In my Jeep TJ I have 2 8" JL Audio W1v2 subs in small separate boxes powered with an amp that puts out 300W RMS into 2 ohms. When turned up they sound good, but at low volumes they're lacking. Would a 10" (for argument sake) Type S offer more low volume bass? Being a jeep I'm looking for something that doesn't take up too much space and will match the amp I'm using.
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2 8" subs vs 1 10" sub
- Thread starter Coops
- Start date
Hvrc
Quarry Creeper
have you tweaked up your gain some? moved your boxes? sealed or vented?
i had a Cadillac, 2x 12's in a box, dual 300w amps, the only way i could hear the subs was to jump up the gain, and position the box with the outlets facing the back seats. then again, this guy jimbo at a past job had 1 8" in a tube, trunk of a civic, "slapping" with 800w, and broke the rear view mirror off the window.
someone with more experience should chime in here, i just buy flea market gear and make it work, no idea what the ohms ratings were on any of my gear
i had a Cadillac, 2x 12's in a box, dual 300w amps, the only way i could hear the subs was to jump up the gain, and position the box with the outlets facing the back seats. then again, this guy jimbo at a past job had 1 8" in a tube, trunk of a civic, "slapping" with 800w, and broke the rear view mirror off the window.
someone with more experience should chime in here, i just buy flea market gear and make it work, no idea what the ohms ratings were on any of my gear
I've messed with the gain, cross-over on the amp and the gain on the deck. It helps but I shouldn't have to crank the gain to max to get it to perform at a lower volume.
I've had the boxes mounted on the rear wheel-wells like arm rests, behind the back seat. Behind the front seats with the back seat removed.... The boxes are sealed with some fill in them.
I've had the boxes mounted on the rear wheel-wells like arm rests, behind the back seat. Behind the front seats with the back seat removed.... The boxes are sealed with some fill in them.
STANG KILLA SS
~THE SCALE SHOP~
id go with a single 12 with proper airspace. then your done forever.
jcboof
I wanna be Dave
I just went through the same process last spring.
I have a Civic hatch, and I wanted just a little bump. I did some research and found a set of Polk Momo 8's that were supposed to sound great.
Well, I did a custom install and they sounded AWESOME!! I've had several systems before with dual 10's and dual 12's and these two 8's sounded every bit as good as a set of 10's. They were loud and sounded VERY clean they hit pretty darn hard. Only thing they lacked was a bottom end. They struggled a bit to hit the really low bass. After a while I started getting the itch for more bass and decided to go with a single JL 10W7. WOW! That single 10 is LOUD!!!!! WAY louder than my 8's.
Now, with what you are trying to do, with the Alpine sub, I'm VERY confident that the two 8's are louder and will sound better. But if you got the coin, and want something sick, get the W7. You will not be disappointed.
The Type S, is not a bad sub but it is a lower line sub, comparable to the JL W0's, but you will probably have some lower bass frequencies that it will hit better. Even a single10W6 will hit much harder than the Type S.
The two 8's have more surface area than a single 10 so in theory, they will be louder than a single 10. But depending on the type of 10 you get, will determine how loud and how low it will go.
Personally, if I was to look for more volume or better sound, I'd simply get a better sub. You are looking at a lateral move in quality with your subs. If you do decide to get a single 10, spend the money and get a good one. Otherwise, I'd just stick with your two 8's.
As far as low volume sound goes, its just a tricky thing sometimes. Can't always have the best of both worlds without dropping some coin. The only way I know to increase the low volume thump is to get a remote dial to turn up the gain at lower levels and then turn it back to normal at higher volumes. Too bad there wasn't an exponential setting on the head unit! Something that at low levels, it increases the bass response, but then lowers it a bit at high volumes.
Here are a few pics of my before and after setups.
Here are the two Polk Momo 8's, These guys hit HARD.
Here's my single 10" W7. Its completely hidden under my false floor and nothing is visible when you open the hatch. This sub is SICK.
I have a Civic hatch, and I wanted just a little bump. I did some research and found a set of Polk Momo 8's that were supposed to sound great.
Well, I did a custom install and they sounded AWESOME!! I've had several systems before with dual 10's and dual 12's and these two 8's sounded every bit as good as a set of 10's. They were loud and sounded VERY clean they hit pretty darn hard. Only thing they lacked was a bottom end. They struggled a bit to hit the really low bass. After a while I started getting the itch for more bass and decided to go with a single JL 10W7. WOW! That single 10 is LOUD!!!!! WAY louder than my 8's.
Now, with what you are trying to do, with the Alpine sub, I'm VERY confident that the two 8's are louder and will sound better. But if you got the coin, and want something sick, get the W7. You will not be disappointed.
The Type S, is not a bad sub but it is a lower line sub, comparable to the JL W0's, but you will probably have some lower bass frequencies that it will hit better. Even a single10W6 will hit much harder than the Type S.
The two 8's have more surface area than a single 10 so in theory, they will be louder than a single 10. But depending on the type of 10 you get, will determine how loud and how low it will go.
Personally, if I was to look for more volume or better sound, I'd simply get a better sub. You are looking at a lateral move in quality with your subs. If you do decide to get a single 10, spend the money and get a good one. Otherwise, I'd just stick with your two 8's.
As far as low volume sound goes, its just a tricky thing sometimes. Can't always have the best of both worlds without dropping some coin. The only way I know to increase the low volume thump is to get a remote dial to turn up the gain at lower levels and then turn it back to normal at higher volumes. Too bad there wasn't an exponential setting on the head unit! Something that at low levels, it increases the bass response, but then lowers it a bit at high volumes.
Here are a few pics of my before and after setups.
Here are the two Polk Momo 8's, These guys hit HARD.
Here's my single 10" W7. Its completely hidden under my false floor and nothing is visible when you open the hatch. This sub is SICK.
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The 10W7 looks to be able to handle 750W rms which is a lot more than my PDX5 will be able to give it. I'm looking for a sub that matches the power output of the amp. My understanding is that an underpowered sub won't be as loud or effective as it should be.
RANOVRU
Quarry Creeper
Proper enclosure space along with correct placement has a lot to do with how your subs will sound (assuming proper sub/amp ratio).
For a situation where the sub is in the "cab" area, or the same space that the drivers/passengers are in, a ported box makes more sense than an enclosed.
FWIW you dont want the subs facing you, rather the back of the vehicle, for simple acoustics sake.
For a situation where the sub is in the "cab" area, or the same space that the drivers/passengers are in, a ported box makes more sense than an enclosed.
FWIW you dont want the subs facing you, rather the back of the vehicle, for simple acoustics sake.
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The boxes are store bought 8" small boxes. I recall checking it once and they were the right size for a sealed box. The subs are 4 ohm in parallel good for 150W max rms. They should match the amp paired up as they are.
The subs face the back, right now they are just behind the front seats. If I'm not mistaken, the amp gain is half, maybe a nit more. The deck gain is about 2/3rds and the bass level is also 2/3. The volume goes up to 40, 10 is where I'd like it while driving, 20 is pretty damn loud. With the deck gain and bass turned up to those levels it is louder, I just figured I should be able to have them less.
My old Clarion had that. Bumped up the bass at low levels and gradually reduced it to whatever you had it preset to when you raised the volume. Worked great.
x2
RANOVRU
Quarry Creeper
Those individual truck boxes really arent optimal for anything. You need a box that encompasses both woofers together in a ported enclosure. If youre not familiar with this sort of thing than go to your local car audio shop and show them the subs and space youre working with and theyll be able to let you know what you need.
jcboof
I wanna be Dave
x3!!
The way I have my W7 mounted (firing up) really tames the sub down. When it was facing back, it was almost too much to handle. My rear view mirror nearly broke my windshield it snapped up so hard when the bass hit.
Sub placement plays a huge roll in how they sound.
RANOVRU
Quarry Creeper
Tell me about it. Sucks to have to get a crack in the glass in order to realize its overkill.
SPL meter wouldve been nice.
hoghead5150
Rock Crawler
when it comes to subs the bigger sub will produce deeper sound at all power levels. also the bigger the sub the more air it moves and the sound will carry farther. now with this said, two 8 inch subs will not carry as far as a single 10 inch sub. reason is it doesn't matter how many drivers you put in the sound will not double in distance. if you want low bass that you can hear the bigger the speaker the better it will be.
this is from years of competition stereo systems i've had and installed. a single 10 will be louder and carry farther than two 8's all things being equal. the biggest problem i see with what you have is the enclosure. IF the enclosure is not set up properly for the speaker the quality suffers. your best bet would be to get the specs for the speakers and make sure you are running them in the proper sized enclosure. i prefer sealed boxes unless you want to get into the math of figuring out port diameters and lengths and port dynamics and tuning. the old tricks of stuffing the boxes with poly fill to make up for poor designs works (kinda) but it leads to muffled sound, bad resonance, and a slower acting sub.
this is from years of competition stereo systems i've had and installed. a single 10 will be louder and carry farther than two 8's all things being equal. the biggest problem i see with what you have is the enclosure. IF the enclosure is not set up properly for the speaker the quality suffers. your best bet would be to get the specs for the speakers and make sure you are running them in the proper sized enclosure. i prefer sealed boxes unless you want to get into the math of figuring out port diameters and lengths and port dynamics and tuning. the old tricks of stuffing the boxes with poly fill to make up for poor designs works (kinda) but it leads to muffled sound, bad resonance, and a slower acting sub.
RANOVRU
Quarry Creeper
If you just want a little bump two 8's or one 10 in an appropriate box should suffice. If you want to shake the ground and take up ALL of your rear space than you could go with two 12's.
You never mentioned if your TJ was HT or ST. If its a soft top you can forget about anything sounding decent. Even with a HT youre probably gonna have a lot of ratttling given the vehicle.
You never mentioned if your TJ was HT or ST. If its a soft top you can forget about anything sounding decent. Even with a HT youre probably gonna have a lot of ratttling given the vehicle.
Meatwad
I wanna be Dave
There's no replacement for displacement, air molecules need to be moved. Also while a ported enclosure may be ideal for sensitivity, prolly a bad idea given that it needs to be a bigger enclosure than a similar driver in a sealed enclosure. An IB could be an option to be able to hide and not have a box at the same time but thats whole 'nother can of worms.
alabamaman
Quarry Creeper
Ok i will toss my two cents in. I have competed and worked as a instaler (full time,part time,or hobby) for about 20 years. I am mecp cert. I held a tenitive world.db record in my class way back in 95/6 i think.was on a team that set two class db word records. Having said al of that,I have been out of the game a while. The bump or.felt movement of the music, comes from two things size of the things making the noise and the amount of throw they have (travel) two 8"s should be louder than one 10".if they have the.same throw and are tuned to the same freq. . Gains although they make.the.speakers louder are to be jsed to match the input voltage of the source not volume knobs. Poly fill will help the sound of a.sub that is.a.sealed box that is.to small., because it slows the air movement.yes it takes.away some volume. One other thing the sestivity rateing on the subs anything at 90 db per watt unmetered is a loud sub. How far off or away it is heard is from where the sjb box is tuned. Sweet spot on the old meters was about 67 htz. One cycle of a 50 htz sound wave is about seven feet long. Where a 2k htz (tweeter) cycle sound wave is around 18". This is why your tweets are closest to your head, while subs are the fartherst from you. Any note below 70 htz. Is no longer in stero and is,omni,dire tional
.hope this helps,or makes every thing clear as mud. But what do expect from a alabama red neck!
.hope this helps,or makes every thing clear as mud. But what do expect from a alabama red neck!
alabamaman
Quarry Creeper
Wow good.
Luck reading that! ,to sleepy to type.
Luck reading that! ,to sleepy to type.
