Best sized car subwoofers (for metal)

the_drip

the_drip

Martriden K
Jan 8, 2004
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Spokane WA.
I'm about to upgrade my car stereo... I'm going to throw a couple subwoofers into it..along with replacing all the stock speakers and head unit.

I want my metal to sound full, lively...and just loud as hell. Which size subwoofer would be the best? I was thinking about getting 2, 10 inchers. In a sealed enclosure.

I want those kick drums to hit me like a jackhammer. I already hav ea kicker amplifier to power them...rated at 300 watts RMS.

and the stock speakers fit as 2 tweeters, 2 6 1/2 '', and 2 6x9''s in the back.

I blew the current speakers..turned up DNB a little too high. now it just makes fart noises on everything that has a relatively clean tone (acoustic guitars, solo bass lines, piano, violins)
 
I recommend ten inch... low enough frequency, but you don't have to worry about the really low end frequencies (particularly if you listen to shit like Carcass, Bolt Thrower, or Nevermore) overwhelming the sound while still getting great punch. My opinion, though. I once tested out stereo equipment by making the salesperson play Carcass "Heartwork" on every in-store set up. It was worth it just to watch his face blanch.
 
Random Beard said:
Why the hell would you need a sub? The stocks in my Altima do boom just fine.
Click to expand...

I'm not really a car audiophile myself. I often found no need to have a subwoofer in my car for metal. I actually rate production quality on CDs by listening to them on the stock stereo in my jeep.
 
Im a bassist and I know tens get way more punch then twelves and fifteens for response for bass guitar, i can only assume its the same for a kick drum freq drum. I hope this helps a little.
 
Random Beard said:
Why the hell would you need a sub? The stocks in my Altima do boom just fine.
Click to expand...


My stock stereo is broken, as I said.

And when replacing things..I tend to want to improve upon them....I will probably get 10 inch subs.
 
anything bigger than 10 gets sloppy. Especially if it's open ported. The speaker flops around and peters out with the low end. I reccomend 2 10's before a 12 or a 15. You'll definitely notice the bass will be tighter. Especially on the kick drum. You'll also begin to notice when you get them which CD's were produced by someone who took great care and attention to the kick drum. It's WAY WAY too easy to fuck that up in metal, since double bass can have a tendency to just turn into this dull messy roar if it hasn't been taken care of. 10's will help correct this too though. If you wanna hear drums, and particularly the kick produced well, listen to Strapping Young Lad's S/T release. Best produced drums EVOR imho. That will sound the best once you get a sub/nice stereo dropped in. If you wanna hear a careless production of the kick, compare it to SYL's City. If you own both that is. City still sounds good, but the crisp bottom end is like.. nowhere to be found. that's something you don't notice when you are sub-less...
 
The perfect song to test speakers and woofers out is - fear factory's shock. The song HITS

In my convertable, i have 2 12 inch audiobahn subs bridged with a 400 watt amp. i can set off car alarms 10 feet away.

The sub actually doesnt matter as much as the options on the amp. get something than can handle the lows, and youll have no problem blasting eor!
 
Anyone know if the shallow subs are much different, I will probably have to buy those for my truck. And from what you all say it looks like two tens for me.
 
I have an Infinity Kappa Perfect 12" sub in a small sealed enclosure in my Lumina...sounds great.

Kick drums cave your chest in. Dead Heart in a Dead World sounds perfect.

I don't seem to be having the sloppy and/or unpunchy problems associated with 12s. I have a few friends will dual 10" setups and my single 12" sounds all-around better, though I have a higher-quality woofer.
 
12" subs are fine as long as they're well made. I don't know a lot about car audio specifically, but I know quite a bit about home theater and pro audio stuff, and 12" are fine. Above that things tend to get boomy or muddy, they get loud and have deep extension but are hard to get to move as fast, and that's a big part about accurate bass is the driver being able to move fast enough that things don't start to blur together. 12" is practically standard for home theater (including music on home stereo setups), but like I said, my perspective isn't from car audio as much. With HT 10" usually doesn't go low enough unless it's really well designed. But 12" always wins. That is, I haven't heard of a scenario where 12" really wasn't effective (again individual sub designs will vary)
 
Matt Lee said:
12" subs are fine as long as they're well made...

...With HT 10" usually doesn't go low enough unless it's really well designed. But 12" always wins. That is, I haven't heard of a scenario where 12" really wasn't effective (again individual sub designs will vary)
Click to expand...

Yeah..and I think a lot of it is preference. Both can get the job done, providing they're quality woofers.


As far as decks, I personally have an Alpine but brands like Pioneer and Kenwood are usually well-liked. Check www.crutchfield.com and punch in the stuff you're looking for in the unit and you can compare several models side-by-side.
 
well I think I'm gonna go to the local car stereo place in town with SYL's City album in tow.

Figure out which component speakers I want as well as just the best all around combonation of CD player, speakers, and subs I can get fo ra reasonable amount of money.

I might go for 2 8 inch subs...or 1 12 inch..or 2 10's. It really doesn't matter to me. AS long as it sounds good. And I figure Gene Hoglan's drumming and Devin's insanely layered production will be a good indicator.
 
new SYL rules. My jeep has no bass... its just like... pure high. Ear-piercing at high levels.
 
the new SYL is poorly produced and not a good one to take if you are going to see how the bass is. Neither is City really. Devin sometimes is quite careless with the way he handles the bass. i'm telling you though, the real one which will let you know how good your subs are for bass is SYL's S/T album. If you own that, take it in. You wouldn't take in Darkthrone's Transylvanian Hunger album if you were testing out how nice a stereo system sounds, so i wouldn't take a CD with poorly handled bass frequencies to test out a sub.
 
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