hey guys, so I need some advice on what sub/amp combo I should go with for my upcoming upgrade to my car.

Background: I recently purchased a 2001 GS with the Nav/standard premium audio and although I am pretty satisified with the mids/highs, while in driver's seat, the bass produced by the factory open air 10" subwoofer was just too little!

Thus I have embarked on my quest of upgrading my lowend (audio that is) in my car. Thanks to the advice of many members here, I decided to take out the original subwoofer and use a simply LLC to hook up the factory subwoofer power signals to a amp which will then power a sub in a sealed box in the trunk of the car.

I mainly listen to techno and pop along with the occasional rap or R&B thrown in. My MTX/Sony Xlpoid days are behind me, I would like a mix of quality along with moderately heavy doses of bass.

Anyways, my dilemma is picking which amp and subwoofer to use.
Right now, some of the potential choices are (price I can purchase it, used from friends):

Subwoofer:
-10" Alpine Type R DVC 4ohm 500w rms ($200 with the DB Drive amp, sub is in a .9cube feet sealed box)
This is the 06 model Type R. Not too familiar with Alpine but supposedly the newly redesigned 06 model year Type Rs are suppose to be pretty good, will put out about as much bass as the W6 though of a lesser musical quality (quality is still suppose to be good though). Good combo price for the sub, sub box, and amp.

-10" Rockford Fosgate P3 DVC 4ohm 400w rms ($110)
underdog of this lineup, here just because it is cheap and while not as musical, will still pump out respectable amounts of bass

-12" JL Audio W6V2 DVC 4ohm 400w rms ($290 in a JL Prowedge sealed box)
My personal favorite and most widely recommended when not considering price. Also, the prowedge box at 14.75x24x12.49 almost exactly slots into the recessed back part of my trunk. Originally a year ago when I bought my 10W7 sub, I almost got a 12W6V2 and now that I got the monster bass (mostly) out of my system, I think the trade off of less bass but more musicality of the W6V2 is really appealing to me.

Amplifier:
-DB Drive Speed A600 1X600w rms @ 2ohm ($200 with the alpine type R)
not too well known here, supposedly has a good reputation in Europe. Reputed to have good performance though reliability is a shoot or miss.Should make ~650w rms

-Rockford Fosgate Power 501BD 1x500w rms @ 2ohm ($135)
From the older 02 or 03 model lineup when RF was still on the top of their game. Should make ~600w rms

-Rockford Fosgate Type RF X5 1X550w rms @ 2ohm ($165)
This amp is from RF's discontinued higher than power series amps and is suppose to be very good quality. I personally don't like the looks of it but its hard to overlook a suposedly ~750w rms output

-JL Audio 500/1 1X500w rms @ 2ohm ($225)
Good old JL Audio slash series. Hard to go wrong there, just need to justify the price premium.

So there is list of potential cannidates and my thoughts/research about them. Would appreciate your guy's input.

 

you want quality sound?

12W6v2-D4 & JL 500/1


if you go with the new rockfords they need, and i stress need, to have a ported enclosure. they just sound like butt in a sealed one.

oh yeah, and the 500/1 is going to be 500 x 1 @ 1.5-4 ohms doesn't matter about impedance

 

So after much internal debate, I decided to go with the JL Audio gear all around. A bit expensive but hopefully the W6 Prowedge with 500/1 combo will be worth it!

Any of you guys think that the single 12" W6 will overpower the rest of the system? I have a sinking feeling that this amp/sub combo will lead me to go for some 6.5" components front/co-axels back with another JL Audio 300/4 amp. Gulp!!! thats more money I gotta spend!!!

 

JL wins hands down. No contest.
You can always dial down the gains and tweak the system if the bass overpowers the rest of the system, but you can never do the reverse. Don't forget to add 2 layers of sound dampening to your rear deck to keep it from vibrating excessively.

 

Uh...darn(?).
J/k...If you find that the W6 does 'overpower' the rest of your system then turn down the gain on your amplifier (or bass EQ) Simple as that. You can always upgrade your mids later on which I always recommend because I'm wacky like that.

 

So a funny thing came up today. I went down to the local install shop where I plan on getting my amp/sub installed and became puzzled by a issue.

After reading through the online manual for the JL Audio 500/1 amp, it looks like for the inputs, it will accept either low level (aftermarket head units) or high level (which is described as splicing a powered speaker into a rca connection and then plugging that into the input) through the normal input connection via a high/low input switch which will change the sensitivity from 0.2volts-2volts low and .8volts-8volts high.

Originally for the install I was going to be charged $55 for the amp install, $20 for the LLC, and $25 to hook up the LLC. However, when i learned about the JL's high level inputs, I drove by the install shop and asked them about directly splicing the rear subwoofer high level inputs into the amp. They then responded that they would still recommend using a LLC and that they have never spliced a powered oem speaker wire directly into a amp. They also added that going that route is asking for trouble.

I am puzzled by this because they are (from what I heard alteast) are a fairly reputable shop that sells mid-high end brands like Alpine, Memphesis, JL Audio, Cerri Vega (sic), and MB Quart. Alpine's amps have a dedicated speaker level input and it appears JL's A level and slash level amps also will take low/high level inputs.

Other than saving that $20 LLC cost, I also heard that high quality amps (such as JL's slash series) will produce much higher quality output with a directly connect high level input as compared to first converting that high level to a low level with a LLC and then running that to the amp.

So am I getting my leg pulled in being told using the high level inputs is bad for my setup or is there really a valid reason behind why they prefer going with a LLC over a speaker level connection.

Thanks all!

P.S., is it worth it to pay $40 extra for that JL remote bass ****? (I am kinda irritated that JL even with their premium pricing still charges extra for that when my previous amp maker of choice, Rockford, includes it with their even entry level amps) For my setup of just integreting a sub/amp into my oem system/head unit, I heard its often a good idea to turn down the overall system bass and then kicking up the gain on the sub amp so to reduce bass induced distortion from the factory mids. However, the base remote only kicks up the volume for a very specific range of bass, I would prefer being able to increase the entire spectrum of bass.

 

don't worry about the high level input so much, and the bass **** is eh alright.

the high level input only really works well with like an Eclipse deck with 8volt preouts, other than that the low level ones are more than fine for 95% of the car audio people.

 

Go with the LLC if that's what they are comfortable with. As far as the bass control (RBC I think they call it?), I cannot live without mine. You can set the center frequency and width of the parametric circuit that the RBC controls. So you can set it fairly wide (the "Q" of the circuit) to control most of the bass frequencies. I use the thing constantly to compensate for differences in recording levels on different songs, or between CD vs. Sirius vs. iPod sources. Some types of music need the bass turned up (dance, rap), while others need a more modest bass level (jazz, ballads). A little twist of the **** always does the trick.

 

Sweet deal, thanks guys! My sub and amp are coming in tomorrow, I am so pumped! Was trying to listen to a techno/electronic mix cd one of my friends made me (yeah, so she was a hot chica, that makes it acceptable right) and the techno songs just don't sound right when you are not feeling the beat (bass). One more day!