So I bought my first system and I'm pretty disappointed with it. A single 12" American Bass in my civic hatchback.
It's loud but sounds like crap. A friend of mine pointed me to this forum to ask for advice, he said I should probably go 10's if I care more about SQ than SPL (terms I just now picked up from reading this forum).
I'm looking to spend between 500 and 1000 on 2 subs, box, and amp.
The size subs arn't going to play into how they sound as much as the type of sub it is, the enclosure and how much power they're seeing. If you want a good all around pair of subs, 2 Fi SSDs would be nice. They'd work nicely on ~1000 rms. A nice affordable amp is the AQ1200D on Audioque.com. The Fi subs are at Ficaraudio.com. If you want to keep the bass tight and clean, a sealed enclosure would do nicely. Two 12s in a civic would get plenty loud on 1k rms in a sealed enclosure. You could also do a single Fi Q in a sealed enclosure on the same power. If you want the music to sound good all around you might want to invest into a nice front stage and a good 2 channel amp. Its not something you have to do right away if money is tight, its steps you could take over time.
If I could get by with one sub that'd be best, I looked at the Fi Q series, I don't know what any of those numbers seem except for rms and it seems good for the price.
My car is very narrow, 2 12's would take up my entire trunk and might not even fit, that's why I was looking at 10's.
On craigslist there's a guy selling 3 10" kicker ls7's in a box for only 300 dollars. Seems like a steal but from what I've read on here people don't really like kickers and they are more for spl. I'd have to fold the back seat down and put em in sideways lol.
I really like the idea of buying one really nice sub instead of having more than one. Also, what do you mean when you say "nice front stage" and could you suggest a "good" 2 channel amp? Though if I'm only looking at a single sub would I need 2 channels?
Money isn't a huge issue, I just can't justify spending over a grand on this. I like my music, but I don't feel like putting more money into my sound system than I paid for my car.
If you want a single sub that will give you plenty of sound, the Fi Q would do very well for you. If space is an issue you can do a single 12. One thing you want to make sure is that you have room for a proper enclosure. One 12 sealed shouldn't take up a lot of room. If you don't mind spending a little more for an amp I would suggest Sundown Audio. They make greats amps and hold their value. CDT and DLS make nice component speakers. One thing to look for is how much RMS they're rated at and then look for an amp that will feed them the correct amount of power. I'd say you would probably need between a 60 rms and 75 rms set of comps to keep up with the Fi Q. Its going to be a balance so one isnt over powering the other. You can always adjust gains down to help balance out a system. If you plan to run 2 amps, you may need to run larger wire depending on what size you have ran now. You could use distribution blocks in the rear to ground and power each amp.
While AQ makes mice subs they are NOT the right choice if you care more about SQ.
Two Fi Q 10" in a sealed box is, i'll bet, exactly what you need. Too bad, I just sold that exact setup at a steal of a price. Ask "polo" on this forum lol.
I'm running the xd-12 off a sq-475 4 channel (800w) amp. i have no idea what kind of wiring (because i'm ignorant when it comes to this stuff) and i know the box is sealed but i don't know the dimensions. It's not much bigger than the sub itself though so probably pretty basic?
@M.S. if AQ isn't the right amp what is?
My car is pretty small, if I was to leave the 4 channel amp on the components i already have in the front and rear then add another big amp on whatever sub/subs I decide to buy would I need to do something about the power draw on my alternator? I've seen some of my friends with capacitors and/or a battery in the trunk with their subs. I am almost definitely going a double amp setup because I really like the way my components sound with an amp on them.
I think a sundown 1000D was going for around $315 last time I checked. Also I think he was referring to the AQ subs not the amps. Their amps are fine on a budget.
alright i found a saz-1000d for 300 bucks, i tried to find a used fi-q but couldn't so i'll probably just buy it new. which of the options should i get when i buy it? Where should I go for a box?
They're really heavy, require a rather large enclosure and run at a 3 ohm load. Finding an amp to run at 1 ohm will be easier and cheaper than 3 ohm. For a 12 w7 you'd need a clean amount of power from 500 - 1000 rms. They do sound great and are a nice woofer but for the money you can always go with other brands. For example the Fi Q gives the w7 a run for its money. If you can find a sweet deal on a w7 though, its worth getting.
I currently run one myself and have been very pleased with it. I however got mine for a good deal and lucked out with it. If I was in the market today to buy a new sub I doubt I would pick up a w7. I'd probably go with a Q or a SSA Xcon.
Alright so I've decided on getting a fully loaded fi-q 12 with a custom box from bassman and a sundown saz-1000d or 1200d depending on which i find a good deal on.
when i buy the sub should i be getting the dual 1 or 2 ohm speakers? what else do i need to make this setup work?
Dual 2 ohm so you can wire it to the amp at 1 ohm. You'll need wire for your power and ground. I'd get extra for the big 3 upgrade. Make sure you have a decent HU, RCA cables, remote start wire.. A digital multi-meter would be good to have to set your gain with. Also to measure your voltage while the system is running.