Different size subs?

[krony]

I was having issues w/ a pioneer champion series sub I bought for my wife. It was not hitting as expected at all. I built a 2.45 ft3 ported box. Long story short. She had 2 10" kickers, she wanted more bass, so I took the 10's out and threw in the 12. Not even I was happy w/ the performance, figured "it is what it is." I figured it was the box. My wife talks me into throwing all three subs in together since I was gonna build a new box.

So I built the box for all three subs. 1.75 ft3 ported for the sub... still sucked. The 10's running under powered off a generic amp @ 4 ohms justed creamed the 12 running off an alpine @ 2 ohms. I take the car to a stereo shop, the guy comes out to see what's up and looks at me like a crackhead. Is there anything wrong w/ running different size subs in one car? Is this not practical? I've noticed the difference between the lows of the 12 and the respsonsiveness of the 10's.

As for the 12, it was a manufacture defect. Pioneer is currently shipping me a new sub.

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[BLD 25 10+ year member]

Welcome to the forum. No, in general it is not a good idea to run different size subs, and/or different models. If pure volume is all you are looking for, then maybe so, but you will get cancellation, and it will sound terrible. Try your new sub in a correct box, with correct wattage, and see how that makes you feel. The old myth of 15" subs being sloppy, and 10" subs being punchy with no low end is purely a myth. REsearch here and learn a great deal. I hope you find what you are looking for, but don't be surprised if others here are not as nice as I am.

 

[LoggedOut 10+ year member]

Welcome to the forum. No, in general it is not a good idea to run different size subs, and/or different models. If pure volume is all you are looking for, then maybe so, but you will get cancellation, and it will sound terrible. Try your new sub in a correct box, with correct wattage, and see how that makes you feel. The old myth of 15" subs being sloppy, and 10" subs being punchy with no low end is purely a myth. REsearch here and learn a great deal. I hope you find what you are looking for, but don't be surprised if others here are not as nice as I am.

QFT (Quoted for Truth) thats actually the perfect explanation of the site and your problem. touche BLD!

 

[Xprime4 10+ year member]

R u a crackhead?

jk, but one 12 pionner champion vs 2 kicker 10 ain't fair. The kickers will be louder. Champion line are the entry subs of pioneer. The box seems bigger than what they recommand too. What is it tuned at?

 

[Skip01 5,000+ posts]

Honestly, even when I first started in car audio and really knew nothing about it. It still never crossed my mind to put 2 diff size subs in same car, much less running off 2 diff amps.

I can't begin to imagine how weird that sounded.

I'm speechless at the moment

 

[krony]

Ok, well that explains the look. As to answer a few questions: The box is channelled to seperate the 10's from the 12. The 12 is ported and the 10's share the same sealed channel. I'm not sure what you mean by cancelation. If they share the same airspace in the box, then I don't have to worry about that. The same 12 the guy had on display at the shop was in a ported 2 ft3 box off a 300w amp. And it did hit A LOT harder than the 12 in the car. While the guy was playing w/ the gains, trying to figure it out he says, "It's almost like one voice coil isn't working."

When he was adjusting my gains for me the first time, he'd turn down the 12 then adjust the 10's and vice versa. I like to listen to rock and hip hop. I'd just adjust the bass at the deck according to the music. Each time he'd turn one down to adjust the other, I noticed different tones. Pink Floyd for example sounds really awesome. But if it's going to be an issue, I'll just lop off the 12 at the box and toss it to a friend.

Xprime4, as far as tuned I have know idea. (Just something else I'm gonna have to research here.) All I know is the amps are set to LPF.

15's being sloppy and 10's being responsive...... I've heard of that. But what I was more interested in was the tones.

Thanks guys for the input.

 

[SentraStyle 10+ year member]

Honestly, even when I first started in car audio and really knew nothing about it. It still never crossed my mind to put 2 diff size subs in same car, much less running off 2 diff amps.
I can't begin to imagine how weird that sounded.

I'm speechless at the moment

Yeah, and I'm sure you never thought of using a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket as an enclosure or cutting a hole in the cardboard box the sub came in to use that as a sub box either...but it happens with noobs (and mexicans...no offense to any mexicans out there, but in my area that's how they roll).

But yeah...stick with one size/brand of sub. It'll make your life a lot easier.