Aftermarket Sub - Worth it?

[cvillanFL]

So I tried to do a search on this topic, but I see a ton of mixed opinions. Is it worth installing an aftermarket subwoofer in the trunk? I see a lot of people saying that they really couldn't hear a difference, but I'm finding that hard to believe. Especially if I'm looking to install some JL Audio equipment (W6 or W7 subs)...

[kermit the guy]

iy you like it , its always worth it , putting in a JL W6 or 7 is good, if your gonna put in a small 8 or 10 inch with little power , i think you will be disappointed ! i put in my system from my other car and it didnt sound as good ! that trunk of our cars just muffled it ! so i ended up switching out everything three times the power and a smaller box for more room and just a single sub compared to two and wow totally happy with my setup !

[cvillanFL]

What equipment are you running? whats your setup?

[kermit the guy]

before i had 2 X 12 inch subs powered by a 400 watt fosgate amp which sounds really good but when i put it in the M the sound from the inside sounded like it was muffled , like it was a little 8-10 inch sub!
so i switched out to an L3 solobaric 500 amp and it sounded good but still wasnt getting thru , so i ended up getting an L7 12 inch and a 1000 watt kicker amp and now im loving it , not really into the bass rattling like back in the days but a nice deep bass and the crisp sounds of the kicker tweets and mids sound awesome !!!!!

[moedawg140]

So I tried to do a search on this topic, but I see a ton of mixed opinions. Is it worth installing an aftermarket subwoofer in the trunk? I see a lot of people saying that they really couldn't hear a difference, but I'm finding that hard to believe. Especially if I'm looking to install some JL Audio equipment (W6 or W7 subs)...

I have used the Kenwood 10in slim mount, RE audio 10in for a short time. Didn't like either, so I got a W6 in a pre-fabricated box, which blew out within a couple of months, then purchased the JL CVS110RG-W6v2, which is the W6 sub in JL's own box. Ran that for about a year and a half and then blew out the voice coils as well. Found out the JL's sound really good, but the voice coils are pretty fragile, meaning you can not push them very hard (half of the sub's RMS max is fine).

After doing tons of research, and not wanting to purchase multiple subs or a huge diameter single sub, I wound up getting the Alpine Type-X 10 (SWX-1043D). 3000 watts max, 1000 watts RMS means I can push it as hard as I want and know the sub is staying cool the whole time it's being worked. I have it in a custom to-spec ported box, using the PNR tube as a port, and the sub is so powerful, I can't put it past halfway on any gains or remote level control on my amp because my ears start to hurt from the immense pressure this sub produces. So, if you want a great sub that is powerful, sounds just about as good as the W6, and will last you a lifetime, (make sure to use it with at least a 500W amp, 1000W is optimal) then the Alpine Type X 10 or 12 in will suit you and your car just fine! Make sure to Dynamat the trunk so the license plate won't fall off!

[cvillanFL]

Wow that's some serious junk in the trunk... . Thanks for the feedback. That actually brings up another question. I'm taking it that the rattling in the back (license plate, etc) is pretty bad after you install a setup like that? I just want to make sure I have everything prepared and know what to expect when I get a sub installed. Thanks!

[kermit the guy]

yah my whole rear end kabooooooooos , even in the spare tire is dynamatted up all the way to the outside where the plate frame is ! yah i did all that flat speaker astuff and tried all of them in the stock 10 inch hole and it wasnt that much different than the stock , i even did a sort of write up here somewhere in the archives !

moedawg140- i had the 12 inch alpine type X in my f150 and i loved that speaker until i sold it !!

[moedawg140]

cvillanFL - It's definitely some serious junk in the trunk - show people how hard the sub goes, and you'll get a lot of "Oh my God"s! Pertaining to the rattling, the more you push your sub, the more it's going to rattle in the back. Opening the ski pass in the back seat helps alleviate some pressure in the back, but you'll need to use something like the Dynamat Extreme Trunk kit : http://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-Xtreme-Tr ... B00020CM04 and you'll need to use strips of Dynamat in back of your license plate as well as in back of any license plate frame you may be using.

kermit the guy - Glad you liked the Type X as well! It's legit ...maybe too legit!

[mdstahl1]

I have the basic 6 speaker package in my car and ended up going with Infinity Reference 6032cf speakers in each of the doors, a Hertz Energy 10" sub in the trunk (in a enclosed box), and an Alpine amp (MRX-V60) - love it. Put the amp in the trunk hidden away under the rear deck - don't even know it's there. Also had them put in a remote knob in one of my knock-outs to the left of the steering wheel so that I can independently control the subwoofer volume (5 channel amp) - would highly recommend this if you listen to a lot of talk radio and actually want to hear them.

I do notice that the trunk is pretty solid and can 'muffle' the sound, but I simply open the thru-pass and find that lets in the right amount of sound.

All in all, I'm really happy with it...about $900 out the door.

[Twizz]

I have an RE Audio set up and LOVE IT !!! It's 1000W RMS Amp and a &00 or *00 RMS speaker (cant remember). It does get muffled a bit. I guess this is due to the sturdy trunk that we have. In any event, I love the way mine sounds. Not too crazy. It def does sound better and more powerful when you're outside the car by the trunk. But compared to what we have from the dealer, it makes a WORLD of a difference.

[TDot]

Here's what I've found in listening to a lot of music in this car. There are some songs that the bass is great…”f*** the police” caught my attention today…, some just make it, but most are awful. When I listen to the ones where the bass is "great", I can hear the prominent bass actually falls on a different frequency than the ones that sound bad…frequencies that an 808 falls on for example. It would seem the sub in this car is a true SUB of sorts and cuts off the "bass" frequencies so to speak, which is good/bad however you look at it. It seems to me Infiniti was looking at the door speakers to provide the bass, which is technically correct in their method to seporate the sub from the bass, but poorly executed and unbearable as far as we are concerned.

When I have some time I'm going to throw a few tracks in a frequency analyzer and match the sub frequencies of the songs that aren't playing that great with the subs to the songs that are playing great.

Something tells me this is what is happening because when I used to engineer, we always used a frequency shelf to cut the sub harmonics to prevent distortion and unnecessary rumbling because a lot of speakers are not designed to reproduce those frequencies, which in turn opened up room to make the music louder. If you notice music of the past 15 years is way louder than older music, but older music tone wise sounds better.

If my theory is correct, I’m just going to do a batch conversion and adjust all my music’s sub frequencies and save those for my car. Since I only use the memory card in my car, this won’t affect my library with any of my other sound systems. Save a lot of money on upgrading the car’s system.

Anyway, just a theory.

[kermit the guy]

i dont know about you , but my sound system blows away my stocks anyday ! my highs and mids and subs are in harmony with each other !

[SoThrowedMex]

replaced my stock bose 03 m45 interior doors speakers with 4 infinity kappa 6.5" and didn't notice much difference at first until they broke in then i noticed major improvements in mids & highs when playing cd's. When i plugged in my iPhone by using the wack tape deck converter, i noticed an even huger improvement. Was very impressed. I love it now, its so loud, crisp, and i can hear sounds & instruments in the song that i normally didn't hear

[SchoonerVanHelmet]

I ended up replacing the front & rear door speakers with the Infinity Kappa 63.9i 3way speakers (2 ohm) but had to use the existing bose speaker mounts to fit to doors due to depth.

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio ... _639i.aspx

The stock bose amp for these is okay, but not to the potential these speakers can produce.

I removed the so called bose sub in the rear deck and placed an inifnity 12" enclosed sub (REF 1220SE) with a 500w Orion amp- Cobalt mono (250w to sub) in my trunk. I utilized the existing sub wires and attached to the the "High Level" inputs of the Orion amp and tapped into the remote wire of the bose amp.

Note: Once I removed the stock 10" sub in the rear deck, I inserted dynomat on the entire rear deck area. Then, I cut out a 10" diameter circle in the plastic cover in the trunk (located just below the stock 10" opening in the rear deck area) to allow more sound from the sub into the interior.

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio ... 220se.aspx

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio ... O5001.aspx

Not sure if there are adaptors so you could "Clean" the entire system with all new amps while keeping the phone & navigation sound through the stereo. My system is okay, but could be a lot better if the bose amp was replaced.

I would suggest replacing the front & rear speakers, replacing the sub with an enclosed sub with an amp in the trunk first to see if this sound is good enough for your ears.. Just my 2cents..

[DeanM45]

I ended up replacing the front & rear door speakers with the Infinity Kappa 63.9i 3way speakers (2 ohm) but had to use the existing bose speaker mounts to fit to doors due to depth.

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio ... _639i.aspx

The stock bose amp for these is okay, but not to the potential these speakers can produce.

I removed the so called bose sub in the rear deck and placed an inifnity 12" enclosed sub (REF 1220SE) with a 500w Orion amp- Cobalt mono (250w to sub) in my trunk. I utilized the existing sub wires and attached to the the "High Level" inputs of the Orion amp and tapped into the remote wire of the bose amp.

Note: Once I removed the stock 10" sub in the rear deck, I inserted dynomat on the entire rear deck area. Then, I cut out a 10" diameter circle in the plastic cover in the trunk (located just below the stock 10" opening in the rear deck area) to allow more sound from the sub into the interior.

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio ... 220se.aspx

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio ... O5001.aspx

Not sure if there are adaptors so you could "Clean" the entire system with all new amps while keeping the phone & navigation sound through the stereo. My system is okay, but could be a lot better if the bose amp was replaced.

I would suggest replacing the front & rear speakers, replacing the sub with an enclosed sub with an amp in the trunk first to see if this sound is good enough for your ears.. Just my 2cents..

Just curious, any reason you used a 3 way for the door speakers? Do you have the stock front tweeters in place? Seems like the 3 way would mess up the stock sound stage.

Thanks,