$400 sub

Airplay355

what is the best sub i can get for $400? this includes DIY. I would need to buy an amp, sub wires and inclosure for a DIY sub right? any suggestions on the type of drivers i should use? i was thinking about going with stryke audio or adire. any help would be great because i dont know anything about car audio.

neomagus00

if you want to spend 400 on the sub alone, the adire brahma 12 is awesome... then you need a big amp, wiring, and a box, which you can build youself, and the amp's gonna be pricey...

for 400 total, i dunno... jbl gto (i think this is it) and an appropriate amp...

AustinKP

You can get this MM12 for $180 at Sounddomain, an Authorized retailer for Polk. For power, try this Hifonics Amp, the Nemesis NX600. Bridge it to 600Wx1 for $220. That puts you right at $400 before shipping. Use this 4ga wiring kit from Knukonceptz.com for $30, and you'll be set.

Puts you a bit over, but you'll be very happy with it. You could get this Adire Shiva for $125, but you'll have to build your own box. But you could also throw a smaller amp at it, and get the cheaper HiFonics NX400 for $160.

These will give you good Sound Quality and decent volume without breaking the bank.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Holy freakin crap that's cheap on that MM12...paid $350 for mine...looks like I'll be picking up a couple of those...

I also personally like the MTX stuff with those subs...

I'm not a car audio guy really, but I know good sound when I hear it, and that mm12 with the MTX 8302 I have rocks!

Airplay355

http://www.stryke.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=28&osCsid=16c93d5f6ed11602c011c9abb516b74a

i'm thinking about going with this driver...how would i go about building an enclosure? would it be better to get an enclosure thats already build, like from best buy or radio shack, or where ever else they sell enclosures.

and what is with the car audio specs? are those amps really driving 600 watts? is that the peak power? or are the manufacturers just lieing about watt ratings?

AustinKP

Originally posted by Airplay355
http://www.stryke.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=28&osCsid=16c93d5f6ed11602c011c9abb516b74a

i'm thinking about going with this driver...how would i go about building an enclosure? would it be better to get an enclosure thats already build, like from best buy or radio shack, or where ever else they sell enclosures.

and what is with the car audio specs? are those amps really driving 600 watts? is that the peak power? or are the manufacturers just lieing about watt ratings?

I've heard good things about those Stryke subs. That would probably be a good choice. From what I gather, it handles 500W. In higher end subs and amps, power and power handling is Always RMS values, never peak. Peak power is worthless. HiFonics is an Excellent brand, and they are actually underrated, meaning, they put out more power than they are rated at. Sealed boxes aren't hard to make. Building your own will be much better than pre-fab boxes. You need to have the right internal volume for the best sub performance.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Originally posted by Airplay355
and what is with the car audio specs? are those amps really driving 600 watts? is that the peak power? or are the manufacturers just lieing about watt ratings? [/B]

Sean, I don't think they think about watts the same way we do in the home audio world...

Could you imagine an HK amp with 600 WPC???:D

Airplay355

do you know any websites with detailed instructions on how to build an enclosure? i would look myself but i dont know what designs are good and what ones should be avoided.


and polkmanica, im ryan not sean lol

Systems

180$ for 2 12" Phoenix Gold Ti's........

180$ for MA audio HK-1997

40$ for box/wiring

Ported.

Systems

Originally posted by Airplay355
do you know any websites with detailed instructions on how to build an enclosure? i would look myself but i dont know what designs are good and what ones should be avoided.


and polkmanica, im ryan not sean lol

http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/spboxnew2.htm

neomagus00

seems like a good page; i would still go sealed, because while you could do ported, sealed is easier to make and much easier to make sound good

Systems

Originally posted by neomagus00
seems like a good page; i would still go sealed, because while you could do ported, sealed is easier to make and much easier to make sound good

true, but not with the subs I listed......they shine ported with better SQ than sealed.

neomagus00

fair enough... i still think sealed is easier to build than ported, but neither is particularly difficult; in any case, the sealed vs. ported debate is mostly personal taste, so i guess that's up to airplay

if i had to characterize the boxes, i'd call sealed 'flat' and ported 'punchy', generally speaking

exalted512

is $400 for EVERYTHING or just a sub?
if just a sub, then get the adire brahma
the 10" is like $330 on www.sound-foundations.us
then get the hifonics brutus 1500 and run it at 1 ohm
1500 watts to arguably the best SQ sub invented...*evil laugh*
that stryke would kill the momo in spl...
-Cody

Airplay355

its $400 for everything, amp, sub, box, and wires. the space restrictions are the trunk of a toyota corolla. i think i'd like to go with a sealed design because this is the first sub i am attempting to build. the recomended box size is listed on the link to the driver i posted earlier, as well as the specifications of the driver. i think the stryke sub is a killer deal for $175 and i think 1 of them will fill that lil car with tons of bass.

Systems

Originally posted by Airplay355
its $400 for everything, amp, sub, box, and wires. the space restrictions are the trunk of a toyota corolla. i think i'd like to go with a sealed design because this is the first sub i am attempting to build. the recomended box size is listed on the link to the driver i posted earlier, as well as the specifications of the driver. i think the stryke sub is a killer deal for $175 and i think 1 of them will fill that lil car with tons of bass.

Why do people think ported boxes are hard to build???

Just load up winISD pro and make it. Simple. It takes an extra 15min to figure the port........

neomagus00

it's not that they're hard to build, not if you've ever built anything before; almost everyone can punch the numbers into winisd, but not everyone can translate the results into a RW box... not everyone can properly account for the displacement of the driver, port, and bracing, and not everyone can plan a box properly

neglecting all that, a sealed box is also more forgiving on design and construction errors; if you're off 5% on a sealed box, no biggie, but if you're off 5% on a ported box, it can make much more of a difference.

Airplay355

exactly, thats why im goin sealed. plus the cabin gain of a car will eliminate the need for the extra extension that a ported box can offer. ill build a ported sub after i do a sealed one. gotta work my way up lol

btnhfan

resonant engineering ****. wait never mind i thought it was only for a sub. adire shivas are good.

MacLeod

Another difference in the sealed vs ported is the performance. The ported will have more volume but it will be boom rather than a tight punch. For tighter, quicker bass a sealed is a better choice.

I listen to metal and sealed boxes are perfect for me. The kickdrums and bass lines are very quick and too much boom really messes up the sound.

If youre into rap, jazz, techno or stuff like that then a ported will work fine.

exalted512

thats not always true
ported boxes can have much more pressure behind them than sealed
its all in the design, you make a ported box more or less punchy than a sealed
-Cody

MacLeod

I agree that you can tune ported boxes with more flexibility and Im sure you can make them quite punchy but a sealed will generally be tighter and faster than a ported. It also depends on the music you listen to. Techno or rap are perfect matches for ports but break out Master of Puppets and where a ported will just rumble, a sealed will have more impact and youll feel the kick drums a little more. Check out Slayers Rain in Blood also. It has a very clean mix and the bass drums will punch a hole in your chest.

Airplay355

what kind of wire should i use inside the sub? is there a place to get it cheap online? what gauge do i need? these runs are just from the inside of the terminal cup to the two voice coils.

also, is the nx400 amp you reccomended stable to 1 ohm? the stryke driver has dual 2 ohm voice coils so i can wire them in a series to have a 4 ohm load or wire them parallel and get 1 ohm. ill keep it at 4 ohm unless the amp can handle a 1 ohm load. what do u guys think? the amp is rated at 4 ohms and the link to specs is posted earlier in the thread.

MacLeod

For speaker wire I would go with 12 guage.

As far as places to get it online, I like Sound Domain.com the best. They arent the cheapest place to get stuff but they are authoized dealers of everything they sell so you know youre getting brand new stuff with a manufactuers warranty.

exalted512

its not one ohm stable, just bridge it
and go to www.acaraudio.com and look up HiFonics amps and get sounddomain to match the price...acaraudio isnt an authorized dealer but sounddomain is and will match the price most of the time...and save you A LOT of money!
as far as wire...any type of wire...look no further than www.knukonceptz.com
the best place to get power wire or speaker wire on the net
-Cody

Airplay355

i know i can just bridge it but i asked if it was 1 ohm stable because i have to wire my sub a specific way to get the right imp....i have to wire the voice coils in a series now instead of parallel. thanks for the price match thing ill try it out

AustinKP

NX400 - not 1 ohm stable. It gives it's maximum RMS power rating bridged at 4 ohms mono, or 2 ohms stereo.

bamaboy

Go to www,reaudio.com and look at their se line and sx line.
(se $185 shipped 600rms)
(sx 270 shipped 1000rms)

Both sound very good se is sq and sx is spl

neomagus00

an 18 week old thread...