Ok, I changed my mind...AGAIN

[95ExplorerLtd]

Ok, before I wanted I forget what for a setup, now heres what I wanna do. I wanna keep the factory headunit, pull the factory amp and put in a hi performance MOSFET 1200 watt (600 RMS) AMP. Then put in a 1200 watt (600RMS) woofer and tweeter enclosed box with 2 tweeters and 4 woofers that are either 8inch or 10inch. Now if that works, and I have 600 rms watts, what can I replace the factory sub with?

 

[JTang]

Hi 95ExplorerLtd-

If you pull the factory sub amp, then your factory sub is useless. There's most likely no reason to pull that amp and think about powering it with a better amp, because the factory sub in there already is a low grade one. A better amp won't help too much without putting in a better sub. The better way to go is just to put in a new 6.5" sub.

If you're putting in a 600 RMS watt amp in there, and going to power it with a 600watt RMS box, then it's a theoretically perfect match, so you wouldn't really be able to do anything else. Using up 600 RMS watts with an amp of 1200 peak watts doesn't mean you have 600 more RMS watts to use up. When you get your new amp, you'll need one with high-level inputs, or you'll have to buy a RCA converter for $14-$40.

Also, don't not plan on buying any amp that says 1200 watts from a place like JC Whitney, or anywhere else that sends out a catalog made out of newsprint, because you'll be disappointed. A good amp featuring a strong 600 watts RMS is going to run at least $400 and I'd say that's the bare minimum. Anything less, unless you're getting a good discount from knowing someone is going to be a poor amp with lies printed right on the box. (There are no laws saying that an amp has to exactly have the certain wattages they carry with real statistic to back them up.) The only reason I'm guessing you're looking at a catalog like this (I could be wrong) is that you're looking at a box with 2 tweeters and 4 subwoofers. No one sells those types of premade boxes (unless you have one custom made) with 4 subs in them except for the swap meet and catalogs made of newsprint like JC Whitney. Someone else in this forum got the same thing and then ended up disappointed and buying new Pioneers instead to fit the box. Those subs tend to be low grade, have very low excursion and break down quickly. The bass from those types doesn't tend to be very deep. For the amount you're spending you could probably get one or possibly two good, reliable subs that will sound better. The quantity of subs doesn't always matter with bass.

Take your time looking around (and listening around) before purchasing or you'll end up like I did wasting a lot of money.

[Edited by JTang on 06-30-2000 at 12:26 AM]

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

JTang is right: quality over quantity. What's the point in getting four subs if they all suck? Keep in mind that the Explorer, while a decently good sized vehicle, still doesn't have all that much air space inside, especially compared to, say, a home theater system, where single 10 or 12 inch subs are widely used with great results. I have one JL Audio 10W6 in a stealthbox and it POUNDS, and more importantly, it's clean. Also, you didn't mention what brand of amp you were looking at, but by your description, I, like JTang, am assuming it's a no-name from some random catalog place. If it is, the only way you'd ever see 600W out of that amp is with about 30% distortion.

peace

Mike

[Edited by Mike 92 XLT on 06-30-2000 at 10:12 AM]

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH........

Any setup recommendations? What have you guys got?

 

[JTang]

I hope that helped you out a bit! The big thing is to understand what's going on with Car Audio stuff and what you want from it. There are tons of car audio components, but they're all really different.

The big question is how much you want to spend, and then you can go from there! Do you want a nice sounding system, or are you hoping to drop some pretty large bass, or somewhere in between? But really, it all comes down to how much you want to spend.

Jon

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

Well, money is a factor in it, i'm willing to shell out if it'll give me back my money's worth, and I want something n between, nice sounding but with alot of hard hittin bass.

 

[JTang]

What kind of music do you listen to, or rather, what do you absolutely NOT listen to as well? Best thing to do first is go to an electronics store, even like Circuit City and listen to the three types of boxes: Bandpass, vented/ported, and sealed. See which one you'd like the most with this in mind, you're listening to how loud it can get, as well as how many different notes it can play and how loud each note can be played.

Bandpass are those ones with the plexiglass windows so you can see the subs move inside the box.

Vented or ported are those that look like normal boxes with tubed holes in them.

Sealed are those that are just your normal boxes, all sealed up!

Now the first thing to note is that the same sub will react differently in a different box, so don't be disappointed when you don't see the sub in ia vented box moving a lot. They're not supposed to. This link will sort of teach you about the boxes:

Dead Link Removed

If you go listening to boxes, listen to rap, and then listen to classical with bass in it. The differences in the boxes will be evident.

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

Well, I mostly listen to rap and stuff with alot of bass, I doubt I'd listen to country or classical very much. I think I want something thats about 39 inches wide that is a bandpass. I measured yesterday to see if the box I described earlier would fit and there was about an inch on each side between the wheel wells. And I want something that'll really hit hard and pound. A good brand of equipment for a decent price.

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

Check out http://www.teamrocs.com Enter the site, click on Technical, then on Enclosure Types and Comparisons. This will give you an overview of each enclosure type, and their benefits and drawbacks. The bandpass design is good for high SPL, but lacks definition and tightness. In other words, you'll get loud boomy bass, which may or may not be what you want. While you're at teamrocs.com, look around the site. There's a ton of great information there. I mostly listen to rock, and my system is set up for sound quality, not SPL, but my buddy brought over his Outkast CD last week, and with that one JL in a sealed enclosure, we literally got a massage. He has one 10 in a bandpass enclosure and was blown away by how clean mine sounded. Again, it's all what you're looking for.

peace

Mike

[Edited by Mike 92 XLT on 07-05-2000 at 04:27 PM]

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

Mike 92 XLT,

I want something that sounds good but will give you alot of bass that can really boom and give you a "massage". What did you put in your ride? It dont matter what kind of box to me, I just want clean sounding but with a LOT of booming bass.

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

IMHO, if you want clean sounding bass, a sealed enclosure is the only way to go. It gives you that tight "punch" that bandpass and ported boxes seem to lack. Plus, it's the easiest to design; there's no tuning of the ports, all you have to do is make sure you have the correct amount of air space. In my ride, I put in a JL Audio Stealthbox, but I replaced the 10W1 (lower-end) sub that came in it with a high-end 10W6. The 10W6s have dual 6 ohm voicecoils, so by wiring them in parallel, my amp's seeing a 3 ohm load and is putting about 350 watts into it. My main reason for going with the Stealthbox was to preserve cargo area and also to keep the system hidden from thieves, and it sounds excellent. Of course, the box is only part of the equation. High quality speakers are essential. I could've thrown a 10-inch Radio Shack sub into that Stealthbox and it would've sounded like cr@p .

peace

Mike

 

[JTang]

If you want a lot of bass, but still want it tight and clean, then you'll have to go with a sealed for easiest reliability, unless you get a ported box custom made with just the right specs, which would lcost a bit of money. You can go a few ways.

Either get two really expensive, large subs, with a huge amp and try and pound away. This is the normal method.

Or you can do it the other way, where for the same amount of wattage, you then use smaller, less powerful subs, like JL W0s, Image Dynamics 8s, Kickers 8s, or even RFs, but just put a LOT of those babies in! I saw this one truck, and all it had were a whole bunch of 8"s and 6.5"s crammed all over. Or in one car audio mag, this one guy had a single amp and connected like 16 8" bazooka tubes to it.

When you have the same amount of wattage, it's easier to get more bass from more speakers. So, if you had 200 watts you could do two things: get two subs for 100 watts each, or 4 subs with 50 watts each, and the 4 subs will tend to yield more bass (GENERALLY).

The last choice, that most car audio installers frown upon is mixing subs and boxes. I had one sealed box, which was tight and clean with two 12s, and then two 10" ported tubes pushed right up next to the car corners. Then you get a little of both. I still got the nice sound with the car shaking I wanted. I only had 40 watts RMS going to each sub and it was easily heard blocks down. Now I only have 2 12" ported subs (cause I thought it would be a nice trade off between sealed and tubes), with 600 watts RMS, and it doesn't seem close. I miss the immense car shaking a little, but I'm starting to want my cargo space back.

If you want, you could always look into getting nice subs now, and if it doesn't give you the car rattling you want, you could pick up some of those Aura Bass Shakers (get the Pros only). Don't know how well they work, but they are available...

 

[JTang]

If you want a lot of bass, but still want it tight and clean, then you'll have to go with a sealed for easiest reliability, unless you get a ported box custom made with just the right specs, which would lcost a bit of money. You can go a few ways.

Either get two really expensive, large subs, with a huge amp and try and pound away. This is the normal method.

Or you can do it the other way, where for the same amount of wattage, you then use smaller, less powerful subs, like JL W0s, Image Dynamics 8s, Kickers 8s, or even RFs, but just put a LOT of those babies in! I saw this one truck, and all it had were a whole bunch of 8"s and 6.5"s crammed all over. Or in one car audio mag, this one guy had a single amp and connected like 16 8" bazooka tubes to it.

When you have the same amount of wattage, it's easier to get more bass from more speakers. So, if you had 200 watts you could do two things: get two subs for 100 watts each, or 4 subs with 50 watts each, and the 4 subs will tend to yield more bass (GENERALLY).

The last choice, that most car audio installers frown upon is mixing subs and boxes. I had one sealed box, which was tight and clean with two 12s, and then two 10" ported tubes pushed right up next to the car corners. Then you get a little of both. I still got the nice sound with the car shaking I wanted. I only had 40 watts RMS going to each sub and it was easily heard blocks down. Now I only have 2 12" ported subs (cause I thought it would be a nice trade off between sealed and tubes), with 600 watts RMS, and it doesn't seem close. I miss the immense car shaking a little, but I'm starting to want my cargo space back.

If you want, you could always look into getting nice subs now, and if it doesn't give you the car rattling you want, you could pick up some of those Aura Bass Shakers (get the Pros only). Don't know how well they work, but they are available...