First I would like to thank this place, It has helped me quite a bit these couple of years, now to the point.

I have the alpine 9815, installed and is sweeeet
I have Lucid's rears with his excelon speakers, sweeet no lows though
I still have OEM fronts cause they do have some bass and I know that
as soon as I change I will no longer have any.

I am thinking on getting Lucid's front excelons, run all speakers from
the HU V-drive which does very well and havea wlaurent
box with an ED ea8 powered by a blaupunkt t-class 400W amp.

Driver = 150 frome elemental designs
Amp = 100 ebay
Box = 250 I beleive

OPINIONS? thanks, by the way I am not crazy about huge bass
I want it clean and nice, and definitely no rattles, but I do listen to
hiphop and carribean rhythms.

 

at this moment - i cannot continue to recommend the e8a.

it's been on backorder for months now, and until they start shipping again - suggesting that people wait for this sub is just not fair...

also, the Blaupunkt amps have had a history of reliability problems... go there, but go w/ caution.

otherwise, i think for a reasonably low budget solution -- not a bad setup. btw -- the OEM fronts can be replaced w/ other speakers that will have good bass response. my Focal drivers blow people away w/ their bass output.

 

I think you are on the right track for the sound you want.

I too want some bass, but not blockbuster, boomin' bass. I think the 8" in WLaurent enclosure is a darn fine choice for what you want.

Man, I too want the e8a. I've read some great things about it. Has some awesome specs, too. But I'm not waiting months for it. I'm gonna go with a RF HX2 if the e8a is still on back order when it is sub time for me. You can get the RF cheap on ebay.

 

You can even save some money,and if you dont want a TON of bass, just try a basslink.

 

i don't like the fact that the basslink will look awkward in the trunk, i had thought about the rsx sub, but cutting up an rca cable, well i am not crazy about, not to mention there are 2 rca outs in the HU and one coming in to the sub, 2 much of a hassle, I will look into the focals, but this bass u mentioned is it from HU or with amp, I don't want to amp the front speakers, I don't see the need for it, it is loud as it is, lol, I just need richer sound

 

I'm pretty much sure that anyone here will say to really make the high-end components sound good (like Focals), you'll need a good 50W+ per channel.

And I think they won't be too loud. Having that sort of power at your disposal doesn't mean that you have to crank it to use it well. That also means you'll always have adequate power to drive the speakers ACCURATELY at low volumes.

You buy expensive speakers like Focals because they are high quality and don't distort. Don't ruin it by depriving them of recommended power.

If you don't want an amp, maybe go for a 2-way coax set up. Those are usually a lot less power hungry, and may deliver an adequate music experience.

I think if you want the best, a separate amp plus components is the way to go. My two cents on that.

 

the bass i've mentioned is output by the Focals and they are driven via an amp. this is not earth shaking bass or anything like that. but it is a full range sound that includes bass. at higher volumes, i can feel the bass output on my left leg as it sits by the speaker, but i'm not even shaking mirrors or anything. i have a rated 110 Wrms (ore realistically 150Wrms) being sent to my Focals.

they do get quite loud, but these were purchased more for quality of sound than for overall output volume.

if you want to avoid buying an amp, you probably will not get the same results that i have... but you do have component options which will work w/ HU only power. if you generally look for components w/ sensitivities higher than 90 dB/W/m - they are more apt to work effectively w/ aftermarket HU power.
the higher that number the better, and there are several decent affordable component sets at 93 dB/W/m. (Focal Access 165A, Infinity Reference Series 6000CS, and Polk db components)