Do I Really Need A Subwoofer?

Subwoofers are a very important part of a system. Almost all if not all of the World Finalists in SQ competitions use some sort of amps and subs setup. So to really experience your music i believe yes you need a subwoofer. But really you need what makes you happy and what you want. if you want a sub, then get a sub, if not then dont. Do what makes you think wow i like what i have. and if you get that then its the perfect setup for you.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. Thats a lot of food for thought.

Part of my dilemma is I started out just wanting to get a better sound for my SkyFi 2 and decided to get the Alpine so I could keep the wires hidden real well and so I could just push a button (AUX) and be set to go.

The other part of the dilemma is I may not keep this car too much longer, two years max at most. Not sure how much more I really want to spend on this vehicle.

But thanks again for all the suggestions and info you gave.

Peace.............Joe

 Thanks Stevdart.

Joe, a subs job is to reproduce natural sounds that are generally beyond the capabilities of the smaller speakers. While these smaller speakers may infact reproduce these sounds, they cannot do it with any amount of amplitude or force if you will. If you want to keep it simple add a basic 10" sub in a sealed box or even a amplified bazooka tube. The next thing to consider is to throw some kind of protection on the front and rear speakers to try and block the damaging bottom end from getting into the speakers. This will allow the speakers to play a little safer with what little power they are being fed.

A simple device to do this is called a capacitor. For larger speakers a 400uf cap (non - polar and mylar if possible (found at any radio shack)) is wired into the + speaker lead at the speaker or behind the cd player. Take the + lead and undo it from the speaker, attach it to the cap and attach the other lead on the cap back to the speaker. Done and done. Smaller size speakers may need a different size cap. Without knowing the size of your speakers I can only speculate on the size. A cap in this case is also known as a bass blocker. Any more questions post em up and one of the fine guys on the site will be glad to answer.

Thanks Rob for the good explanation.

Everyone here has been very helpful. I'm glad I found this forum and I'm sure I will have more questions soon.

Joe

Hi,

I am taking this a step at a time.

I am contemplating buying an Alpine MRP-F240 or Circuit City has an amplified 8" sub for $99.00 (the EL8A).

I remember in the old days having an amp was enough to satisfy me my tastes. But if the coaxial speakers these days aren't really designed to handle lows anymore, maybe the amped sub and capacitors on the coaxials type setup would be better for me to try out first.

I did buy some SPS-570A's and liked the sound of them over my Kenwood 3-ways, but can "hear they need a little help still.

Any opinions?

Thanks.............Joe

Didn't your original problem state you get distortion at ALL volume levels?

If the distrtion is present at a medium to low volume level, the speakers could be blown. I have had subs that were blown, but sounded fine until the volume was turnned up a little. Everyone above is right about a sub being important for good sound. But I think your problem is that the speakers themselves are bad. Small speakers cannot reproduce low bass effectively, but it will not distort at low volumes. If you were satisfied with the small speakers before the distortion problem, you don't need much. I have a Ranger x-cab, and too much sub sounds like sh*t unless the windows are down. I would recommend seriously checking the speakers them selves. Pull one out & listen to it. If it is bad, you should just replace the speakers with a medium grade speaker. I would not spend more than $50/pair, a cheap priced name brand speaker will do your application fine. Then I would look into the 8" sub idea. You should get a seperate amp/sub setup. Mount the amp under your seat, and have the box behind the seat. By having these seperate, a thief can't just grab & run with everything. And I know from experience, that if you find yourself needing to use the entire cab (ie rainning & you need to keep sh*t dry) It is real simple to just unplugg the sub & put it in a garage, Instead of disconnecting the power, remote, and ground wire, connecting the one piece setup.

I hope this didn't confuse you., with the speakers running off the deck, and the sub with a small amp, capacitors are unneccessary, and turn the bass off, or down on the main speakers. Use the gain on the sub amp to increase the bass. No sense in spending more than you have to, & if the speakers you have are not blown, then all you would need is the sub, box, and a small amp. If you pick a dual voice coil sub, you can get a real small amp & run it at a 2ohm load, which will double the amp's output (allowing a small/cheap amp to run the sub perfectly).

If you have any other questions, you can email me at audiophyle_247@yahoo.com . Put your question in the subject, so I know its not garbage.

Hope I helped.

Thanks for the information audiophyle_247 and you have helped .

Actually, I probably should have mentioned the distortion was on the high frequencys mostly and slightly, and more of as someone had mentioned elsewhere, a kind of  "lisp or fuzzy sound" at all volumes. Also the mids don't sound so great with mid- frequency heavy type of music. All the speakers are new and they sound better when I turn up the volume.

I went and listened to my HU model at CC recently and heard the same slight distortion there too. I will try listening to them the way you mentioned to be absolutely sure the speakers are OK or not.

What would you recommend for a inexpensive amp, sub, and box?

Thanks again for the suggestions.

If your are looking to just round out the low end in your truck any of these systems would work nicely without leaving your broke.

http://www.cardomain.com/item/INFREF1030W Infinity 10" sub

http://www.cardomain.com/item/MTX202 MTX 200 watt RMS amp

Total: about $150

or even cheaper but would still sound great

http://www.cardomain.com/item/BLATSW1000 Blaupunkt 10" sub

http://www.cardomain.com/item/BLAPCA250 Blaupunkt 150 watt continuous amp

Total: about $120

Either of those subs could use a pre-built box like this one.  http://www.cardomain.com/item/RTE31110 Or you could build your own and save even more money.

Or you could go with an even more simple sub/amp combo like this. http://www.cardomain.com/item/BAZBTA10100 I think the seperate amp and sub combos I mentioned above have a higher value then the Bazooka bass tube and would sound better.

I would recommend some research before buying.  MTX & Infinity are excellent brands, and those items stated above are very good.But I am sure you could find them cheaper with a little online searching.