What setup for music

[Bluecarz77]

Hey guys i am in the middle of building a stereo in my hatch car, have the big 4 done, 3500w rms amp, dual batts and a few sub combos i am curious about. I wanna play loud music and have a few diff sub options, was wondering if a single 2-2.5k rms 12 ( not sure what brand its totally custom and gotta build it) would be good for loud music or dual 750w rms sundown audio 10s. Amp in the pic is not the one im using. Will be using a 3.5k 1 ohm stetsom vulcan

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[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Hey guys i am in the middle of building a stereo in my hatch car, have the big 4 done, 3500w rms amp, dual batts and a few sub combos i am curious about. I wanna play loud music and have a few diff sub options, was wondering if a single 2-2.5k rms 12 ( not sure what brand its totally custom and gotta build it) would be good for loud music or dual 750w rms sundown audio 10s. Amp in the pic is not the one im using. Will be using a 3.5k 1 ohm stetsom vulcan

Really a little vague to really help out. Generally speaking, dual 10's at the same efficiency have a greater cone area than a single 12, so there's that. Two 10's with half the power will still outdo a single 12 given twice the power. So we know whatsub amp you'll be using,a vulcan 3.5k, so 3500 watts at 1 ohm - lots of 10" options that fit that bill. These are sale from NVZ right now and are pretty darn good. Dual 4 ohmm VC wired to 2, then paralleled to the amp at 1ohm.

VCW104v3 1600W Peak (800W RMS) 10" VC-Series v3 Dual 4-Ohm Subwoofer

Product Details: 10" Dual 4-ohm VC-Series Car Subwoofer Power Handling: Peak: 1600 watts watts RMS: 800 watts watts Recommended Power Range: 650 - 800W RMS Impedance: Dual 4 ohm Carbon Fiber dust cap Pressed paper cone with carbon fiber top Custom High Roll Foam Surround with Nylon Stitching...

nvx.com

In one of these boxes and you're set on the subs.

10" Dual High Output XL Glue it & Screw It Sub Enclosure

GP Car Audio is a manufacturer of many USA Made ðºð¸ car audio products. We are also a distributor for several top Audio brands including Sundown Audio, XS Power, and Deaf Bonce.

gpcaraudio.com

Now, for the OTHER stuff!

Make, model, trim and year of the car/truck?
What is the OEM stereo and are you planning on keeping that HU or getting a new one?
What other speakers/amps are you considering for the rest of the car?
What if anything has been done for the electrical system?

What is the budget?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I'd make sure you have the biggest alt you can fit, that's a lot of power. Music has many impedance changes due to wide frequencies played that cause stresses on the amp, so having good 12v juice fed into the amp will help it deal with stresses better. So will having the proper box design for how you want to listen to your music. Bad box design with music can really cause amp and sub problems that translate into electrical and bandwidth/peak problems.

What I would do first is figure out how much space you can use for your sub box, and figure out what's the best combo of woofers and sizes and all that'll fit inside of that box space to do what you want it to. Some subs may be better woofers overall but maybe don't fit properly, so I'd figure out how much box space you have or want to give up before you decide on subs.

If I had that much power and a hatch I'd have no rear seats and the biggest upfiring box I could have that goes from the back of the rear seats to the back of the hatch. I've had friends with 4 12's in hatches, like CRX's, so it depends on what kind of music you're listening to and how. You could wall 2 18's with that much power. Or you could do a single 12-15 or whatever, a couple of 10's. I think you might want to stick to 12's and above for musicality, because to make a 10 take that much power, I think it's gonna struggle maybe on the low end, maybe tend to, have stiff suspension and high Fs, where like a 12" can have 4" VC with big Mms that brings Fs way down when you get 2500-3000w+.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

If you want a ton of power in a small place, it's hard to beat DC. I say that as a box designer. I never have had any relationship with DC other than owning a pair of their subs and designing several boxes for them for random people who wanted me to. Here's 3500w dc subs 3.5" vc, 12 is only 1.5 cubes net which is really small for that power and the 15 only needs 3.25 cubes net:

DC Audio level 5 Subwoofers — DC Audio

DC Audio level 5 Subwoofers

www.dcsoundlab.com

One of those would straight murder your hatch lol. Just showing some options, giving ideas. One of my favorite sub brands. You can see how that level 5 12 Fs is 30.6 hz even at 3500w. IMO that's the type of Fs you want for music. You don't want too high Fs IMO, and that can happen very easily with high powered, smaller woofers.

Do you have any t/s specs or box recommendations given for that custom built sub? You'd need like 4 of those sa-10's to handle that power, but they'd sound pretty good IMO, just as long as your not trying to play super loud super low.

 

[Bluecarz77]

Car info
Car is a 2004 Toyota Echo 4 Door Hatch 1.5L 5 Speed, doesn't have anything aftermarket in the electrical system besides the audio stuff, very simple roll down windows no power seats. Wanted a light simple easy to work on car for audio.

What the car had before
Everything stock, stock cd player/head unit and 4 speakers in total (2 in the dash and 2 in the front doors, that's it no speakers anywhere else). Single 6 Ga Alt cable, single 6 Ga battery ground, all factory cables


What the car has right now
Pioneer MVH-S322BT Single DIN Deck
-New 6.5" 2 way Unknown brand speakers in the 2 front doors
-New 3.5" 2 way Pioneer TS-A878 speakers in the dash
-Stetsom Vulcan 3000 1 ohm version, 1 ohm RMS power at 12.6V - 3100w, 1 ohm RMS power at 14.4V - 3500w
-2x Planet Audio AC10D 10" 4 ohm DVC subs rated at 750rms each, dont think that's accurate tho they are tiny
-QPower Dual 10 slot port box from visions, 1 cubic foot per side, Tuned to 42 Hz. With the way im running my 2nd battery this box fits perfectly and cannot fit a wider box unless i move the battery, fits almost perfectly, can still have the seats up the way it is. Dimensions are, Height 12", Width 32", Depth 14.25". Im running the box with the subs and port facing up. There is a bit more room to make the box deeper and a little more height.
-Full size Red Top optima battery in the engine bay with 3 separate grounds, one to the top of the transmission, one to strut tower, another to the body.
-Half sized Yellow Top Optima battery in the rear also with 3 separate grounds, one to a seatbelt bolt, and 2 to the body.
-Stock 80 Amp Alternator (looking into a bigger one that will fit later this year)
-Added a 2nd Alt charge wire, 4 Ga, Added an extra 4 Ga ground cable from the Alt bracket to the other strut tower.
-2x 4 Ga power runs from the front batt to the rear batt, then to the amp.
-2x 4 Ga grounds from rear batt to amp
-Sub wires are 10 Ga
-120A fuse halfway back on the 2 Power cables (i had that size for the 1200w Amp so now i probably need like a 280A fuse just to be safe or 300A?) amp doesn't have any fuses

All Power, Ground, And sub wires are OFC throughout the entire car

My current Concerns about the setup
-The head unit, im afraid its to cheap and low quality to give me great sounding music, Although it has 4v pre outs i think.
- The RCA cables going from the head unit to the stetsom, they are cheap ones that came in a 80$ wiring kit.
-The 2x 4 Ga power runs, im afraid this isnt enough cable to carry enough current for this amp, it was good for my 1200w Hifonics amp, had next to no voltage drop (i have a cig lighter voltage gauge up front), but now with the stetsom when i crank the music all the way it goes from 14.4v down to 13.2v, maybe from the tiny alt? Im afraid ill have to rewire the entire car with 0, or 1/0 Ga. Wich i will do if i have to.

So im friends with a a guy who has been doing competitions in Alberta for years and he talked me into doing the 2x 4 gauge runs of power from the front to the back then also to the amp and told me to triple up on the grounds for each battery when i usually just do 1 big power wire. These 4 Ga cables im using, they say 4 Ga and OFC on all of them but when you strip the insulation off them it looks smaller than 4 Ga, kinda looks wimpy.

What I ultimately want out of the setup
I know in my original post i said i wanted to play really loud music while being reliable, hence the somewhat redundant/extra power and ground cables, but the new stetsom amp really helped out alot, before the speakers upfront were overpowering the bass and now its almost the other way around, its just a matter of time for the Planet audio subs before they are partially cooked i think, now i dont get to stupid with the volume and if i hear them having a hard time i turn it down but i also dont care if i blow one, they were 70$ on amazon and i have a 3rd one in the house as a spare. Im still curious about using my custom 12, but it doesn't have any information on it, and id need an entire drop in recone for it, (44 lb motor, custom basket, 3" coil that is wrecked, one of the spiders that came with it is to big for the basket. thats all i know about it) and i think id have enough space for a single ported 12 box, but im afraid it just wont do well with music. IF i can run that 12 i was curious about using Birch instead of MDF, heard its lighter. Anyways ill attach some pics and see what you guys thing, dont be afraid to rip on my setup, i wanna know where it can improve.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

I didnt see a budget here. Maybe i missed it? Id like to see a single American Bass 15 in there or a pair of Hawk 10s or 12s in a GP Audio tuned enclosure. Poor car will get a serious beating and give you the sub stage you are prob looking for. Enclosure and tuning is very important for the sub woofers.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Can you squeeze the 33 HTZ enclosure in there? Or the 31 HTZ? Subs up port up

10" Dual Compact High Performance Glue it & Screw It Sub Enclosure

GP Car Audio is a manufacturer of many USA Made ðºð¸ car audio products. We are also a distributor for several top Audio brands including Sundown Audio, XS Power, and Deaf Bonce.

gpcaraudio.com

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Ported Sub Box Subwoofer Enclosure for 2 10" American Bass HAWK 1044 Subs | eBay

We use 3" aeroports to reduce port noise so you get nothing but clean clear bass from your subs. Also, the subs are recessed 1/2" into the box. All the joints are glued and screwed together & two 2" dowel braces are included to ensure that the box will hold up against the high output of the...

www.ebay.com

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

I personally would lay down that back seat and give more space for a sub stage for a Pair of A.Bass Hawk 12s tuned to 31 HTZ or a pair of SoundQubed HDS3.2 10s. I think a pair of tens would be pretty brute for that car and plenty. May even start tearing it apart litle at a time without some support and deadening work involved.

 

[Bluecarz77]

Hey sorry, budget is probably around $1200 Canadian so around $900 USD. I was really thinking about a 15 or 2 big 10's but idk if i have the space for a 15. The hatch is pretty small. With battery i have around 35x15x18 or so. Also i think im gonna get rid of the dual 4 ga runs, it was amazon wire and i dont think they are enough for 3k+. Yeah was thinking of doing sound deadening aswell this summer, i can squeeze a 32HZ box in there with 2 big 10's if a move my battery. Would just wanna somehow secure it in my spare tire tunnel. I took out the planet audio 10's and put in older MTX 10's, MXS1004, rated at 400w RMS, SVC. They aren't as loud but sound alot better and seem to be able to take the power better. Also i think i have to order the heavy duty springs for the back of my car, people are flashing me alot at night now lol Its crazy how much more punch these MTX have on a bigger amp. My rear view mirror is never where i left it

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Can you squeeze the 33 HTZ enclosure in there? Or the 31 HTZ? Subs up port up

10" Dual Compact High Performance Glue it & Screw It Sub Enclosure

GP Car Audio is a manufacturer of many USA Made ðºð¸ car audio products. We are also a distributor for several top Audio brands including Sundown Audio, XS Power, and Deaf Bonce.

gpcaraudio.com

These gus really do put together a great DIY box. I've built a couple of the Birch units and the MDF units, they are always spot on, solid product through and through.

 

[Bluecarz77]

Oh yeahh! i saw that thanks. Im going to measure the car and if it will fit ill probably order one. I was always thinking about birch to

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Oh yeahh! i saw that thanks. Im going to measure the car and if it will fit ill probably order one. I was always thinking about birch to

I only built the birch when people insisted, the cost is pretty high. Their MDF boxes are spot on too. The birch boxes build wanted the wood stained, colorized with the grain showing through. Personally, I usually use Dura-tex or carpet so I go with MDF.

 

[spokey9]

A sql-15 in about 2.2 cuft sealed on 1500w sounds really nice. I've got 2 on 3k in slightly over 4 cuft sealed, they sound great at moderate volume...1 is more than enough but I like the roof flex on the saturn

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

A sql-15 in about 2.2 cuft sealed on 1500w sounds really nice. I've got 2 on 3k in slightly over 4 cuft sealed, they sound great at moderate volume...1 is more than enough but I like the roof flex on the saturn

Honestly, there is just something about the dynamics of two drivers over one, more cone area obviously. I'll take two with half the power over one with 4 times the power all day long. I like the way the sound waves bounce off my bald head!