sound differences from different size subs

[BuckHunt]

what are sound differences (generalizing here, i'm sure brand will make some difference also) between bigger and smaller subs? say i had a single 8" sub, a single 10" sub, 12, and 15, comparatively, does the larger speaker diameter allow lower frequency bass? Does it not affect sound quality to an extent? Like is one type better for a certain type of music or something?

I listen to metal/industrial/rock (a good list of others too, anyways) and i like loud punchy bass, for instance when a bass drum hits, say double bass drums from my tool cd collection, or a better example, any song from metallica's ...And Justice for All, i like the bass to hit hard and loud, but not ring after the bass has already hit.

What would going up in size from the 2 10" subs i currently have do in terms of sound, if anything? I get the main concepts of sub boxes already - ported and bandpass will get a deeper sound with less wattage, open boxes need more watts but make tighter sound (uhhh right?)

[brad84]

well generally the smaller the sub the tighter it sounds and the larger the sub the deeper and boomier it sounds. now that doesnt really meen much because the way the sound turns out depends mostly on the install a good install with bad equipment will sound good and a bad install with good equipment will sound bad. usually for rock 2 10" woofers in a sealed enclosure powered properly will be more then enough

[Eric]

Sound is one thing that can be drastically affected by so many factors, it's not even funny to think about.

Some of the factors are box volume, shape, material, and construction.

There's also cabling, amplifier, signal level and quality, and overall power.

Some more are placement in the vehicle, bass crossover point and level, and any sort of sound processing.

While it's nice to get recommendations from people, everyone's listening styles and preferences are different.

I would agree that 10" is ideal for a good all-around performer for most types of music, but if you're into anything with a lot of sustained electronic bass, such as the Miami bass-type stuff, or most rap or new metal, I'd think about either bigger subs, as they'll produce lower frequencies more efficiently, usually, and won't be working near as hard to do it.

If you listen to a lot of classical, country, or jazz, I'd definitely stay with a sealed enclosure, and one or two 10" subs.

I don't see a lot of use for 8" subs, other than for mid-bass and adding some punch.

8" subs inherently have less mass, and as such, are usually quicker to respond to changes in music than 15s or 18s.

It all depends on what you'd like to do, what your budget is, what kinds of music you listen to, and how you'll listen to your system MOST OF THE TIME.

Don't plan for the odd occasion when you might want to blast for a tailgate party, or something. Plan for how you'll use it on a daily basis.

If you'd like, lay out what you listen to, how loud you listen to it, how much you can spend on it, how much space in your Trooper you're willing to give up, and what sound characteristics you want your system to exhibit.

If you do all that, I'd be happy to make some recommendations.

[BuckHunt]

My setup sounds pretty darn good. I have a 560w 4 channel amp and 2 "10 audiobahn subs in a bandpass box.

I listen to rock mainly... Tool is a favorite, some nerdy rock too; superdrag, nada surf, etc etc, anyways, one thing i love about blasting rock with subs is that you feel the drums through your seat, not the electronic bass that goes along with like oldschool dj magic mike stuff (i can't believe I remember that), but I love the hard punch that accompanies good drums (Tool's Aenima cd, songs 2,3,& 13 especially for example)

I have the box facing rearward from my back seats, I swear this thing would make seats feel like Shiatsu in my old honda civic, but in my trooper i think the added area the sound has to fill possibly makes it sound a little... weaker? at "mono rms" (whatever that means...) my amp puts out 160w x 2 - its hooked up to two subs so i assume that is how its set up right now. I'm just trying to explore options so that when i get a job soon (Graduation = 3 weeks away!!!) I can save up soon for more projects to make my girlfriend even more afraid of riding in my car.

I know my emails are longer than the Illiad, but one more Q? for you with knowledge, the crossovers on my amp, i have them both set to LPF, and basically the level it is set to is as low as it can go, the gains are turned up as high as possible also. Seems like it used to sound louder, as well, i've never had it turned up that much without it getting seriously staticy sounding, but an installer "messed with it" when fixing some wiring problems last weekend, he got the sound all around to be what was previously unattainable in quality to me, except the bass sound MIGHT have diminished some. A fair trade off in my opinion - the problem was that i was losing volum to my subs, like they would randomly lose about half their volume&sound quality. He removed a "2 channel to RCA" converter deal that was leading off my amp and it solved the problem.

[93 troop]

I have two alpine type s 10" subs powered by a JL audio 500/1 amp. I have the subs facing backwards behind my back seat in a sealed box. It is so loud I have to turn my bass adjustment on my stereo to 0 or negative numbers to listen to it for any period of time.

I mainly listen to rock also, and have listened to the same bands in systems with 12" subs and it is tighter and punchier with my 10s.

[BuckHunt]

I am thinking of maybe getting a more powerful amp... I think my current system sounds good but i feel like my 2 10's could handle more wattage than they are getting. The amp has both gains maxed out and I still could listen to it louder than that.
its 560w, bridged to 160w x 2 - is that pretty weak or what?