I have a decent setup in my truck now but I would like to replace the subs and amp. I have some really old (10 yrs) JL 10" w1 and a ppi amp that is just as old. They sounded fine for a while until my buddy put 2 kicker 12's and a 750 watt amp in his jeep.:eek:

I am wondering which sub/amp combo to use. I have two seperate boxes underneath the rear seat and the amp is in between.

I would like to stay with 10" subs and about a 650 watt mono amp.

Any suggestions (from other extended cab owners)?

The JL stuff is nice. But there is a ton of stuff out there. Going to listen to a bunch of stuff is your best bet.
John

alpine...... especially the amp

kicker sub kicker amp they sound great

I have had a box under the back seat of my last 4 extended cabs and have gone through a bunch of different set ups. It's tough because the subs have to pretty shallow to fit under the seat, which somewhat limits your choices and power output. My last truck was the best set up. I had a custom up-fire box with two MTX thunder 8000 10"s with a Hifonix Brutus 1000 mono block and man did it pound. Really clean, crisp sound but when you wanted it the power was there to rattle your brain out of your ears. I had it hooked up to the stock radio and was only running 8 gauge wires but wow! I have the same subs and amp in my new truck but had to get a different box for the new trucks floor pan (they made it a pain in the ass for the nbs trucks!). Doesn't sound half as good in the new truck so the box makes a huge difference in how your system will sound. For subs you can't go wrong with JL, MTX, or Kicker. For an amp JL, Alpine and Hifonix are all good. JL is still the best but you sure pay for it! Alpine delivers a really nice clear, crisp sound and the brutus is just a monster! Sorry for the long windedness of this hope it helps.

Believe it or not, MTX is actually one of the highest rated amps on the market. their quality has really improved over the years.

Check out crossfire they have a 7 year warrenty now. I put the 480 in my truck with a 10" probox

jl is a good name to stick with, but you may want some more power than their current W0's, right now i'm looking into putting a jl10w7, which is one of the best subs for soundquality and it can handle 500wats rms, it works very well with their 500/1 amp which is also a very good product. the only thing is it's not too cheap, brand new your looking at over 1000 I think, but thats why i get everything second hand, if sound equipment isn't pushed past it's breaking point and taken care of, then it will last a very long time, and you get it at a fraction of the cost and no taxes;). but if your looking to not spend so much and you don't need that much power than i would look into the w3v3. my opinion is that alpine amps are pretty weak for the price, jl's are pretty underated and their amps arent' much more expensive, and i can get a used 500/1 for 300-350 bucks. stereo equipment is much cheaper in the states, from what i've seen, so u may be able to get it cheaper than i can. if you are looking for a lot of power, not as good soundquality, at a good price, then i would recomend rockford fosgate. but there are lots of different brands, but a huge part of how the system sounds, is the instalation, or box design. jl has a few boxes that are specifically built for your truck and their subs, but if you feel like building your own box, just follow the recomended volume and port sizes. I plan on taking our my middle console and building my own that has the sub within it, because i cant fit a w7 or an alpine type x under my seat. if you want a custom box, go to a local private shop and talk to the installers about what they can do for you some are cheaper and some are more expensive than some of the big name stores (in Canada we have futureshop, A&B sound, visions, and i think i've ever hear of some wal-marts doing installs) the big stores just hire morons who don't know much, all the private shop guys are usually way better and really know their stuff.

runnin a jbl amp 1600 mono, its pushin an audiobahn 10" that'll do 1200rms watts and peak at 1900... guaranteed to make your truck find new rattles :D

s_abercromby

Thanks guys. I am really looking for quality rather than quantity here. I have the polk audio components in the front and they sound really good. I'm looking for some subs to match the quality.

I'm thinking the jl w3v3 and a kicker 650 mono?

Does this sound good? My boxes were built at a local shop specifically for the jl w3 so I think that's what I'll use. But will the kicker amp be enough to push them?

that sub has plenty of power and i think it will sound really nice

I'd recommend getting an alpine amp, and some JL subs. It's a widely used combination and one of the top choices.

I'm thinking the jl w3v3 and a kicker 650 mono?

Does this sound good? My boxes were built at a local shop specifically for the jl w3 so I think that's what I'll use. But will the kicker amp be enough to push them?

You can push them off a 20 watt amp. They'll just distort at low volumes. Higher wattage = Higher volume.

So yes, that amp will push them fine and loud. And no, you don't need to get a different amp. If you were using that amp to power your front seperates, then yes, a cleaner amp would be recommended. But since you are just using it for a subwoofer, then that amp will do just fine.

heres the thing, your old jlw3 probably isn't the same size as the new one, check www.jlaudio.com they have specs for the old and the new. as for powering it, both the 12" and 10" have 300watt rms power handelling, this means that you should probably get an amp that runs around the same watts.(remember that rms watts is very different from peak watts.) i'm not sure what amp that is, maybe get the actual procuct number, and find out if it is a 650 rms watts, or peak watts. I actually haven't had to much personal experience with kicker, but i know it is a decent brand, for a good price. If you are really serious about sound quality i would stick with the 250/1, if you only have one w3 and the 500/1, if you are getting 2. and like i said a used one isn't bad at all, the jl amps have a lot of safety features which stop people from blowing them, and they are in general a very high quality amp. plus it is stable at different ohmic values (1.5-4 ohms i think). if you run a mono amp, it is usually stable at 2 ohms, and therefore you would need either one dual 4ohm w3, or two dual 2ohm voice coil subs. if you don't understand what this means i can explain it in more detail.

i think mono blocks are rated at RMS

every amp and sub are rated at rms and peak watts, and have many other stats. most cheaper companies, will put their peak wattage on their amp, while the more reputable companies will put their rms, because they make sales off of their quality, not just peak power output, which only gets hit onece and a while, rms power is the constant power that it draws, thats why rms watts is a more acurate measurement for overall power. but a lot of it has to do with the install. an expensive jl sub can still sound like shit or even become damaged if the box isn't built to spec.

but a lot of it has to do with the install. an expensive jl sub can still sound like shit or even become damaged if the box isn't built to spec.

Amen, it's all about the install. The best woofer in the world will sound like crap if the enclosure isn't built correctly. Not only size wise, but materials also.

Having a more powerful amp gives you the headroom to be able to reproduce the music cleanly. Not enough power = distortion, which kills woofers. It's always easier to blow a speaker with not enough power than with too much power.
John

It's always easier to blow a speaker with not enough power than with too much power.
John

That's not true at all. Yes, distortion is what blows speakers but you will get distortion regardless of the power. With a higher power amp you'll just get distortion at a louder volume. You'll burn the voice coils a lot quicker with overpowering than you would blow them by under powering.
Think about it this way, if driving a speaker with low power would cause them to fail, speakers would fail every time the volume is reduced.
On a side note, if your speakers can handle more power than what the amp can put out, driving them into clipping most likely won't hurt them. If the speakers can handle 3-4 times more than what the amp can put out, then there is virtually no way of damaging or "blowing" them.

If you have a 100 watt amp and a 300 watt amp with 200 watt speaker. The 100 watt amp can reproduce a distorted signal before the desired volume level is reached. The 300 watt amp will get to the desired volume level before a distorted signal is created.

Sorry, but if you drive that same 200 watt speaker with a 20 watt amp driving a distorted signal because you cannot get to the volume level you want, you will destroy the speaker.

The key word is distortion. If what you are saying is true then every speaker in all my systems should be melted, because I have way more power than the speakers are rated for.
John

^What you said is true. But where I said you were wrong is how underpowering a speaker will blow one before overpowering will. If you want louder, install a more powerful amp. The reason your speakers aren't melted is because you know what you are doing and don't overdrive them. But give your setup to some knucklehead who knows nothing about distortion or when to stop cranking up the volume and I guarantee that he'll melt the voice coils on the speakers long before he blows them from underpowering them. Think about all the idiots you hear "bass-ing" and how horrible it sounds because of all the distortion. Talk to those idiots the next time they're in the car audio shop and they'll brag about how tough their stuff is because it's "unblowable".

In fact, here's a link if you want further info regarding power handling.

http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm