Help me Convince my friend he's making a bad choice

[Torgus 10+ year member]

ok my friend has a 06 civic hybrid with 75k miles on it.

he wants to put 2 12'' JL w3s in a sealed box in the trunk and obviously power them with an amp. i think he's thinking about a hifonics that does 1600rms at 1ohm or something but that's besides the point.

i keep telling him it's a bad idea as his car is a hybrid and putting electrical strain on that car would be stupid. also i assume him alternator is puny.

can you guys give me concrete facts or personal experiences with hybrids and why he shouldn't install a big *** amp to power the woofers? i'm sure a small system would be fine...

i have a 10'' explode in a small sealed box and a small amp i was going to let him borrow i thought that would add enough as his stock speakers blow arse and those JLs would overpower them...

or tell me i'm wrong.

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[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

The w3's would be fine I would imagine. Thing is, why the big arse amp? IIRC, aren't those W3's only 300rms a piece? He would be drastically over powering them with that amp. I suggest a nice 750rms amp, should suffice.

 

[SVT RELAMPAGO 10+ year member]

The w3's would be fine I would imagine. Thing is, why the big arse amp? IIRC, aren't those W3's only 300rms a piece? He would be drastically over powering them with that amp. I suggest a nice 750rms amp, should suffice.

x2 i had 2 w3 seald with a mtx 1502 pro and it got the job done well so yeah thats to much power for them subs

 

[MSW Danny 10+ year member]

if he runs that amp at 4 ohms it should fine but finding a smaller amp like 600-700w rms shouldn't put much strain on his car

 

[ssj2xxgotenxx 10+ year member]

I don't think he'll have any problems with the system your describing in his hybrid. I also can't see how you can make that assumption. What are you? some sort of Hybrid expert?

 

[Torgus 10+ year member]

ok. his battery is uber small #1

it's a 1.4l with a small alt #2

electronics control the whole car.

to me it seems like throwing on a system would be a bad idea.

would an amp drain only from the starter bat or from the main engine powering batt.?

it just seems like a bad idea to me.

anyone have actual experience?

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

ok. his battery is uber small #1it's a 1.4l with a small alt #2

electronics control the whole car.

to me it seems like throwing on a system would be a bad idea.

would an amp drain only from the starter bat or from the main engine powering batt.?

it just seems like a bad idea to me.

anyone have actual experience?

If it is a hybrid I guarantee his battery is not uber small

 

[Torgus 10+ year member]

If it is a hybrid I guarantee his battery is not uber small

his starter battery is small...

 

[Torgus 10+ year member]

so basically it's fine to add a system to a hybrid civic and nothign else should be done?

edit:i took a brief look and didn't see an alt in the engine bay today...

 

[fishinfool88]

Don't hybrids use an alternator and the brakes to recharge or some weird shit? I overheard someone talking about it, but I really have no idea.

 

[socaliguy81 10+ year member]

I would just suggest using an all digital amp but go with 2 12w0's instead.. they are way more efficient than class a/b amps and shouldn't put too much of a strain on the electrical system.

 

[thaster 10+ year member]

im amazed he put 75000 miles on it in 2 years. thats like driving 100+ miles a day. Car must be really good on gas.

 

[80INCHES 5,000+ posts]

tell him to do it

2 jl w3's on hifonics 1600(1200 real world watts)

is good just port the subs and be good 2 go

80

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

Why the need for 2 12's if he's going to keep the (as you stated) crappy stock speakers? Does he just want to add some depth to the music?

If so, then how about a CA600 amp, this sub (one VC per amp channel), this enclosure, and this wiring all for about $275ish shipped?

The amp comes with the high-level speaker input adapter, so integrating it shouldn't be a hassle.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

The size of the amp doesn't really matter. What matters is how everything is set. It's always better to have a bigger amp incase he wants to upgrade subs later on.