I'm gearing up to do a sub install in the next week, and I still haven't decided whether to put in one sub or two. About a year ago, I bought a pair of Xtant X1244's (500w RMS 12") with the intention of showing off. Now, however, I'm more concerned about sound quality than making a big boom. I've never ridden in a car with subs where I knew what the output was, so I'm not sure what to expect....so yeah, are 2 of those gonna tear apart my car, or will they be just enough to be appreciated by me and the cars directly next to me?

They will be in a sealed enclosure.

 

I'm no expert, but 2 is probably overkill. I had 2 12" JL W3s in my old Lexus in a sealed box with 1200W going to them (~600 each)...it was retarded. If you're going to have that much bass, make sure you got some good speakers and a good speaker amp to keep up, you'll need it.

 

it really depends on what you set your gain on the amplifier to. Set it high, and the subs will overpower the components, set it too low and your low end will seem non-existent. Find the right gain setting and you'll be happy :D

for reference, I'll but using 1 10" soundsplinter RL-i in my SQ setup.

 

2 subs will be louder, but would still have the musical capabilities of a single sub... the key is having the correct enclosure for the sub(s)... (with a sealed enclosure)- a box with volume on the small end of the requirements may sound more "punchy" while a box on the larger end of the volume requirement would have more low frequency extension and would probably sound better IMO...

 

For SQ, many other aspects are more important than whether you use 1 or 2 subs. If the rest of your system is perfect for SQ, it won't make much difference either way. Do you plan on competing, or just putting together what you feel is a decent SQ system?

 

I say put one, you dont need super bass for SQ and with one, you can use a smaller amp, smaller wireing (possibly), more free space in the trunk, less power draw... what else?

Like they all said one or two can be set up poorly or excelently. But for the reasons listed above I would take one.

Me personally, I was happy with my 1 8" sub with 180w RMS. I did wish it had more low extention, but that had more to do with size than power or how many subs.

 

^^ a tuned ported enclosure could give you better LFE and still keep it sounding pretty dang good.... my 2 6.5" ED's get just as low and clean as my JL's did musically...

 

i'm plannin on rolling with 2 Rl-i8's ported ... Soundsplinter makes some nice subs...

 

what are you going to tune the box to?

 

even though 30 is recommended I am probably going to shoot for 32 Hz.

 

aren't you worried about the lag commonly seen in ported boxes? I mean, 8's are for tight bass that keeps up with the music, normally with a sealed box. When the sub plays noted around the tuning point, it's gonna get all crazy. Are you sure you want that?

 

um an 8 and a 12 and a 15 both can equally keep up with music, when properly powered and installed...

and i haven't experienced any of this lag you speak of in a properly tuned ported box. I have had 2 IDmaxes in a sealed and a ported enclosure and the ported clearly outperformed the sealed install ...



read: http://www.adireaudio.com/Files/Tech...ooferSpeed.pdf

 

eh, maybe it was a crap install/equipment problem then. a friend of mine had 2 rockford 12" P2's in a sealed enclosure and sounded pretty good. He went and built a 28 hz ported enclosure for them and while it did get a bit louder, the notes around the tuning point seemed to get longer and drawn out.

 

i can't comment what happened with your friend's install without the measurements of the port & box. How does he know he tuned for 28 Hz? Did he use one of those free web based box calculators? Box constructed properly? Too many variables.

 

gains should be set with a DMM not by ear. it is not a volume ****.

 

I know... I was assuming that they knew not to set them overly high. clipping = bad!

follow this to figure out your maximum gain setting-
http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164826

 

I thought about it, but then I would need a bigger box and etc. Besides im partial to the sound of a sealed enclosure.

Its a ID8 v3 I plan on molding it into the side of the trunk when I intall it in the Tc.

 

I went with 2 12's and all the power I would ever need, and it's worked out just great. But when I feel the need to hear myself think, it's nice to turn the custom settings down on the HU just a notch and still produce quality sound instead of overwhelming bass.... If that makes sense?

 

Ideally, a system's entire gain structure should be viewed with an oscilloscope. It's easier, faster and more accurate than the DMM method, provided a scope is available.

 

^^ speakers should be set with an o-scope, but often times if you set a sub gain with the o-scope as well, the substage will be overpowering the front mids/highs that are amped... you should set the mids/highs gain with the o-scope to their loudest/cleanest point then set the sub gain by o-scope as well but then turn it down untill it's balanced with the mids/highs will prove to be the best option