cruizin01

Ive got a solobaric L7 10" and a jbl 600.1 one in my std. cab...Thats about 300 bucks and I love it other than I think my box is just a tad bit small. I dont know if it would be enough bass for your runnner or not, depends on if u like it loud or accurate and how big your box is gonna be.

OneTrickToy

I totally understand where you and your bro are coming from... and I understand where everyone else is coming from. Those setups that you find for great deals at all the chain stores(Best Buy etc) where you get "buy one get one free" subs and huge deals on things, aren't that great of a deal. A lot of companies over rate their speakers and amps and the durability is sub par. By just looking at the numbers... you would think that you can get a good deal for $400.... but if you are looking for clean bass that will keep on going without over heating, no seperated magnets, or ripped surrounds(I've had all three happen), then it's best to spend a little more money and buy the quality stuff from the beginning. If that is his budget, I would DEFINATELY suggest buying used. I bought this way until I had the money to buy new. Look in your local classifieds, the yotatech classifieds(btw, I've got my whole system listed here for sale), OR..... look for open box specials. Specialty shops(local car audio shops) will usually have some used goods from trade-ins. I once saw a PERFECT Eclipse sub going for half the cost of new, but that was a rare occurance. I say either buy used.... or wait a little longer until he has more money.

Flygtenstein

Infinity Kappa Perfect 12.1 is a 4 ohm DVC for $130

MTX 6500D, the amp that I run, is $230.

Any fundamental flaws in this?

I have been pleased with MTX stuff.

I will not go Best Buy. Parts will be combined from good sources that are, or that I am guided to be middle of the road.

I do appreciate this as I am a relative rookie to the brand stuff.

OneTrickToy

Infinity is good. As far as the MTX goes..... no clue. I remember when I first got a car, my friends all had MTX. But once they had money, they all quickly ditched MTX. The most recent MTX amp I heard was average at best. But I have had only limited experience with them.... so don't take my word as law. However, out of all the specialty shops I've been to.... I've never seen MTX. Only seen MTX at chain stores.

Beachrunner

For a sub, you may want to check out Elemental Designs I've got a 12" K series that I'm very happy with. It's comparable to the JL but a bit cheaper.

dbikeman

I love my kicker squares. They hit louder than most anything I know of with the right amount of power. You could probably get 1 L7 12" with a Kicker Kx 600.1 amp. This setup would should shake ya pretty well.

Flygtenstein

Does that amp have parallel outputs for the speakers such that you can run to two separate 4 ohm coils? It is reasonable on Ebay.

My amp has dual outputs so that you can run to two subs or two voice coils.

Any other brands to consider?

OneTrickToy

you don't need multiple outputs for multiple subs or coils. Just run them in parallel(IF the amp can support a low ohm load). Multiple outputs just make it easier.

Flygtenstein

Thanks.

I am just a fan of convenience.

Cebby

I agree with Rockford as a choice. Great for a sub amp. You can find the old waffle style on ebay. These are still considered great amps and were right before the Rockford stuff went mass market. I had a Punch 40 DSM driving 2 15" Celestion subs at 4 ohm in my Celica GTS (8 Ohm Subs in Parallel) It hammered. Part of a Pro 0-100 setup I had. Punch 60 driving the front stage. Might have been the best setup I ever had in that car. But I digress...

I've used alot of different subs over the years - Celestion, Dynaudio, Eton, Boston acoustics, Infinity, MB Quart, and Polk. For a budget, the Boston Pro's or Infinity's are good. Not sure what these things cost nowadays though

I'm considering trying the Solobaric sq. FWIW.

OneTrickToy

Just remember, any speaker that isn't round is going to have distortion. The distortion comes from the inequal lengths of the radii/length from center to outside. The different lengths cause different flex at different points.

azrain

Adrian,

See if you can scam an Orion 225 or 250 HCCA off the net somewhere. You should be able to find perfectly working amps out there, particularly on Ebay. You will be able to run 1 X 350+ into 1 ohm cleanly and without worry. In a 5th or 7th order cabinet, you will bust kidneys at 50m.

In a past life I did some comp in the old NACA / IASCA days. I was much younger then.

Hehe, I have two 225 HCCA's and a vintage RF Power650 with a chrome case sitting in my closet just waiting for an opportune time to install them... Old school, baby!

Mike

ByThaBay

As far as MTX goes, i am really satisfied with their customer service, it is top notch. Here is my story.

In january of 2001, i bought an mtx 302 amp. basically, it's a 425watt rms amp @ 14.x volts and 350 or 300 or something at 12.x volts...

anyways, so i had some really cheap radio shack speakers being powered by this thing until i decided to upgrade to a JL 12w6v2. when i did this, i got a lot more power and much better quality sound, however, this put a load on my amp that it couldn't handle, and it burned out.

so i sent it in for repair, and even though the warranty was up, they said for $65 they would extend the warranty for 90 days.

so i did that, they fixed it, and when i got it back i installed it with an additional fan to keep that amp cool ('cuz it gets really hot under the driver's side passenger's seat .. hehe)

anyways, after about two weeks, the amp's powersupply blew out, so i sent it in under the warranty for another repair.

each time, i had the amp back within a week and every time i called mtx i was treated really well and i got to speak to someone right away without having to be on hold.

I dont' really have much to compare this amp to, but with my 12w6v2 this amp makes my headlights dim (along with my entire dash) my license plate rattle, and my brain vibrate.

Flygtenstein

Thanks Gents.

Purchases will be made this week. I will post results back heopfully after install.

At what point does one need a capacitor?

The Kappa Perfect's said to not under power them, so does that mean I should exceed the 350 RMS at 4 ohms? For two coils, does that mean I should run 700 at 2 ohms?

dbikeman

The best bet is to get a 1.0 farad capacitor for everything 1000w power you have.

nrgetic99

Great thread....

However, don't get hung up on a particular size of sub. Ask yourself is it for you to hear or people outside the truck to hear.

Do you want tight controlled bass (musical) or loud boomy bass (maximum impact)

I was running a single 8" L7 in a 0.5 cu ft custom glass enclosure with around 600W. 95% of the folks who got in my truck refused to believe it was an 8 !

Now the L7's are square so a square 8 has nearly 30% more cone area than a round 8 but the point is, putting a lot of power into a small sealed enclosure can give exceptional tight, controlled bass BUT will not go waay down into the lower reaches of the frequency band.

If you want to try and run a big driver ( a 12) in an open enclosure or a band pass box, ot takes a lot of power...and I mean a lot of clean power such as a JL 500/1 or bigger.

Two drivers and it just gets worse.

The JBL 600.1 gets good write ups for the money and is not too power hungry but will run hot so you can't run it at max outputs for extended periods. A 10" L7 in a sealed box will not take up much room and hit pretty hard, go reasonably deep and never get boomy.

You should be able to get that set up at or around $400.

But, as I started this post with, decide what sound you want and then put together a system based on that. My 02 cents is that you will not get a system with an open enclosure and a 12 that you will like after about 5 mins at $400.

Jonathan

Believe me, I worked at a renowned audio store here in SC (Ultimate Audio) and for one amp and a 12" sub, you will not need a capacitator, don't waste your money. If this isn't a competition setup and you're not pushing a whole lot power, then a capacitator is not really needed.

AkitaDog

iTrader: (1)

I would agree with Jonathan about the capacitor.
At the power range you are looking at it would be a waste of money.