Top 5 subs?

[98TsiAWD]

I used to run 3 12" MTX 8000's in parallel at 2.66 ohms into an MTX Thunder 1000d, it sounded damn good, but then I decided I wanted a trunk and picked up a dual 6 ohm Audiobahn ALUM15Q. Im running at 3 ohms on the 1000d amp, so about 900RMS at 12.5 volts into the sub and it takes it with no problems and has better sound quality than my 8000's did, not quite as loud but close. I agree audiobahn lower class subs are junk and so are their amps but if you get the aluminum or titanium cone subs they are awesome.

 

[hdswanny]

Oh God no. The Strokers are for DB Drag racing. If you want SQ go with the Infinity's. You need clean CLEAN clean power for them, For extreme SQ you want to look at a PPI Tube amp, a McIntosh or a Phoenix Gold

or ADS. I have a p4100 that ran my ID horns comp set. very nice

for subs not in order

from experience
IDQ's good loud bass with very nice SQ- can't beat the prices for these
GZ nuke
Earthquake Magmas for loud LOW bass


from hearsay-
Crystal CMP- good mix of SQ and DB
Eclipse- dunno what series anymore[

 

[pensfan76]

Does anybody have Cerwin Vega subs, i have an old CV XL12 (11Yrs old, but don't tell anyone), it still hits pretty hard but the sound quality is going down especially on some of the lower guitar bass. The sound will still get your heart jumping blood flowing, My Mustang hit 128DB with 100 watts and 1 XL12, trunk was too small for both my boxes. Never got the Eclipse tested after putting them in. Just wondering if the Stroker series is as efficient as the old XL's.

 

[espydur]

Originally posted by dTERM
Oh God no. The Strokers are for DB Drag racing. If you want SQ go with the Infinity's. You need clean CLEAN clean power for them, For extreme SQ you want to look at a PPI Tube amp, a McIntosh or a Phoenix Gold.

actually, believe it or not the stroker was released as a sq sub (at first) by cerwin vega...yes they're extrememly loud, but also has suprisingly good sq. trust me, i've actually heard them.

 

[95posEclipse]

the Kenwood excelon DB+ that dTERM mentioned are nice subs i have to admit, im running dual 12's with a Kicker ZR600 amp and they are loud and more crisp than i wouldve ever expected, on top of that they have a carbon fiber cone so they look pretty sweet too.

 

[pensfan76]

What is a 12" stroker going for, and how much air space would i need for them. I only have a 100 watt amp would that be enough power or should i invest in something bigger.

 

[espydur]

Originally posted by pensfan76
What is a 12" stroker going for, and how much air space would i need for them. I only have a 100 watt amp would that be enough power or should i invest in something bigger.

should be around $400. they need a good bit of airspace also...around 3-4 cubes ported and ALOT more than 100w.... just to give you an idea, i've seen 2000w rms on them.

 

[pensfan76]

should be around $400. they need a good bit of airspace also...around 3-4 cubes ported and ALOT more than 100w.... just to give you an idea, i've seen 2000w rms on them.

Well that is a little out of my price range for the time being, i guess i will deal with my 11 yr old XL.

I have been out of the car stereo loop for a while, is Orion still a pretty decent speaker. Back in high school friends of mine a had a 10" in a Cherakee and hit i think around 135DB. That was was first band pass box i ever seen, this was 11 yrs ago, ok now i feel really old.

 

[dTERM]

Yes, the 12" Stroker does have some good SQ numbers, but the 18, even with dual concentric spiders and a support pole in the center, is a darn sloppy sub. It will drop 125db in a bad box with low power. Put it in a really beefy bandpass with 1600Watts RMS and you're breaking windows. I heard twin 18's in a bandpass at a DB Drag in Amarillo running off a really old Adcom cheater and the only thing that really came close was a quad set of 15" PPI Pistons in bandpasses with 1200watts each, and they lost by 20db. So for sheer power, I really respect them, they can move tons of air. But at least with the PPI's you could tell there was music. The strokers just made really deep, strong, loud noise.

 

[93 talon tsi]

i work at custom sounds over here in texas and the best out there are

memphis audio elves
JL audio W7
JL audio W6-V2
JL audio W3-V2
RockFord Fosegate HX2

98SilverGS-T my dad has 7 W7 13in with 3 MA audio 4000 watt(RMS)mono block amps

 

[espydur]

Originally posted by 93 talon tsi
i work at custom sounds over here in texas and the best out there are

memphis audio elves
JL audio W7
JL audio W6-V2
JL audio W3-V2
RockFord Fosegate HX2

98SilverGS-T my dad has 7 W7 13in with 3 MA audio 4000 watt(RMS)mono block amps

let me guess...yall carry memphis, JL, and RF.....am i right????

just seems like ALL audio shops claim that the products THEY carry seem to be the absolute best in the world and everything else is complete $hit....that's just been my personal experience with car audio shops....

 

[espydur]

Originally posted by dTERM
Yes, the 12" Stroker does have some good SQ numbers, but the 18, even with dual concentric spiders and a support pole in the center, is a darn sloppy sub.

show me ANY 18" sub with good sq... i think that's pretty much universal. i think the words 18 and sq are oxymorons......

 

[espydur]

Originally posted by dTERM
Audiobahn is crap. It's a step up from Pyramid and Crunch. Rockford has a few good lines, their most expensive lines are about equal to the cheap JL's.

audiobahn crap???? what are you smokin. yeah their low-end stuff isn't too great...but who's is? point is, audiobahn's higher end stuff CANNOT be beat for the money. you come and sit in my car and try to tell me it's crap, and i've got a damn convertible. just wondering, what are you hitting with your system and what did you pay for it?

 

[dTERM]

Yeah...I ran some audiobahn stuff for awhile. I didn't like it at all. If you like it, fine, but I'm not going to recommend it to anyone.

My DB meter doesn't go high enough to measure at the dash. It's a radioshack analog meter and it just pegs out. As for cost, I bought it a piece at a time...$900 for the head and the XM tuner, $250 for the box with w0's, $25 for the speaker grills, $175 for the amp, then $175 each for the new subs, and $60 for the power cables. so I guess around $1760.

 

[espydur]

what audiobahn stuff did you run? i'm guessing it's one of three things.....bottom of the line audiobahn, bad install, or not enough power. i install systems on the side, so i know a couple things about car audio. i've got a 15" audiobahn he in a 2.5 cube box (custom) and about 10 cube inches of port..getting about 700w rms and crossed at 50.....also have a set of crystal mobilsound components getting about 60w rms a piece tho.......crossed at 80 and a pioneer HU. my system hits close to 145 dBs. in a soft top (no cabin pressure)...throw the same setup in a hard top car and it'd easily hit 146-147, possibly 148. all for under $1000. i've been through about 5 systems myself and installed countless systems in other's car. i'm convinced that what makes or breaks a system is not necessarily the actual equipment used....but how it's used, it's all in the install............

 

[dTERM]

If it's all in the install then why are you posting in a Top 5 Subs question? I don't want to get into a debate about it. I do not like them. period. They did not, nor will they ever make my list of recommended subs.

 

[93 talon tsi]

no at custom sounds all we carry is PPI, Cerwin, poiner, alpine, and kicker. all the subs that i've listed i've heard them in comps and you can tell whos hittin harder

 

[redgst97]

My Top 5 list: not in any order:

Image Dynamics: IDQ or (if you are lucky enough) an ID MAX
Diamond Audio: Mac Daddy or M6...have not heard the TDX yet
Eclipse: 88-Series Aluminum or 88-Ti Titanium Series
Focal: good for SQ, but not as strong in the SPL area.
Kicker: Round style Solobarics.

Now, the above list is geared toward SQ, NOT spl. However, most of these subs will get lound enough for 90% of folks in a proper box with proper power.

The list is different for strictly SLP applications.

John

 

[espydur]

Originally posted by dTERM
If it's all in the install then why are you posting in a Top 5 Subs question?

well i was trying to come to some conclusion why you had a bad experience with audiobahn. no audiobahn is not a "top 5 sub in the world"....but it's FOR SURE a "top 5 sub for under $200. if you've got the mucho dinero to drop on a DD, juggernaut, or stroker and the ample funds to power that sub (along with uprgrading your entire electrical system) then that's the way to go ofcourse.

take a trip to an established car audio forum if you don't believe me....i got into car audio long before any other aspect of tuning/customizing.

 

[Eclipse96Ryder]

hey i gotta say the bazooka tvb-141 tri-vent triangle sub hits soooooo hard its crazy. My friend has 2 sick MTX subs in his car and my ONE tvb-141 hits just as hard. I have a 700w kenwood amp just running the sub. BUT THIS THING IS CRAZY.....when people get in my car they as if i have two 12's or two 15's and i tell them to look and then there jaw just drops....its awesome, the sound quality is nice too. It was bumpin' in my garage and a picture fell off in my house. it sucked my parents got pissed. Just letting you know u cant go wrong with it, for the price and quality its hits hell'a hard

 

[snipe99999]

I had the round style 15" 2ohm Kicker Solobarics and 2 Alpine MRV-T420 amps bridged and hit 148.7. I have been out of the car audio world for a while but if I was going to buy something now it would be the L7's and an Alpine MRD-1000 or the 13" JL W7's and the Alpine MRD-1000. How well your system performs really is all in the install unless you buy junk to start out with. You can't turn sh!t into gold.

 

[GSXRolla]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this sub yet, but the Alumapro Alchemy series hits REALLY hard. They can take next to nothing to power them and can sound really really good. A friend of mine works at a car audio shop, and this 10" hit way harder than the 12" sitting next to it. Can be pricey if you get the custom box for it too, but worth the money. Considering getting one of those bazooka triangle subs. From what you guys say, they sound pretty damn good.

 

[Silver4694]

Eclipse Titanium's #1.... absolutly insane! Eclipse is kind of a "sleeper" Audio company.... what do pple think of Alpine's line of subs? I havn't had the chance to check those out and evaluate them yet....

 

[Budget Tuner]

My personal choice for bass:
Rockford Fosgate Power HX2 10" - 1000wRMS - $210.00 - thezeb.com

Does anyone have any experience with CDTaudio?

 

[Beef Jerky]

Originally posted by Budget Tuner

Does anyone have any experience with CDTaudio?

I do. CDT is high-end SQ, very awesome stuff. I actually just installed an entire CDT system in my friend's MX-6. Hopefully we'll be able to get him into some sound comps soon. Check it out if you got some free time.

http://www.sounddomain.com/id/wallyfingeredmx6