How good are truck subwoofers?

[DarkoNova]

Around 6 months ago my friend decided he wanted to upgrade his subwoofer in his Tacoma, so he gave me his old one. It's a 12", I believe, but it's in a really small box so it could fit behind the seat in his truck. I think it's only around 5" deep at the top and maybe 8-9" at the bottom.

I'm wondering if this will be enough to give sufficient bass in the trunk of a 69 Nova? I don't want to rattle parts off the car, I just want a little added kick. Someone I work with has a 12" in a car box, so it's probably around 15"x15", maybe bigger. I don't know what brand it is, I forget.

Any ideas on what kind of amp and how strong it should be?

Thanks,
Matt

[Gordz32]

I used to make enclosures for myself and friends. See if you can figure out what brand and model, then you can get to the companys website and the should have specs on the sub, in the spec list they will list the required airspace to get the maximum benefit from the sub. If you want, get me the name and model of the sub and I'll figure out what size box you can go with. If your not really worried about it, you can always go to best buy or someplace like that and pick up a generic box that will work fine. GOOD LUCK!

For the amp, you'll find out on the website what the recomended RMS rating is!

[GBodyGMachine]

I agree with above. Also, if you like tighter bass that hits harder, go with a bit smaller sealed box. If you like loose and lengthy bass go ported box.

Jeff

[DarkoNova]

Ok I looked at it and apparently it's a 10" Rockford Fosgate Punch Z. I tried finding the specs on their site but it looks like they don't have it listed. None of the subs pictured look like mine. It looks like this:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-JUjECZXxnpK/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=520&tab=morephotos&pi=5&i=575RFZ2410&display=L#Tab

Except the red RF logo is silver/white and the Punch Z is red.

I don't know what brand my other friend is willing to sell me, I'll ask him the next time I see him. Or does anyone have any recommendations for subs and amps that won't break the bank?

Thanks,
Matt

[shep]

2001 series manual
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/fattach_get.php?p_sid=VqN9jTsi&p_tbl=9&p_id=346&p_created=1083783986

2002 series manual
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/fattach_get.php?p_sid=VqN9jTsi&p_tbl=9&p_id=293&p_created=1083259380

2002.5/2003 series manual
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/fattach_get.php?p_sid=VqN9jTsi&p_tbl=9&p_id=185&p_created=1065552170

looks like a 150W RMS amp and .75 ft cubed ( can't get the 3 up where it needs to be) for a sealed box or 1 ft cubed for a vented box.
Box Volume = Height “ x Width” x Depth” /1728

[Gordz32]

Alrighty, I did some searching. The sub is a 2001 model. Recomended box internal airspace is .75 cu. ft. Here is a calculator that pretty self explainitory. http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/rftech/boxcalculator.asp
If you use 1/2 in MDF 15h x1 6w x 7d will give you a .729 cu. ft. which will give you tighter bass. This is a sealed enclosure meaning it has no ports. Ported boxes tend to be really annoying and I've always perfered sealed boxes.

You can find boxes around this size fairly cheap, If you don't have the tools to do so I would just buy one. Its easiest

AS far a amps go. That sub doesn't require much power at all. RMS is 100w and max is 200w. Any amp with that rating will do. Hope this helped alittle.:bananna2:

[DarkoNova]

Thanks guys. I measured and it's 15" H x 20" W x 6.375" D. It's already in a truck enclosure (apparently it's called a wedge type box?) so I added the top and bottom depths together (5" and 7.75" respectively) and divided by two to get the average depth.

So anyway, 15 x 20 x 6.375/1728 = 1.10 ft³. You guys said the recommended is .75 ft³. So is it bad that it's nearly a quarter bigger than that? I don't know much about stereos, other than how to wire them up, lol. This is also a sealed box.

Matt

[Gordz32]

That box will do fine, the bass just won't be as "Tight" but it will be deeper and possibly lounder than in a smaller enclosure. It sounds like that will be fine for ya. Glad we could help

[DarkoNova]

Awesome, thanks. Now I guess I'll just go look at some amps at my local stereo shops. One last question, does it matter which direction the sub is facing? i.e., should it be facing towards the interior of the car or the rear of the car? Or does it not even matter?

Matt

[DarkoNova]

Ok guys, how do you test subwoofers? I've got the amp wired up and the little green light is on which apparently means it's connected good, I've got the RCA cables going from the deck to the amp, and I've got the speaker wires connected to the sub and they're hooked to the amp in bridged mode. All that and I still have no sound coming out of the sub. I've set up the head unit (Alpine CDA-9857) so that subwoofer is on and bass is at around 75%. I even set the input level on the amp to max and nothing. So I'm thinking either the sub is dead or the amp isn't powerful enough.

Which reminds me, I didn't know what kind of amp to get, so I bought a 2/1 channel.

Here's a link with pics and specs:
http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/Dual_PBA2150/

The specs on the link are different from the specs on the box and in the manual. The manual says:

150 watts RMS x 1 channel at 4 ohms (bridged)
300 watts at 4 ohms

So if this sub is only 100 RMS and 200 max, I figured this amp would be sufficient. Plus I'm poor and it was the cheapest one. :p

So any opinions/advice???

Thanks,
Matt

[Gordz32]

hmm... I dunno, that def. puts out enough power for the sub, make sure ur connections to the sub are good, inside the box, and play around with the wires. double check ur setting on the amp. Its hard to dianose stuff w/o being there. Also check to make sure that the speaker wires aren't coming in contact with each other or a ground. and souble check ur RCA's r hooked up correctly

[DarkoNova]

Thanks, man. I never thought to check inside the box. Looks like one of the connectors was off. Now it's fixed and my music sounds better than ever. :woot:

Matt

[Gordz32]

Yea!! Good Too Hear, ENjoy the tunes and glad I could help ya!