Volume to emulate a small concert venue…

[sizmtrz]

Brand new vehicle likely won't have off-the-shelf kick options and yes, sound bar is probably your best option. Bear in mind if your doors/roof are off or you have a soft top or whatever getting good bass is probably not going to happen for you.

Its all relative I suppose. I'm coming from wranglers too, so I know what to expect with the top down, I'll just keep upping the power and speakers till I'm happy I suppose. LOL

Care to opine regarding your preferred 10"/8"/6.5" subs? Like I said I'm planning on 500-600 wats to the sub. be it a single 10, or multiple 8 /6.5. with the ten I'm limited to about 5.75 in mounting depth. I suppose If I can mount the smaller subs front facing they will have more room to get better subs. Please teach and advise away as to what you think would give the best result! Thank You hispls

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I'll just keep upping the power and speakers till I'm happy I suppose.

That's the spirit!

I'm not really up on 500-600W options but ID Max is tried and true for that tier and the Dayton lineup over to Parts Express seem very popular among the DIY crowd. JL W6 would be great as well but I'd personally be reluctant to spend MSRP on them.

As far as sizing you really should get out the tape measure and ideally even mock something up with cardboard and take a good look at what sort of depth/cone area you can fit before you really start shopping.

 

[sizmtrz]

That's the spirit!

I'm not really up on 500-600W options but ID Max is tried and true for that tier and the Dayton lineup over to Parts Express seem very popular among the DIY crowd. JL W6 would be great as well but I'd personally be reluctant to spend MSRP on them.

As far as sizing you really should get out the tape measure and ideally even mock something up with cardboard and take a good look at what sort of depth/cone area you can fit before you really start shopping.

For the 10" / 8" to have room for excursion, 5.75" is my max mounting depth, the 6.5, since it would be front firing, could go much deeper.

Again, forgive my ignorance as its been a while, but Single/duel band pass sub boxes were all the rage back in the day, the ones where the sub is literally mounted out of view in the middle of a box. Are those not a thing any more?

researching the area behind the back seat, I could likely fit a ultra shallow 12, but I imagine a decent 10, or really good pair of 6.5's would perform better.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Single/duel band pass sub boxes were all the rage back in the day, the ones where the sub is literally mounted out of view in the middle of a box. Are those not a thing any more?

Those fell out of favor for a long time but have been sort of making a comeback over the past several years. 4th order bandpass is the simplest to pull off but is basically a worse sealed box when you boil down performance. You can get some gain (ripple) but not really any place that helps for music listening applications IMO, and if you want one that plays a wide and flat response you're typically going to want to find a sub that will perform well in sealed alignment (which may be easier in the 600W and under power handling category).

6th order can give you good bandwidth AND gain but they're extremely finicky in getting right. You'd need to do your homework to make sure the specs of the sub will allow any reasonable looking response curve and then likely still plan to tweak the box/port as needed to dial it in. I've seen several of these turn out poorly, though on paper and some reports online do show good results for people who put enough time and effort in.

The other weak link about either is that it can become hard to hear/smell warning signs when you're pushing things towards failure points and then when/if you do break a woofer replacing it is going to be a bit less simple since it's buried/hidden in the box. I'd say they'd only really be worth the trouble if you were doing a trunk porting up through a ski hole or up through a rear deck, a blowthrough on a pickup truck, or similar where you are trying to get sound up into the cabin out of a vehicle which doesn't have a more open cargo area to mount a box.

If you have mounting depth issues on your wide side I don't see that sort of box helping you at all assuming we're talking about the sort of thing that could go under a rear seat.

Anyway, a quick google search shows that Sundown SA series, ID Max, and JL W6 are all around 7" mounting depth or a little more. Alpine Type R is 5 7/8 which seems right on the edge of what may or may not fit for you. I'm going to have to pass on suggesting anything with less mounting depth or 6.5" because I just don't have enough experience with 6.5" and have yet to see a "shallow mount" woofer that really impressed me. Not saying they don't exist, just out of the realm I can speak with any experience. I will say that I'd probably lean towards finding a reputable 10" that would make mounting depth over multiple 6.5" woofers.

 

[sizmtrz]

Thanks Dude, every post of yours is a learning experience for me! Its nice to get reinforcing opinions re the 10" choice. based on cost, I was leaning towards a Fox Acoustics enclosure. at 260, its more than half the cost of my alternatives, and its up firing, so I dont need to worry about someone heel pierce my cone! lol

Thank you for all the help and advice!