I currently have a JL Audio 10w3 sub hooked up to a rockford fosgate 600a4 amp with the factory 2K Maxima non-bose head unit. The amp pumps in about 300 watts rms to the sub. However, I am experiencing some distortion, therefore, i am thinking of upgrading. I was thinking of either the JL Audio 10W6 or maybe a 12W3 or an Infinity Perfect 10. Suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!!

 

To answer your question, both the W6 and Infinity Perfect are great woofers.

I wouldn't give up yet, though.. the W3 is a pretty darned good woofer too.. if you're getting distortion, it may be somewhere else.. (overloading the inputs into the amp from the factory head unit to the amp, maybe? Or, the W3 is blown, in which case it's probably still in warranty)

You didn't say anything about what is inbetween the factory stereo and the amp... is it the speaker ouputs into the high level inputs of the amp? that means that if the head unit's amp is distorting, you're just amplifying that distortion. Or, perhaps the speaker level inputs are just too much for the amp.

a couple things to try... (be careful)... 1, If the gain is adjustable on the amp, turn the gain up, so that the volume **** on the stereo could be at a lower setting to still acheive the same final volume. see if that helps. 2, Take a walkman, volume down low, and a Y-adapter to RCA outputs (Radio Shack has 'em), connect that to your amp inputs.. see if you get similar distortion.

Or, find a cooperative stereo store or friend, hook up their amp to your W3, and tune both your in-car stereo and theirs to the same radio station, and test it out.

The other possibility, since bass is non-directional.. is that the distortion is from the door or rear-deck speakers, but your ear can't place the source... (because you may or may not have the bass blocked to the regular speakers)

Try everything else first, since you seem to be mentally prepared to spend about $300. If you can prove that the woofer's ok, (Or defective, in which case you just get a replacement), spend the money on a new head unit with pre-amp outputs instead

 

you said in your homepage that if you were to redo the tweeters you would do a custom install rather than surface mounting to the sail panels. How would you do it? i'm about to install some speakers and i would like some advice. thanks

 

If it were the sail panels, I'd get an installer to do a little plastic work, so the tweeters were flush mounted in the sail panels. That might take customizing the sail panels a bit, where they might bulge out some, but it would still be less visible than surface mounting.

 

If you're overpowering your sub that could be causing the distortion. Or if the box isn't made to proper specifications that could be a problem. The box that the sub is in makes a huge difference!