Archive for January, 2011

How to choose the right Car Subwoofer

There are many different types along with sizes of car subwoofers on the market today. Although the quality of normal OEM audio gear has increased over time, you still need some sort of subwoofers in the system to create that full sounding bass that the majority of of us are fond of when playing our home stereo systems.

There are plenty of subs which range in dimensions from 6 inches up to eighteen inches in diameter from a large number of automotive electronics providers. Many times a buyer will purchase a particular brand name subwoofer in the biggest size offered thinking that “bigger” should be “better”. And then after getting it home, they will discover that they have no area to devote to the enclosure that is needed, in addition to they failed to plan for the powerful amplifier they will need to power their beast.

Thinking ahead is critical when improving your car or truck sound system with a bass speaker or subwoofer. But it can be quite worthwhile and pleasurable for those who follow a couple of basic suggestions. For anyone who is limited on available space and just want improved bass then your typical full range speaker systems are designed for, you then might look at one of many amplified enclosed subs. These are easy to install and you can find them provided by companies like Boss, Infinity and Bazooka. They are small six or eight inch subs set up in smaller enclosures or tubes and they have a simple amplifier incorporated into the unit. Considering that they have a subwoofer, box and amplifier integrated into one small box, they generally are the least expensive alternative while supplying the most compact footprint in terms of area.

But if you enjoy rap music, popular music or just about any music and songs where you want heavy bass which can shake the windows, you’ll want to go with individual components. Years back a shopper would need to go with either a subwoofer designed for SPL (loudness) or SQ (musical sound quality) which typically related to size, but today there are several subwoofers available that are well known for the two.

So the first place to start when looking for a subwoofer setup is always to figure out the amount of room you wish to allocate to your subwoofer enclosure and amp. This can be done by starting with smaller subwoofers like 8 inch. Read their specs and see what kind and size enclosure your chosen sub demands. There are 2 fundamental types of sub boxes which are sealed and vented. The sealed sub boxes will likely be smaller then any vented enclosure in most circumstances. Therefore when you begin looking at sealed enclosures you’re going to get a good idea of the bare minimum amount of area needed. Typically, the bigger the subwoofer, the more air is moved so the more bass is made.

Your next step is generally see the power specifications of the selected subwoofer. Simply match the advisable power and match it to a power amplifier. Check out exterior measurements of the amp and realize you need a little more room for air flow and wiring and this will permit you to approximate the area needed for your complete subwoofer setup.

As you can imagine, even a 12 inch subwoofer and amplifier installation could consume a lot of trunk area or hatch space in modern autos. You can find a number of subwoofers from brands like Alpine, Boss, JL Audio, Kicker, Lanzar, MTX, Pioneer and Rockford Fosgate simply to mention a few. Several offer slim mount or shallow mount subwoofers as well as standard subs. The shallow subs permit mounting in scaled-down boxes which might be installed behind or under a seat in many applications.

Which means you shouldn’t be afraid of your decision making process. There are other choices to think about such as single or dual voice coil subs and the benefit for each. Generally speaking a dual voice coil model subwoofer will allow more versatile electrical wiring choices which is very important when operating two or more subwoofers.

From my working experience through the years, 10 inch subwoofers are often the most common and will definitely provide you a substantial selection of factory made sub boxes to choose from. Besides the common sub boxes there are several special fit enclosures created for certain cars and trucks. Anytime you find a custom-fit sub box you’ll see it can save you on space considering they are made to fit into areas of wasted space in automobiles.

Once again, if you stick to the basic steps of calculating your permitted space for subwoofer and amplifier prior to purchasing, you’ll be much more pleased with the final results. Buying car subwoofers can be easy and.

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