300 watts RMS enough for a sub?

[cruzinbill]

Originally Posted by ft_sjo

A 300W amp for a 300W sub does not make a good match.

BTW, thanks for completely ignoring me about that MiniDSP.

For someone, that has no idea what to get its a good start.

As for the minidsp, I replied back and said it sold.

[cruzinbill]

Originally Posted by Gir

I always go for sealed box. They always sound much better then even the best ported boxes. Porting just makes the sub make way more noise, at the cost of quality.

You have to tune the box to compliment both the car, and the sub. If you were local, Im sure I could change your opinion of ported lol.

[Dave-ROR]

As others have said, it depends on a lot of variables. In my last car I ran about 400wrms to an 8" sub, it was plenty for me. If you like lots of low end though, it will depend greatly on box design, driver, etc.

[cruzinbill]

Originally Posted by Someguyk

Thanks for the quick responses! I'm currently looking at the following for the box, sub and amp. Anyone got advice as too if this will be a decent setup. I've looked at the specs and everything seems to fall into place. Thanks again!

Sealed box-
http://www.integrityconcepts.net/frs...rder-sale.html

Sub-
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DXI1...11#details-tab

Amp-
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130GMD9...34#details-tab

Good box choice

Sub is meh, but for the price a good deal.

Amp I would suggest this instead, just a better amp for better price. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_109GTO5...l#overview-tab

sorry for triple post... apparently multi quote doesn't want to work

[mit_peid]

300Wrms going to a single 10" sub in a sealed enclosure is plenty in the FRS/BRZ. It is probably bass overkill if you're not planning on upgrading the other speakers in the car. I'm running about 200-300Wrms from a Rockford Punch to a 10" JL sub/sealed-enclosure and it is way more bass than I need with the gain turned up about half-way. The amp is powered by a bridged-channel on the 4-ch RF amp, with the other two channels powering a set of 6.5" components. I think I recently screwed up some power wiring and either f'd up one of the channels on my amp or blew the Sub (either way it was probably my fault). If I were to do it all over, I would try to find a smaller-sized amp (probably about same amount of power) and with a 8" sub that can go into a corner of the trunk (or spring for the integrity concepts enclosure).

[Someguyk]

Originally Posted by cruzinbill

Good box choice

Sub is meh, but for the price a good deal.

Amp I would suggest this instead, just a better amp for better price. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_109GTO5...l#overview-tab

sorry for triple post... apparently multi quote doesn't want to work

Thanks for the actual input aimed towards my question. I looked at the amp you suggested and I agree, much better. As for the Sub, is there another you would recommend? Thanks

[cruzinbill]

Originally Posted by Someguyk

Thanks for the actual input aimed towards my question. I looked at the amp you suggested and I agree, much better. As for the Sub, is there another you would recommend? Thanks

Depending on box fitment(I havent looked too in depth at their box yet) and what power you want to run. I would say one of the 2.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_5751P2D...10.html?tp=111

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_5751P3D...10.html?tp=111

Also budget is a factor between them.


Ok, either will work well in that box. I would say if the p3 is in your budget go with it. Yes, its 500w but if its "too much" sub after tuning it, you can still just turn it down. I just believe its better to have more headroom than needed.

[FreshFRS]

if you are dead set on a 10" sub i would recommend this: https://www.woofersetc.com/p-5806-id...subwoofer.aspx

if you wanted to run an 8" (all the car needs IMO) at 300 watts i would recommend one of 2 subs:
first most expensive but definitely the best 8" i've ever heard: https://www.woofersetc.com/p-4314-21...subwoofer.aspx
or: https://www.woofersetc.com/p-8129-mm...subwoofer.aspx a really decent sub for SQ.

all 3 subs would work well with the JBL amp (you'll have headroom with both 8s) that has been brought up. all 3 of these subs like sealed enclosures .7cu/ft for the 10" and .35ish cu/ft for both of the 8s.

i really could not pick a better amp for the money but, i also would consider: https://www.woofersetc.com/p-7247-ks...amplifier.aspx arc makes great stuff that will be very clean. 310w/rms @ 4 ohms

[Someguyk]

Originally Posted by cruzinbill

Depending on box fitment(I havent looked too in depth at their box yet) and what power you want to run. I would say one of the 2.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_5751P2D...10.html?tp=111

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_5751P3D...10.html?tp=111

Also budget is a factor between them.


Ok, either will work well in that box. I would say if the p3 is in your budget go with it. Yes, its 500w but if its "too much" sub after tuning it, you can still just turn it down. I just believe its better to have more headroom than needed.

Now with the sub(s) and amp you suggested would I get some of the "boom" factor. I'm not expecting anything crazy. Just trying to dial in what I want and if I need more power or not. I do plan on upgrading the rest of the speakers and HU in the future.

[cruzinbill]

Originally Posted by Someguyk

Now with the sub(s) and amp you suggested would I get some of the "boom" factor. I'm not expecting anything crazy. Just trying to dial in what I want and if I need more power or not. I do plan on upgrading the rest of the speakers and HU in the future.

That depends how you set it up, it has the potential to have good impact with out sounding all woofy tho yes. That will come down to tuning tho. It will sound pretty good on everything else stock tho, just not amazing.

Upgrade your head down the road and tune the whole system will yield better results obviously. Each part of the system plays their role to have it sound awesome. It will be a great starting point in this car and somthing you wont need to change later.

If you are thinking of doing more later tho you can always get the JBL 5 ch instead and have the other channels either waiting or go ahead and use them. then you have one amp for the whole system.

[mit_peid]

Not necessarily recommending this, but sound dampening the doors, trunk lid, spare tire, & rear license plate area will improve the sound quality you'll get from the sub and door speakers as well. In my opinion, the two 3.5" rear speakers are not worth messing with too much as most of your higher frequencies will come from your 6.5" speakers in the doors and potentially some new tweeters in the dash. The 4-channel amp in 2/1-bridge mode works pretty well IMO (leaving the two rear speakers powered by the head unit).

[Calum]

Originally Posted by Gir

How can under powering a sub hurt it? People say this, but it makes no sense.

It's not under powering it that causes the problem, it's driving an amp too far that hurts the sub. With a more powerful amp, as the desire for more volume increases you turn up the volume, the input wave form to the amp gets larger, the output wave form gets larger, and the wave shape stays the same. This is what you want.

But with an "under powered" amp. as the input goes up the output quickly gets to a point where the peaks are as high as the rail voltages and can't go any higher. From that point on as the input amplitude gets higher the output amplitude stays the same, but the wave forms square off. These new corners in the wave happen much too fast for the driver to respond to, so the volume doesn't get any/much higher. BUT, the squared off waveform actually transmits MUCH more power. This power has to be dissipated by the voice coil as heat. This heat can cause the voice coil to overheat, warp, or just expand to the point that it hits the side walls of the magnet. When that happens, you have a blown speaker on your hands. Not because it was under powered, but because it was over powered due to improper use of the amplifier.

The problems is that it's hard to hear when this starts to happen, and even harder to resist the urge to turn the volume up just a little more. I know when I'm setting up a system for someone else that isn't going to touch their own gains, I try to set it so that the sub amp can't get to this point and then level match the other drivers to that. The problem is, that invariably leaves more room to go, but it's safe.

Now, should you spend more money and get the bigger amp? Well, something will always be the weak link in the system and the sub will almost always be the one being punished for that weak link. If you over power the sub with nice smooth wave forms, the voice coil will still fail, BUT you'll be able to reach higher volumes before that happens. Also, many class D amps are more efficient when not run near their limits. Meaning a more powerful amp, say a 1000 watt amp, being used to output 300 watts will be using less power then another amp that's at it's limit to output that same 300 watts. This will put less strain on the cars charging system. My recommendation is to run the larger amp and under use it vice running a smaller amp and possibly over using it.

YMMV

[Calum]

Originally Posted by mit_peid

Not necessarily recommending this, but sound dampening the doors, trunk lid, spare tire, & rear license plate area will improve the sound quality you'll get from the sub and door speakers as well. In my opinion, the two 3.5" rear speakers are not worth messing with too much as most of your higher frequencies will come from your 6.5" speakers in the doors and potentially some new tweeters in the dash. The 4-channel amp in 2/1-bridge mode works pretty well IMO (leaving the two rear speakers powered by the head unit).

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/


Before anyone sets out to install sound deadening, I HIGHLY recommend taking a look around this site. You can save yourself a ton of time and cash with the info they have.

[mit_peid]

Originally Posted by Calum

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/


Before anyone sets out to install sound deadening, I HIGHLY recommend taking a look around this site. You can save yourself a ton of time and cash with the info they have.

Totally agree, that site does an excellent job explaining the difference between CLD, CCF, and MLV.