Amp and subs combo for your RAM?

[Dr. Righteous]

Back in the old days (that would be the 80s and 90s for me) I was into car audio big time. Then the focus was doing upgrades to improve the sound quality over stock and ALSO keeping everything as stock appearing as possible. Soon the car audio scene started getting a little crazy; more of a showmanship thing than good craftsmanship. That is when I got out of it. When it came time to sell the '89 Mustang GT with the system in it; I left the expensive CD head unit in it but put everything else back stock and sold the car. I eventually sold off the rest of the gear. I think I have an ancient pair of Crunch 12s in storage; but that is about it. Getting married and starting a family the days of bone rattling bass was only a memory.
I really miss jamming when I drive around; albeit I will have to do it when I'm alone.
In the old days I was Hifonics all the way but times have changes. I hear their amps are pretty good for the money but their subs leave much to be desired.

What I'm thinking is a single 5 channel amp. 2 10" subs under the back seat (quad cab) .

What are you guys running? I've seen the read made boxes that fit under the seat for these advertised. Anyone running a setup like this?

 

[Totalcomfort]

I have a Hifonics amp running my 4 door speakers. Think 70x4 but a great amp for the money. Keep them cool, smoked a sub amp of theirs. Was pushing it very hard at the time.
I use a autotuba for sub so can't help on the box question.

 

[reek]

I'm like you. I've mellowed with age. I'm after sound quality rather than volume. I'm a big fan of seal boxes and under a CC rear seat, I think the air volume for a sealed box limits you to a single 10 inch woofer if you want any sound quality. I ran a custom box with a 12 but I could hear severe limitations. so I put a 10 in and sounds significantly better. Now ported is a different story. I have my 8.4 head unit going through a signal processor. a 4 channel amp running all 4 door speakers. and as much as I hate to say it, dash speakers off head unit power modified to pass only mid and highs. A separate amp for my subwoofer.

 

[Informal]

I'm about the same age as the OP... Back in the late 80's early 90's...my sound systems typically exceeded the value of my vehicle.

Every time I get a new rig.... It still gets an audio upgrade, but they become more diminutive each time.

My 2015 Sport got all new speakers (Infinity and Kenwood) in stock locations.. That helped a lot.... I finished it off with a JL Audio Stealthbox (used Craigslist score) and a 500 watt JL audio Amp.

I'm perfectly happy with it, but every time I pop into this forum, I'm in serious danger of buying crap I don't need lol.

 

[Dr. Righteous]

Thanks for the response guys!
Poking around at various amps I'm considering the Hifonics BRX5016.5 5 channel.
This will delivery 750w class D into a sub and run the other 4 channels A/B.
Funny thing; there were no class D amps back when I was into car audio and good amps were very expensive. This beastie can be had for about $230 from Amazon. Amazing.

Amazon.com: Hifonics BRX5016.5 Brutus 5-Channel 750X1 4X100 Amp: Car Electronics

 

[adrianp89]

No first hand experience but I have heard that the newer HiFonics stuff is no good.

 

[Dr. Righteous]

No first hand experience but I have heard that the newer HiFonics stuff is no good.

No good? Compared to what?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t7Z2T7_LB8

 

[dmuney]

Back in the old days (that would be the 80s and 90s for me) I was into car audio big time. Then the focus was doing upgrades to improve the sound quality over stock and ALSO keeping everything as stock appearing as possible. Soon the car audio scene started getting a little crazy; more of a showmanship thing than good craftsmanship. That is when I got out of it. When it came time to sell the '89 Mustang GT with the system in it; I left the expensive CD head unit in it but put everything else back stock and sold the car. I eventually sold off the rest of the gear. I think I have an ancient pair of Crunch 12s in storage; but that is about it. Getting married and starting a family the days of bone rattling bass was only a memory.
I really miss jamming when I drive around; albeit I will have to do it when I'm alone.
In the old days I was Hifonics all the way but times have changes. I hear their amps are pretty good for the money but their subs leave much to be desired.

What I'm thinking is a single 5 channel amp. 2 10" subs under the back seat (quad cab) .

What are you guys running? I've seen the read made boxes that fit under the seat for these advertised. Anyone running a setup like this?

Why not hit up Ebay and get you some old school flavor I've seen many top brand amps from back in the day go for only a few hundred. Hell I bought one that back in 96 would have cost almost $2000 and I got it for $500 and their is nothing like old school power

. That pic is from my old Honda a few years back

And I'm also wondering what people are running for sub enclosures I'm thinking on raising the rear seat and moving it forward 2 or 3 inches mount amps on back wall of cab and seat up more enclosure vol. and make bottom of box with fiberglass so I can get every square inch of air space I can

 

[wykdtr0n]

Why not hit up Ebay and get you some old school flavor I've seen many top brand amps from back in the day go for only a few hundred. Hell I bought one that back in 96 would have cost almost $2000 and I got it for $500 and their is nothing like old school power

. That pic is from my old Honda a few years back

And I'm also wondering what people are running for sub enclosures I'm thinking on raising the rear seat and moving it forward 2 or 3 inches mount amps on back wall of cab and seat up more enclosure vol. and make bottom of box with fiberglass so I can get every square inch of air space I can

I built a custom enclosure running two 12"s. It's probably overkill for an SQ setup, and I have my gains down a decent amount. Two 10's would probably be fine. You can get about 2 square feet total in a sufficiently lifted and sealed glass/mdf enclosure under the seats.

I was able to fit a Hifonics sub amp, JBL MS-8 and a JL Audio 4channel component amp behind my seats with the 1.5" spacers from Netaudio. No need to move the seats forward really, space is tight, but they fit. You can check out my build thread for pics.

 

[wykdtr0n]

No first hand experience but I have heard that the newer HiFonics stuff is no good.

I've been running a Hifonics X1500.1D X14 mono sub amp, first on a 15" Image Dynamics IDQv2 and now on 2x12" Infinity Kappa's. I built my system for Sound quality (that IDQ fit in a 1.25" box and sounded incredible) and the Hifonics has worked great for the two years I've had it. I realize my idea of SQ isn't the same as everyone elses--but for SQ on a budget, I think it is perfect.

 

[dmuney]

I've been running a Hifonics X1500.1D X14 mono sub amp, first on a 15" Image Dynamics IDQv2 and now on 2x12" Infinity Kappa's. I built my system for Sound quality (that IDQ fit in a 1.25" box and sounded incredible) and the Hifonics has worked great for the two years I've had it. I realize my idea of SQ isn't the same as everyone elses--but for SQ on a budget, I think it is perfect.

2 cu. ft. 1.5 spacers I think I'll see about trying 3" and seeing yours I'll move seats forward an inch or two great job on the box I noticed you used all solid sheets that you cut the out side and then cut the center out. That's a huge mess of MDF Me I'll probably use 2 solid top for a double baffle so I can flush mount subs and the other layers use 2" wide strips and flush trim them. Also I'll probably go further towards back of cab with my box to gain a little more air space . Yours turned out great job well done and now I have more info on the challenges I'll have to deal with thanks for sharing your build

 

[adrianp89]

No good? Compared to what?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t7Z2T7_LB8

Again, I cannot speak directly, but a common complaint I hear is they don't make rated power. This seems to be a common trend among all MaxxSonics products.

As far comparisons... they are tons and tons of solid amplifers with good reputation. What kind of power are you looking for?

 

[scotts2012ram]

I don't know what you like but I tried to sundown e10s in a ported fox box and love them. Grate sound but can get loud to as for amps I'm running skar audio amps that I got a hell of a deal on. If I had to do amps at full price I'd probably go with alpine or Memphis I just like there products. As for hifonics you couldn't get me a set to run I've seen to many out the box mess up

 

[autokraftgt]

In my SQ set up, Iam running two 12" Arc Audio Blacks in a vented enclosure. Obviously I have the sub stage turned down quite a bit, but it can boogy if Iam in the mood. Subs powered by an Arc Audio KS1200.1 with 600 watts/per sub @ 4ohms.
For subwoofer duties, I see no problem with saving a little money on power. Power is cheaper than it was back in the golden years. However, when it comes to front stage power, Iam a firm believer in buying very quality power to eliminate most distortion if not all. My .02