Well I decided I need to spend a little less $$ on my system that I want to get. So I just had a few questions. For subs, what exactly is the diffrence between some $30 sub at bestbuy vs, a $125 shiva? Like sound quality exc. Also, Ive asked a lot of my friends about their system and all of them have really high watt amps that they got at a low price. Like a 1200 amp at $250. I didnt believe them at first because from looking around on the internet the past week Ive only seen like 600 watt amps for $500, But at pyramid audio I saw some 1200 w amps for around $250. I just need to know the diffrence between these pyramid ones my friends got vs the JBL $400 ones I see on the internet. BTW for my wiring Im getting 4 or 8 gauge, and for my box Im either building my own or buying one off of ebay. Not sure if I should get ported or sealed though..
well, the cheaper amps are usually a lower class amplifier. Like, class a, or b or a/b (i think). For those amps that say they can push 1200w @ the price of $250 is usually overrated and would never even reach that much. A good rule of thumb is (in MSRP) 1 dollar a watt, but more often this price is for a class D amp. These amps are much more efficient at generating power and are not going to get as hot -- any maybe shut off -- as the cheaper amps would.
k, so whats the diffrence between really expensive subs vs some $30 ones. I was trying to compare them and the only diffrence I saw between some expensive subs and sme cheap ones was the RMS and watts peak power. And the diff between the #s didnt look like a whole lot...
Except for a few specific cases you usually get what you pay for in car audio and be wary of any company that uses "peak power" ratings. RMS isn't even a good measure of a subs potential in that it is a thermal and not a mechanical rating. Altho I'm not sure I'd buy a used sub from someone I didn't know you can get some really good deals on amps(both new and used) off Ebay. I saw a used JBL 1200.1 go for about $200 a couple days ago and I just snagged an Xtant 1001dx for 315.
Subs I would buy new or at least with a known history(from a friend who didn't push em hard). If you only have enough money to get some $30 subs fine, but don't expect them to sound as good nor last as long.
The best thing to do would be to go listen to a few, but like I said before you generally get what you pay for. The Shivas and Cerwin Vega Vmax's seem to be exceptions. You actually get a lot for your money. The Shiva just requires a good deal of airspace.
Well what is the diffrence between some $30 one at bestbuy and a shiva or Cerwin Vega? The diffrence in price is almost $100 and Im lookin for a system that hits hard that im going to use for 2 years then thats that! So if the diffrence between them is not major then Im thinkin about jsut buying some subs that come with a box and just do it the cheapo best buy way.
anony
Unregistered guest
Posted on
It's your system, nobody else. So go with whatever you like, as long as you happy with it, that's all it matter.
See, this is what i was just talking about to one of my friends who was asking me audio questions. At best buy or somewhere else, companies that produce low end stuff (sony, audiobahn) will use wattage #'s to sell items. Your friends system's have high watt at a low cost because they walked into a store (not knowing anything about what to buy) and went to the amp section and saw many choices. Ok, this is an example situation involving a newbie. He sees a Sony 1400W amp, a Rockford 600W amp and a JL 600W amp. Now the sony is $200, the RF is $400 and the JL is $700. Now these are example prices. So hes looking at these amps and makes a easy decision- he could get more than twice as many watts from that sony amp over the RF and JL for more than half the cost. Well that is how thse companies get these people. But, what he dont realize is the sony is low grade, 1400W from a sony is only like 200W RMS. The RF amp will get about 300W RMS and it will put that out, plus it will last a long time. And the JL will put out about close to 400W RMS and will out last all of them.
So i guess what i am trying to say is that there systems probably dont have as many watts as they or you think it has. If you get the right amp, you will out bump them. I assume they have brands like sony and audiobahn because you say they got most of there stuff for low prices.
Just remember you pay for Quality not quantity (watts).
