comparing 12 and 15 subs

as the titel says i'm comparings some brands, now i know everyone has their favorites, some love eclipse, some love brahma, some like jl audio, i'm not partial to any brand as so far the only sub i've listened to is a 10" rockford fosgate single voice coil sub,   Now the brands i'm most interested in are memphis, alpine, diamond audio, and possibly eclipse or jl audio, i'm trying to keep my install on a budget, and keep the subs rms to around 500 watts max as anything past this point starts getting really expensive really quick, i'd much rather run one amp and 2 subs for my bass.  i'm really curious about the memphis subs, i've heard alot of good things and some negatives, i'm also interested in their amps as i'll probably run memphis amps no matter what subs i run so anyone with some info about those would be great to.

J~

my goal is to build a good all around system, the music i listen to is metal/industrial, older stuff like ccr, the doors, 80s like motley crue, ozzy, and rap, odd combo i would imagine, i dont expect anything to perform 100% with all of that but clean subs should have alot better chance, i would like to have decent spl numbers, i'd thought about building a system to compete in spl but my budget would limit that, sound quality is higher up my list but as long as its not horrible i'm good to go, if i had to choose i'd probably take sq over spl, but i'd like a nice blend of both, as far as showing off i just listen to my music loud, if everyone else can hear it thats fine, if not no skin off me lol, i have a chevy cavalier coupe and i have the whole trunk to play with.  and yes i can build my own box, i'm actually putting the finishing touches on  a fiberglass box for my 10. and my budget since i'm building as i go i'm trying to set a limit of 500 for subs and amps but give or take a hundred isnt so bad, i'll give up another paycheck if it adds enough quality.

as far as my 10, its decent but it doesnt have any good bass response, the bass only hits down really low, as an example lil johns get low from need for speed underground, the only time my sub has any sense of pound to it is on the short little bass bump, or like 50 cents in da club, the lowest notes played have some power behind them, the rest of the bass line is lost on my sub as it refuses to hit with authority on any real sounding bass, the amp i have should be pushing about 100 watts and its a 200 watt rms sub, my amp is the first upgrade maybe it'll get alittle better. but i would still rather have 2 or 3 12s in the trunk.

i'm kind of leaning towards making my car into a car i can take to the local shows and get some respect for, as i do all my own install,customizing, and repair work my labor costs arent to bad lol

ok, next problem, where do i get these subs at? i have to dealers down here, one sells diamond, kicker and concept, the other sells audiobahn.....so most of my purchasing is gonna be online, also can you recommend a good brand of amp to run with that setup? or is memphis a pretty good choice to push that combo? and is that a 5ft enclosure for each sub or combined total?  cause 5 foot for each sub might be a very very tight fit in a cavalier, would it be a better idea to face these subs into the cabin and build the box in the trunk, or to face them at the trunk lid?

J~

thanks alot for all the info, and the quick responses.

J~

ok after doin some figuring and more thinking about my realistic goals for this system the adires sound like good subs but how do they do in overall spl? also i've been reading posts from people with their gas tank between the trunk and the inside or the car, whats the deal with that? does the tank negativly effect sq in cars? as my cavaliers tank is directly under the back seat, also are kicker L7s as good for spl as they claim or has kickers quality gone downhill in the recent years?

J~

One of our dealers has been very successful on the competition circuit with them.  He used to pull over 150 dB consistant with a single Tempest.  He now runs 4 Tempests with only 1000 watts and pullso 150 dB at the head rest (reality).  I think they do great for SPL. 

Also, the new Tempests will have a higher power handling than the old ones and a little more throw.  So performance will actually increase.

Steven Kephart

Adire Audio