My Audio Setup - Technical Opinions

Are either of these subs worth the extra money over the Kickers? It is a big price jump, however, I am a huge fan of JL subs (had two JL 12s when I was younger that sounded great). The subs have 5 stars on Crutchfield with 85 reviews, so they are pretty popular. They have to be shallow mount so these are my only options, leaning towards option 2 since they are 4 ohm 400 RMS.

First Option: https://www.crutchfield.com/S-F95yDamcht9/p_13692188/JL-Audio-10TW1-2.html?tp=68872

Second Option: https://www.crutchfield.com/S-F95yDamcht9/p_13610TW3/JL-Audio-10TW3-D4.html?tp=68872

 

That’s what I currently have and I absolutely love it. I plan on adding a second one in the future but one really sounds amazing. It gives a lot of bass and the sound quality is better than most subs I’ve heard in person. I use a JL 500W mono amp and I’m also running JL C2’s all around.

 

How do the C2s sound with all 4 in? That is what I was originally going with but a lot of folks think that I should go with only 2 fronts. I could go up to C5s with only fronts (I guess I can add rears down the road if I want).

 

Take online reviews with a grain of salt. Most are written by people who just pulled the stuff out of the box and can't get over how shiny it is or those who have played it for about an hour. They also tend to be newer to all this. People also like to affirm that they made a solid purchase. There's also pressure from the vendor - 'write a review and be entered to win a lucky unicorn'. Folks tend to think they have a better shot at that unicorn if they give a glowing review. I ignore 99% of them unless it looks like they halfway know what they're talking about. Unless they-re negative - I pay attention to those.

There's also this thing called psychoacoustics where your expectations influence your experience. Marketing wank has a strong grip on people and for most believing is enough (ex that bit above about being surrounded by sound). It is possible to convince yourself you're having an experience better than it really is. Some of that may be psychoacoustics; some may be your benchmark. If all you have ever heard is some level of musical reproduction, then that is your high water mark. If you ever go experience something better, you set a new benchmark. In mobile audio and to some degree home audio, reproducing the live sound experience from a well-produced concert with good seats (or the engineer's seat in front of the monitors in the studio) is THE benchmark.

 

Seeing how this amp moves the IDQ12’s that my brother in law has I really would recommend it seeing the subs you wanna go with
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113XR6011/Kenwood-Excelon-XR601-1.html?tp=35834
As far as shallow mount subs go only ones I would get are Jl audio. And out of those two I would get the tw3’s

 

Also have you thought about just doing a 5 channel amp instead? I’ve used the Alpine PDXV9 and that might be out of your budget but it would be a very good amp. Only a bit more than the two amps you were originally thinking about

 

I came from the C1 components all around and the C2’s were so much better even for being 6.5’s.

It’s hard to have a 5 channel amp putting out as much power as needed for those subs Without paying an arm and a leg. You get more power to the subs by running a mono and a 4 channel. I used to run a 5 channe but ditched it for a 2 amp setup and I’m so much happier, before I got the mono amp my sub was severely underpowered.

 

You want your sub(s) and mids on separate amps. Run your subs on a mono block and your mids on a 4 channel. Make sure you match up all of your RMS ratings for each component or you may be working backwards and setting yourself up for disappointment.

Technical opinion (as thread is titled): Build a system and look at other options, brands names besides "Kicker, JBL, Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine" and save hundreds of dollars. Get as good or better quality. That's my 2 cents.

I understand the loyalty to brand names though if you are stuck on one of those. They all work well.

 

Again look at what he’s trying to get and a 5 channel isn’t a bad idea. I’ve ran both setups and the subs he’s trying to get doesn’t need a boat load of power.

 

And why do you want them on separate amps when you could use one if it has enough power?

 

So, if you have an 800w RMS sub or even 500w RMS. You want to be able to deliver that to it or get reasonably close without going way over and possibly frying it. This is for it to perform. "Hit" if you will.

A mono signal is what you want for this application. Bass/low feq only, going to the sub.

Are you running 500w mids or 800w? Probably not. In the strange chance you are, you still don't want vocals and a lot of jazz going through your subwoofer. I'm assuming you are trying to wire a sub for it's intended purpose.

 

5 channel amps have dedicated mono channels. As long as it produces enough power, there is nothing inherently wrong with one.

 

Lol I’m gonna guess you’ve never seen a 5 channel amp in your life my guy. The one I recommended is a 4x100 to mids and a 1x500 to the sub

 

Exactly and for most entry level setups can be less hassle to install. Easy for a beginner

 

I have indeed seen those. You can indeed wire it that way. It will indeed make sound.

 

I don’t think you understand how they work. A 5 channel is just a 4 channel and a mono together. Aka you have 4 dedicated channels for mids with one channel for the subs

 

I totally understand.

I told you it will work.

If you just want music, sounds or whatever to come through your speakers you can do that.

You probably should do this, based on the fact you are telling random people on the internet what you "think" they understand. lol

Consider this:

Wire up your stuff the way you like. Do you.

Wiring stereos is fun. Have fun. That's what I do.

 

None of @TacoJova s post is bad or misleading advice. If properly wired, a five channel amp is a good choice.

 

Nothing wrong with 5 channel amps. They're a great fit for quite a lot of systems. I personally can't think of any downsides to them if they fit your needs power-wise. Beyond that they can help simplify wiring and save space, which are HUGE advantages. They can also lower overall system cost.

 

@1:57 Check out the single 5 channel amp.

https://youtu.be/Y95jZJTeWR4