Hello,

I was wondering if I could get some advise. Kenwood has come out with these new 10" subs and I was wondering if buying one would be pointless or if 2 is a must.... also is 2 ohm any advantage of 4 ohm? And what size amp would I want would 170 rms amp going to it be enough even though its rms is 300?

Here is the Sub

Kenwood eXcelon KFC-XW1022D (kfcxw1022d) 10" Component Subwoofers Component Subwoofers - Sonic Electronix

any help would be appreciated!

 

i have 2 12" kenwoods and they bump so hard. they made my intake fall off when it was a little loose. i have a ma audio sub powering it. and 2ohm is so much better than 4ohm. 2 is deff a must!!!! i would recommend getting 2 10" i wish i had gone with the 10s because my 12s hit way to hard and the 10s are cheeper so hope this helps

 

thanks I am looking at this amp to power them....is 250 watts rms too low for subs that are 500 rms? or will the 250W to each do the trick?

 

depends. im not really sure. i would call best buy or circut city or the manufacture. i think if its to low you can break the subs but im not sure i heard that from a freind. so just call sum1 to make sure not to ruin them new subs lol gl

 

probably won't be able to power the subs with that low of power... they had those set up in BB and I liked the sound of em personally. They were clean and not just boomy bass., I'm a polk audio whore and plan for the fit just a there 12in enclosed. 360rms and 700 or 720 peak that I guess hits perty good and in the fit...well, it so small almost anything willl feel fairly powerful.

 

2 woofers in a Fit is way not needed. It takes space from the car and blah blah blah.


Once good 12" sub in a seal box is more than enough. 2 ohm as opposed to 4ohm will give you the most juice out of your amp. Double the power in most cases if you follow ohms law. The amps manual will reflect that as well. Just make sure the amp can handle a 2ohm load.

If you want more bass then go ported box instead of sealed. You'll get mre boom but lose some quality and punch that sealed has to offer.

If you want SPL then go bandpass box but you'll typically get shitty SQ outta that. I won't ever go bandpass, especially if you have a diverse taste in music.

 

one 10 is more than enough, in a car this small and since it is a hatch, a sealed should be more than enough... also, ported boxes can sound just as good as sealed boxes, if they're built properly, and same /w bandpass boxes, as long as they are built properly to spec, they'll sound just as good as sealed boxes. 2ohms vs 4 ohms doesnt matter, they'll sound the same if its the same power.

 

That sentece right there kinda doesnt make sense because at 2ohm you will max out your power from your amp than at 4ohms. Also, sealed boxes and bandpass box will give you more resonnance than sealed and sure you can build to spec but it will not sounds as punchy as sealed.

I've done car audio/alarms for 6 years before going into avionics and it amazes me how eveyone thinks they know what they're saying. Sorry man, but I just had to dissagree.

 

^-- as for the comment before my post, having a higher impedance 4ohm over 2ohm will usually give you more control over the driver (sub) which can be directly related to having better sound quality and less distortion.

To answer your initial question:

It depends on how much bass you want. If you want bone rattling bass 1 10" isn't enough, but if you want good bass, and some decent oomph you will be fine with that sub and an amp that will run anywhere from 250-300watts rms. It also depends on your enclosure, if you go ported sometimes your sub will only need 1/2 the power, but it really depends on the characteristics of the sub. If you go sealed, generally you will need to run the rms power to be able to push the sub.

The problem with underpowering a sub is that it could cause the voice coil in the sub to not be able to move enough, and if it sticks in the same spot for too long you can burn it out. Same goes with overpowering a sub, if you have too much power, then the voice coil can extend pass its excursion limit and seperate. Too much power can also be a good thing tho, this will allow you to lower the gains on an amp which can lead to having more control over the sub. There's a lot to learn about proper setups, but I won't ramble on since I could go on forever.

Its best to find a good medium between the 2. If you go sealed you will get a cleaner, faster, and deeper response. If you go ported, the box will be about 30-70% larger, have more bass, but not as low of a response (it won't hit as low as a sealed box).

Choosing a box also depends on the type of music you listen to. If you like techno, dance, pop, any fast beating type of music, or if you like nice clean sharp hitting bass then you want to go sealed. If you like rock, rap, r&b, and want rumbling bass then you want to go ported.

Don't forget tho, a 10" sealed box will be around .7-1.0 cu. ft. whereas a ported box for a 10" sub would be around .8-1.5 cu ft.

I used to be a bass head.. I had 2 x 15" subs, 8 x 8" subs, 2 x 10" subs, 1 x 12" subs... pretty much every variation I've either owned or listened too... now that i'm 30 and different appreciation form my music and bass, I have gone with a simple JL Audio 10w3v3 10" sub in a sealed box and it is more than enough for the Fit. Before this, I was actually more than happy with my 8" powered bazooka sub I had.. I picked it up for $9 new at a local shop which was clearing them out... i sound dampened the entire car and threw it in and was actually pretty surprised with the added bass.

So, you need to figure out what you want for your listening preferences.. don't pick a sub and amp cause the match or look cool. Go with what works for you.

Hope this helps.

 

so you'll tell me that u can hear a difference with 400 watts at 2 ohm on a sub wired to 2 ohms and 400 watts at 4 ohms on a sub wired to 4 ohms? if you can tell a difference then you are god, and go on any real audio forum or ask people who compete (non-spl) and tell them that a sealed box will be more punchy than a well built ported box and they'll laugh.

this is from 10 years of being interested in audio... researching, listening, buying, etc

but, you can have your own opinions, i can have mine...

back on topic.. yeefit put it right, pick a combo that will work for you, get an amp that will fit your budget and power the sub nicely... i still think 1 10 sealed is enough output...

 

theres a difference between punchy and boom. What I meant by that is more accurate sound.

also, when I meant my comparisons I assumed using SAME amp with both configurations.

You may have 10 year INTERESTED in audio but I did 6 years of it as a living. I'm an electronics guy and know what I'm talking about.

Back on topic? this is on topic but I will let it drop here because obviously I'm hurting your ego.

 

i dont do it as a living as i chose not to... but sarcasm ftw i will let u win this round sir... but stay sharp... you never know when i'll be around the corner! :P

 

Allright good thing I caught this in the morning when I have time to type. My goal here is not to insult anyone who posted above me but to clear up alot of the misconceptions that are extremely rampant in the industry.

1. 1 10" can easily provide more than enough bass to fill any musical needs.

2. The size of the subwoofer in this day and age is almost irrelevent unless your competing in SPL. There are 30 other factors that determine how loud it can get and how good it will sound. There's alot of 15's out there tha can play tighter than 95% of 10's on the market. There's alot of 10's that will sound like slot no matter what you do (usually in the $60-100 price range). Build quality and design are what to actually look for.

3: 2ohm vs 4ohm vs. DVC. Only differences in any measurable part are wiring options for multiple subwoofers.

one 2 ohm subwoofer can be paired with a 300Wrms class D(mono) amp and gain ful use of the amps power. Mono amps generally have limited frequency response and poor damping(ability to slow, stop then reverse direction the sub is travelling).

one 4 ohm sub can be paired with a 2ch amp that makes 300Wrms bridged into a 4ohm load. It will will be around 20% less efficient(more electrical draw) than a class D amp but you'll have better damping.

Now for underpowering/overpowering a sub/speaker. Neither is good or bad. With the price of amps there's no reason not to get an amp that makes 300Wrms for your setup, they are dirt cheap. Underpowering does not leave the coil sitting in the same place at all.. tha is all frequency dependant. Underpowering can cause YOU the listener to try to push your equipment past it's limits and cause your amp to start feeding some DC electricity through your speaker. This severly lowers the cones ability to move in a smooth proper fashion and basically disales or inhiit the speakers coolin ability (movement passes air over the coil and pole piece cooling them down).

Overpowering a speaker can do a few things. it's all dependent on the lugnut between the seat and the steering wheel (the dude turning the volume knob). There are advantages to this in ot taxing your amps power supply by having "headroom" most larger amps have better damping so more control over the woofer. disadvantes are people trying to over-drive their equipment.

4: Boxes. sealed vs.ported vs bandpass. negligble in their own right. It's extemely dependant on the subwoofers Thiele/Small paramenters.

the general way it works is that a sealed box works as an air spring to aid the subwoofers own suspension and seal off the rear sound wave fro the front. You can get drastically diffeent results by adjusting the size of the sealed box. In general with most off-the-shelf subwoofers you'll find in big box stores, you'll get a little more control.

Ported boxes. the mecha of tuning options. If your suwoofer works well in a ported enclosure you ca fine-tune it and make it sound exactly how you want by adjusting enclosure volume, port tuning and port size.

The off the shelf ported enclosures are pretty much all tuned to 42hz to exploit a little extra SPL but most are slightly undersized for most subs out there. This lends some truth to the statement above that a sealed box will play lower, BUT only some truth in comparing to high tune- off th shelf ported boxes. a ported enclosure built an tuned can play phenominally lower than a saled box. My home setup play flat down to 18hz. Sealed generally will always starting dropping off aove the 30hz mark.

Poted boxes need to be designed with each spcific speaker to get the best out of them. Not a generic one box fits all crap.

Bandpass!!.. Efficiency and loudness with little power or poop subs is possible!!. sounds great but the epic trade off is that they extremely limit frequency response to the general 40-60hz range with 24db/octae drop-offs. This means that your subs re only playing a very limited range of sound. Which is why they usually really shine at one of 2 notes but you can;t hear kick drums.

5. Resonance from boxes. PLEASE!!!.. ported boxes generally add more car vibration ebcause they are automatically 3 DB;s louder than a sealed box. even more louder with a higher tuned box near its tunign frequency. They do not by nature add any more resonance than any type of box. They are louder, thus moving more air, thus body panels react to the added pressure(from being louder)

 

Now to answer your original question. that's a decent sub in its price range. If you put it in an off-the-shelf ported box it will work pretty well. overall. If you can get the 4ohm version with a 2 channel amp that makes 300Wrms@ 4 ohms bridged or a little more than tha you'll be a happy camper.

Those subs were realy geared to work well in a small ported box. In a .6cu.ft sealed box it'll be a little peaky with not so great low end.

 

So in a sense it's smarter to get a 2 channel and bridge than it is to just use a mono amp? Even though mono amps are "for subs"... I understand what you said injun I guess but it doesn't really make sense (?) lol.

 

mono amps aren't "for subs" they have power supplies that constantly switch on and off at a high frequency. This prevents them from being capable of playing anything over 250hz essentially. for SPL defintely go Class D (mono) for power and efficiency. for a 300Wrms amp when good sound is wha you want. go with a class a/b (2ch) and bridge it. you get a little better control.

 

Get yourself a Basslink. Small enclosure, amp included, and not expensive. If you want decent bass to fill out the sound and dont care about letting the whole neighborhood hear your stereo, thats the way to go. They can be had for under 200 bux, well worth it. I am very impressed with the output on mine.

 

First I want to thank you all for your help....so if I get this 4ohm sub:Kenwood eXcelon KFC-XW1024D (kfcxw1024d) 10" Component Subwoofers Component Subwoofers - Sonic Electronix ...from my understanding of what was said this amp: Kenwood eXcelon KAC-X20 (kacx20) 2-Channel Amps Car Amplifiers - Sonic Electronix should be perfect if i bridge it correct? Also if I am going for overall quality of sound it sounds like I should choose a ported box because I will have more control? Also it was mentioned that buying a "one box fits all" enclosure is not a good idea .... would I have to make it myself or must I take my sub somewhere to have a box made?

 

true, my brother had purchased a 96 civic back in 96 and gave it to her for her graduation from college and tore the entire car down, fiberglassed the rear wheel tub, mdf wood, monster cables from the front to the back, installed two 10" ground zero speakers, measured 146 spl in a sealed enclosure. We beat two suburbans that day, one with 12 12" speakers and one with 6 15" speakers...
One nicely built 10" speaker will do for some nice bass. Dynomat the car for ratteling.

 

That is a dual 4 ohm sub. Meaningit cam be wired to 2ohms or 8 ohms only. you'd need the 1022D