If your listening to rock, IMO a good 10in. in a sealed box would satisfy your tastes quite nicely. 12s are usually for longer bass notes where 10s are usually for harder hitting fast bass. Or so it seems in my experience. If I were you, I would save up and buy a pioneer slim sub and build a box for it and Im sure it would make you happy. But I understand that not everyone has all the money in the world to do anything they want hence why my box is built from particle board, not MDF (even though I didnt pay for materials). If you do build a box, it is wise to use MDF. something to think about in the future. So I guess the way you should go from here is to take others suggestions and either build or buy yourself a new box for the subs. A sealed one at that.

 

agreed lol i say just buy a cheap box and get 2 10s maybe, or get slim subs.

 

yes but you dont need 12s for rock or blue grass and such. Like I said, some good coaxiles can do the job for anything but really bass intense music. I used my stock speakers forever and they were awesome. Idk if it is just me but my stock ones hit just as good as some subs. I just decided they werent doing the job for me so I invested in the 2 Rockford 12s I have now. Does much much better

 

The day I got rid of my stockers was the happiest day of my life. I can never own a car with a stock stereo ever again. I run a premier head unit, premier reference series doors hooked to an infiniti amp, one premier 12 using walmart special amp. My doors are hooked up with 14 guage and my sub runs 12 guage. I could never have it any other way. The stock speakers just sound so.........stock. Not for me. It was amazing the difference when I changed just the doors and head unit at first. I didnt have a sub for like maybe the first six months after I had my stereo installed. Even after, Ive been through like maybe 5 or 6 different subs until Ive finally been able to afford my premier I have always wanted. Some of them, you couldnt even notice a difference whether the sub was on or off. Those were the crappy ones though. My twelve hits just right for me cause Im an all around rock, hip hop, rack kinda guy.

 

I guess I don't need a wall of woofers for folk music, no. But kick drum, snare, bass guitar a lot of that needs some form of subwoofer to accurately reproduce. An 18" woofer probably isn't the best choice for that, no. I have only one 12" woofer in both my cars and I find it to be a great compromise for if I'm listening to classic rock, rap, club, pop, or gregorian chant. I sometimes miss the deep range of when I had 15's but I don't miss the tighter punchier bass that people claim 10's and 8's are better at - as in I don't think I'm missing out on it much at all.

 

Agreed. Im super happy with my single 12.

 

Ok so I'm back, read all responses and it seems to me that a sealed box would really be a way to go. But check this out;

I corrected input level to 2.5v, LPF at 80Hz and bass at 11dB, bass on head unit at 9dB. Sub on or off did not make any difference, except more humming sound but almost no bass at all. My speakers are making extremely good bass with the dynamats and such so the subs seem to be doing nothing much. Yes, subs are pounding when turned on.

So just now I turned LPF to 250Hz, it started raining so I had to run inside but from what I could tell was a significant difference in bass, there was more punch but I didn't get enough time to play with it.

I live in a apartment parked outside so I don't do any music in my parking space since it's an invitation to theft.

So 80Hz as opposed to 250Hz. Also of note, LPF on the head unit is set to THROUGH. My understanding is I either use LPF on the amp or the head unit and not both.

Is 250Hz going to hurt anything if I like the sound?

In the end I see two options, I either get a dual 10" sealed box and try my luck with the same subs or just ditch the idea and hook up the amp to my 6x9's which are doing an amazing job at highs, lows and mids.

 

Its not going to hurt anything and if you like the sound then roll with it. I forgot what I have mine set at, but I believe it is 125hz. I don't want anything low going through my highs (mid woofers) because they just can't handle it the few times I do crank it up. I'd rather let the woofer handle all the bass (and some of the midbass).

As far as doubling up on the crossovers I see no problem with that either, it will just increase the slope at which the undesired frequencies fall off, I've never heard anyone say that it could cause problems using both.

 

Using both shouldn't cause problem but probably just not needed because it'll make it twice as hard to achieve the sound one is looking for.

Now I want to hookup my amp properly, I used velcro industrial strength and mounted it on the side of the box, vertically. Went for a little drive to find the amp sitting on the ground. What's the best way short of using screws?

Hey just a thought, what would happen if I were to seal off the ports on my box with piece of MDF and good amount of glue?

 

it would probably create a better seal if you took the ports out of the box first, then screwed down a piece if MDF over those holes. they are probably only held in with glue anyways lol pretty much the only way to attach an amp to a box, especially on the side, is with screws

 

Just took the car for a drive. I have to say it's pumping pretty alright now with the following settings;

Input level: 2.5v (Approx)
LPF: 250Hz
Amp Bass: 18dB
Head unit bass: 7dB

Bass is much deeper and it's got some punch but at these levels I'm getting a lot of humming. Essentially, my system's got a lot of hum, decent bass but very little punch. I did crank it up enough to get some bass distortion just to test and I can go pretty high.

So to get less hum and more punch, I'm looking at a sealed enclosure?

As far as sealing it, yes I'd be taking out the tubes, there's two ports in each side.

How things would react if I seal one of the two ports on each side as opposed to sealing it all-together?

 

I bet that your humming is because you have your LPF set so high. Ive never heard of anyone setting it at 250. My deck wont even allow it to go above 125 and I think I set mine at 100. Oh and if you seal off one of the ports, assuming that your subs are seperated within the box, then you would have one ported sub and one sealed.

 

Oh no, you got it wrong. Subs are seperated but each sub have two ports.

Just look at the picture.

As for LPF being too high, setting it lower just gets rid of any bass.

 

Most subs arent meant to handle frequencies that high though. Maybe your amp doesnt have enough wattage to push your subs? I dunno. This whole thing is crazy lol. Your subs should really be outdoing your speakers. Also, when you ran the wires back for your amp, did you run the RCA cables next to the power cable? That can cause buzzing hella bad. I see what your saying with the ports. You really shouldnt have your subs facing the inside of the car. They should be facing the trunk. Do your subs touch the back of your seats?

 

Considering these are lousy subs, my amp should be able to handle them but then I don't really know what the subs are capable of since there's no writing on them. They have a tiny magent though.

Yes, RCA is running along the power but I'm not getting any alternator whine or such noise, it's clean as far as my ears can tell.

Subs don't touch the seat, they have more than enough clearance, I can even put my amp between the subs and the seat.

Unfortunately I can no longer move the box around since I've cut it from the other side. I couldn't cut it from the back as that breaks the box.

I'll try to bring LPF down a bit, maybe between 250Hz and 150Hz and see how they sound.