Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything?
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/21/2008 2:28:52 PM
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00AccordLX5spd
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Yeah I am a little leery about buying one of the cheepo's at wally world. the guy that did a ton of DIY's I posted in the DIY section bought a cheepo powered sub and he said he barely even noticed it so he upgraded to 2 12's(that would be waaayyy overkill for me though.) I was thinking more along the lines of one 10" that can hit pretty decently. I'll check out your gallery
Oh yeah....I forgot to mention: I do need my trunk space. Got to have room for a baby stroller. I also need to be able to fit groceries in there. That's why I was thinking along the lines of Bazooka or something else fairly small like that.
< Message edited by 00AccordLX5spd -- 4/21/2008 2:30:56 PM >
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2000 Accord LX Sedan F23A1 5spd
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1995 Accord V6 Sedan AT - AKA "the money pit"
1991 Mustang LX 5.0 Convertible - my daily driver all through college - now sits in my dad''s garage - needs a little TLC
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/21/2008 2:56:16 PM
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xpieceofcralpx
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just get some new 6x9s for your rears, the good ones have a enough bass to keep you pleased without getting a sub =) easy to install to!
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/21/2008 3:04:00 PM
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finch13
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If you do some searching online you could get some 8" and fab up a simple box for them with a fairly small amp. I've seen 2 8" subs and they can pound louder than you think. like xpieceofcralpx said, a $100 bump in speakers might be easier than a sub. What headunit do you have in your 6th gen? Mine came with the crappy tape player and a set of 240W peak Pioneer speakers, the poor headunit couldn't power the speakers decently so it sounded a lot worse than it should've. Once I connected them to my extremely expensive deck they sounded amazing.
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/21/2008 4:47:11 PM
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RTexasF
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For me a powered sub worked perfectly and many on DriveAccord have done what you are describing with total satisfaction. Bass Link or Bazooka should work quite well. I chose the Zooka simply because I had read way too many complaints where the Bass Link crapped out right after warranty was up. True or not, I don't honestly know, but it kept me from buying one and it was my preferred choice.
I chose the 10" with 200 watt amp and it filled in the low end just as I had wanted. The Bass Link, due to it's shape, is better suited for multiple mounting areas in the trunk. Whatever you get give it plenty of time to break in before passing judgement. I wasn't at all pleased initially but around 6-8 weeks later it came alive and added more than I EVER expected from such a relatively low powered unit. It will indeed buzz your arse and shake the mirrors (if you so desire) and do it with clean not muddy sounds.
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/21/2008 8:07:58 PM
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finch13
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I agree with RTexasF, make sure you let the surrounds break in on the sub. My Alpines sounded good, then sounded like crap, and now they sound amazing. I don't know if you can tune the Bazooka (Low Pass/Gain/I forget what the other one is), but when properly tuned to that subs capabilities you will be pleased without it distorting too much at higher volumes.
Wattage means nothing in my book. I have two massive Technics speaker towers (tweet/mid/woofer) and Technics amp from the 70's that are only rated at 175W @ 8Ω and they can shake the house better than our 1000W 5.1 system. I also had my 2 12" Type-E's and 2 12" Type-R's hooked up to my tiny 700W (@ 1Ω) amp and it was just as loud, if not louder, as the fully powered R's by themselves. Never blew a fuse or put the amp into protection.
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/21/2008 8:30:21 PM
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donpisto
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quote:
ORIGINAL: finch13
I agree with RTexasF, make sure you let the surrounds break in on the sub. My Alpines sounded good, then sounded like crap, and now they sound amazing. I don't know if you can tune the Bazooka (Low Pass/Gain/I forget what the other one is), but when properly tuned to that subs capabilities you will be pleased without it distorting too much at higher volumes.
Wattage means nothing in my book. I have two massive Technics speaker towers (tweet/mid/woofer) and Technics amp from the 70's that are only rated at 175W @ 8Ω and they can shake the house better than our 1000W 5.1 system. I also had my 2 12" Type-E's and 2 12" Type-R's hooked up to my tiny 700W (@ 1Ω) amp and it was just as loud, if not louder, as the fully powered R's by themselves. Never blew a fuse or put the amp into protection.
I don't think wattage is the main issue, it's power handling and that itself does matter, however, with the proper enclosure you can get away with alot and most importantly, as what you mentioned, its the efficiency that plays a key role, which is why wattage really doesn't matter.
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/22/2008 5:43:03 AM
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RTexasF
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Here's the specs for the 10" 200 watt Bazooka Tube. It is very efficient which explains why it can do so much with relatively small power. A little searching on google showed $250 shipped from several places.
Details:
- 10" woofer with treated foam surround
- power output 200 watts RMS
- variable low-pass filter (60-250 Hz at 18 dB/octave)
- line- and speaker-level inputs
- power/signal harness includes 11" power wire, 23" ground wire, 10" turn on and speaker input leads, and RCA inputs
- frequency response 39-250 Hz
- sensitivity 104 dB
- 10-7/16"W x 12-1/2"H x 21-3/8"L
- 4-ohm impedance
- warranty: 1 year
Although not as informative here are the specs for the Basslink. It does reach to 20hz, deeper than the Zooka. I've seen these for $200.
Enclosure Type
Passive Radiator
Finish Material
Polymer
Grille
Metal x 2
Connector Type
RCA/Speaker LVL
Bi-amp Inputs
No
Woofer Size (inches)
10
Woofer Material
Treated paper
Passive Radiator
10
Width
14-1/2"
Height
13-3/8"
Depth
9-7/8"
Second Depth
N/A
Parts Warranty
1 year
Labor Warranty
1 year
Specifications
Frequency Response
20-120 Hz
Amplifier Power (RMS)
200 watts
Maximum Wattage
N/A
Sensitivity
N/A
Impedance
N/A
Second Voice Coil Impedance
N/A
Crossover Point
50-120 Hz
< Message edited by RTexasF -- 4/22/2008 5:49:35 AM >
_____________________________
''''04 2.4l 5M EX Sedan
Neuspeed short shift kit
V-6 6 speed front strut/firewall brace
17mm rear anti sway bar
AEM Shorty
DC Sports SS Header
Kicker Speakers
JL Audio Clean Sweep
JL Audio Amp
200W Bazooka sub
V-6 OEM 7 spoke alloys
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/22/2008 7:54:35 AM
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00AccordLX5spd
Posts: 3815
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Thanks for all the good responses! To answer finch, my stock headunit is the tape/cd deck. It plays all of my burned CD's just fine and my speakers will get very loud and they sound good (much better than my previous Mustang speakers.) That's why I really wanted to simply add a powered sub. If my factory speakers were not as good as I think they sound, I would definitely be replacing them first. I have ridden in cars with friends who never replaced stock speakers and liked to try to rattle their windowns out. Their systems sounded like garbage from all the buzzing from the blown stock speakers. Since I don't really listen to rap or anything with really heavy bass, I am not worried about that.
I think I will look into a powered Bazooka first. One of my friends had a bazooka 10" at one time and it sounded pretty good. He was a bass junkie though. he started off with two Fosgate 12"s, then when he got a truck (the 12"s had been in a full size Bronco) he wanted some backseat room so he went with the Bazooka for a while and had it under the back seat. He now has another SUV and i think he has another large box in the back.
I also may research a single 10" with an enclosure, but I am worried about how to set up the amp since I have no experience there.
_____________________________
2000 Accord LX Sedan F23A1 5spd
-Short Shift Adapter
-eBay SRI w/ K&N
1995 Accord V6 Sedan AT - AKA "the money pit"
1991 Mustang LX 5.0 Convertible - my daily driver all through college - now sits in my dad''s garage - needs a little TLC
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RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 4/22/2008 8:24:44 AM
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finch13
Posts: 4278
Joined: 6/7/2007
From: St. Paul, MN
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I never changed out the stock speakers in my 5th gen and once they were crossed to not go below 75Hz they sounded even better.
I made the mistake of not educating myself before I got into car audio and bought one of those pre-packaged deals from Best Buy. Luckily, I knew I wasn't dumb in choosing Alpine, but $600 for a setup I could've has easily bought for $300 online? Once I learned more I rewired the subs and tuned the amp and I love my system now. A friend of mine put a single 10" Type-R into his CRV and that thing bumped. If you searched hard you could get that sub and a decent amp for $200 or a little more.
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Printable Version
. I really don't want to spend any more than $300 (I'd rather spend more like $200, but I do agree with the old saying: "you get what you paid for.") the only car audio experience I have is installing headunits in both my mustangs. I've never tackled installing speakers or amps. But I figured I can figure out how to install a simple powered sub (actually..... I can follow the DIY instructions I have seen haha.) I just wonder if it will be worth it if I am going to retain my stock head unit. 
RE: Are Powered Subwoofers worth anything? - 
