Which subs are better

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If you no longer wish to receive the call, please click the button to cancel your request. Cancel my request. It's your turn. See bio. We will be calling you. We're sorry. We have encountered a problem. Sorry, the call-back feature is currently unavailable. Car subwoofer buying guide Find the bass that fits your taste, budget, and vehicle.

Meet Ken Nail Close. More about Ken Started at Crutchfield in Completed our in-house Advisor training, learning all the details of every type of product we sell Attend dozens of vendor training events every year Authored dozens of Crutchfield articles and hundreds of product presentations, primarily focused on in-dash car stereos, plus outdoor tech like running watches and cycling computers Produced over car stereo demo videos.

Get Everything You Need You'll need an amplifier to drive a component subwoofer. Comments 33 Read comments. Alexander H. William, for wiring guidance check out this article. If you bought your gear from Crutchfield, you can call Tech Support for free help troubleshooting your system.

Check out our tech support page for details. Curtis, check out this article to find the right wiring diagram for your setup. Shop our selection. The easiest way to shop car audio online Find what Fits your vehicle Remove. Checking fit Related products.

In stock. JL Audio 10W0v Rockford Fosgate Punch P Top seller. Kicker 46HS Sound Ordnance Bass Bunker. Go back See more. Headlights dim when the music plays Here we discuss the most popular fixes for an underpowered electrical system: the big 3 upgrade, a capacitor, a high output alternator, and a second battery.

Tuning your subs What does the gain control do anyway? How to match subwoofers and amplifiers This step-by-step guide will help you make sure that your amps and subs are evenly matched and work well together. Subwoofers FAQ Which subwoofer will sound the loudest? What are dual voice coil subwoofers?

Subwoofer wiring diagrams There are many ways to connect subwoofers to an amplifier. How to build a subwoofer box Helpful tips and step-by-step instructions for designing and building your own custom subwoofer box.

Subwoofer Installation Guide This article describes the steps involved in installing a subwoofer in your vehicle. Subwoofers Glossary Learn about the features and technical specifications included among today's car stereo subwoofers. Audition speakers before you buy.

Virtual Audio technology allows you to compare sonic characteristics between speakers so you can make a more informed shopping decision. SpeakerCompare simulates the sound of home and car speakers through your headphones. It lets you compare sonic characteristics between speakers so that you can make a more informed shopping decision.

Learn how SpeakerCompare works. Select your headphone brand Brand. Select your headphone model Model. More wattage equals bass that is tighter, clearer, more well-rounded. Once again: you control the volume. We agonized over this section. It is so, so easy to get lost in mathematical formulas and tables of figures when calculating exactly how wattage relates to decibel levels read: volume. Sealed subwoofers have a cabinet that is entirely enclosed, with no openings into its interior.

Ported subwoofers have one or more openings, to allow the free-flowing movement of air. Put very simply: sealed subwoofers sacrifice a little overall volume and presence for a tighter, more controlled sound, while ported ones can pump out huge volume at the expense of a little clarity.

Generally speaking, larger and more expensive subs tend to be ported, while smaller, cheaper ones do not. But if you have a bigger space, consider ported models. You may also come across things known as passive radiators. Think of these as unpowered speaker drivers which are there to simply react to the air the main driver is moving. A subwoofer could have one or more of these in addition to the main driver, and they help with the articulation and expression of the sound.

Passive radiators are almost always a good idea. Most home theater or hifi subwoofers have wired connections, while many that come with soundbars are entirely wireless. Wireless subwoofers have the advantage of needing absolutely no setup. They will already be slaved to the central unit, and all you need to do, in most cases, is plug them in.

The crossover point see below is already set, so they take the difficulty out of initial setup, although you will of course need to work out where to put them, and they will need to be plugged into a mains socket. The only thing we can say is that if you intend on having a 5. There are some people who will tell you that it doesn't matter where you put a sub, as long as you're not using it as a table next to the couch.

Don't believe these people. They're talking out their backsides. Placement is important, and you need to spend a little bit of time getting it right. It's like paying a lot for an expensive meal, and tasting nothing but salt. Subwoofers are tricky in this respect. Bass waves move in all directions, and as soon as they hit a flat surface like a wall they reflect all over the place.

Put the unit in the place you would normally sit, then start playing some bass-heavy music through it—something like Skrillex or Diplo would be ideal. Now you need to crawl around on the floor yes, we know and find a spot where the bass sounds richest. You may have one or two spots to choose from at the end, but those are the spots where you should conceivably place your sub. There are also plenty of outlets that offer dedicated online system builders, which will let you plug in the size of your room and help you fine tune placement.

SVS has a very good one. Usually subs are simple to set up. Plug an RCA cable make sure you have one long enough into the line-in port in the back of the sub, and to the subwoofer out on your receiver or amplifier. The more expensive model is, the more likely it will come with a variety of switches and controls that let you adjust things at source. If you see a volume knob on the back of your subwoofer — something that is rare but not unheard of — set it at about halfway. You might also see a switch or setting labelled phase.

You need to spend some time sitting in your listening position, listening to something with a lot of bass content, then flipping settings and listening to the same thing. Pick one setting, and leave it there. You can always change it back later.

You may also have various other ports on the back of your subwoofer, such as speaker outputs. Welcome to the single most important thing you can do to make your subwoofer sound better.

As you've probably figured out by now, a subwoofer is designed to handle the low frequencies. Adjusting that point - the frequency below which all sound is sent to your sub - is called adjusting the crossover point.

Usually, the crossover is set using the on-screen setup for your AV receiver. It should allow you to pick a particular frequency without too much trouble.

To find the best frequency, what you need to do is go and look at the specs for the other speakers in your system. Every speaker has a frequency range it can comfortably reproduce. Start playing a song with a lot of bass content, at a reasonable volume, through your system. Lower the subwoofer volume until you can just barely hear the bass. Then, very slowly, start to turn it up until the bass is at a comfortable but not overpowering level. Remember: wall-shaking bass is all well and good, but the key here is synergy.

You want an overall sound that is rich, powerful, and deep, without being uncomfortable. Setting the crossover and the volume is the best way to achieve that. If you think the bass is good with one unit, then wouldn't it be better with two? Or four? The answer is yes, of course it would, but you also run the risk of distortion, or simply overwhelming the other sounds in the mix.

If you do want to try this, and have got the cash to throw around, then a unit in each corner of the room although not up against the walls, please will blow your mind.

But it certainly isn't essential, and if you make the right pick, you'll have something you'll love. Frankly, we'll take that over spending a huge amount of money on multiple variations of the same thing, just to produce endless bass. Unless you really, really want to annoy your neighbours. Or you live in the middle of nowhere. The builders of these subs contend — possibly with some merit — that their creations will easily outdo those made by some of the companies on our list.

Our response is that it's very difficult for us to review a DIY sub — while it makes a fun read, and we love hearing them, it's not very useful for a reader who then decides to buy it! However, we do recognize that DIY subwoofers are a huge market, and those who build their own spend a staggering amount of time getting it right.

There are thousands of forums, subreddits, and other sites where builders post their work, and you'll often see DIY builders at audio shows. Hell, Dayton Audio even offer a basic starter cabinet , for those just getting into it. Unlike many other speakers, subwoofer is comparatively easy, and it makes a great project if you're just getting started in the world of DIY audio. The components can be sourced from relatively little outlay, and you don't need a huge amount of electrical knowledge in order to build something you'll be proud of.

While we will say that we aren't really the right site to find information on this, there's a wealth of information out there. I had help on this guide from three other listeners. And finally, saxophonist Ron Cyger also plays in many Los Angeles—area bands, has appeared on several jazz recordings, and is a longtime headphone enthusiast.

A subwoofer is a speaker dedicated purely to reproducing bass—the deep, couch-shaking tones of kick drums, bass guitars, and synthesizers, as well as explosions and crashes in movies and TV shows. A subwoofer adds extra bass and, potentially, a higher maximum volume to an existing set of speakers.

However, many people have a bad impression of subwoofers because they can make a boomy, annoying sound if improperly positioned and adjusted. Proper setup, as I describe in this blog post , is important and can help any subwoofer perform its best.

Still, there are limits to the performance of any entry-level subwoofer, such as the models in our best budget subwoofer guide. Anyone who is serious about sound quality—and especially anyone who prefers hip-hop, heavy rock, or action movies—will be happy they bought a high-performance subwoofer rather than a budget model.

Subwoofers are like power tools, where an increase in power almost always costs substantially more but almost always results in noticeably better performance.

Note that subwoofers are far more affected by room acoustics than other speakers are: The shape and size of a room, and the positions of the subwoofer and the listening chair or couch, may emphasize certain bass tones and cancel others.

Many audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts combat this phenomenon by using two or four subwoofers, which makes the bass sound more even as you move from seat to seat. If you care about whether your system delivers quality sound across several seats in your room, it may be a better idea to buy two relatively inexpensive subwoofers than to upgrade to a more expensive single subwoofer—but as I found when I compared one-, two- and four-subwoofer systems , a single, more powerful subwoofer can be a better choice when you have only one or two listeners.

Based on our experience in producing our best budget subwoofer guide, we settled on a few criteria for the subwoofers we would consider for this test:. You can read our comments about the other subwoofers we tested in the Competition section below. I used a crossover point the frequency at which sounds are redirected from the speakers to the subwoofer of 80 hertz, which is the industry standard for high-quality surround-sound systems.

I matched their levels to within 0. A tuba would have to measure about 9 feet tall to play that low. I also used bass-heavy action-movie soundtracks—most notably, the opening scene of Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones, in which a spaceship flies overhead and then explodes.

When you use a subwoofer with an 80 Hz crossover, the subwoofer reproduces the fundamental tones of only the lowest 12 notes of a standard upright or electric bass; higher notes on the bass come primarily from the main speakers. I also presented the subwoofers in random order and changed the order for each panelist.

I finished by running CTA output measurements on each subwoofer. This measurement uses test tones that simulate the bass content of music and movies. When played through the subwoofers and viewed on an audio spectrum analyzer, these tones show how loudly and clearly a subwoofer can play at several different frequencies in the bass range.

I keep a log of all my CTA results. The chart below shows the CTA results for our top picks and a few other subs we tested including the Dayton Audio SUB , the top pick in our best budget subwoofer guide. The Rogersound Labs Speedwoofer 10S offers practically everything one could want in a midpriced subwoofer. For its size and price, it provides plenty of output for action movies and bassy hip-hop and EDM recordings, and our testing panel found that its clarity and precision matched or exceeded that of many more expensive subwoofers we tried.

The Speedwoofer 10S is one of the relatively rare subwoofers that sound equally great with music and movies. Ron picked it as his second-favorite; Dan ranked it in the middle of the pack. When it came to measured performance, the Speedwoofer 10S did just what we hoped such an upscale subwoofer would do—it clearly outperformed less costly models such as the Dayton Audio SUB , our favorite budget subwoofer.

The Speedwoofer 10S puts out about the same amount of midbass as the SUB, but when you get into the really low, couch-shaking deep-bass frequencies, the Speedwoofer 10S practically tosses the SUB out of the room, delivering a whopping 10 decibels more output double the perceived volume at 20 Hz. To put it more simply, the Speedwoofer 10S is just a lot more fun to listen to. The Speedwoofer 10S offers line-level RCA stereo inputs and outputs, which make it compatible with receivers that have a line-level subwoofer output included on all surround-sound AV receivers and some stereo receivers as well as with stereo systems that use a separate amp and preamp.

Check out these list! JL Audio introduced the W7-series subwoofers in Seriously, how can a subwoofer design that old be so good? The W7-series is that good because every year, JL Audio engineers update and improve on the legend that is the W7-series subwoofer.

JL Audio owns eight patents on this speaker. They're so good because JL Audio goes through the trouble of ensuring that every screw, nut, and connector is made to tight specifications. The differences are purely cosmetic. The W7-series is still regarded as the best by us here at CarAudioNow, and we are not alone.

Buy on Crutchfield. Buy on Amazon. Hertz has been a competitive and innovative brand on our best subwoofers list for some time now. Previously with the Hi-Energy series which has since been phased out , and now with the Milli Pro series.

The Milli Pro subwoofers are designed to produce the lowest octaves of the audio spectrum with impact, precision and power while maintaining a relatively compact profile.

These subs have some great innovative technology that help it product great quality bass while maintaining a reasonable price point. This includes:. All around, this is a great subwoofer that we'd recommend. It's a high quality, high output sub that gives you a lot for the price point. And with the compact design and engineering, it's really meant to give installers flexibility to where they want to fit it.

Focal Flax Evo subwoofers are uncompromising in quality. Focal is popular for its capabilities in low-frequency audio reproduction, making these subwoofers revered by many bass enthusiasts all around the globe.

The flax-fibre cones are unmistakably beautiful. Each speaker is built to operate in a specific size speaker box. These performance subwoofers deliver pure bass with powerful and crystal-clear audio quality from 27 Hz to Hz. A single 4-ohm voice coil is powered by dual Ferrite magnets for clear bass with deep resonance. Focal performance subwoofers are built and intended for the car audio elite. The Flax Evo Series from Focal design, quality, and performance are outstanding.

Great things come at great costs however. JL Audio has spent decades building a reputation for top-quality subwoofer and speaker components. Combined with a rigid cast-alloy basket that all but eliminates flex and distortion, you find yourself with an incredibly crafted, reliable, and well engineered series subwoofer. What really sets these subwoofers apart is their ability to perform in very tight quarters. Almost anyone can squeeze that in. Their ability to produce bass with the quality and accuracy in such a limited amount of space is really impressive.

The W6V3-series share many components with the flagship W7V3-series. This allows for a finely tuned subwoofer that produces linear bass without distortion.

Pole Vent Airflow Control and Raised Frame Cooling prevent overheating and allow for air to move correctly for increased durability.

The W6V3-series also feature the same 4-ohm, dual voice coils and heavy duty magnets as the flagship series. They're a top-notch sub, we personally run these in our own vehicles and have even put them in boats and absolutely love them.

The R-Series subwoofers have picked up the ironclad gauntlet thrown down by the older Type R subwoofer. Alpine replaced the compound of the dust cap with a lighter, more vibration absorbing mixture to increase the impact of these subwoofers.

Power handling has increased over previous models to W RMS on select models. That is a ton of bump from any sub, and the tough R-Series is ready to handle a beating with twisting or deforming, even under the heaviest of loads. It is hard to find a high-quality, tough subwoofer for a better price.

When a really durable subwoofer is required for the harsh or outdoor environment, turn to Polk Audio and the MM1-series of subwoofers. Polk has them available in dual and single voice coils, and each speaker is fog, salt, UV, and spray tested to achieve an IP56 ultra-marine rating.

Put them in your boat, or the bed of your truck, or on the outside of your motorhome, these subwoofers will perform in any weather. The best thing about the Polk Audio MM1-series subwoofers beyond the incredible durability they offer is that there is no sacrifice in sound quality for all that safety. Polk engineers added high excursion bump motors, a rigid poly cone, and Santoprene surrounds to make sure you feel every note.

High-performance Neodymium magnets guarantee long-lasting performance. A vented pole and basket structure with integrated fuses ensures a rigid speaker that is a strong performer.