RT I was told that your pretty good with stereo stuff so I got a question. I have 2 10" MTX thunder 8000's. I'm running a Kappa 202a amp. The MTX's sound like crap. They can handle 1000 watts a piece. Should I
1. Sell the MTX's and buy JL's or
2. Find a bigger amp
I liked the sound of the JL's that I had so I know what they sound like. If I go with option 2 what kinda amp do you reccomend and what kinda setup
PLEASE HELP

 

What does that infinity Amp put out as far as RMS power goes.

I'm not to familiar with the MTX's thunder 8000's but from what I have read and see they seem to be a good quality woofer. I wouldn't sell them. What type of enclosure do you have them in. the box that you have them in can make all the difference in the world. thats like 75% of stereo's. the position and the enclosure.

 

Umm the Kappa amp puts out 600 watts x1 and they are in truck boxes. RMS I'm not sure because the truck is at the shop right now getting the seat fixed

 

Well truck boxes might not be enough cubic volume to work with those speakers.

what you have to remeber is to completey forget about the peak power of anything stereo. you vary rarely hit the peak power. What you need to do is find out what the RMS of the amp, and the subs and get them as close as possible. Then find out how big your box is that your putting them into. just measure the boxes, LxWxH and then divide that by 1728. thats the cubic volume of that box. now look up the recomended cubic space needed for the subs and then subtract the woofers displacement. that will give you what size box you need for the sub. these two don't really have to be that same but thats how you determine how much power you need to power the subs. the bigger the box, the less power you need, but the looser and boomier the subs will be. the smaller the box is the more power you will need and the subs will hit harder and tighter. I like mine really tight (HEHEHE) so they sound allot better. If you get me all the information on them I will figure it out for you. Its not that hard once you do it a couple time.

Some people just think you ca through a sub in any box and it will sound good. Thats why MTX and all these other companies offer subs and amps all built in. there design to all work together. there is a bit of a science to stereo's. just the way you place the box in the car can have a huge effect on the sound you get from it. its all the waves from the subs that matter. Your never going to get the same kind of sound from a vehicle like our L's with the subs behins the seat the same way you would with a car and the subs in the truck. the longer the wave travels, the more time it has to expand and the louder it is! I'll try and look up the power on the subs and amps also for you.

 

Thanks RT, Like I said I dont have the truck right now so i cant get those measurements. The problem here in NJ is there is no good stereo guy around. The place I go to gives me discounts thats why I got the subs there. I walked in told him I wanted the MTX's and he ordered them and put them in boxes that would fit my truck. I myself dont know alot about stereos which is a problem so I have no idea if its the right ****.

 

Ok the subs can handle 50 to 400 watts RMS, there good subs as far as the stats go. I wouldn't sell them.

THe amps puts out 200x2 at what ohms I don't know, but most likely thats at 4 ohms.

Ok so the amp seems to be good enough to power the subs without a problem. I would wire them up in series and bring the load down to 2 ohms on both the subs and the amp. subs are better when the mono channel anyway.

SO you have 400 watts going to the subs which is enough power for the job.

now the part I don't know, are they tens or twelves? I had lots of twelves in my truck and this truck was not made for 12 inch woofer's. if you have twelves, sell them. if you have tens, then where ok.

now your ten inch subs need .63 cubic feet. they didn't have a displacement, but its probably around .15 with those subs. so that means you need a box thats atleast .78 cubic feet. but I would make them .85 just to be safe, becasue you don't really have the maximum amount of power. So now you have to find out how big your box is intyour truck. and alos make sure that you wire them subs in phase. thats means the positive's and negatives all match up. if your going to make your own box then I would make a single chamber box with the woofers as close together as possible. tens are just right to fit under the center counsole and not hit anything.

If you really want another box I could make one for you and ship it to you, or something like that. that should be everything to get you going now.

 

Or possible if sprio comes out to byron, I could send it home with him and you could get it from him. I know you both live in NJ.

 

Ok RT, now by wireing them in phase the wireing should lokk like what? I think I know but I wanna make sure. Also do I change the switch on the amp from stereo to bridge when I wire them in line? You said you can put them under the console what do you mean? Right now they are behind my seat thats what you mean right, behind the seats? And if I wanted to get a box made what would it cost for two tens and the set up that you describe? Again thanks for all the help

 

WhiteLightning99 - if you want some good stereo guys in NJ, try Dynamic Productions, the have a small booth at the RT18 fleemarket and their shop is in Highland Park. Those guys are good, nice and reasonable price.

Other then that RTKILLA stated everything. I would definately find out the size of the boxes first. The install is one of the most important parts of getting subs to work properly.

If the boxes are not around .75 to .85 cubic feet, get boxes that are and test the subs out. If after having the correct box your not happy with the sound then try bridge your amps right and left channel together and have one pair of wires to each sub. That will cut the load in half of each sub down to 2ohms which will give more power from the amp.

Also find out if your amp can bridged down to 2 ohms, you don't want to damage it.

------------------
2001 Silver L

Mods:
**** carpeting for the bed
premier 720 HU

 

by the way found these stats on your amp

200X2 rms @ 4 ohms
300X2 rms @ 2 ohms
600X1 rms @ 4 ohms

not sure if it can a handle a mono 2ohm load

 

Hey RTKILLA, you probably heard alot of different subs, I'm really hooked on the idea of using a trio of 8" subs.

I heard 3 JL8w6's and like it, but I know JL also has the 8w3's which are also DVC's. Which do you think sound better? The w3's are supposed to 75watts less the then the w6's.

Or have you heard anyother 8's that sound good, most of the places around here only have JL 8's to demo, so I've never heard the IDQ's or others that I told were good.

 

I have been into car audio for a while and have always liked 12" subs. The L does not promote large cubic foot solutions. So after quite a battle with my wants and likes, I decided to try out a JL Microsub 8.2. It contains 2 8w0's in a JL audio built box with a single port. The box itself is 11" face, 7" thick and a half column or D shape with the port in one end. Two 8 ohm subs parallel give a nice 4 ohm load. With my kenwood 818 and the sigma hookup up. The two little subs sound great and fit nicely behind the seats. With two DX9 Polks in 6x9 boxes back there too and 6 inches for the port to breath. Armrest is down, seat is all the way back for driver but one notch up for passenger. I did not use the mounting bracket for the subbox. And the carpet directly under the box is removed. Box is very well build, might weight 30lbs or so.
I bought these without hearing them but I am very glad I got them. The 8.3 have 3 subs but is sealed and is not suppose to produce the DB or the SQ that the 8.2 can.

Just what I have seen.

------------------
Red 2000 Lightning
-Lowered
-Red Front Grills (Carbon Fiber Logo)
-K&N Air (Gone)
-Bed Liner and Cover
-Kenwood Z919 (MP3)
-Excelon 6x8 & Polk DX9 6x9
-JL Microsub (Installed)
-Chip and Filter (Below)
-Superchip R9 & NOS progams
-PSP 10" filter (First Series)

[This message has been edited by svtkenn (edited 05-24-2001).]

 

I've heard the 8.3 microsub, it has 3 8w6's wired in parallel to give a 4ohm load. It gets loud and has SQ, not sure compared to your 8.2 b/c I've never heard that one. Also by the dimensions of the 8.3 box it won't fit behind the seat, I'd have to buy them seperate and get a custom box made.

You put a pair of 6x9's back there, are they for mid-basses or do you have them running full sounds and if so how does it sound?

By the way, welcome to the boards.

[This message has been edited by captainoblivious (edited 05-24-2001).]

 

Thanks for the welcome...

I believe the only difference in the 8.2 and 8.3 is length.
From JLaudio.com : 8.2 -> Dimensions: 23.75"W x 8"D x 11.25H"
: 8.3 -> Dimensions: 31.25"W x 8"D x 11.25H"

This should fit also. The big difference is 3 x 12 ohm -> 4 ohm load parallel, and the box is sealed ( -3 db ). I purchaced at a local Nashville shop called HiFi Buys. Met a cool guy there who has been selling car audio for 8 years at that location. He had the chance to sell me the 8.3 for more cash but suggested the 8.2 for SQ and DB level at my cab space. I would imagine that a bigger paycheck on his part would have been enough to sell the 8.3 if he had beleived it was better.

My full setup is like this:

Kenwood Z919 MP3 Player
kenwood 818 single subchannel (200W RMS @ 4ohm)
Kenwood excelon 6x8 front doors (Highpass crossover 80hz)
Pold DX9 6x9 in MTX 6x9 Boxes firing straight up behind seats (Highpass crossover 60hz)
JL Microsub 8.2 (lowpass crossover 120 digital and 100hz in amp)

The 6x9 add a conciderable amount of midbass and a nice rear phase that the rear 6x8 placement could not provide. Overall the polk are very efficient and my fader is 15% to the front.

Most of this stuff was purchased on ebay or from a buddy of mine who sold off his 3k setup. Since ttl price was less than $750( yes some great deals). The overall sound is great. Plenty of midbass, which I think is the one thing that most dont pay enough attention to.

 

Two other good NJ shops I know of are SoundWave in Parsippany and AVI in LittleFalls.

Daniel