Subwoofer help

I want to add some bass to my 2015 double cab. Im not looking for maximum bass but I want to really hear and feel it. Low lows and clean highs. It will be mostly turned up for rap/hip hop and reggae but also want it to sound good with my country and rock.

I started looking at 300W-400W powered 10” subs, primarily JL, kicker and Rockford Fosgate. I haven’t been able to hear one but I’m worried it’s going to leave me wanting more.

I called crutchfield and they recommended a JL power wedge 12” TW3 400W ($829) with a JL amp. At that price point I continued looking and came across the Alpine RS-SB12 600W ($999). I’ve also been interested in the kicker 48TRTP122 500W $349.

Does anybody have experience with any similar powered subs and are they worth it?

Does anybody have experience with any of the loaded sub options mentioned?

Are the JL and Alpine going to be that much better to justify the price difference over the kicker?

Or do you recommend a custom enclosure and broaden my search for subs?

What have you all done for good deep, crisp, clean bass in your tundras?

The fitment and ease of installation are the reason for the listed subs. Those are simply loaded subs that I have found that will fit under the rear bench seat.

 

I have this JL setup.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1857461/pn/010-03653-00/

 

I wish my box was downward facing - one of the subs touches the bottom of the seat and some wear is happening at the contact point. There's zero room for a grill.

 

Yes it's definitely tight on room. I fell asleep last night looking at different install pics of the Alpine lol. When does yours arrive?

 

I’m running a pair of JL Audio TW 3 subs behind the rear seat in a custom box I built. I wanted the grills on subs, so I designed the box to fit accordingly. You can’t see the box at all, but it’s big. It’s almost as tall as the rear seats and just as wide. I sound shielded the entire truck including inside and outside of all four doors, firewall and rear wall. My subs are super punchy. When you listen to them, feels like someone is swatting the seat backs with a baseball bat if you turn it up.

 

DC?

 

Man, you ponder too much lol. If I put half that much thought into gettin something, I just pull the trigger.

They mentioned a 3-4 day lead time to assemble & ship.

 

Lol.....sometimes. Just deciding on which size lol. That isn't bad at all. My ZombieBox was like 7 weeks.

 

Many of us DC owners have something similar to this box. Slides under the driver side rear seat and is notched for the seat belt anchor.

 

My bad. I have a crewmax. Missed the DC part in your post.

 

I have looked at that one and it’s more than I’d like to pay but is one of the best looking that I’ve seen. And I’ve heard they pound. How is the sound out of it? Does it have a good range of bass especially lows? Does it hit clean/accurate? It’s JL so I imagine it does.

 

did you build that box or buy it? If so where? I’ve been seeing a lot of those on forums and that would probably be the route I go if I end up doing a custom enclosure. Really I was hoping to get away with one of the simple plug and play subs and not get too carried away into customization but I’m finding us DC guys are very limited on options without getting crafty. Or spending more money. Haha.

 

I was going to say this must be a crew max. Haha. I’m envious of your behind-the-seat space!! That was my original plan before I looked and found about an inch of usable space with seat up in mine. How do you like the TW3’s? 10”s or 12”s? How does it sound with the pair of subs? I’m hoping one 12” will scratch my bass itch but I’m seeing a lot of dual sub setups and it’s making me wonder.

 

I love the subs. They are shallow mount subs, but didn’t really have a choice as there is so little room back there. That’s why the enclosure is full height and width. I needed every available cubic inch of space for the enclosure. It’s a sealed box….not ported, so it’s punchy as fuck. Because they are shallow mount, I went with two 10’s. I even have the same length sub wire going to them so one doesn’t blow before the other. I’m hooked on DSP amps. The clarity is unmatched. It would be tough to go back to a regular setup. The Focal Kevlar separates sound just amazing. They were not cheap, but what the hell.

 

None of this is cheap! Haha. The more I look the more expensive it keeps getting. And I haven’t even started thinking about the rest of the speakers. Those will have to wait. How is the low frequency bass? Do those 10’s handle the deep notes well or more full punchy sound? I like a full range but really like those low lows that you get a little more of out of a 12”. Or so I think…

 

Being they are short throw subs, They are punchy. They can’t do ultra low frequency but I use a JL Audio DRC 205 remote and I adjust bass on the fly for every song. At half throttle, I can twirl cans around in the cup holders. My mirror shakes like crazy. I’m a metal guy and not into rap. I like listening to super fast double kick drums and thunderous bass.

 

That helps. And that’s one of my issues is my range of music. I like the low bass in hip hop and reggae but also listen to country, rock and metal and want to be able to hit those fast kick pedal drum beats while having a good mix of the lows. My old set up, 2 12” alpine type S subs 15 years ago hit the lows well but really struggled on the faster kick drum notes. Hoping to find a good balance maybe slightly more focused on the low range. I know I’m picky, I have the same problem with women. I’m not sure which one is cheaper. Ha.

 

From what you're describing, a sealed box with either a single or pair of subs depending on airspace is probably what you're after. Powered subs are great for adding a modest to moderate amount of bass, but for a lot of rap listening you might want more output.

There are a handful of pre-fab boxes, most for a pair of shallow 10's but I did see one for a pair of 12's as well. Things get expensive quick though when you're talking about a pair of subs + box + amp + wiring. For shallow subs I'd be looking at (semi in order) Wavtech thinPRO, Audiomobile Evo/Encore, Morel Powerslim, Stereo Integrity, BM-11, Hertz MPS, JL TW3. One of the most important things in selecting a sub is having a box that matches it well. For sealed boxes, that just means getting the net internal air space close to the recommended air space from the manufacturer, or by modeling it for frequency response. Example, pair of shallow 10's that each have a sealed recommended air space of .5 cf would play nicely in a 1cf common chamber sealed box. Shoot for a .707 Qtc to get a nice balance of punchiness and boominess.

Lots of options out there, and powered subs are definitely a very good one to "hear it" but might be lacking a little in the "feel it" department.

 

Thanks for the info. I’m finding out how quickly price jumps when getting all components and putting together and thats why the powered ones seem appealing, hook em up to power and enjoy without having to delve into all the different options of boxes and subs, amps and airspace. That’s where I started looking into the loaded boxes from kicker, JL and alpine because they are custom built enclosures for each particular sub by the manufacturer per their recommended specs. Then I just gotta find an amp with sufficient power, hook up and good to go. These are the 3 that would fit my space and remain easy installs without going fully custom or finding a proper box separately. It’s an overwhelming world of car Audio these days.

 

Many people ignore this fact or are simply ignorant of it (in the literal sense, without the mocking undertones often associated with the word). Sizing your box to your driver appropriately is key to a good sounding setup with satisfying bass. A 15” sub that wants a big box will sound like utter garbage in a tiny box; it would easily be outdone in all aspects except total output by an 8” sub in a properly sized enclosure.

Broadly comparing speakers by driver size alone is also backwards thinking - but understandable so. Larger drivers in the same speaker series will have more output given the same construction and motor assembly (kind of, as the motor usually gets larger on 12”+ drivers) simply because you have more cone area. More cone area with the same or larger excursion means more swept area, which yields more output. But the listening difference between a 10” sub and a 12” subwoofer are minimal so long as both subs have enclosures that are optimized for the driver.

But lower frequency response, “punchiness”, etc all depend on the subwoofer system design: the combination of subwoofer, enclosure, and vehicle, assuming power and signal input are clean and at appropriate levels.

Historically, slim subwoofers have been at a large disadvantage due to smaller cone are, much lower Xmax, low sensitivity, and restrictive motor design given the space constraints. Add to that the fact that most were optimized for larger enclosures when you are trying to shoehorn them under a seat, and you had sub par performance. That’s has changed in the last 5 years or so, and great performance can be had with smaller and slimmer drivers.

I would forgo the shoebox subs for what it sounds like you are searching for. They are adequate for a factory system looking for more bass, but won’t satisfy most folks needs.

 

Yes I have experienced that before back in high school, not having a properly sized box for the subs I was running and never getting them to sound how I’d expected.
By shoebox subs are you referring to them small powered subs or also the slightly bigger but compact loaded but not powered options namely the JL CS112LG-TW3 and the alpine RS-SB12?

 

Im referring to the all in one units that hide underneath the front seat. The loaded enclosures are typically better; I’m not familiar with this the loaded options, but I’d wager they offer great performance.

 

Gotcha. That’s the conclusion I came to as well about the “shoebox” subs. That’s where my search started and I quickly realized that they weren’t going to get me close to what I wanted so the budget has expanded quite a bit. Both the JL and the Alpine loaded enclosures will fit my small space perfectly but I’m also wondering if it might be a better option the get a custom box that would fit under the seat and get the sub separate. Or if it would be the same. I figure since the manufacturer built the box specifically for these subs in their loaded enclosure they’ve gotta be good but they’re also built for small spaces so curious if a bigger box would make a difference. Of course a custom box would have to accommodate the proper volume for the sub.

 

That’s always my internal debate with pre-loaded enclosures: the MFG built the box so it SHOULD sound good… but what sound were they going for? Are they like factory car radios where the design department is given a budget of $XX to do a full system, so make the cheapest gear sound as good as it can? Are the drivers made as cheaply as possible to still meet a minimum standard of OK sound? Or do they have a good entry to mid-level woofer that was designed for small spaces?

The only real way to know is to get a hold of the MFG and request T/S specs (or find them on the interwebs) and model the driver in a box modeling software like WinISD to see how their sub and box combo behaves. But that brings up the other issue - and strength - of a custom subwoofer enclosure: what are YOU looking for in a sub, and is it going to deliver in real life? Do you want a nice, even, in cab response? A rising bottom end response? Lots of energy in the kick drum area? Have you accounted for cabin gain? How much power do you have to throw at it? How much room do you have to play with? etc.. So maybe that pre-fab box isn't such a bad idea...

Since I am more picky about how I want my system to sound, and I don't mind the extra work of modeling a dozen drivers until I find one or two that fit my needs, I prefer to go the custom box route. But I've screwed up a design or two, so just because it's custom doesn't mean it's better.. haha. And there have been quite a few really good off-the-shelf setups. I think you are playing in the good end of the pool when it comes to pre-fabbed subs; I'll see if I can get dig up some more info on the two or three options you've been looking at.

 

I appreciate all the help I can get. I don’t have a computer and am not tech savvy or educated enough in the arena of car audio to know what half of the specs mean aside from the basics, ohms and wattage and connecting properly. But as far as a lot of you audio guys and being able to figure out proper enclosure volume and cabin gain and in cab response… It’s all way over my head and I commend you. Haha. I’m jumping back into the subwoofer game after 15 years and am blown away by the advancements in technology.
I’m looking for clean and tight bass that can handle fast kick drums of rock but maybe leaning a little more towards the deep lows of hip hop and reggae which is when I’ll be turning it up a little more. But a good balance of both. I want a healthy amount of bass that you can really hear and feel but not needing crazy brain rattling bass that you can hear blocks away. It’s always so hard because everyone has a different opinion of what sounds good to them. I want passengers to like “oh sh*t” not “holy f***ing sh*t” if that makes any sense. Haha.

And that’s my worry about the loaded ones is are they built at the minimum volume requirements of the sub or best possible range for it while being compact. But I would expect that they would make it to make that sub really shine and with the price tag I really hope they would.

The alpine is the RS-SB12 which uses a shallow version of the newer R2 sub at 600w RMS.

The JL is the CS112LG-TW3 which is the shallow W3 which is 400w RMS.

The budget option was the kicker 48TRTP122 which is the shallow compR sub with a passive radiator and rated at 500w RMS.

Leaning toward the alpine but before I pull the trigger just trying to get some input from folks that are smarter and more experienced in this field.

I appreciate all your help.