Alpine or Audiobahn?

Hers what im thinking about my setup for my 94 Accord LX... tell me if it sounds good. Alpine 7995 Head unit, Alpine Type R 6.5" speaker for the front (not really lookin for components), and i might either go with two 12" Apine Type R subs in the trunk or.. audiobahn? How does it sound so far? Ive heard audiobahn is very very good, are the subs better then alpine.. i mean since one 12" audiobahn sub can put out 1000 watts alone? I havent heard anyone talking about it on the forum lately, it sounds dead. So i guess, full alpine system, or mix it up with a audiobahn sub? If i get audiobahn, i'll just get one 12" because they put out like 1000 watts alone, compared to Alpine thatll take two 12" Type R's to put out 600? Also, what amp should do you recomend to run the subs? I listen to rap/r&b 90% of the time. Ported or sealed? Sorry for all the questins, just need opnions. Thanks! :)

i would recommend the audiobahn aw1208x 12' sub awesome sub man check it out

Audiobahn makes pretty nice subs, but it would be cool to keep everything Alpine. Not sure about the amps, your choice. About the sealed or ported. Ported, it would be louder and boomier, but it wouldn't quite sound as good as the sealed. The sealed would still give you a lot of bass, but wouldn't quite be as loud as the ported, would have better sound quality though. If you aren't a radio head, you probably won't notice the lower sound quality, so go with the ported. :)

Go with the Alpine head unit and mids. Then get the Audiobahn 12" in a ported box. Ported sounds great with rap. My Kicker is ported. But if you really wanna push that heavy bass to the limit drop the sub in a bandpass.

as for an amp a Rockford Fosgate bD1000.1 would be perfect to push it at max power.

i wouldn't take either subs. i'd take an elemental design k-series subwoofers. the 12" are $135 (direct price) and they will sound just as good and be loud(er) than the audiobahn. rated at 300 watts RMS, but they will take 2 times more that that, easily i might add.

also, port vs. sealed, with optimal design, they will have the same sound quality. why do people say sealed box have better sound quality? because its easier to get an alignment Qtc of .707 than it is in a ported box. but for rap, it shouldn't really matter that much. :)

with the head unit and mids and highs i would definately recommend alpine allllll the way. for subs and amps...i've heard of really good things about audiobahn but i dont think they are as recognized by USAC or IASCA competitors as being competition quality as compared to other amps (xtant, arc, phoenix gold, etc.) and sub companies. but i've heard that the new alpine v12 amps are great.

Originally posted by GSteg
i wouldn't take either subs. i'd take an elemental design k-series subwoofers. the 12" are $135 (direct price) and they will sound just as good and be loud(er) than the audiobahn. rated at 300 watts RMS, but they will take 2 times more that that, easily i might add.
i gotta question or two about subs. ive been seeing names recently that i didnt know anything about before, i believe one being elemental, as you mentioned. how do they rate sq-wise? a couple other brands ive seen but know nothing about are SPL. some guy was talking about how theyre the brand being used in the upcoming fast &furious2 movie. are they worth anything?? and one more. dayton. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1390953627 . i was talking about these with woahna before, they look EXACTLY like the adire shivas.

are there any other maybe lesser know brands that are good? ive never done alot of shopping before, so until recently i didnt know much beyond the basic sony, infinity, kicker, rf, etc...

first and foremost, i would never by anything on ebay (i just don't trust them every since they ran off with my money):mad:

anyways, the elemental design subs are GREAT. sound quality surpasses the W3 and it will get VERY LOUD (given the proper enclosure of course). you will be very happy with these subs. at $135 for the 12", u just can't beat it. the shiva is great also, it they tend to use a bigger box. i will give credit to them though. the shiva lower end response is better than the elemental sub.

elemental design has 2 models in there current line-up now. the k-series and the SP-series. the SP series are about $420 and they come in only 15" for now i guess.

if you want something loud and clean, get the 15" E15K for only $150. i will guarentee you they will sound better and be louder than the alpine or audiobahn (close if not louder)

these subs are at a steal right now. offer only last a while (direct price). if you have any more questions, my AIM sn is QUackQUack2x

SQ on a sub .... now there's an oxymoron if I have ever heard one. For all of you who think your subs sound clean, they this one - unplug everything in your system EXCEPT the subs, then play the system at your normal (ear-splitting) levels. You might be quite surprised at just how bad they sound all alone.

Most of the sound is not the sub itself but the interaction of the sub/box/car (location) combo. A good box builder could a cheap radio shack speaker put out decent sound.

GSTeg, what is it with you and those elemental design subwoofers? Do you even run them - or have you even run them, or are you basing this all on what other people say and specs you read on the web?

But I do agree that you shouldnt buy anything from ebay... one important thing people DONT SAY - they say there is a warranty? NOPE SORRY, call a manufacturer and say you bought it on ebay and they will laugh and hang up the phone. Manufacturers do not support ANY type of auction purchase unless it is for a respectable price. So dont count on them helping you out when you blow your $89.95 subwoofers :finger:

yes i have them. i bought the E12k dual 2ohm sub for $135 while it was still on preorder. its hooked on to a JBL 1200.1 right now getting about a little over 600 watts RMS.


i do notice that the sub alone sounds pretty muddy, but thats just bass. correct that the car/box has to do with how a sub performs. SQ isn't always about how clean they sound. i mean its bass, and bass aren't always the prettiest sounding waves (mids are nicer:D ) SQ=reproducing notes/music of the original source to the exact same spec. and if the sub can reproduce the 60hz and under frequencies, then its SQ to me.

SQ doesnt' have to be just mids and highs


:o

Sound Quality

Sound Pressure Level

Totally differant things my friends...

yep, bass above 130-135 dB is usually pretty badly distorted. Sealed boxes are not as bad, ported boxes trade distortion for higher SPL. The acceptable distortion levels for subs is actually pretty high (around 3%), maybe that's because the human ear is not very sensitive to low frequencies. A good way to lessen the effects is to make sure you have no rattles and as little body panel flexing as possible.

i got to audition the 15" brahma in a friend's hatchback with an adire audio revolution D1500.1 amp to it. the thing i noticed when we measured the SPL (with music instead of test tones) starting from low volume to high, at around 132-ishdB, it sounded VERY similar to the bass at 100db. ~139dB was where the subs started to distort, but very minimum.

whats with these elemental design subs? i've never heard of them before. are they a brand new company? what are they compared to? an infinity perfect? mmats juggernaut? ma audio? jl w7? i guess my question is..where do these subs stand compared to other subs cuz from all these descriptions....the elemental design subs sound awesome

carsound.com
caraudioforum.com
caraudio.com

you should find plenty stuff about them over there. i bought mine without auditioning it and i don't regret it one bit. heck..for $135, it a steal! (better than the audiobahn AW1200EU i had):o

Audiobahn is good for playing LOUD... they can be made to play pretty clean but it takes ALOT of playing around with!