[bluejunior]

another option ive seen, one guy i knew took the mount straps for his 8" bazooka tube powered sub, and mounted it into the frame where the rear gatemounts to the roof, he braced the mounts onto the cargo hook mounts, you lose a lil headroom reaching for stuff, and a lil visibilyt, but it preserved his storage space (you might try a similar mounting along the top of the rear side windows, though i would be VERY careful to ensure than what you mount it to can bear the weight and that it'll stay tight and not swing. Bazooka's are not great, but they're a cheap(relatively) , durable, flexible way to add bass.....heres a link to the one he used: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_204BTA8250/Bazooka-BTA8250D.html?tp=114 the other thing to keep in mind about bazooka tubes is that they can be mounted vertically in corners, leaving a very small footprint there are a variety of powered and unpowered ones available.
as i said, inventive, but im not sure i trust it not to eventually swing, but it may be worth lookin around your trunk and thinking about next time you're unloading something. the toolbox with the built in sub is a good solution though, just makes sure to line the inside with carpet if not foam or dynamat or the contents will ratte like CRAZY (you want to listen to your music not the wrenchs lol)

[bluejunior]

hell of a box for one sub. And.....yeah id prolly carpet it...or at least spray paint it black or something lol.

[alexrule123]

Originally Posted by bluejunior

thats a good setup, ive not seen one like it before. And as to the brands, that all depends on your taste. Do you prefer loud boomy bass, or super tight detailed bass. For detail I'd look at Infinity and Polk. For A nice big Boom, Go to Kicker or on the cheaper side, MTX. Rockford and Alpine tend to offer a good balance of the two. Also, consider ported or sealed carefully. Sealed is smaller, but a ported box will get a lot more out of that mono sub and thats important. Size your box correctly for the sub. Crutchfield has excellent sizing guides in the descriptions of the products (even if you dont buy from them they are a GREAT knowledge bass). You might also look into JBL, they dont tend to be quite as clean as some of the other brands, but tend to be great on boom for the buck. And while my dual 10's rattle the car, my dad's got a mono 8 in a small sealed box that just fills the car with rich bass, so dont be afraid of the mono 10 or 8. just make sure you get a quality speaker (none of the orions or cheap wal-mart pioneers, they just dont sound good)

What are your views on Focal, Diamond Audio, and CDT audio?

[alexrule123]

Originally Posted by bluejunior

hell of a box for one sub. And.....yeah id prolly carpet it...or at least spray paint it black or something lol.

3 cubic ft tuned to 33hz with a JL 12w6v2. It gets louder than my friend who has two Alpine type r's in his ranger and at low volume the sq is amazing.

[bluejunior]

and for sure if you can match the sub and the amp thats great but a lot of times you can get the same power ratings out of a profile or visonik amp as you get with a kicker or infintity amp a couple hundred dollars more expensive....so if price is an object dont be afraid to mix and match. Hell mines a frankenstein but i picked the nubmers carefully and it sounds GREAT

[alexrule123]

Originally Posted by bluejunior

and for sure if you can match the sub and the amp thats great but a lot of times you can get the same power ratings out of a profile or visonik amp as you get with a kicker or infintity amp a couple hundred dollars more expensive....so if price is an object dont be afraid to mix and match. Hell mines a frankenstein but i picked the nubmers carefully and it sounds GREAT

The only problem with that is the lower brands usually over rate their amps where as better companies will usually under rate their amps.

[beaucaldwell]

ok. i cannot find audiobahns website for the life of me. It used to exist... google and yahoo are of no help. help anyone?

[bluejunior]

yeah the box makes a HUGE difference, and i dont really have much faith in alpines subs OR speakers to be honest. they make great head units and amps, but thats all of their stuff i really consider worth their reputation. Focal, Diamond, and CDT i only know of second hand. By the numbers and the repuation i'd take focal out of those any day, but those brands dont have the reputation of the durability and life span of my typical polk, infintiy, kicker, etc.. lineup. the numbers are solid on those brands for sure and the ones ive heard (especially focal) tend to sound great, I just cant in good faith recommend something I've never owned or at least installed. And none of those are in the Class of say...JL, MOMO or KAPPA

[jay1335]

Originally Posted by alexrule123

The only problem with that is the lower brands usually over rate their amps where as better companies will usually under rate their amps.

word brotha man!!

[bluejunior]

Originally Posted by alexrule123

The only problem with that is the lower brands usually over rate their amps where as better companies will usually under rate their amps.

This is very true for most discount brands (visonik included) but to the best of my ability to prove, profile does not overrate their amps in any significant fashion, and they come with a three year rather than one year factory warranty, hence my being such a big fan of them

[bluejunior]

My dads profile (rated 200 RMS) can push my RF 10's as well as my visonik does...and its rated for 360....i.e. i bougt visonik when i was young and stupid, dont do that, but dont let those types make you think all cheap amps are a rip-off either

[alexrule123]

Originally Posted by bluejunior

yeah the box makes a HUGE difference, and i dont really have much faith in alpines subs OR speakers to be honest. they make great head units and amps, but thats all of their stuff i really consider worth their reputation. Focal, Diamond, and CDT i only know of second hand. By the numbers and the repuation i'd take focal out of those any day, but those brands dont have the reputation of the durability and life span of my typical polk, infintiy, kicker, etc.. lineup. the numbers are solid on those brands for sure and the ones ive heard (especially focal) tend to sound great, I just cant in good faith recommend something I've never owned or at least installed. And none of those are in the Class of say...JL, MOMO or KAPPA

Ok saying none are in the class of JL, MOMO or kappa definitely tells me you have never heard these before, they blow the crap out of Kappas and Momos. I personally installed JL ZR series door speakers in my friend's car (aka $800 door speakers) and I own Focals and CDT Audio door speakers. So far my favorite are the CDTs, they are rated for basically what you are giving your subs @170 wrms. They sound clearer than the JL ZRs and have more midbass than the focals. I had my focals for over 3 years giving them 100 wrms and they are ratd for 60wrms and have had zero problems with them.

[bluejunior]

they do MUCH better in volume and power handling but honestly i think the MOMO's and KAPPA's give better sound quality with a lot less power....which i think is a plus. I'll usually pick an efficient high quality sound over mind-blowing volume any day. and when i refer to momo's and kappa's i mean there component versions, which have pretty extreme power handling. Diamond and CDT especially just rub me the wrong way. but like i said. the specs on the speakers are good, i just cant suggest them cuz i've never used them. that's not a hit on them, i just have a specific set of vendors i trust and use, none of whom carry those brands, and im not comfortable sending someone advice on a product i dont know from experience will get the job done. That's a hit on my experience level with brands not on the speakers. Ive used kenwood, Blau, kicker, inf. reference, infinity kappa, momo's, db's, alpines, sony's, jbl's and thats about it....so while im really good with the weird installs and ive seen a lot of setups, im a bit limited in the REALLY high end stuff, cuz Im 19, ive helped advise, design or build all kinds of systems, mostly in jeeps, but all for other college or high school students on college and high school budgets. Thankfully there are those of you in the forum who can supplement my experience

[bluejunior]

I must admit though
I opened this thread to be XJ specific and provide the non-audiophiles a good knowledgebase through discussion and Q&A and here we are discussing $800 dollar sets of speakers....this part of the convo needs to go to the electronics forums more than here. though i'll def give that while, to me, polk dominates the mid-range of pricing, when you get into the really high end stuff its JL and Focal that take the cake from what ive seen and more importantly heard.

[alexrule123]

Originally Posted by bluejunior

I must admit though
I opened this thread to be XJ specific and provide the non-audiophiles a good knowledgebase through discussion and Q&A and here we are discussing $800 dollar sets of speakers....this part of the convo needs to go to the electronics forums more than here. though i'll def give that while, to me, polk dominates the mid-range of pricing, when you get into the really high end stuff its JL and Focal that take the cake from what ive seen and more importantly heard.

Trust me I am not made of money, I got 90% of my stuff from Craigslist or from deals I found online. My friend got the $800 jls for $400 because they were the floor model at sound advice. The cdts I picked up for $170. I paid $250 for my w6 which retails for over $560. I paid $150 for my 500/1...etc etc. It just took me around 3 or so years to get the system i have now. Trust me I know about trying to save money. The only thing I paid retail on were the focals.

edit: I am not trying to bash your knowledge but I am trying to say in my own round about way that you can get better quality for around the same price as the speakers you are talking about. Also just to give you some info on my background with car audio.. I started with a $50 Jensen from walmart and a lightning Audio amp I got from ebay and at the time I thought it was the coolest setup ever.