Sealed Setup - JL 12w3v3 or Sundown SA12 or ?

[myn 10+ year member]

I'm finally putting a system into my Bimmer and wanted some logical sound advice on some of my assumptions/decisions.

One of the main goals for this build is an almost stealth system, hiding away any components with the only thing in clear site being the subwoofers. I also need to make use of the trunk so large enclosures unfortunately are out. I would like a blend of SQ and SPL with a 50% emphasis on each. With that said here are my strict requirements.

Requirements:

Car: BMW E92 Coupe (335i/328i)

Enclosure Alignment: Sealed (Can't do ported //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif )

Enclosure chamber max size: .93 cu feet per with a max of 2 chambers

Amplifier Power: 1200 watts RMS (limited by space requirements)

Subwoofer Driver Budget: $350

I can run dual subwoofers or a single but again limited to 1200 watts RMS. Can only run a 10 or a 12, 15 will not fit unfortunately //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

I've seen a TON of hype around the Sundown products and had originally planned on running either 2 SA10's or 2 SA12s. I did some modelling in WinISD and it appears in a sealed alignment on 1200 watts they won't meet my SPL requirements. This is most definitely attributed to their extremely inefficient rating of 83.21db. They appear to perform about average in a sealed enclosure but not better then the 12w3's given my power constraints.

In contrast, I also modeled a JL 12w3v3 which subsequently is about 4db more sensitive (87.15db). So doing the math I would need double the power on the Sundowns to get the same amount of output that the JL 12w3's are achieving.

And for kicks I modeled the Sundown SA12 in a ported alignment shown in the graph in green

Sealed Sundown SA12 = Orange

Sealed JL 12w3v3 = Blue

Ported Sundown SA12 (tuned to 35hz) = green

The graph below models each subwoofer in their ideal recommended enclosure, each given 500 watts for sake of consistency.

I am looking forward to hearing peoples recommendations and opinions. I'm not locked down to 12's, 10's would work too. Just please keep in my my goals and recommendations in mind.

Thanks

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[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Look into some beefy 8's in a ported box. I'm in the same boat as you with still needing my trunk and wanting 50/50 on SQ/SPL. The best routes in my opinion that I have seen so far is either 2 8's or a single good 12. Takes about the same space depending on what driver you choose. I'm looking at getting either the new Cadence

S2W8's or the Sundown SA-8's V.2. I will be running my setup on about the same power also. But ported will fulfill my SPL wants and they can still sound good while doing it. 2 beefy 8's will also easily fit into the $350 budget

I also had a set of JL W3's before and I honestly wasn't impressed with the output of them. They sound good and were tight but didnt have the really deep bass that hits you in the chest that I was hoping for. Always sounded a little bit hollow in my opinion

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

so you have 1200w and how much space 1 cube 1.5 cubes,3 cubes?

modeling the sub on a computer program will not tell you how the sub will perform in car.

for instance model up a pair of kicker comp 4ohm wired in parallel for 2ohm and 950w the computer prolly woundnt break 100db yet in my truck termlab will prove the system to do a 138 consistently at 34hz

now if space allows i would run a pair of sundowns in a 3cube sealed box on the 1200w

if space is to limited run 1 in 1.5cubes sealed on 600w

the larger box will make up for the less efficient design of a sealed enclosure, not enough to be as loud as the ported but enough to keep your low end stable

the w3 is going to be quiet compared to the sundown and the sundown can be just as linear in a well designed box. even though the efficiency rating is higher. that rating means very little for in car performance.

if space is of extreme concern 10s might work better for your situation.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

scratch that i would do two sundown 10s in 1 cube a piece or .93 "close enough" on the giving 1200w would perform quite well extend down to 28hz with ease which is generally needed for sq installs

if your door speakers can handle it i recommend crossing them in the 60-70hz range so you can lower the lowpass on the subs to around the same this will keep the bass from becoming unruly at frequencies that tend to be peaky and make it easy to over power highs

 

[myn 10+ year member]

Good suggestion on the 10s. I just can't ignore the low sensitivity rating of the Sundown SA's though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif.

I made a mistake in my home theater previously building inefficient subwoofers and needing an enormous amount of power to get them relatively loud. I have since changed to a 110DB/sensitive folded horn which will meet reference levels with less then 50 watts.

Is anyone running Sundown SA's sealed? All I see are posts about their ported setup.

New graph below, my gut is still telling me go with the JL's.

Blue = 2 JL 10W3V3 - 1.25 cu total - 1000 watts

Orange = 2 Sundown SA10 - 1 cu foot total - 1000 watts

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

Why does it have to SA's? I think the E's model up way better sealed.

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

do one really nice 12 with that kind of power and im not a big fan of the sa's sealed, they are amazing ported

ICON-12 D2

one icon will be really nice ported or sealed

or dc level 4 would be really nice ported also

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Good suggestion on the 10s. I just can't ignore the low sensitivity rating of the Sundown SA's though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif.
I made a mistake in my home theater previously building inefficient subwoofers and needing an enormous amount of power to get them relatively loud. I have since changed to a 110DB/sensitive folded horn which will meet reference levels with less then 50 watts.

Is anyone running Sundown SA's sealed? All I see are posts about their ported setup.

New graph below, my gut is still telling me go with the JL's.

Blue = 2 JL 10W3V3 - 1.25 cu total - 1000 watts

Orange = 2 Sundown SA10 - 1 cu foot total - 1000 watts

only thing is in car the efficiency rating wont be noticed but maybe try modeling the ssa icon 10, dcon 10, maybe boston acoustic subs personally i dont care for jl's price to performance ratio.