Tight & Musical subwoofer?

[MCQuad 10+ year member]

Looking for suggestions for a tight, musical sub or subs for my 2002 Ford Explorer. I listen to mostly rock n roll, as well as country. Not much rap or hip hop. When I am listening to my music (such as Aerosmith Sweet Emotion) I want to be able to hear the bass player pluck the strings on his bass. Sound quality is of the most importantance to me. I strongly dislike any boomy or muddy bass. I also do not listen at very high volumes.

I am not sure if I should go with 10's or 12's? I was thinking that a sealed box would give me the best Sound quality, correct? Also, should I go with 1 or 2 subs? I have plenty of space in the back of my Explorer and looks are not a big deal to me. I would like to stay under 275.00 for the sub and amp. I can probably build my own box, not sure though, but I'll look into having a local guy build it based on your recommendations.

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[Tupolev 10+ year member]

Ported boxes with round ports are SQ oriented, slot ports are more geared towards SPL.

Anyways, look used. That's a bit low for both a sub and an amp.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

Sub: Obsidian Car Audio

And you can find a decent 400-500 watts @ 1 ohm amp in the classifieds. (or a 2 channel that does that power @ 4ohm bridged) This should be within budget and sound great.

 

[MCQuad 10+ year member]

Yes I realize that is rather low. I could probably stretch the budget if needed. Any subs you might recommend that are aroumd 200.00 or so for the driver it self? I could probably stretch the budget to 250.00 for the driver only. Any suggestions based on my music preferences?

 

[Tupolev 10+ year member]

Sorry, I'm going to have to withdraw from this thread. My brain just stopped working.

Look at Obsidian. I built a 6th order with the 15 and it sounded great on Dokken's Alone Again & Queensrÿche - I Don't Believe In Love.

It totally killed on Dream Theater's Octavarium album, shining at my favorite song, Glass Prison. I have a man crush on Myung.

Wow, I must of been qq'ing that night.

 

[DoesDad 10+ year member]

I'd get a decent 10 if I were you. IMO they're faster and punchier for rock and country. There's so many SQ subs out there in your price range. You could get an Infinity Perfect with the variable Q for around 190 new off Amazon. You could look at Hertz as well for SQ but they're a bit pricey. Also a real good SQ woofer would be maybe a SD or SA 10 from Sundown. The SD is the lower class and it's rated at 300 rms. Believe me even at 300 watts these woofers are good, tight and loud. And your amp selections are endless. You could get 1000 watt Kenwood for 110 bucks new. 1000 watts is more like 500 rms but good enough for what you want. Well, I was bored. LOL! And I hope this helps. One more sub to look at is a Dayton. Really good low wattage SQ subs IMO.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

According to the music you are talking about, I would choose a speaker with a fairly high FS. Looks like you are really wanting a more heavy mid-bass stage, and a sealed application with a high FS driver would probably get you the response from 40-100 you are desiring. I would maybe just do 1 10, and 300w RMS, then get yourself a decent set of mid-bass drivers along with a 100w 2ch amp for them. This will more than likely obtain the sound you are looking for while staying low budget.

You can always upgrade later.

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

I'd get a decent 10 if I were you. IMO they're faster and punchier for rock and country. There's so many SQ subs out there in your price range. You could get an Infinity Perfect with the variable Q for around 190 new off Amazon. You could look at Hertz as well for SQ but they're a bit pricey. Also a real good SQ woofer would be maybe a SD or SA 10 from Sundown. The SD is the lower class and it's rated at 300 rms. Believe me even at 300 watts these woofers are good, tight and loud. And your amp selections are endless. You could get 1000 watt Kenwood for 110 bucks new. 1000 watts is more like 500 rms but good enough for what you want. Well, I was bored. LOL! And I hope this helps. One more sub to look at is a Dayton. Really good low wattage SQ subs IMO.

Second groan cherry I've taken today lol

OP I have a set of 8's that would do very nicely for your application and budget... PM me if you are interested...

 

[DoesDad 10+ year member]

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[martiandancer31 10+ year member]

it's not just about the driver, it's about the driver/box system. You could take a really good driver like the LMS ultra and make it sound bad if you put it in the wrong box. I'd suggest downloading winISD and modeling lots of known good subwoofers. Look closely at group delay and try to keep it below 8 ms at 40 Hz.

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

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Some of that was ok...

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

it's not just about the driver, it's about the driver/box system.

This. Box and install are more important than equipment being used. But it doesnt hurt to have a low inductance driver to add to the mix.

 

[MCQuad 10+ year member]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I do not know how to use winISD. I was also thinking about an LMS driver but I have no idea of how to design the box for it. Can you or anyone else recommend a place or person to design and possibly even build my enclosure for me? I have also been considering going with an Elemental Designs driver and have them design and build a good cabinet. I have one of their subs in my home theater room and it sounds absolutely amazing.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I do not know how to use winISD. I was also thinking about an LMS driver but I have no idea of how to design the box for it. Can you or anyone else recommend a place or person to design and possibly even build my enclosure for me? I have also been considering going with an Elemental Designs driver and have them design and build a good cabinet. I have one of their subs in my home theater room and it sounds absolutely amazing.

pro-rabbit on here can design and build an enclosure for what ever driver you decide on. He does quality work. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

edit: im dumb

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

for quality bass on a budget, the Dayton reference series is where you need to be! Some of the cleanest subs I've ever heard even compared to subs 3 or 4x their price. dont cost much at all either.

heres the dual voice coil 12" Dayton Audio RSS315HO-44 12" Reference HO DVC Subwoofer 295-467

heres the single voice coil 12" Dayton Audio RSS315HO-4 12" Reference HO Subwoofer 4 Ohm 295-466

and here's the 10s Dayton Audio RSS265HO-4 10" Reference HO Subwoofer 4 Ohm 295-462

as far as sealed vs ported, you can get good SQ from either, its all in the box design. and as far as 10s vs 12s, only difference will be more cone area with a 12 vs a 10, but that will not affect the SQ.