I have a $100 gift card to Circuit City, and I am looking into buying a new subwoofer. You can click my for sale link below to see what my previous setup was. I'll be making a new box for my Mazdaspeed Protege, so I can go with a 10" or a 12", but the gift card will be used for the sub, so I am limited to Circuit City's inventory. The sub will be powered bt a 2 channel, 600W max, Kenwood amplifier. I'll be bridging the two channels. Here are my choices:

Pioneer 10" Subwoofer (TSW250R)
Pioneer 12" Subwoofer (TSW300R)
Kicker 10" Comp Subwoofer (05C104)
Kicker 10" Subwoofer (CVR10)
Kicker 12" Comp Subwoofer (05C124)
Infinity 10" Subwoofer (1042W)
Infinity 12" Subwoofer (1242W)

Now, for my amps capabilities, I'm thinking the Infinities are out because they handle 1000W, and I hear it's really bad to underpower your subs. Suggestions?

 

Suggestion, get a mono amp and subs. Use the 4-ch amp for interior speakers. I've used a bridged 4-ch amp twice on JL W 0's; didn't compare to when I used a mono amp (more power when using 2ohm).

 

Here is the amp I already have, I don't want to purchase another one.

2001 KENWOOD KAC-729S 2-CH 600W AMP

Maximum Power Output
Bridged Into A 4-Ohm Load: 600 watts x 1
Per Channel Into A 4-Ohm Load: 200 watts x 2

Rated Power Output
Bridged Into A 4-Ohm Load: 300 watts x 1
Per Channel Into A 2-Ohm Load: 150 watts x 2
Per Channel Into A 4-Ohm Load: 100 watts x 2

 

i work there. so heres my take

NO
to the pioneer, period.


10' comp vr for sure.

 

I also work there as an installer.

I have the Infinity 1242W 12" sub. It is real nice and sounds great. I just have it in a universal 12" MTX box.

If you have a 2ohm stable amp deffinetly bridge it. My amp is not stable for it, but I hooked it up to my 800w Infinity amp and briged it and it hit hard. But it is not stable for 2ohms so I have it hooked up regular and it still sounds good.

Also the 1242w is dual voice coil so if you ever decide to go further with it it has more options than just a svc sub.

If not that, go with the Kicker comp also either 10" or 12" is fine depending on how hard you want it to hit or if you want quality bass.

 

That Infinity wouldn't sound bad off of 300wrms. If you were thinking about the Kicker, I would highly suggest spending the extra $30 or $50 for the CompVR. More output, sounds a little better.

As for the people that say it is bad to underpower a sub: Damage due to underpowering a sub only occurs when someone is trying to make it louder than the power on hand allows which ends up clipping the signal. If you know someone that blew a sub because they "weren't using enough power", ask them if they had loudness on, bass setting turned up, gains on amp all the way up and the bass boost all the way up. People try to compensate for low power with that stuff that can distort the signal and the distortion causes the sub to overheat and boom.

Oh yeah, make sure to match the subs ohmload to the amp: svc4 or dvc2

 

I'm thinking the CompVR will be the best choice. The Infinity only comes in svc4 and dvc4. I'll head over to Circuit City and take a listen to them both and see which one I like.

 

I still have a Kenwood KAC-746 4-ch and that's what I referred to using with the JL's a while ago. I bridged the 8 ohm subs and they did ok for 100 watts rms.

 

Infinity 1242 W hands down is the best bang for the buck in your list.

 

After some deliberation, I think I'm just going to keep my setup and hold on to the gift card for something I might "need" later on. I'm just going to cut off the back of my current box and make a new mold of the back of it.