Want to ditch the 8" Alpine enclosure and upgrade......

[noupf]

So, I am one of those who upgraded all the speakers in the alpine system to try and get the most out of it. I am fairly happy with the clarity and volume of the system now, since i replaced the 3.5"'s and the rear 6x9's with quality 2ohm aftermarket speakers.

Where i am still not happy, is the bass. I replaced the stock sub with a 2ohm dual voice coil pioneer sub.....and while it is better, its not enough. So here is what i was thinking about doing, but I just want some help / confirmation from those who know more than i do. I know a fair amount about stereo systems and have hooked up my fair share over the years when i was younger, so this should be easy for me.....

1) Can I use a simple LOC and tap the rear oem sub wires for my rca outs?

2) I was thinking about a mid level, quality 10" sub ( kicker, RF, ect... ) in a box under the passenger side rear seat in my crewcab. I do have the lay flat flooring, but i have a baby's car seat there, so its not like it ever gets used....so i am fine with it coming out.

3) I have seen some simple mdf sub enclosures that are designed for our trucks that fit in the under seat storage, but I have no idea how good they are. They also only seem to have about .6 cuft of space and many subs are rated for at least 1.0 cuft sealed and 1.25+ for ported.

4) I read about something called a fox boxes. Any reviews on them? I know sealed boxed produce tighter and more accurate bass, but ported is a bit more boomy. I was looking at sealed, but ported may give me more thump out of a 10" sub, so........ what do you think?

5) Do i need to stick with a 2ohm Dual voice coil sub or does it only depend on what i want to use once i have the LOC and amp in place? I have no idea how this realtes to the oem head unit / oem amp and it being a 2 ohm system. I plan to purchase a simple mono amp around 250 watts rms or so. Should i go 2ohm amp / 2 ohm sub if i dont need the dual voice coils so i can squeeze more watts and boom out of every dollar i spend ( which i dont want to spend a ton btw ).



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[baum]

i will try and answer some of them.

1. the factory sub is a dual voice coil. i had success doing this method with the factory alpine on my '11 durango. just a cheap LOC at the sub wires.

2-3. get a box build to the spec of the sub. otherwise it will sound like crap and you will try and compensate for low output by turning up the gains and blow the sub eventually.

4. what kind of music do you listen to? if its more rock, country type i would say sealed. more rap hiphop ported. if all types i would say sealed. i personally listen to all types. i prefer sealed.

5. get what ever sub you want. get the sub that matches your amp on the impedance level (mono amp 2 ohm load, stereo amp usually a 4 ohm when bridged).

 

[Etroze86]

Baum has it, cheap loc, and I personally get as much power as I can afford. Now where I know people think ported is for boomy bass but it really isnt. Correct port and air space can put a double kick drum on your dash more efficiently than most sealed enclosures. That means you have volume when you want it but still accuracy of tight bass. So my vote is ported. Fox box is a good place to start and if you want to get a little more quality I would try netaudio.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[noupf]

ok, thanks for the clarifiaction guys. I appreciate it.

One question, when you mention getting a box built for the specs of the sub, I assume you mean to make sure that the sub will work in the box and its cubic volume range that the sub manufacturer reccomends?

 

[tripleplay]

Why not the 10 kicker that is plug n play?

 

[Graygoose]

Why not the 10 kicker that is plug n play?

The Alpine is a 150w 8" setup, the Kicker is a step up at 200w 10", but sounds like he may want even more.
Then the LOC, separate amp and different box is needed.
But also depends on the amp, some can use speaker level and not need an LOC.

 

[baum]

ok, thanks for the clarifiaction guys. I appreciate it.

One question, when you mention getting a box built for the specs of the sub, I assume you mean to make sure that the sub will work in the box and its cubic volume range that the sub manufacturer reccomends?

that is correct get a box made to the spec of the sub. different subs need different air space.

 

[noupf]

The Alpine is a 150w 8" setup, the Kicker is a step up at 200w 10", but sounds like he may want even more.
Then the LOC, separate amp and different box is needed.
But also depends on the amp, some can use speaker level and not need an LOC.

sorry for not getting back to the thread till now......

Gray, you nailed it. I am looking a kenwood excellon amp that has speaker level inputs built in (Just found out tonight that it had the speaker level inputs) So it looks like I wont need the LOC.

I was looking at the 10" kicker 40CWS104 in a ported fox box ( 1.25 cu ft ). Specs for sub are 1.25-1.75 ported. The amp is 300 rms at 4 ohms......

crutchfield techs seem to think it will all work very nicely......

Thoughts, since i know you are the kicker guy???

I have not had a quality sub set up in a vehicle in 15 years and those were a pair of 12" kicker competitions from back in the late 90's. I'd love to have another quality kicker sub bumping me down the street.......

 

[will530]

What did you replace the Alpine 3.5s and 6x9s with? I'm doing the same, adding a JL stealthbox with tens... But was going to leave the Alpine in the dash and doors for now and see how it sounds.

 

[Graygoose]

sorry for not getting back to the thread till now......

Gray, you nailed it. I am looking a kenwood excellon amp that has speaker level inputs built in (Just found out tonight that it had the speaker level inputs) So it looks like I wont need the LOC.

I was looking at the 10" kicker 40CWS104 in a ported fox box ( 1.25 cu ft ). Specs for sub are 1.25-1.75 ported. The amp is 300 rms at 4 ohms......

crutchfield techs seem to think it will all work very nicely......

Thoughts, since i know you are the kicker guy???

I have not had a quality sub set up in a vehicle in 15 years and those were a pair of 12" kicker competitions from back in the late 90's. I'd love to have another quality kicker sub bumping me down the street.......

Yup, I think that would do perfect!

 

[noupf]

What did you replace the Alpine 3.5s and 6x9s with? I'm doing the same, adding a JL stealthbox with tens... But was going to leave the Alpine in the dash and doors for now and see how it sounds.

I used jbl 2 ohm 3.5's in the corners and jbl 2 ohm two way 6x9's in the rear doors. I forget the exact model numbers. However, I can tell you this, for $150 or so, the highs are much brighter and more crisp. I also put a shallow mount 8" pioneer sub in the stock enclosure and it helped clean up the bass and provide more bump...... But I want a little more bass.

 

[noupf]

Yup, I think that would do perfect!

Hey gray, unfortunately it looks like thebfrutchfield rep was wrong..... The kenwood amp does not have speaker inputs. If I use a simple loc, I think it was you in another thread that said we can tap the oem subs speaker wires for the loc....... But im confused. Don't I need a left + and - and right + and - to hook up the loc correctly?

I can't remember, are there 4 speaker wires running to the little plug hook up on the oem sub enclosure? I know the oem enclosure is a dvc..... ( and so is the pioneer sub I replaced the stock woofer with ).

 

[will530]

Thanks, I'm probably going to do the same

 

[Graygoose]

Hey gray, unfortunately it looks like thebfrutchfield rep was wrong..... The kenwood amp does not have speaker inputs. If I use a simple loc, I think it was you in another thread that said we can tap the oem subs speaker wires for the loc....... But im confused. Don't I need a left + and - and right + and - to hook up the loc correctly?

I can't remember, are there 4 speaker wires running to the little plug hook up on the oem sub enclosure? I know the oem enclosure is a dvc..... ( and so is the pioneer sub I replaced the stock woofer with ).

Me, Id recommend an amp that allows speaker level in...remove the LOC period.
Someone on here I think PCT had a DX250.1, that amp would work.

 

[LB3711]

I have a sealed single 12" fox box in my truck. I upgraded from the Alpine sub.

 

[noupf]

Me, Id recommend an amp that allows speaker level in...remove the LOC period.
Someone on here I think PCT had a DX250.1, that amp would work.

Gray, why would you not bother with an loc? Just one less thing to purchase / install?

After some research, most of these smaller hide away amps dont have a built in speaker level inputs. The kicker amp you referenced above is the same ( which is an older model......even the new model has no built in speaker level inputs ). However, on crutchfield it had a link for these "bare wire to rca" leads ( Kicker KISL 2-channel speaker wire adapter (bare-wire connector to RCAs) at Crutchfield.com ).

I assume i could use this on any hide away amp instead of an loc? But my question is, whats the differece between these bare wire lead and a small basic loc. ( Scosche LOC80 2-channel line output converter at Crutchfield.com ), more so, why would somebody choose one vs the other?

 

[adrianp89]

I am in for the reasoning as well. I typically won't use the hi-lo converter on an internal amp from a subwoofer, and my concern is how much power can they actually handle? Can a high level input on your amp handle 150w? I know your cheap LOCs can't.

I would have to see the amplifier in question, but typically the "bare wire to RCA" does work for the smaller systems and you just to change the setting to Hi-Level.

 

[noupf]

I am in for the reasoning as well. I typically won't use the hi-lo converter on an internal amp from a subwoofer, and my concern is how much power can they actually handle? Can a high level input on your amp handle 150w? I know your cheap LOCs can't.

I would have to see the amplifier in question, but typically the "bare wire to RCA" does work for the smaller systems and you just to change the setting to Hi-Level.

kenwood excellon 300w @ 4 ohm or 500 @ 2ohm Kenwood Excelon X500-1 Mono subwoofer amplifier — 500 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms at Crutchfield.com

Kicker 12CX300.1 150w @ 4 ohm or 300@ 2ohm Kicker 12CX300.1 Mono subwoofer amplifier — 300 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms at Crutchfield.com

 

[adrianp89]

Kenwood does not have that option, the Kicker does. Just need the speaker to RCA cables and set the input to High level.

 

[noupf]

Kenwood does not have that option, the Kicker does. Just need the speaker to RCA cables and set the input to High level.

now i'm confused....... since the "bare wire to rca" now gives me rca's to plug into the amps rca imputs, cant both amps take the rca's that are now coming off the speaker wires.....or am i missing something here?