Need help selecting 10" subwoofer for my sedan

[september 10+ year member]

Hey guys I'm new here

I recently bought a new car mercedes c230 and am looking to replace the crappy stock sub it came with.

Hoping to find one great 10" subwoofer for up to $200

Do you guys think one 10" would be enough for my car?

The music I listen to is mostly hip hop, house, trance, rock

I guess I'm looking for something with a deeper bass, in my previous car I had 2 12" type r subs and those were decent sounding

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[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

I guess the main question to ask would be for you to "define enough".

If you are looking to blend the subwoofer with your factory setup, one ported 10" sub should easily be able to do it. If this is what you are looking for, a JBL GTO1014 (or GTO1014D) in 1.25 cubic feet tuned to 33 Hz (35 Hz for the 1014D) wouldn't be a bad option. Feed it 350 to 500 watts RMS and you should easily have decent low end extension and blend well with your factory setup. Keep in mind, this is just a general recommendation because there is more than one way to implement a sub in this particular situation!

Of course, if you are looking to wake the dead, play red light bass wars, and have a sub that hits 140 decibels while being way out of balance with the rest of your setup, one 10 may not be enough unless you go with a SPL 10. One down side to those SPL subwoofers is that they have a higher resonant frequency and may not dig down as deep as some like. Another downside is the fact that they require tons of power to get them moving.

Regardless, in your situation being limited to one 10, I'd highly recommend ported over sealed.

 

[JoshC 10+ year member]

i did one ported 10in JBL P1022 in my single cab and honestly its not enough. Its a 1.25cu @ 35hz and sounds decent but meh. I think becuase its as single cab with the port facing away from me its not going to sound good to me. Ide personally say do a single sealed 12, they fit in 1.25cu or so. I just like the punchyness and clarity of sealed. In my opinion ported makes the noise travel farther but not as intense for the car passengers. Sealed makes the bass seem much louder in the car and cant be heard by everyone and there mother. Just my 2 cents

A sundown SA12 is in your price range, has a sealed volume of 1cu //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif bet it would sound great

 

[dross93ranger 10+ year member]

I have a 12" Polk Audio DXI D4 sub for sale...$50 to your door. It got pretty loud in a ported box.

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

if you wanna put where the stock one is now then you would need a good free air woofer that will work in the rear deck for a baffle application ,other wise ported will give you the best bass

 

[september 10+ year member]

No, I'm not doing a free air setup it would take too much work.

The subwoofer doesn't have to be 10" and I would like it flow with my stock speakers, but at the same time be able to at least vibrate the seats! Doesn't need to be a perfect setup

Would the sundown sa12 do that? Any more recommendations for me?

Thank you all for the help!!!

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

it would be fine ,so would a ascendant chaos,dc level 3,skar,xcon

 

[JoshC 10+ year member]

i wanna get 1 icon for my truck, but thats just me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif that alpine amp would push it nicely //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[september 10+ year member]

Since I'm only buying one do I need the 4 ohm or 2 ohm sub?

I'll most likely be buying the SA-12 or VVX-12 btw

 

[zako 10+ year member]

Since I'm only buying one do I need the 4 ohm or 2 ohm sub?I'll most likely be buying the SA-12 or VVX-12 btw

If you have a mono block amplifier or a 5-channel amplifier, both of which are normally 2ohms stable, it makes sense to have a 2ohm setup. If you have a large 4 of 2-channel amplifier that you will be bridging to power subwoofer, then 4ohm setup is necessary.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

BTW, I assume there exist 10 inch subwoofers that could be "enough" for any car, and they can work out better in tigher install areas. However, remember that 10 inch subwoofer has a lot less cone area than a 12 inch subwoofers. So it has a lot less sensitivity, your amplifier has to work harder and the subwoofer cone has to move much longer, increasing distortion at hiver volume levels. So, if you want a lot sound from 10 inch subwoofer, pick one with a lot of xmax and prepare to run a lot of power to it. That's why, unless constrained by install circumstance, I would prefer a 12 inch subwoofers. In terms of which subs to get, perhaps the latest generation Alpine Type-Rs could work? I heard they sound nice for the money and can take lots of abuse.