I already upgraded my headunit to one of the lower end Alpines and the speakers are all taken care of, but I want to add a subwoofer for some extra bump. I listen to mostly rock and rap/hip-hop. I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice. I'll buy all my stuff from best buy since I can get a discount there, and everything is basically half off for me. What do you guys think of these setups?

The guy there recommended me this rockford fosgate setup
Amp:
Rockford Fosgate RF2002 600W Class AB Bridgeable 2-Channel Tri-Mode Amplifier with Selectable Crossover - 200W RMS (continuous) x 1 @ 4 ohms, bridged
Sub:
Rockford P212S4 - 1 Punch 12" Single-Voice-Coil 4-Ohms Subwoofer - 200W RMS

Looking around I was thinking this:

Amp: Alpine MRP-M350 - 700W Class D Bridgeable Mono MOSFET Amplifier with Low-Pass Crossover - 200W RMS @ 4 ohms, 350W RMS @ 2 ohm
Sub(s): 1 or 2 Alpine SWE-1242 (Type E) - 12" Single-Voice-Coil 4-Ohm Subwoofer rated at 250W RMS (Would one sub be enough for me?)

What do you guys think? Opinions and suggestions are welcome
feel free to recommend me different setups just keep in mind I don't want to spend too much money and i wanna stick to stuff from best buy

Thanks

 

you can do ALOT better. give us a definitive budget for everything. also in order to do well on this forum you will have to shed the " im going to stick with BB no matter what motto" mindset.

 

I can get best buy stuff for basically half off so that's why I wanna go with them. I'm not looking for anything too big here. I don't wanna spend more than $250 maybe $300 for the whole deal (including sub box, but that's probably not gonna be too expensive after discount). So that's like $500 or $600 using the prices that are on best buy's site.

 

get everything Dual. Dual > *

That single DIN head unit they have with a 2.5 inch tv in it is the hotness.

 

jk man...get a couple Type R 12s then an amp of your choice, probably RF, if your stuck on BB brands.

-kevin

 

How are Rockford Fosgate amps? I know they used to make good amps a while back but not sure how they stack up now.

 

You can do better like slick said, but for BB, its either that or Alpine, and you guys dont have anything besides the V-Power amps.

 

How do you think the Type E's with the alpine amp would sound? My interiors are powered by the headunit so Type R's would be too much for me and I don't have that much money.

Thanks

 

Itll sound okay...coming from many systems, im going to tell you in advance:

do it once and do it right the first time!

That being said, you arent going to listen to me (i fully dont expect you to), youll get the Alpine amp and Type E's, and in the future youll waste a ton of money because youll constantly be upgrading as soon as you can get more money. So I just thought Id throw that out there.

Id run 4 gauge to that amp though, not because it needs it but because down the road your going to want to amp your mids and highs.

Go to your best buy and take a listen, if you like it, go for it.

-kevin

 

unless you can get the type E's for about $50 i would rather run no subs than pay a decent amout for type E's. if you saved up for a month you would be MUCH happier in the end trust me.

 

the new punch stage 1 = older punch Z. they just increased the handling a wee bit but basically it's the same sub. i'd go with alpine instead. the stage 1 will sound ok, but i think the alpines will give you more output.

 

What amp do you recomend for a type-r 12?

They are 500watts rms I believe. I'm thinkin of getting one or two.

 

depends on which model... DVC2 or DVC4. any decent brand class D mono sub amp should work very well for you.

 

But where's the fun and learning in that?????

but I'll throw my .02 in here. I'll agree with kpr10is and say it'll sound okay. But here's something to remember. You can get a good pounding system going for cheap, and have it last for years. My RF punch z's are proof of that. I've had them for 3 years now, and have ZERO problems with them. They hit just as good as the day I got them.

But no matter what you get, SETUP is the key to everything. And break in periods are VERY important. And keeping the system within it's limits will help everything last longer.

But of course, once you start, you'll eventually want to upgrade

 

Yeah eventually I'd like to upgrade, but that's a while down the road when I get a new car. For now I just want something decent. I'll see what the prices are like, but I should be able to get the Type E's for $60 each I'm guessing, maybe less. I figure I can sell everything later on and not lose a great amount of money. I just want something to fill the low range for this car while the coaxials are powered by the HU. If they're not worth it, maybe I'll just go with no subs for now, but music just doesn't sound the same.

edit: can you eleborate on the break in period? I never heard of that

 

You have to be kidding me

Break in period is the time frame when you don't run your subs at full power. It allows the sub to "get used to" running. It loosens the surround, as well as breaks in the coils. Going all out without breaking in the subs will cause premature failure.

Each company has a different length of break in... the average is 1 week of casual use I believe.

I go by a schedule that is a lot more strict. 2 weeks, each day is a different frequency range, 1/4 power for one week. 2nd week is half power. 3rd week I slowly adjust the power to were it sounds nice.

A few people has told me it's worthless to do that... but it's kept my 2 12" RF punch zs in excellent shape for 3 years. Meanwhile, they go through subs once every 6 months - 1 year. You do the math.

 

i blasted my tens after i installed them. still works great. a lot of people over at CA.com pound their subs too after installation...but i guess it's for peace of mind if you want to break it in slowly.

 

i dunno Chad at AA audio told me its completely irrelevent (for his subs)...i beat on my brand new sub for hours when i installed it and i guarantee it will last longer than the car. however, i do know certain subs seem to need a break in such as lower end alpine subs.

 

i used to have 2 12" type e's and they sounded great. In fact i miss them badly and am considering 2 12 type r's in the near future. You will be extremely happy with them if your looking for a cheaper system, all my friends used to love listening to it in my car (and they ALL have some type of system with a sub amp etc.) I had it running on a MRD-M300 w.a q logic box(1.25 ft^3 by the way) and it was great so go for it if u dont want to spend allot of loot.

 

Slider,
If you want that deep, Wu-Tang bass, that low GZA/RZA type bass get JL audio. One 12" will save you trunk space and all you need is about 300 watts RMS. I swear JLs are crazy nice for hip-hop/rap basslines.

 

JLs kinda pricey IMO. he can get the same low hitting sub from resonant engineering, and save him some money in the process.

 

Indeed a 12w6 or 13w7 may be out of his range, but a 12W3v2 is an incredible sub and is quite reasonable if one posesses a keen eye and the patience to research prices.

 

yeah, not saying JL makes bad stuff, but kinda pricey. i wouldn't mind a 13W7. it's one heck of a SQ sub.

 

You know, I compared the W7 to a Memphis M-class, same song, box, and amp... The Memphis had a more noticable freq range than the W7. It seemed to hit the lower notes a lot louder and clearer than the JL did... just my .02

 

Even one cheap 10w0 in a tuned ported/vented box with about 200 watts of clean power will sound pretty nice. I think if you spend more money on a custom box and get a cheaper sub it'll sound ALOT better than if you get an of the shelf box and a more expensive sub.

 

What size was the w7 and what size was the memphis?

 

both were 12"... I don't do uneven comparisons. Otherwise it makes results Null and void.

 

I tell you what was fun... taking the LSV 12" against the W7 in a bass comparison. God I had a headache for 2 days. We played a test track 3 times on each, and still couldn't decide which one was better.

 

That's the box I'm planning to go with also. Was your box sealed?

Thanks guys, I'll probably end up going with them after I hear them out, they should satisfy me, if I end up wanting more, I can always sell them without losing too much money. Sure I'd like to get something like Kickers or Type R's but I'm trying to save money.

 

I'm planning on getting a type-r 12 and was deciding between these two amps:


Alpine MRD-M605: 300watts RMS x 1 @ 4 ohm : $227
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

Phoenix Gold Octane-R 8.0:1 : 400watts RMS x 1 @ 4 ohm : $209
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW


The sub I was planning on getting is the Alpine SWR-1242D. Crutchfield says it can handle 50-500 watts rms. They are like $140 on eaby.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7XIfOJ4...0&I=500SWR1242


If these amps are poor choices please let me know. I'm open to reccomendations for other speakers/amps in the same price range.

 

I just ordered my Phoenix Gold Octane 5.0:1. 500 watts at 2 ohm. The 8.0:1 is a monster I hear. If you can run your Alpine 12" at 2 ohms, you might not need that much, but then again if your budget allows, you can't have too many watts

 

I'm a newb when it comes to car audio. I read off crutchfield the sub is a Dual 4 ohm voice coil. I don't know if it can be ran at 2 ohms.

 

Yes it can be run at 2ohms. Those amps would seem like a little too much if the sub takes 500rms. You can save yourself some money and buy an amp that puts out 500W rms @ 2ohms

 

If a sub has dual 4 ohm voice coils all you have to do is wire the coils in parallel to get a 2 ohm load. I think you'll find this site very informative and helpful http://www.bcae1.com/