What is best 2 12's or 2 15's?

[allshowallgo]

Yo, I got a 97 GST which I just bought, I plan on making it nice and quick, but not straight out track racing, I am not into sleepers either. I have a friend which can supply me with 2 12 in subs or 2 15's for the same price. Orriginaly I planned on having the 2 12's with a 1200 wat amp and an 800 watt amp plus 2 digital capacitors, but then I heard that "12's sound like #@%#@%#@%#@% man, gow ith 15's". The only problem is that the 15's I would think weigh more and I don't need to bump THAT hardcore. So for those of you who may have done either of these set ups, let me know what you guys would reccomend.

 

[98_silvergs]

12's sound ten times better than 15's. Thats all i have to say.

 

[sophat34]

oh come on now, all depends on the sub, if you get a pair of crap 15 they are going to sound like poo if you get a pair of crap 12's they are going to sound like poo too. I have had both 12's (diamond macdaddys) and 15's(image dymanics idq15's) they both sounded good, it really depends on the box. if you do it right you can make the 15s hit just as crisp as the 12s I have done it. but spade is tight with 15's they need a bigger box in most cases. if your dead set on 12's I would sugest idmax12's incredible and they will take more power than you will probialy ever throw at them. first hand experiance with those in our old spl car.

 

[HyperGSX]

I'd personally go with 2 12"'s, but that's my taste. I like to hear the words over the bass, but if you set it up right you can get a good mixture of bass and quality with 2 15"'s from what i hear.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

15s in general are pretty muddy and for rap/r+b and the like only. There are a few exceptions to this rule (JL Audio W6, IDQ, etc) but in general a 12 will be able to respond quicker. Put the 12s in a sealed box built to spec and they will hit just as deep as a 15 while retaining quick response. If you are concerned that they won't be loud enough, just get 3 or 4, I did .

Tom

 

[ISUJakey]

It all depends on what you're looking for in terms of sound quality. If you have any access to back issues of Car Audio and Electronics, they narrowed down their top few choices for 2002. I can't recall what their final choice was. I believe that the issue came out last spring. You may also want to wait a couple months and see what a lot of the new 2003 lineups look like. Kicker's new Comp VR is a sweet sub for the $$$. I'm running two of their 2002 Model Comp VR's powered by a Kicker 800.4 and it rumbles hard. I have a friend who ran a 8 Inch Kicker L7 with a Kicker 1200.1 amp---for the size of that sub it totally earned my respect.
Make sure you take into consideration the amp that you are running. When I first entered the car audio world I ran lanzar Vibe series amps because of my financial situation. They did the job but now that I'm running the Kicker amp and there is no comparison. I guess my recommendation for amps would be Kicker, Xtant, or US Amps. That's just my $.02.

 

[Airpoppoff]

in an eclipse i think 15"s are way too big, i would go for the 12's

 

[Jake]

if you listen to rock go with the 12's but if you listen to rap and it sounds like you do go with the 15's

 

[RocketDSM]

Only do 15s (regardless of music preference) if you are dedicated to doing it right the first time. You will need a massive amp, big caps, and a PERFECT box. It's not going to be cheap, and I agree personally that 15s are too big for an Eclipse. I run 2 12s and love it. A lot of people think I run 15s. I just took it slow and built my system right the first time (although I need a new amp now; blah).

 

[BlueSexMachine]

I had two 15" Kicker Solobaric s15d's in my 88 Honda Prelude and they were LOOUUUD!!! My friends neighbor yelled at me for knocking some antique decoration or something off her shelf from the bass. It was so loud I'd be sitting at a light and it would appear as if the light was vibrating. (Of course I was the one vibrating.) A cop told me once "don't turn that #@%#@%#@%#@% up so loud it vibrates my rear window from thirty feet away!" Then he gave me a ticket. Jerk. But, in a fast car I would go for a single 10" with a powerful amp just to keep weight in check.

 

[Bd1000Eclipse]

It all depends on what your tastes are. To me 15's are sloppy.. nothing but bass, no sq. If you like that kind of music then get some 15's. you also need to remember that if you get 15's you'll need a bigger box, you have the room? i barely had the room for 2 12's and that was with a generic box that i just built in my backyard.. so do some planning first. but i'd definetely go with two, or even 3 12's.

 

[krott5333]

Ummm.... both will do well, but i like 15's personally, they can cover a wider spectrum. I had a Planet Audio 15 tuned to 35 hz in a ported box, and i loved it, it was rather tight too. But then again, like someone else said, it is an eclipse, so either go 2 12's, or one 15'.

Why does everyone always want two subs???

 

[abstraction]

Depends of what kinda music you listen to.

a 12s will repond faster than 15s. So unless you listen to (c)rap or stuff with big thumping bass hits, it's going to sound pretty aweful with 15s. Personally, i run two 12" MTXs. Honestly, if i had my way, i'd probably run two high powered 10s cuz i listen to a range of music from rock to trance. i'm just looking to fill up that empty range that only subs could fill, not break the door seals!

 

[Layton141]

IMO 10" is the way to go for quickest response, clarity, space efficiency, adn sound quality. Be sure to get a high end sub though. I would suggest Alpine Type Rs. Power them with a crossfire, ppi, or zapco amp and they will drop some major bass. I've had 4 sets of jls before the Type Rs, I think the Type Rs are much better sound quality. Thats just my $.02

 

[sophat34]

wow, quite the opinion filled thred. it really depends on your budget. to set things strait though if you plan on running some massive amp, any real amp over say 1k watts, foget the caps unless you are on an unlimited budget and can get a 50 farad cap from alumapro. I have built a bunch of cars both sq and spl caps discharge so fast on one note that they dont have time to recover by the second and actualy add a draw on the charging system. we tried 24 15 farad caps one on each amp less than 6" away from the amps and we droped 6 db's. save the money and get some good batterys, optima yellow tops are great for this. as far as what size speaker. its really up to you I had fit 2 fifteens in an eclipse and I did have a #@%#@%#@%#@% load of power behind them (one usamps 400x to each one) yea it was loud but it sounded great crisp and clean but I had the fronts to keep up too. now I run two 12's and same amps and much louder and still clean. you can make MOST any thing sound good if you have the time to do it right, this means trying a couple diff things till you get the sound that you want. sealed boxes are easier to build when your starting out, ported are a bit more difficult. put some time in and it will sound good, it only has to sound good to you cause your the one listening to it. unless your planing on compeating then well your going to have to put a lot of time getting things just the way they judge likes to hear it.

 

[Bino]

If you like any form of sound quality instead of a constant resonance in your ears, go with 2-10's. Never heard a 15 (let alone 2) that sounded anywhere near good. Never actually heard 2 12's that sounded "good" either. They've sounded loud, but not good. I had a 12 in my last ride, I'm going 3-8's in this one. But, I demand precision response.

Also, ported boxes sound like !@#$, sealed gives a nice clean sound, but requires more power to run.