Subwoofer Experts or guys that know about them please help

[///BMW]

ok i am putting a system in my car, what things should i pay attention too? and what the hell are ohms?

[jb552]

in quick terms, ohms are like walls, the more ohms you have, the more distorted the sound, the fewer ohms, the cleaner the sound-but it requires more power.
things to look out for:
cone material-paper,cardboard(not too good)kevlar reinforced(good)
size-saller subs(8-12") produce "tighter" bass than larger subs(15")
magnet weight-the heavier the magnet, the better
shape and design-complex cones do not produce better bass, KISS

Jose

[///BMW]

ok so 8 ohms is bad? how is poly somethin? for the cone material?

[jb552]

it all depends on what you want from your system and how much you want to spend, the 8 ohm setup wont sound terrible, assuming you use a decent amp for it, if you want really clen sounding bass, 8 ohms isnt for you, you should look into a sub that has a maximum of 4 ohms, and an amp that power them correctly. a quick suggestion on what to look for, for subs, i would personally recomend either the Alpine Type R, or the Polk/MOMO. amp-wise i would probably go with the Alpinr MVR-T757 or T1507.

Jose

[Spencer]

Originally posted by jb552
in quick terms, ohms are like walls, the more ohms you have, the more distorted the sound, the fewer ohms, the cleaner the sound-but it requires more power.
things to look out for:
cone material-paper,cardboard(not too good)kevlar reinforced(good)
size-saller subs(8-12") produce "tighter" bass than larger subs(15")
magnet weight-the heavier the magnet, the better
shape and design-complex cones do not produce better bass, KISS

Jose

You got the ohms theory all wrong.

Say you have Amp "X". At 4 ohms, it will put out 100 watts. At 2 ohms, it will put out 200 watts, but it will sound more distorted. At 1 ohm, it will put out 400 watts, and it will sound EVEN MORE distored.

At 8 ohms it will put out 50 and sound better. I think you get the point.

Basically it is a trade off with sound quality and watts. You need to buy a sub that has the right ohm rating to compliment the amp you have. Some amps run best at 4 ohms, some at 2 and some at as low as 1.

Then there is wiring mulitple subs to change the over ohm ratiing. If you wire two 8 ohm subs in parrelell, it will cause a 4 ohm overall load. If you wire two 8 ohm subs in series, it will cause a 16 ohm overall load.

It is kinda hard to explain, but you can think of the ohm rating like a magnet. A 1 ohm sub will pull twice as much power from a amp as a 2 ohm sub but it will pull worse sound quality.

[///BMW]

ok thanks, well price is pretty much everything, it looks like i will be ordering quite a bit of stuff from www.crutchfield.com, i am lookin at 4 ohm subs with like 250 rms and an amp around 300 for each so i don't run them hard

[pikachu]

Originally posted by Spencer



You got the ohms theory all wrong.

Say you have Amp "X". At 4 ohms, it will put out 100 watts. At 2 ohms, it will put out 200 watts, but it will sound more distorted. At 1 ohm, it will put out 400 watts, and it will sound EVEN MORE distored.

At 8 ohms it will put out 50 and sound better. I think you get the point.

Basically it is a trade off with sound quality and watts. You need to buy a sub that has the right ohm rating to compliment the amp you have. Some amps run best at 4 ohms, some at 2 and some at as low as 1.

Then there is wiring mulitple subs to change the over ohm ratiing. If you wire two 8 ohm subs in parrelell, it will cause a 4 ohm overall load. If you wire two 8 ohm subs in series, it will cause a 16 ohm overall load.

It is kinda hard to explain, but you can think of the ohm rating like a magnet. A 1 ohm sub will pull twice as much power from a amp as a 2 ohm sub but it will pull worse sound quality.

i 2nd that

[///BMW]

how do i wire them parallel? i probobly won't know what the hell your talkin about but i am sure i will when i get them installed or do it myself also how is it differnet from series?

[jxc09]

I might be able to offer you a great deal. I have two solobaric 12 inch kicker. Clean and clear bass!!! I also have a 1000watt rockford fosgate amp. I've only have this for about 1.5 months and I really really need my trunk space back. Let me know.

[SupraTT93]

to wire in parallel, all the positives are hooked up together, thats basically it

[UR2FAT]

Also remember to take NO notice of the "watts on the box" always look for wrms (watts root mean squared) or rms for short. Basically these are real watts. The "watts on the box" are usually peak watts, or the maximum watts an amp can put out at any moment of time, or a subs handling, but wrms are continuous or average.

[Joe]

I'll use my setup as an example to try to explain ohms, and how they change based on how you connect your subs:

I have 3 JL Audio 8W6 subs. They are Dual Voice Coil and are rated at 6-ohms.

Dual voice coil subs have 2 positives per sub and 2 negatives per sub.

With 3 DVC subs that are 6-ohm, a true parallel connection would be as follows: Take all positives and connect into the + on the amp when bridged. Do the same with all - 's. You better have a 1-ohm stable amp for this connection, or even lower. 1/2 ohm, etc.

A 75X2 @ 4 ohm amp (150X1 when bridged at 2 ohm) that is 1-ohm stable would provide 300 watts at 1-ohm. I used to have my subs hooked up like this with my Soundstream Reference 300 amplifer.


With 3 DVC subs that are 6-ohm, a true series connection would be as follows:
On one sub, connect one of the +'s and one of the -'s together with a small wire. Do the same on the other sub. Now take the remaining +'s and -'s and connect them to the amp. This would present the amplifier with almost a 4-ohm load exactly.

With this setup, your best bet would be to find a single-channel amp that is designed for subwoofer applications. An amp that can put out large numbers of wattage at 4-ohms. I have this setup, and use a Precision Power a600.2... ...it provides 600 watts at 4 ohm when bridged. There is no cleaner power than this.

With the parallel connection up top, your amplifer will run EXTREMELY hot, and isn't practical for long periods of listening.

I hope this answers a little bit of your questions about connections. It's hard to explain this concept without using examples of particular subs and amp ratings.

Remember that it's not all about huge power ratings in order to get good bass. I know a guy who has 70 watts going to a bandpass box in an E30 M3, and he has the bandpass box mounted up by the rear deck in the trunk with the port going through the rear deck.... ...and it sounds GREAT.

[BMLRacer]

I'm not an electronics expert, but can speak for the Polk/ Momo subs. They are an awesome sub for the money. Cleans, crisp, solid bass. You can find info on my install at http://www.polkaudio.com/car/library/installs/polk.php

I can put you in touch with my installer at Polk if you start to get serious.

Brian

[KAMIKADZE]

AMPLIFERS PPI at http://www.precisionpower.net/
SUBS AND SPEAKERS Cerwin VEGA at http://www.cerwinvega.com/
That is the best for me

[KAMIKADZE]

I like these Polk MOMO subs . That is what I need for my MOMO interior sorry that they are not in yellow
Nice install BMLRacer i realy like it