Trying to decide: 2 8" subs vs 1 10" sub

By the end of the year, hopefully, I will be able to start buying the components for my stereo. I have a 2008 Double Cab and will be building my own box and placing the sub(s) and amp behind the rear seat.

I listen to a broad range of music including country, rock/classic rock, alternative, metal and hip-hop. I love bass, but will take accurate bass over boom. I want it to be able to bump decent on hip hop but not make country and rock sound like crap.

For this question/comparison I am using the JL Audio W3v3 line of subs to try and keep it apples to apples. I am not really looking for "take a look at the Type R's or IDQ's" ... I'll make that decision later.

My question is, using the w3v3 line, what would you suggest would be a better setup for what I am looking for:

A) Two 8W3v3 subs; or
B) One 10W3v3 sub.

Unfortunately, the audio shops around my area, that I have found, don't offer an adequate selection to try comparisons in the store. Let's say the channel pushing them is rated at 350 watts RMS.

If I don't go with either two 8's or one 10 (not necessarily a JL sub), I am considering the JL 13TW5 (would be pushed by the same amp at 350 RMS).

I appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

 

Two 8's have 64 square inches of cone area. A single 10 has 53.4 square inches. The efficiency ratings also suggest that two 8's will be louder than the single 10.

The 10" sub needs 0.625 cubic ft sealed and 1.25 cubic ft ported. Dual 8's would require 0.625 cubic ft sealed and 0.7 cubic ft ported. And no my last statement wasn't a typo.

What else do you want to know?

 

Also...

I know when building a sealed box for two subs, they can share the same chamber. According to JL, the 8W3v3 subs only require .3 cubic feet of space. Assuming the box is built well, using good materials, would there be a benefit to creating separate chambers for the 8" subs? I realize it would make the box more rigid, but not sure it is even a concern using 3/4" MDF for a total air space of 0.6 cubic feet.

Thanks again.

 

No, make them a single chamber. A divider will only take up space and make the box larger.

 

It will be a sealed box, regardless of which route I take. I understand the 8s would play louder than a single 10, which makes sense.

I guess my ultimate question is, from a sound quality standpoint, which setup would more accurately play the notes in the broad range of music I listen to?

If I need to pick one or the other to play either the tighter notes better, or hit the low notes better that is fine...just looking to find out.

Thanks again for your help.

 

The two 8's will play louder. What this means in reality is that they are more capable and have a higher MAX volume. As with anything, when you near it's limitations it starts to become unstable and performance drops off a bit. So let's say you want to play a sound at 105db. The single ten is less capable and will come closer to it's maximum limit than the 8's will. This means that distortion will be higher.

I should also note that this is me answering your questions directly.

If it were me I'd run the single 10" sub. The box will be less complicated and will need roughly 11" of mounting face for the sub vs the nearly 18" for two 8's. Two 8's will likely cost more than a single 10" sub as well.


EDIT: Also, I'm just now realizing that the 10" version has 40% more XMAX so it will actually displace more air.

If I were porting the subs I'd get the 8's for the space savings.
Sealed, no question, get the 10 and be done.

 

Thank you Steven!

That's exactly the type of information I was looking for!

 

Yooooooou're welcome

 

i have the same question but have the dayton ten inch vs 2 L7 8s? should i go ported or sealed and own all these speakers and amps already. would be running either an SX900.4 or a PPI PCX 2200. the dayton is a 4ohm where the 8s are 2ohm each. I am looing for spl cause im doing 8s in the doors and have diamond 4 in mids and tweets in the kick panels. im gonna take my current infinity kappa perfect comps to the rear and wire in my center channel that match the kicks in the cupolder area in front of the gear shift (auto double cab long bed) is there a way to put the 8s under the seat and the ported dayon ten behind the seat? or would that just be overkill?

 

get 2 8 DD ftw

 

Overkill and not a good idea either.

Here's what I'd suggest. Since both setups will end up being 4ohms on the amp we can assume each setup gets the same power.

Find the SPL at 1watt/1meter on the Dayton. Now do the same on the kicker sub and add 3db to it. Assuming both subs can take the power that you have available the sub that has the highest SPL number from the above calculation will be louder.

 

Sorry to thread jack I did open my own too. But stallion could I fit a dual 8 ported box behind the seats?

 

I'll answer in your thread.

 

Sorry Italyn, but I've got to disagree with you here... Many years ago, when I was building a sub box or two a day at work, I ALWAYS seperated the airspace between two subs, for the simple reason that if for some reason one of the subs stopped working, the other sub would be operating in it's designed volume of airspace. If you don't separate and one goes out, all of a sudden you have a single sub in twice the volume of airspace that it's designed to operate in, and very possibly also having that non-working sub acting as a passive radiator.

Assuming the OP ends up putting the subs behind the back seat, using 3/4" material.... we're talking making the box 3/4" wider, and I highly doubt that he's so pressed for space with a 0.6xx sq ft box that 3/4" more in width is going to be a design killer.




Just my opinion....

 

^That's absolutely true. It's a good way to have a built in fail safe if you blow something up. However, I don't typically design things to blow up and I'm quite careful with my equipment so it's not something i think about regularly.

 

^^ Also very true.... when you work in a commercially owned environment (vs a shop owned environment) where people tend to come in and say things like "I want people to hear my shet from 3 blocks away", you have to assume they're gonna reach behind the seat as soon as they've left the building to crank every dial that they deem necessary to accomplish their goal.

But also, my opinion is that we're putting this stuff in the car, and who knows what's gonna find it's way into said car, and therefore every precaution should be looked at - even the possibility that the equipment has some sort of internal problem and that it (in this case, a speaker) will sooner rather than later have that problem blow up on you, and the best thing you can do for that (other) speaker is to have a baffle between them

 

See I think that's where our opinions fundamentally differ. You'd want to save the other woofer so you only have to replace one. I'd use it as an excuse to upgrade!

 

get the 10w3v3. It sounds great, I have one hooked up to a pdx 1.600 and it sounds amazing.

 

I'm tempted to drop $300 on a set of (supposedly) BNIB subs that were stopped being manufactured some 8 or 9 years ago.... I got a set of plans for a vented enclosure from their rep (who got it from one of the engineers) that is/was "classified" or at the very least never released to the public. Had one 10 running off about 350-400W from the back half of my old Xtant amp that sent chills up my spine when I cranked it..... I could only imagine the sound of two of them

On the other hand, I don't want to give up THAT much space in my DC - I like having a place for my daughter and dog to sit. I am, however, seriously considering one of the new(er) Alpine Type R slim 10's



or even a Diamond Audio Hex 10



I know I can get a good deal on the Alpine - I'll actually find out tomorrow how good - but I would much rather have the Diamond Audio, cuz in the end, I want to get their component speakers for the front stage



uh-ooh..... I think I just this thread