Need advice on what woofer to choose

[kcbme]

Alright so I found this box that sits behind the rears seats of my sport trac, the problem is I tend to listen to bass heavy music and the guy says two 8 inch woofers will perform much better than two 10 inch subs because of only having 1 cubic ft. shared airspace, is this true? I am going to try and see if he can make it to just fit one 12 inch sub as I feel I would get more bass out of it.
Also the only subs that will fit in the box are shallow mount subs so keep that in mind, I am thinking of kicker cvt's but will gladly take any suggestions thanks!

here is the link to the box
https://www.soundoffaudio.com/item.cfm/id/2428

 

[blenton]

Yes, and no... If it were me, I'd go with two 8's in that somewhat limited airspace. You get more surface area than a single 10, and almost as much as a single 12. Heck, if you choose the right ones and had enough amp, you could put three 8's in that space which is almost as much cone area as a 15! My personal preference is either an Infinity Reference 8 or JBL GTO 8. They are virtually twins and model almost identically. Sealed, your looking at .33 ft^3 each; ported is ~.66 ft^3 but a crazy long port depending on the tuning - 3" tube would a 36" long port to tune @ 29 hz with and f3 @ 26 hz If you shift the tuning up to around 33 hz the vent is only 23.79". You could prolly go even higher on the tuning since cabin gain will boost the low end, so you may even get two 8's in a ported enclosure. If you can squeeze an extra .1 ft^3 somewhere, a .55 ft^3 ported enclosure tuned at 36 hz needs two 1.5" diameter ports that are 12" long. That is more manageble. Your f3 is still 31 hz, so you'd be well in to the 20's with cabin gain. A slot port would be ideal in any of the above vented enclosures, but you'd need to recalculate the length. I have both setups, one in each car; one ported, one sealed, one JBL, one Infinity. They are both amazing little subs, both for sound clarity and low end. The ported enclosure obviously has the advantage deep down low - it's tuned @27 hz in a .75 ft^3 enclosure and really goes down deep. The sealed JBL is nice and tight, and with a LITTLE bass boost it digs down to 30 hz with cabin can, no issue. Just put a decent amount of polyfill in the enclosure.

The other option I would go for would be a single 10" sub - I'd go with an Infinity Kappa 10" in a sealed enclosure. 1.0 ft^3 gives you a QTC of .8, which is quite good and just a little on the boom side. Lightly stuffed. Just about the best sounding sub ever, IMO. Kicks like a mule, smooth as glass. Can handle a good amount of power, as can it's small brethren.

I'd pass on a single 12" - ideally most 12's need at least 1.25 - 2.0 ft^3 to perform well. You'd be missing out on the low end - mainly anything below 35 hz. And it would be way to punchy (annoyingly so, no awesomely so). Just my two cents.

 

[Vic_Ferrari2002]

Exactly what Blenton said. Every sub has their own requirements of how much air space they need to perform optimally.Your best bet is to find a good quality speaker(s) that get as close to matching the space of your box as you can. I'm sure you will find a few brand so after that it will be personal preference and how much money you wanna spend.

 

[Jstcruz]

Polk DB 8"s are only 4 inches deep and have great reveiws - and they dont cost much on Amazon. I have a single 10" Polk DB in a stealthbox in my XLT and that thing slams pretty good for being a 10. Dont let the size fool you, a good 8" can sound like a 10" and as it was mentioned above; you are going to end up with more cone area using 2 8"s.

 

[kcbme]

Wow thanks for the quick replies! I am not sure if the guy who makes the box is capable of making it with a port but I will check, If i can get him 2 add another hole would that box work with 3 8's? Or would I be better off with just 2?
Il look into the subs mention above but I am new into the car audio so having a hard time deciding what sub to purchase, any certain 8s that will slam (given the right power) and still have good sq?

Will also look into the single 10, I feel I would get more boom out of that but still have decent sq, but then again I have never heard 2 good 8's or let alone 3.
As mentioned above I would love the infinity kappa series but it has too deep of a mounting depth and I think the max the box will fit is 5 1/8 inch I believe, any good sounding 10's that slim?
Any info is appreciated

 

[blenton]

Sounds like you should stick with the 8's. The JBL GTO8 has a shallow mounting depth (something like 4 3/8") but the Infinity Reference is just a hair deeper and should fit fine. My two cents on audio gear is spend a few extra bucks and get something worth hanging on to. Don't waste your time looking for anything less than $40 for an 8 as you will most likely be disappointed, either immediately or shortly down the road. The Infinity Reference subs are the best bang for the buck I've ever found. As far as SQ is concerned, they FAR outperform anything in the price range and most subs costing twice as much. I like them so much I often use them for home theater and home audio subwoofers. The Polk's mentioned above are also great subs, but my preference leans toward the Infinity/JBL subs. I've worked with all three, but the Infinity/JBL subs had a much smoother frequency response.

A note on wiring two subs together: you must be able to match the impedance of the subwoofers to the desired impedance of the amplifier. Most subs are rated at 4 ohms and most amplifiers want a 4 ohm load when bridged (you combine both channels of a two channel amplifier to drive a mono signal, typically to a subwoofer). A higher impedance is acceptable to an amplifier, like 8 ohms. A lower impedance is not; it will burn up the amp and possibly your subs. Look up Series vs Parallel wiring to see how to wire two subwoofers together to get the desired load.

The Infinity's mentioned above come in 4 ohm versions only for the 8" subs. That means you have three possible wiring scenarios. 1) wire the voice coils in series to get an 8 ohm load. 2)wire them in parallel and get a 2 ohm load. 3) wire them each to separate amplifiers/channels of the amplifier. Scenario 1 is almost always acceptable. Scenario 2 is only acceptable if you have an amplifier that is 2 ohm stable when bridged. Most mono block amplifiers are but most two channel amps are not. Scenario three will just cost you more money where it is not really needed.

The Rockford Fosgate R500 prime would be a good example of a quality mono amplifier that is 2 ohm stable. It only has one channel of amplification (hence the term mono block amplifier) so it is built to drive subs. Pay attention to RMS power output specs and ignore any peak power ratings as they are complete rubbish. The fosgate amp puts out 500 watts RMS so would be a good match to the two 8" subs. You could even go up to 600 or 700 watts rms with just the two 8's as long as you set things up correctly. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Have fun with the project!!

 

[NRA4ever]

Check out these subs & ampsGreat subs at reasonable prices
http://www.audioque.com/assets/images/rotobanner/SQbanner_646x115.jpg

 

[com4tably.numb]

Suggestion

Check out the Sundown Audio SD-2 10"

They have a mounting depth of only 4.75", and a sealed enclosure volume requirement of only .5 ft^3 (perfect for 2 of them in your 1 ft^3 enclosure)
Even though they are shallow mount, they still have an RMS power handling of 500 watts.

I have seen them for about $150.00 a pc., not sure if thats in your price range or not.