I am builing a sound competition system.

[Dark_5.0]

Me and my girlfriend are going to turn her CRX into an audiio monster.

I am going to get back into the car audio thing. When the track is closed this winter I hope to take the CRX to a couple of SPL competitions.

Right now I have 1000 RMS watts of Fosgate amplifier. What would be the best 12 inch woofers to run 500 watts RMS power to.

The car already has 2 Rockford Fosgate 6 1/2 inch component systems in it with a PPI amp pushing them. I just bought a good sealed box for two 12's.

I need to buy a 130 amp alternater, 2 1 fared capacitors and two really good 12 inch woofers.

I was leaning towards Elcipse aluminum sub woofers but I thought I would get yalls opinions before I spent that much cash.

I am hoping to meter in the mid 140's.

[Shelby428cj]

Heya Dark this is what I think well since you only have a 1000watt amp I would only get 1 12" sub and put it in a large ported box!! And if you do this make sure your box has a square wood port and not a round whistle port!! The square one will give you more SPL. Brands I would think of for this is of course The Kicker L7 we have 1 in a geo tracker 4 door and the guy was hitting 148.3 with a 1000 watts to it.... But since most of ya hate kicker JL W7 would be good too and if ya have some extra cash ya might get a Cerwin Vega Stroker!!! heehee. Rockford Fosgate Power Series is a good sub too. As for capacitors I wouldn't get any we run Optima Redtop Batteries and they do better they hold more power but if you go with a capacitor I would get stinger or aluma pro makes some real good caps. Hope this helps some!!

See Ya,
Karen

[tireburner163]

DD 9512's.

I know of a guy that is hitting 153 off of a single DD 9515.

[Dark_5.0]

So you are saying you think I need more power? I really want to run two 12's. I guess I will go and buy another 1000 watt amp

I have a question I went to Baldwin Electronics yesterday and they have a sealed box for two 12's that has one of the woofers installed upside down. Are there any advantages to this configuration?

By square port do you mean just a square hole cut in the box

I will go listen to the Fosgate power series subs this weekend. There are so many choices it is hard to decide.

Thanks for your replies,

[Shelby428cj]

Dark,
my subs are installed that way too with the magnet sticking out ummmm I don't think it really changes anything that I can tell I do it more for show. Yes you need more power for two and I am glad to hear you are gonna buy another amp. I wouldn't run anything less than 1000w a sub for competition!!! Are you going to build the box yourself or have it built??? Good Luck with competiting and keep us posted how you are doing!!!

See Ya,
Karen

PS what brand of wire are you gonna run, I think wire is one of the most important parts of a good install!!

[LxMustangRacer]

You suggest not using a capacitor with the optima red top, I always heard to use a cap so you didn't put too much stress on your battery(longer life). If you have an optima yellow top would you recommend a capacitor? I like to run my stereo with the car off and was getting tired of not being able to start my car, got my optima in there and now I can be outside all sat afternoon, 4+ hours, working on my car with the stereo going and it'll start right up. Been doing that all summer and never had it go dead on me.

[Shelby428cj]

I use optima redtops in place of capacitors, I don't replace the one under my hood I add an extra battery, my redtop is under the passenger side seat right now. You can still run both if you want.

[tireburner163]

Dark 5.0, Inverting the subs has no effect on the sound.

By a square port, she means one like this....

Originally posted by Shelby428cj
PS what brand of wire are you gonna run, I think wire is one of the most important parts of a good install!!

Wire is wire.....you should know better Shebly.

[Shelby428cj]

Tire I disagree your stereo is only going to be as good as your weakest link and if you have 4 dollar RCA cables you have a 4 dollar stereo system. The better the wire the better the sound quality and power flow !!!!! IMO And Yep that is the kind of box I am thinking of!!!

See Ya,
Karen

[mustangman65_79]

Originally posted by Shelby428cj
Tire I disagree your stereo is only going to be as good as your weakest link and if you have 4 dollar RCA cables you have a 4 dollar stereo system. The better the wire the better the sound quality and power flow !!!!! IMO And Yep that is the kind of box I am thinking of!!!

See Ya,
Karen

The longer u run the wire, the better quality wire u need to use. If the wire is only going to be 2 feet long, u arn't going to lose any power. Since most amps are located next, or near the speakers, some 10-12 gauge wire will sufice. But if the amp is farther away then, lets say, three feet, then u need to get better wire. From the stereo to the amp needs some good quality RCA cables. The RCa's from the Stereo to the amp will try to pick up interference along the way. The better the cables, the less interference it will pick up. So I agree with tireburner163, but also Shelby428cj
is right too.

[Shelby428cj]

I guess me and tire are both the man!!! O and the woman!!!

[Dark_5.0]

To answewr you question about what wire I am going to use I used stinger wiring om my 98 GMC and it worked awesome.

So that is probably what I will go with again. As far as RCA cables are concerned there is a big difference in the sound quality between the low and high end stuff. It doest help to have a CD player with 5V pre-outs if you are going to use cheap cables.

Later,

[tireburner163]

With RCA's quality is fo sho important, but with power/ground wire of the same gauge actual performance differences are almost non-exsistant. Certianly not enough to notice with the human ear.

MustangMan You use don't have to use 10-12 gauge wire for a run from the amp to the speakers. I'm pushing 600 watt's to two 12's with 16 gauge wire.

[LxMustangRacer]

So I went a little overboard, I'm running 8 guage from my amp to my subs(that's all I had lying around) and 4 guage to the battery. I know it's overkill for only 600watts, but hey, it can't hurt.

[Shelby428cj]

Not overkill better IMO I am running 8 gauge and 0 gauge to the battery!! heehee

[mustangman65_79]

Originally posted by tireburner163
With RCA's quality is fo sho important, but with power/ground wire of the same gauge actual performance differences are almost non-exsistant. Certianly not enough to notice with the human ear.

MustangMan You use don't have to use 10-12 gauge wire for a run from the amp to the speakers. I'm pushing 600 watt's to two 12's with 16 gauge wire.

U can use 16 gauge, but I kid u not, if u upgraded to a 10 or 12 gauge, u will hear less distortion. I was the same way as u till I went from 16 to 10, the bass was much more clear, and I was only running 3 feet of wire to each speaker, including in and outside of the box. I went from expensive 16 gauge, to a cheap 10 gauge, the speakers hit harder, and more firmly. Less bounce, and more thud. I was only running 500w to two 12" subs. Try it, I can bet you'll see, (oops) hear a diff.

[tireburner163]

Originally posted by mustangman65_79
U can use 16 gauge, but I kid u not, if u upgraded to a 10 or 12 gauge, u will hear less distortion. I was the same way as u till I went from 16 to 10, the bass was much more clear, and I was only running 3 feet of wire to each speaker, including in and outside of the box. I went from expensive 16 gauge, to a cheap 10 gauge, the speakers hit harder, and more firmly. Less bounce, and more thud. I was only running 500w to two 12" subs. Try it, I can bet you'll see, (oops) hear a diff.

Been there, done that, heard no differace at all.