6.5" subwoofers?

[Captain Jack]

Can anyone recommend a good 6.5" (sub)woofer? I am thinking of putting 2 in the custom parcel shelf but don't want to put big ones in to shake the car to pieces.

At the front are Focal components at the moment and I have some unused Diamond components as well, which I was thinking for using at the back. However, I only really want some nice bass (sub 200Hz), so not sure if I need the "expensive" brand back there. Or should I just utilise my Diamond components at the back but without the tweaters (don't want saturated highs).

This will all be run by an Alpine HU via a Kenwood amp. Alpine has some wizzy BassEngine settings for bass focus, hence the question whether I actually need dedicated subwoofers... or whether decent mids will do the job?

[ECA]

The only problem with using the mids as subs is they wont really drop low enough to give you some decent bass.

Are you putting them in some sort of enclosure or running them free air as again free air wont really go low as opposed to ones in a proper enclosure.


If your not really after the wobbling your bits then give the mids a go - I've just sold a pair of 6.5 " subs too




Good choice of equipment you've made there

[Captain Jack]

Well, they are going to be in an 18mm MDF parcel shelf - if you want to call that an enclosure. I'll stuff loads of wadding in there to reduce vibrations etc.

I actually have those Kenwood WDA69RC 6x9 woofers + its own amp and that sounded pretty good for such small speakers. But I cracked one of them during the move, so that's a no go any more

My friend suggested some JL 6W0 subs, which look (and probably sound) great but it's out of my price range

[ECA]

For some reason 6.5"subs are twice the price of a 10" sub.

Jl's are about £90 each I think but you can get some DLS ones from Caraudiodirect.com for about £160 ish - unfortunately not many companys make that size sub

[steve_earwig]

Sorry for butting in with my ignorant butt but... I thought the idea of a sub was that the bass end didn't really need two channels, so why can't you slop a 10" in the middle and put something lighter on the outside? Or would they need their own resonance chambers? Or is that not in keeping with what you already have?

[ECA]

ideally all subs need an enclosure to play in to get the best out of them, to slap a 10" sub in the rear shelf is gonna be a lot of work and cutting of metal, the rear shelves are a part of a cars rigidity so you dont want to be losing too much of it

[mjb]

1. Inverter
2. Guitar or bass guitar amp
3. Autoglass

[Captain Jack]

Yes, well, I was actually thinking of running the 2 woofers in bridged mono mode. This leaves the front soundstage sounding so much better! I was thinking of fitting one of those slim JL 6W0 subwoofers but a) it's expensive, b) I don't want the car shaken to pieces, c) it's expensive and d) I am more after mid-bass sound rather than super low range frequencies.

I actually have an old JBL 10inch sub in a ported enclosure that I built ages ago. The port sticks out of the ski hatch, so all the bass goes to the cabin. But.... it was just tooooo much. Besides, I hate that sound delay you get with lower frequencies. I am sure it can be adjusted with a proper HU but I want it all as simple as possible

[ECA]

Try reversing the phase on your JBL i.e swap pos and neg round on the speaker or the RCA - it can help a make the sub sound like its playing along with the music rather than behind it (if that makes sense)

[Captain Jack]

Yeah, it could well have been a phase problem but I won't bother with it now. Need the boot space!

Should hopefully finish my parcel shelf by this weekend.

[Bundy]

Try looking for an 8 inch sub, they tend to be a little cheaper than 6.5's because the 6.5's are bought by a much smaller market and require much more intricate engineering to actualy reproduce bass in any quantity and quality. The 8 will also have much more depth and definition on even mid bass than the 6.5.