handling and XMAX. Also, the Pioneer handles more power than the SE. What about the SE makes it so much louder? If I feed the SE about 600w RMS and the TI12 the same, are you saying that the SE will be louder or just have better SQ. I don't mean to question your opinion, I just find it difficult to see that the sub will be waayyy better given the same enclosure and power. I thought that the Phoenix Gold Titanium subs were supposed to be a really nice combination of SPL and SQ and the one I listed is only $120. I thought that would be pretty hard to beat and since I'm going to have to buy a new amp to power whatever sub I get and build or buy a new box, a $50-$70 price difference is quite a bit. Thanks for your help, this makes it much easier for me to choose my new equipment.

it wont blow away the TI. But in a ported application i would go with the SE. The TI will give u want u want and ull be happy with it though. SE's just do a good job of getting **** loud and sounding good while doing it. heres a link to my setup with 2 10" SE's. http://gallery.caraudio.com/pp/showphoto.php?photo=1993&password=&sort=1&cat=501&page=5

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

With the link Jmac posted, the TI12 is looking pretty darn good. I guess I should ask one more time since its in the same price range, will the Premier 2000SPL or the Thunder8000 outperform the Phoenix Gold? The TI12 has about 8mm more XMAX than either of the others, which to my understanding means that it will push more air when it it is nearing full extension, creating deeper and lounder bass, which is definately what I want. If so, how big of a ported box should I go with for a daily driver? I don't know that much about boxes but from reading many posts on here, it seems like between 2.5 and 3 cu. ft. tuned in the mid 30hz's would be good. Also, is this the sort of application that I'd need a subsonic filtered amp for or is that only over 1000 watts?

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

All right, thanks again for your help Jmac. For the Ti12, what size ported box would get the best results as far as SPL goes? I am willing to sacrifice some SQ if that is neccessary, but I will be using this to just drive around with, so I don't want to build one of the huge comp. boxes that will ruin my sub when I play it loud for a while. It appears that a slot ported box will be the easiest for me to build, so if you could suggest a good box volume and the amount of port area I need to get in the mid 30hz tuning range, I think after looking at many boxes here, I'll be able to get one designed and built.

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

Whoops, sorry, I didn't see the last part of your last post with the box size and comparison chart. Is that program reliable? I thought the TS-W1241 that I have was weak! Would it really get that much louder if I put it in a big ported box? It doesn't have a big Xmax, so would that big of a box make it bottom out? Maybe it just wouldn't get as deep or something? I am really surprised that it is even close to the others.

 

[Bavarian3 10+ year member]

Whoops, sorry, I didn't see the last part of your last post with the box size and comparison chart. Is that program reliable? I thought the TS-W1241 that I have was weak! Would it really get that much louder if I put it in a big ported box? It doesn't have a big Xmax, so would that big of a box make it bottom out? Maybe it just wouldn't get as deep or something? I am really surprised that it is even close to the others.

one thing u have to understand is JMAC is talking about is just SPL. The TI will get nearly as loud as the SE but who knows how good it will sound doing it. Also theres a difference between loudness to the ear and loudness to a mic. The SE puts out deep deep bass, take that in mind.

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

Ok, I understand we are talking about pure SPL when we get into 7 ft. boxes, but could I use the TS-W1241 in a 3 cu. ft. box tuned to 30 something without ruining it? After hearing all of this, I might have to keep this sub and just build a good box and buy a new amp. Would it even be worth it to buy a Ti12 for the Xmax or will the Premier do just as good?

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

7.2 dB is a lot, right? Anyways, the 1.75 cu. ft. box is after displacement, correct? And when you say 17+ port area, does that mean if I go bigger, it will get tuned lower? Finally, in this box, how much power could I safely send the sub? RMS is 500 watts.

 

[FullThrottle7 10+ year member]

Another question: When you say the sub would have a lower mechanical power handling, does this mean I could send it less power to achieve the same results, or does this just mean that the sub would break early on before it got loud? For example, could I make a bigger box and just send the sub less power, or should I make a smaller box and send it more?