Skar EVL or DD redline 600?

[Douglas44]

Looking to put my first system in my Jeep Wrangler 4 dr. Went to a local audio shop and they were trying to set me up with 12” DD redline 600 series and a DD 1000 amp and everything else I need installed for $1300. I saw Skar has a package deal with 12” EVL with enclosure, amp and wiring kit for $480 which seems like a great deal. Not looking to spend a fortune but also don’t want to be disappointed, I’m new and clueless so I would live thoughts and advice

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[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Skarbage.

 

[Douglas44]

Skarbage.

What about DD?

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

What about DD?

Good stuff but $1300 is insane for a redline 12 and 1000 watt amp.

You have a list of what they were including for that price?

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

The DD is much better than Skar

 

[Computer_Nurd26]

I don’t have any experience with Digital Design but at that price point have you considered looking at any of the JL components? I had a 500/1 paired with 2 12w3s installed in a standard cab truck back in 2001. Three vehicles and 19 years later the JL subs and amp still pound like new. JL components are on the higher end of the price spectrum but they make quality equipment.

 

[Chadwic1]

Good stuff but $1300 is insane for a redline 12 and 1000 watt amp.

You have a list of what they were including for that price?

I got 4 skar evl 15s an let me tell you..skarbage?? Thats just his opinion! I've had the svr,ddx,sdr,vfx. Vfx is my favorite so far. The ddx goes hard to but I was just able to afford 4 evl 15s for 1000$ running them on a taramps bass8k now an holy **** bro! If you would get the d4 version. Half ohm them. Itd be serious. 12s too.. the ddx 12s bang i had 6 on a bass 5k, taramps little underpowered. But my oh my. Dont let other ppl tell you about there bad experiences..some things in life you gotta see for yourself bro..

 

[Chadwic1]

I got 4 skar evl 15s an let me tell you..skarbage?? Thats just his opinion! I've had the svr,ddx,sdr,vfx. Vfx is my favorite so far. The ddx goes hard to but I was just able to afford 4 evl 15s for 1000$ running them on a taramps bass8k now an holy **** bro! If you would get the d4 version. Half ohm them. Itd be serious. 12s too.. the ddx 12s bang i had 6 on a bass 5k, taramps little underpowered. But my oh my. Dont let other ppl tell you about there bad experiences..some things in life you gotta see for yourself bro..

 

[Chadwic1]

Chad Wargo
Youtube look me up! You'll see wat i got going on.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I don’t have any experience with Digital Design but at that price point have you considered looking at any of the JL components? I had a 500/1 paired with 2 12w3s installed in a standard cab truck back in 2001. Three vehicles and 19 years later the JL subs and amp still pound like new. JL components are on the higher end of the price spectrum but they make quality equipment.

Digital designs are competition level stuff winning world titles for SPL.

I got 4 skar evl 15s an let me tell you..skarbage?? Thats just his opinion! I've had the svr,ddx,sdr,vfx. Vfx is my favorite so far. The ddx goes hard to but I was just able to afford 4 evl 15s for 1000$ running them on a taramps bass8k now an holy **** bro! If you would get the d4 version. Half ohm them. Itd be serious. 12s too.. the ddx 12s bang i had 6 on a bass 5k, taramps little underpowered. But my oh my. Dont let other ppl tell you about there bad experiences..some things in life you gotta see for yourself bro..

You gotta experience other brands too before thinking skar is all that.. they really cheaped out on motor strength tbh. Theres a reason why they dont win lanes in nationals

 

[Methyl Mike]

Speaking only from personal experience I do not believe skar is 100% honest with their subwoofer ratings and specs. My svr12 I bought from Amazon brand new in the box. I built a 1.75 slot ported enclosure exactly built to spec and also threw it in a sealed enclosure roughly 1.2~1.3 cu ft and also tinkered with putting blocks of mdf in the sealed box and plugging up the ported box anything and everything trying to get this thing to sound good (I am a bit of a snob when it comes to SQ but nonetheless.) I am powering with jx1000/1 from JL audio.

This sub first of all is not accepting anything remotely close to 800 watts rms. I clamped it and in the sealed box mind you it begins to distort at anything north of about 300 watts. I can hear the distortion. You could probably throw more power at it and not burn up the voice coil but to me personally if a sub is advertised as handling 800 watts rms I expect to get that performance without massive distracting distortion. The svr12 is more like a 300 to 350watts rms sub.

I assume this is why on skars website all the shills posting their phony reviews say GO PORTED! ITS A BEAST! IT SHAKES MY NEIGHBORS DISHES! I suppose their target market are teenagers who blast rap as loud as they can and can't tell the diff between something that sounds actually good vs crap. The sub is also very slow, it sounds OK on some rap that has rolling bass but anything with a best or any punch at all it sounds slow and shitty. Mind you even if the bass is slow enuf for the svr to keep up it only likes certain frequencies! Regardless of the enclosure!

The sad part is it's not like the svr is skars entry sub it's not old and the one I have is not defective. It's the best skar can do. And that right there says a lot. Comparing skar to digital designs is an outrage. As near to Sonic blasphemy as I have ever seen.

Just my opinion though.

 

[SlugButter]

DD all day long. Skar cannot compete with DD in any capacity. Skar isn’t the worst equipment out there, but they just aren’t on DDs level. DD is also American made, which is a nice bonus.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

DD is also American made, which is a nice bonus.

Redline series is NOT but DD sells a premium product and I'd expect your local retailer/installer will take care of you assuming you've vetted that shop as being good.

The Skar subwoofers I've seen around the area are nothing special apart from trying to look like Sundown. They're not great performers for their price even in the basket of bargain priced Chinese cookie cutter gear, and the owner has done some shady stuff in the past which is honestly the reason for much of the hate he gets around here.

That all said, instead of getting two 10" DD600s I'd suggest getting 1 700 12" or whatever. Go down to one sub, the next size up and into the 700 (cast basket) series. I've seen the 700s in action and they're really good. Make sure your shop builds the box to DD spec and they will deliver the goods. Their amps have a solid track record of being very reliable as well.

Don't listen to the guys telling you whatever you're looking to spend is too much. If you don't have the time, ability, or inclination to DIY install and don't want to worry about what to do if something goes wrong there's a lot of value in a brick and mortar retailer/installer and I can assure you it isn't cheap to keep the lights on in a commercial building and pay for good help. Obviously not all shops are great but the established ones are usually worth their asking price.

 

[Methyl Mike]

Redline series is NOT but DD sells a premium product and I'd expect your local retailer/installer will take care of you assuming you've vetted that shop as being good.

The Skar subwoofers I've seen around the area are nothing special apart from trying to look like Sundown. They're not great performers for their price even in the basket of bargain priced Chinese cookie cutter gear, and the owner has done some shady stuff in the past which is honestly the reason for much of the hate he gets around here.

That all said, instead of getting two 10" DD600s I'd suggest getting 1 700 12" or whatever. Go down to one sub, the next size up and into the 700 (cast basket) series. I've seen the 700s in action and they're really good. Make sure your shop builds the box to DD spec and they will deliver the goods. Their amps have a solid track record of being very reliable as well.

Don't listen to the guys telling you whatever you're looking to spend is too much. If you don't have the time, ability, or inclination to DIY install and don't want to worry about what to do if something goes wrong there's a lot of value in a brick and mortar retailer/installer and I can assure you it isn't cheap to keep the lights on in a commercial building and pay for good help. Obviously not all shops are great but the established ones are usually worth their asking price.

Out of curiosity how much would you expect a professionally built to spec box to cost? Is there a price difference between enclosures?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Out of curiosity how much would you expect a professionally built to spec box to cost? Is there a price difference between enclosures?

It has been many years since I bought one....actually it was mostly trade but cash/trade was over 400$ (a triple stack Fi BTL 18 + 75 or 100$ cash IIRC) It is rather telling that the guy who made it (used to build a lot of boxes in the northeast) stopped doing it about 8 years ago. Even at those prices I guess it's not a license to print money. That said, that was a somewhat large box for 2 15s so you might save a bit on something smaller, but again, you're talking about a skilled tradesman with a pile of money tied up into a woodshop, probably 3-4 hours of labor plus materials (and the price of lumber is absurd right now).

I definitely can't vouch for anybody else but the guy I paid/traded gave me a very high quality solid and good performing box. No comparison to some Chinese made prefab. After I retired it I gave it to a buddy of mine who owns a shop who painted it, fixed up some cosmetic issues I had caused, ran it himself for a year or so, then still sold it to one of his customers.

Really I don't know of anybody even doing it anymore (certainly nobody active on this board) and if I were to try to go into business for myself building boxes I wouldn't even begin to guess where to start pricing them so that I could keep the lights on and make a living.