Been aching for a bit more of a kick from the sound system in the car so Ive decided to buy a slim mount sub and an amp or a powered sub. Already have a 2 channel A/B amp routed to my door speakers.

I dont need a thump just a little more bass.

Im planning on spending around $400 on the sub, amp, wiring

1.
I found an 8 inch slim mounted powered sub made by Sound Ordinance ( never heard of them ) Sound Ordinance Sub

The reviews are pretty impressive and I could get two of them for 300$ and it includes the amp wiring kit. I would mount them behind the seats as it requires around 3 inches which is my normal driving position anyway.

Each sub is 120 RMS with 250 peak

2.
This option would be the more traditional route of getting a mono amp and in this case a slim mounted sub.

Alpine Amp + Pioneer Sub

This would work out to around $380 for one sub.

The amp as most of you probably know feeds upto 500RMS and the sub is rated at 200RMS with peak at 600.


Im a little confused to be frank.

The first option seems financially and numbers wise more wise but Im not familiar with the brand or the type of product.

Any comments or help is appreciated

 

Hi,

I would recommend purchasing the desired items separately as opposed to a powered subwoofer. What happens when the amp on your powered subwoofer burns out?

The Alpine subwoofer that you mentioned will be a 250 watt subwoofer at 4 ohms

Where do you intend to install the subwoofer? If you intend to install it in the trunk, I recommend purchasing the subwoofer and box separately. You can purchase a box for the trunk well from Zenclosures from $50-$85 if you are unable to fabricate your own. I also would purchase decent amp wire such as Tsunami, KnuKonceptz, etc.

 

I actually just went ahead and bought everything today. Bought monster cabling for the amp.

Ended up buying everything separately coz I found a really good deal on the amp + sub.

I wanted the slim mount sub because Id like to place it in the cabin somewhere. Either behind the passenger seat or behind my own or bolt it to the passenger footwell.

I dont have much experience with working with fiber glass but Im not afraid to try things.. worst case I would mess the box up and throw it away.

I wanted to stay away from using the trunk for the sub. I feel like a smaller one positioned in the cabin would be of more value.

Thanks for the advice though

 

Is this for the S2000? If so, you don't want to install the subwoofer behind either seat. Your box will need to be at least .5 cubic feet for best response.

A shallow mount subwoofer with a 3" mounting depth or so will fit a footwell subwoofer box. Your footwell subwoofer box will probably measure just under .5 cubic feet.

You certainly will not want to throw away your fiberglass box, as it will take 8 hours or more to measure, construct, shape, grind, smooth and paint. Not to mention the cost of fiberglass cloth and resin. Take your time and try working a bit with fiberglass prior to constructing your box.

I went with a deeper 4.5" subwoofer for my footwell and it sounds great. The Alpine shallow mount really appears to be quite the subwoofer as well, but you want to give it a lot of power.

 

I want to eventually install another set of speakers behind the seats so I might just not use that. The other option would be to work on a footwell sub, sell this and get something more suited for the footwell.
I meant that if I completely screw up working with the fiber glass resin, I would junk it coz it would probably be useless and just buy one thats readymade

 

I think first, you should figure out what exactly you are trying to achieve. I don't personally find speakers behind the headrest to be an improvement to the soundstage, but to each his own.

If you are interested in the footwell subwoofer installation, be prepared to lose some space on the passenger side and find a good shallow mount. The Alpine is very good, though there are other less expensive shallow mount subwoofers that sound pretty good as well, and for 1/3 the price.

 

Honestly ... Its a matter of improving sound quality by any means possible... I initially swapped the head unit and speakers with components and found minimal improvement. Im trying the sub now and if it satisfies my needs it stops.

 

Head unit and speakers are a decent improvement, however I would not consider the two significant. The improvement to your components and head unit can be made significant with the addition of an amplifier. The amplifier will provide cleanliness of sound and increase volume levels without additional distortion. If you want to truly enhance the performance of your in car audio, you will need an amplifier... Bottom line.

 

Pretty much what I did. Got a 4 channel MRP - f300 amp for my speakers and the mono mrp 500 for the sub.

 

That's only a 50x4, though depending on the components, it should be sufficient power to wake them up. What components did you purchase?