Different Size Subs with 2 Different Amps?

[rune2004]

Hey all,

New poster here, but I think this would be a pretty good place to find an answer to something I've been wondering about for a while. This is all theory and I may be fundamentally wrong about some things... but I would like to learn.

I'm wondering if there would be a benefit to having two different sized subwoofers amplified separately to produce two different ranges of bass, therefore benefiting the sound quality of the bass in each of those ranges. A problem I ran into with having two 12" subs in a sealed box was that low and loud bass (such as bass guitars or deep bass in hip-hop/rap/techno) would sound excellent, but bass kicks in rock and metal would be soft and kind of "lost" in the bass guitar's line, and yet are too low for the standard speakers to produce loudly.

My idea is to purchase 2 amps and 2 subs. The amps could be the same, but for the subs I am thinking of an 8" and a 12". My idea for keeping the frequencies separate is to manually set low-pass filter on the 8" subwoofer's amp and a high-pass filter on the 12" subwoofer's amp.

As I stated before, my question is would this setup produce loud and quality-sounding bass in the different frequency ranges? I can't find an instance of someone doing this on the internet, only people asking if they should. From what I can gather however, most people were planning on having them powered by the same amp, which even I know is not a good idea. I would appreciate any feedback or advice, as I am relatively new to car audio.

For reference, this setup will be going in a 1997 Blazer. The Blazer only has all 6.5" door speakers so the bass I have right now is horrid, and I'm somewhat of a bass-head. I replaced the OEM speakers with 2 Pioneer speakers in the rear and 2 Sony Xplod speakers in the front. I don't know if it is bad to mix manufacturers, but I already had a set of 4 Pioneer speakers including 6x9s and needed 2 more 6.5" which forced me to buy a pair of different speakers.

Thanks in advance!

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[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

you can use 2 different subs if they see different freq. it isn't needed if you do your enclosure correctly though.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I would prefer same subs in different size/tuning/alignment boxes. In theory it could work well, but without some good processing power it's more likely to turn into an accoustic nightmare than give you the sound you're really after.

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

some of the high end sq cars do this but for an every day driver just build the enclosure to play flat and you will be fine. Size doesn't determine how it will sound.