need advice but don't bother if you hate newbs and cheap off brand BS

[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

Hi Quack. Thanks for the comments. I actually had the wood, screws, paint, caulk, and misc items needed. My 100 dollar budget actually bought the LOC, amp install kit, 24k GM side battery post connector, and a Sirius sat radio kit for my car. Don't feel bad for me. That 85 dollar deal you posted up isn't what I was looking for and wouldn't have left anything left for all of the other equipment I got out of my 100$. Obviously I do not intent to run a 25 dollar sub in this box forever. I built it with the intention of long term durability, a feature I do not expect the Pyle sub to share. I enjoyed building the box and I'm glad I did, but I needed some motivation to get it done. For me, that motivation happened to come in the form of a 25 dollar Pyle sub, that sounds pretty good considering the price tag. I will admit that I have already been looking at the entry level line from Sundown and thinking that would be a nice upgrade next year, of course then I will need more amp and power wire etc...

 

[quackhead 10+ year member]

Hi Quack. Thanks for the comments. I actually had the wood, screws, paint, caulk, and misc items needed. My 100 dollar budget actually bought the LOC, amp install kit, 24k GM side battery post connector, and a Sirius sat radio kit for my car. Don't feel bad for me. That 85 dollar deal you posted up isn't what I was looking for and wouldn't have left anything left for all of the other equipment I got out of my 100$. Obviously I do not intent to run a 25 dollar sub in this box forever. I built it with the intention of long term durability, a feature I do not expect the Pyle sub to share. I enjoyed building the box and I'm glad I did, but I needed some motivation to get it done. For me, that motivation happened to come in the form of a 25 dollar Pyle sub, that sounds pretty good considering the price tag. I will admit that I have already been looking at the entry level line from Sundown and thinking that would be a nice upgrade next year, of course then I will need more amp and power wire etc...

Your options at the $100/sub level expand exponentially, almost. So don't put the binders on just yet. You did good for 100 bucks, since I see the big picture. And yes, porting the box you have will dramatically increase efficiency (output)...if the driver is suited for a ported box that size.

 

[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

It looks good for a low budget system. Are you happy with it? In the end that is all that matters.

I am happy with it. I am still playing with gains adjusting a little each day and trying to better mach bass output to the full range volume. The sub actually does good. I don't know if the Soundaround stuff has improved over the years or what, but I am getting more than I expected from the sub. I noticed that the lows are strong and loud and the higher frequencies fall off very fast, probably due to the large sealed enclosure, right? The old Pioneer 200 watt amp bridged is a good match for this low power sub, I think some people would be surprised if they could sit in the car and hear it. I still think I may play with porting though. I want to design a way to easily switch from ported to sealed. I may cut a square hole in the box and rig up some wooden rails along 3 sides of the hole. I would them have a solid piece of MDF that slides tight into the rails for sealed, then I would have my 3inch/4inch convertible toilet flange mounted in another wooden plate. I would then have the ability to easily switch between sealed, a single 3 inch port, and a single 4 inch port. length adjustable by adding and removing pvc. Sounds like a fun thing to build for me.

 

[quackhead 10+ year member]

try it. I have seen some boxes by Vibe Audio, IIRC that use a flared port that has a plug that fits into the port. It seals by twisting the top cap that is on a threaded bolt ran through solid rubber to a nut/washer assy. Much like the plug in a boat hull.

 

[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

one more interesting thing that may help someone someday. The GM head unit in the car actually delivers RCA level outputs over it's main speaker leads to the amplifier as long as the stock amp is connected. The head unit knows if the stock amp is present or not as they both communicate over the bus that the body control module is connected to. There is a amplifier sensing circuit. When you disconnect the amp, you get head unit speaker level power from the head unit amp. Believe it or not, the HU amp seems much stronger than the factory amp. When a Bose system is present, the factory head unit powers some of the speakers, when there is no Bose package, this factory amp provides the juice. The HU does adjust bass down at the highest volumes, but with the factory amp, it filters the bass out much sooner, before half volume. If you leave the factory amp connected, and splice into the wires that feed it, you have clean rca level signal that is almost unmolested by GM.

 

[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

quack, pvc cap would be easier now that I think about it, may have to glue it on though bc the sub will want it off!

 

[gumby688 10+ year member]

14 more bucks gets you this sub and you will be much happier with it. I have heard nothing but positives about these sub esp for the price.There are some videos around showing how well they do. Do either of your amps have hi-level inputs? you may not need a llc.

 

[drockstar 10+ year member]

You might be surprised how good your OEM stuff would sound with some good, clean power on it.
People don't give their stock stuff a chance. It just gets ripped out.

I agree, I added an amp to some OEM Toyota speakers and was amazed at how much better they sounded. At least try that before you buy something you'll probably be replacing anyway. Car audio is addicting.

 

[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

14 more bucks gets you this sub and you will be much happier with it. I have heard nothing but positives about these sub esp for the price.There are some videos around showing how well they do. Do either of your amps have hi-level inputs? you may not need a llc.

That looks like an amazing buy. WOuld you recommend a Pyramid 5000 watt amp to push this? It would have almost 800 RMS right? jk btw!

 

[ThatChevyGuy 5,000+ posts]

Qpower deluxe 12 will get decently loud and low in that box

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

The one cheap sub that I've had experience with is the 12" Lanzar Max, it really liked a smallish sealed box and sounded surprisingly good for ~$50. We had an Xtant X1001 on a pair and it survived just fine, people thought my buddy had some expensive subs but nope. It didn't get down real low but hey, it's $50 a sub.

I also had that same exact Pioneer amp OP, it can power a entry-level sub just fine. I was running a 12" Cerwin Vega Stealth series and it was pretty decent.

 

[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

Should I port the box with this sub? The sealed box that I showed pictures of on page 3 is around 1.8 cubic ft. (could be 1.7 or 1.9 this is approximate). The specs for the Pyle are:

Fs(Hz) 26.2

Qms 5.81

Qes .90

Qts .78

Vas (cu ft) 4.146

Is this a candidate for porting? My feeble attempts at the math led me to believe that a 3 inch port 11 inches long would be a good place to start. I don't trust my calculations at all though.

 

[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

whipped this up today, should tune my box to 33hz, will see how it goes. very happy with my 25 dollar sub so far but am planning on a powerbass 12 M series next year.

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[aRandomUserName 10+ year member]

I ported my box and repositioned it in the trunk. It is a lot louder and I now have a lot of interior rattles to track down. I think I have gone as far as my 25 dollar pyle sub can take me with this new design. I can't imagine extracting any more bass than this from it. Can't use the rearview mirror much when it's turned up and if I open the trunk and crank it up, it actually gives just a tad bit of that chest flutter feeling. I keep day dreaming about what a power bass m124d would sound like in this box, the box matches their recommendation perfectly.