I have an Infinity Kappa 202a amp sitting around that I would like to pair up with one 12" sub to put in my car. I've been looking at an Alpine Type-R. Would this be a good sub to match with this amp? Is there something better I could get in this price range?

Here's some specs:


Thanks for the help

 

That amp should be fine for one 12" Type R. It's a hair on the big side but it's better to have too much amp than too little.

Type R's don't sound bad but they really don't sound good either. For the $200 it will cost you to buy one there are a few better alternatives.

Elemental Designs 13Ov.2 - It's really a 12" woofer, they just use a weird naming standard because they use narrower surrounds than most other companies, meaning more effective cone area. New owners always praise its musical abilities and then comment on how loud it can play loud. Read reviews (search for your own if you want more, I'm too lazy to dig around right now :P)

Image Dynamics IDQ - Great sub known for its sound quality. Like most other subs of this type, it can get loud but the major emphasis is on sounding good. Cardomain has them on sale right now ($140 from $200) so I would probably jump on this if I was in your shoes.

Dayton's HF Reference - The cheapest woofer of the group costing $130. It's not going to be the loudest but it will probably sound the best as compared to the others. Your amp will also be a little too big for it but you can accommodate it by not going crazy on the gain. It will play the lowest out of the group and will probably be the most musical.

There are others, but these are the top 3 I would name.

EDIT: whatever you do, buy a SVC sub with one 4 ohm coil or buy a 2 ohm DVC sub. This will let you run the amp @ 4 ohms bridged.

 

I am Running 2- 12 inch Audiobahn Subs in my Formula and they sound awesome. I have been running them for about 6 months, and they still sound like new. I am very hard on speakers and they are definetly good! They are
also pretty decently priced heres a link to the ones i have..


Audiobahn AW1206T - Audiobahn 12" 1100 Watt Flame Q Subwoofer


Good Luck and have a great day,
Ray

 

Thanks Gummie. That was going to be one of my next questions.

I got to thinking and wonder if the subs you recommended would be overkill (in terms of sound quality) for the kind of music I listen to (rock, alternative, and some techno). Will these subs still be able to impress my friends if I need to?

I don't know if this helps but it will be going into a sealed box with about 1 cu. ft. of airspace.

 

I have to disagree with that statement. Granted I am still on the learning curve of car audio but I previously had 2 type r 12" that were awesome. The sound quality was better than anything I had previously heard. This was also 4 years ago but still...they were GREAT!

Currently I have 3 Clif Designs CD109W 10" subs. They weren't exactly what I was looking for and was expecting a horrible woofer but they are very nice sounding for the price. I got them at 55 ea. List was around 200 but sonicelectronix.com messed up my account and credited me with woofers. I really do like these, probably more so than the type rs I had.

I guess to each his own, but the Type Rs are very decent subs.

 

If you're talking about sacrificing volume in the name of SQ then yeah, the IDQ and the Reference HF will do that some to some extent but the Ov.2 will be able to pound some serious output if you want it to. It shares the same excursion capabilities but is ahead in conal area by a pretty good amount (480 cm vs 542 cm or about 13% bigger). There’s also the cool bonus factor of surprising your friends with unknown equipment.

I’ve got a few comments. First is that it’s been 4 years. I’m not trying to attack your memory or anything but I know that I had a hard time comparing speakers when I was shopping for mine if I couldn’t hear them back to back (if I had to drive to one store to hear one set and the drive to another to hear the other it threw me off). Differences become much more audible if you can simply switch back and fourth between A and B and compare back to back.

The second is that I don’t think Type-R’s sound bad (please note I never said that ), I just think that you can just get better subs for the money in terms of output and/or sound quality. Another good example of this is JL. Sure, the W6v2 sounds awesome but for $600+ there are much better subs you can buy.

Third is that a lot of people like a lot of different things. Most agree that Audiobahn sounds like junk (sorry Formula3501989). If the link doesn’t work (I don’t know if I can link to the search) then simply search for “audiobahn” and you will find a ton of negative comments/posts. As Formula3501989 proves, some people like them. This can be said for almost any brand and this is what makes the internet, friends, and magazines negative influences on people. People won’t always like the same thing for whatever reason. The best way is to go out and listen to as much stuff as possible and find out what you like. Unfortunately, this is difficult with subwoofers because it’s hard to find certain drivers (I doubt you will be able to find any of the drivers in my post to listen to locally). Another problem is that you can install the same woofer in two separate boxes and have it sound great in one and horrible in the other. It’s all in the install.

The best test when listening to a subwoofer in a given system is to ask yourself what you hear. Do you hear the same note over and over again even if it is really loud (one note wonder) or do you hear a range of notes? Is it a sharp, clean sound or is it slower and sloppier?

 

Actually i alway's hated Audiobauns till my brother gave me the ones i have now and they actually sound nice, i was suprised..lol my true favorite subs are the kicker Solo baric L-7's wich i have in my wifes car and they blow away the Audiobaun's.

 

Ever think about the 22" mtx Jackhammer

http://www.nearlygood.com/video/mtxjackhammer.html

 

LOL! Now THAT'S ridiculous bass!
I saw that episode. The paint job they did looks horrible on that car.

So far it sounds like the 13Ov.2 is my best bet. Can anyone else vouch for these subs? Is their website the only place to buy them from?

 

Yeah, they're the only place to buy them. If you want more info on the subs from users head over to ICIXSound.COM Community

 

check these out Home the assassins are great subs from what i hear. im thinking about getting a set of 8"s to play around with. you can get the 10"s for 110 and the 12"s for 150 great deal if you ask me. they do 350 rms

i am guessing the amp specs you put up are for a 2-channel amp correct? and those are rms rating correct? if so if you are interested in the assassins you can get DVC 4 ohm subs and wire them up for a final 4ohm load so you can bridge them to send them 300 rms a piece.

EDIT: i take that back these subs are SVC....