Car Audio Competition OG Coming Out Of Retirement. Make Me A Champ Again!

[CRSO 10+ year member]

Hey Fellas,

I'm a car audio OG that retired... I used to compete in SPLs a long time ago. I moved to Manhattan 10 years ago and have been carless ever since, UNTIL NOW! I recently bought a house in suburbia and finally have a driveway so I don't have to worry about my system getting jacked.

I'm grabbing myself an 06 Escalade and my 5 year old daughter needs to feel some extreme bass. My wife also wants her ears destroyed so I'm gonna take care of that for them. The 1st thing I'm going to do is subs and I'll upgrade the mid / high frequency ish at a later time...

Until then, please school me on the new jack subs and amps... I come from the Eclipse / MB Quart / Rockford Era. I know the game changed.

10 years ago I leased a car... I didn't want to do much but add some bass. I got a 12W7 HO box (via 200.00, don't ask) and used my 90's RF Power 1000 and I was ok with that bass in a Jetta.

My current situation is that I'm looking for plug and play as far as the subs go... That's why the JL HO box is appealing to me. I know JL Audio in general is voodoo because JL IS OVERPRICED!!! Are there any other subs sold with the boxes tuned properly that I'm not aware of? I am not interested in a sealed box...

I can build another box if necessary but I don't have that much time. I'm looking for something better for the money than a 12W7 HO Box with a 1000/1 Slash amp.

1. Need an amp (or amps)

2. Need a sub setup

3. Need a Battery (Kinetic?) - I used Optima

3. Wiring - I used Stinger and Streetwires

Hook the OG up folks! Many thanks...

Click to read more...

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

DC, DD, Sundown, SSA, Audio Technix, Knu Konceptz, Incriminator Audio, XS Power, just to name a few, search is your friend.

 

[cyn 10+ year member]

Subs: Obsidian Audio / Skar Audio / Digital Design / Sundown Audio etc.. etc..

Amps: Memphis / Digital Design / Sundown etc.. etc..

 

[cyn 10+ year member]

Subs: Obsidian Audio / Skar Audio / Digital Design / Sundown Audio etc.. etc..

Amps: Memphis / Digital Design / Sundown etc.. etc..

 

[JoshC 10+ year member]

SSA just dropped the GCON(sub), seriously looks mean 750wrms 3in coil. Get any good 1K mono amp. look at sundown, lanzar opti(optis only), audioque, digital designs

ps- Eclipse is STILL the shit, even if my amp is a decade old //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[CRSO 10+ year member]

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for... Wow there are some names that are all new to me.

I know search is my friend but this was more of an introduction of myself to the forums. I wish there were

Car Audio forums in 1995.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

Skar Audio offers a great deal for Subs + custom ported enclosure. Check them out in the vendors section here. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif They also offer amps, so maybe you can get it all in one place.

 

[CRSO 10+ year member]

The Digital Design stuff seems promising from what I've read...

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

The Digital Design stuff seems promising from what I've read...

Their stuff is good, but pricey. You'll definitely need to build your own box, but as far as stuff for serious competition that's actually in production they're up at the top of the food chain.

Be careful when you shop, many of the companies that were producing good stuff in '95 have changed and now produce low end junk. Soundstream, MB Quart, Orion to name a few. Rockford still makes some good amps, but by the time you get into anything they make worth owning you're out a lot more money than you need to be to get to the same place. Even US Amps went down the toilet after '99.

Most of the brands you never heard of that people will throw out all have pretty comparable stuff. Important thing to do is pick a company that will give you good customer service.

 

[CRSO 10+ year member]

Their stuff is good, but pricey. You'll definitely need to build your own box, but as far as stuff for serious competition that's actually in production they're up at the top of the food chain.
Be careful when you shop, many of the companies that were producing good stuff in '95 have changed and now produce low end junk. Soundstream, MB Quart, Orion to name a few. Rockford still makes some good amps, but by the time you get into anything they make worth owning you're out a lot more money than you need to be to get to the same place. Even US Amps went down the toilet after '99.

Most of the brands you never heard of that people will throw out all have pretty comparable stuff. Important thing to do is pick a company that will give you good customer service.

Thank you for the info... Wow, US amps were prett good too.

I just noticed that DD was somewhat pricey but that 9500 is some serious ish... I'm gonna do some more searching... If DD made a box for the 9500, I'd be all over it. I've built a few good boxes but I'm so back logged with stuff around the house that just wiring up the truck will take up a lot of time I don't have.

I'm gonna keep looking for a prebuilt solution... I can get a W7 12" in their box for only 300.00. I'm wondering if I should just go that route. JL is ok quality but way overpriced. No way in hell I'd pay even 500 for the setup nevermind the 700 they want.

If I go that route, maybe I'll do a Memphis or DD amp. I ran a 3 ohm W7 with a RF Power 1000 and it pushed it nicely.

I noticed that you were from cape cod. I grew up in Boston (Lynn/Revere).

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

Dude, I was right where you are about 3 years ago. I was like, "Who the hell are all of these '2 letter' companies!?" It was all Punch 45's, Red Orion 50w, sealed enclosures, etc. when I got out of the game. I got it figured out though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Do you plan to get back into competition?

Nobody make a really legit SPL loaded enclosure (that I can think of) because today's subs and power would rip that BS apart.

So, tell us... how much of your cargo area are you willing to give up? How much power would you like to run? 2k is pretty much standard now-a-days.

Are you working with a JL HO enclosure and 1000/1 budget?

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

Side note... I was actually planning on building an all old school system, but I very quickly realized that the OS gear just can NOT keep up with today's stuff.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Thank you for the info... Wow, US amps were prett good too.
I just noticed that DD was somewhat pricey but that 9500 is some serious ish... I'm gonna do some more searching... If DD made a box for the 9500, I'd be all over it. I've built a few good boxes but I'm so back logged with stuff around the house that just wiring up the truck will take up a lot of time I don't have.

I'm gonna keep looking for a prebuilt solution... I can get a W7 12" in their box for only 300.00. I'm wondering if I should just go that route. JL is ok quality but way overpriced. No way in hell I'd pay even 500 for the setup nevermind the 700 they want.

If I go that route, maybe I'll do a Memphis or DD amp. I ran a 3 ohm W7 with a RF Power 1000 and it pushed it nicely.

I noticed that you were from cape cod. I grew up in Boston (Lynn/Revere).

DD 95 series are good at getting loud and the composite cones can handle obscene power levels without shredding.

W7 in a spec box for 300$ is a fair price. It should hold you over til you have time to build a proper box and get loud. Of course all the really powerful amps these days to max power to 1 ohm or even .5 ohm so the 3 ohm coil on the W7 leaves you few good options for amps (besides theirs conveniently enough for them).

DD amps are very much competition oriented, for the most part they do big power into very low impedence. I'm not too impressed with Memphis except for a couple things. Audioque, Sundown, DC, American Bass, Atomic, Crescendo, DD, Incriminator, Cactus, Crescendo, are all popular amps worth looking at. there are a few others that are very similar boards/designs, and many of those are pretty similar to eachother. Top end Rockford amp line is nice. The larger Kicker amps are pretty solid as well... I don't think US Amps is terrible, just not what they used to be... pre-99 is pretty much what the old school fans go for. Precision Power is pretty much a lost cause too these days.

You should have saved your old Power 1000, those are pretty classic.

Speaking of things that have gone down hill, if you ever get back to North Shore, Lynn should pretty much be avoided. I know it was nothing nice in the 90's, and it hasn't improved...

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/skar-audio/531993-%2A2%2A-skar-vvx-12s-custom-ported-box-%2A%2Aspecial%2A%2A-%24389-99-shipped.html

amazing deal for 2 skar subs and a custom made box for the subs, they get extremely low and sound amazing. get 2 d4's and a nice amp and you are set

AQ1200D Amplifier

REFURBISHED CADENCE Z1200 CLASS D 2400 WATT COMPETITION MONOBLOCK CAR AMPLIFIER | eBay

SK-1500.1 SKAR AUDIO AMP 3000W MAX CAR SUBWOOFER SPEAKER BASS AMPLIFER SK15001 | eBay

MMATS Amplifier Class D D1600.0 1ohm stable | eBay

this would be my choice, still american made in florida, amazing amps

MMATS Pro Audio 1400.1D | eBay

(-NEW-) American Bass VFL 100.1 Competition Mono Amp 1500 Watts RMS W/ Bass Knob | eBay

all great amps

 

[CRSO 10+ year member]

Dude, I was right where you are about 3 years ago. I was like, "Who the hell are all of these '2 letter' companies!?" It was all Punch 45's, Red Orion 50w, sealed enclosures, etc. when I got out of the game. I got it figured out though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
Do you plan to get back into competition?

Nobody make a really legit SPL loaded enclosure (that I can think of) because today's subs and power would rip that BS apart.

So, tell us... how much of your cargo area are you willing to give up? How much power would you like to run? 2k is pretty much standard now-a-days.

Are you working with a JL HO enclosure and 1000/1 budget?

Haha, yeah this is so true! DC, DD, s*&t. Orion, Lanzar, RF, Kicker, Precision Power, Dr. Crankenstein, etc...

I may get back into competition but until then, I need car bass... Home audio isn't cutting it. I am also a producer so I can kick back and listen to HQ on my Dynaudio BM6a's but there is no SPL in anything but a car/truck cabin. I guess I'll work on building a box or getting a custom built one.

Oh, it's going in an Escalade and I will be dedicating the entire cargo area to subs. I'm going to fire them forward so I can still put family crap on top for when we go on trips etc... It will be a stealth install. I'm going to start with 2k.

As far as budget, I'd like to keep the subs and amp under a grand. 500 for the JL setup is nicer but I'm slowly getting blown away by the DC subs the more I research.