system for a 98 civic?

I have two 6x9 Kenwood's going in the back of my car, I still need some 6.5"'s. What I'm focusing on right now is getting the bass in there. My car is, as mentioned in the topic, a 1998 Civic sedan (4 door).

The music I listen to most is Primus, Oysterhead, Sound Tribe Sector Nine... Mostly les claypool's music and jam bands. Heavy on the bass guitar. Les Claypool is a bassist (So am I) that plays some weird lines. I wanna be able to really hear the bass in my car. Not so worried about who else can hear it. Quality is of big importance to me.

I've searched the forum for a few days now looking for ideas. I believe I'll be using a sealed enclosure (which I'll design and have made at the cabinet shop I work at, we have LOTS of MDF there). I'm still trying to decide between two 10's or one 12. Or maybe 2 12's. But like I said, loud isn't the biggest issue, I want it to be clean, accurate, and hit hard. and if it costs around $200, that'd be even sweeter.

I've considered JBL subs since that's pretty much all I see at festivals and most shows. But money's kinda tight right now and I'll have to save up for whatever I get. Alpine's SWS-1223D seems like a good bargain, and my friend has alpine subs in his scion xB (Which I realize is a whole different ball game) that sound really good. From what I've seen, I think I'll either choose Alpine, Kicker, or JBL, but I'm open to ideas since I don't have friends with JBLs or Kickers in their car to see how it would sound.

I'm rather new at the car audio thing. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Hey smurph

Ok well first of all JBL is to expensive to buy. If i were going to spend that much money on a speaker my car better be worth it. Second i have 2 kicker dual voice coil cvr's in my honda and im using a jl audio 500/1 to push my subs. I listen to various types of music. especially the mexican band music and the hip hop and the oldies...and to be honest with you i cant really complain about those subs. the sound is nice and clean. the bass is crisp where i can hear everything fine.. and the added bass massage is also something to marvel....of course once you install that in your car your going to need some good door speakers and maybe a 4 channel amp. that is my recommendation to you. KICKER ROCKS!

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AuDiO ViDeO CoNcEpTs Installer
12125 Day St. Moreno Vallley California

Yeah, I am about to put the 6x9's in there from my truck. My head unit sucks. For real. I'm not gonna change it though, because I wanna put a pc in there (that I completely have covered and is way on down the road). Like I said, I'm trying to spend about $200 on subs and an amp, and the enclosure will be made by me at my work (after proper research of dimensions).

In my truck with a slightly better (but not too much better) head unit, the 6x9s sound pretty good with no amp. But I think I'll get an amp to run those too, or somehow run subs and those with one amp. I'm not experienced with car audio, but I do have a pretty good understanding of electronics as I'm in college for Electronic Engineering (basically ohm's law has been beaten viciously into my head)

For my first installment of the new system, I think I've decided on the HiFonics ZX12D4 4ohm DVC sub in a sealed enclosure wired in parallel to make 2ohm resistance powered by an alpine MRP-M500 mono amp. Unless anyone can convince me that it's a bad idea to go with this setup.

Sorry it sounds like you DON'T know what you want in your car. Every time I read the post it is something different. But for the box I would do the port and not seal. More bass and I personally thank they sound better as well but that is just me.

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Ronald Bailey Owner/ Installer of VIBRATION CUSTUM SOUNDS. CUSTOM BOX DESIGNER AND BUILDER
TID-896 7" screen,Amp-BX1206d
4/0power/ground cables
4-12 mofos 12ft3 box tuned 40hz DB:163.1

Here is a box design for 2 12"s sub system if you would like to use it




You can use is or not but it is here if you need it.

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Ronald Bailey Owner/ Installer of VIBRATION CUSTUM SOUNDS. CUSTOM BOX DESIGNER AND BUILDER
TID-896 7" screen,Amp-BX1206d
4/0power/ground cables
4-12 mofos 12ft3 box tuned 40hz DB:163.1

I appreciate the help. Yeah, I don't have a clue what I want as far as brands go, honestly. I'm trying not to spend more than about $250, but I want pretty decent quality, too.

Alright. I've pretty much decided that I'm going to buy a single 12" alpine type r and get the M500 amp to push it. DVC4ohm. I'll wire it in parallel to get 500wRMS from the amp.

What should I know before pressing the buy button and having it all shipped? All i need is the amp and the sub (lets just say I have the box already). Will I just run a 12v line from my battery to the amp? will I need to put in any protective circuitry between them?

I'm going to do this myself with the help of a guy from work who has installed a few car audio systems.

power wire must be fused for safety reasons.

Ground must be low resistance. If you are wanting a ported enclosure do NOT buy a prefabricated enclosure. It will sound like crap.

airhed, What is the net volume and tuning of that enclosure. Not every 12" sub can perform well in the same enclosure. That is the main reason why prefab enclosures sound like poop.

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Custom Enclosure Design

if you really want good detailed sounding bass like you are used to from a bass guitar and amp then you need a good set of speakers up front that can play well into the upper bass range maybe down to 90hz. a good subwoofer will give you the FEEL of good bass but good speakers up front will give you the TONE of a bass guitar

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Appreciate the help everyone.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with sealed enclosure. Like I mentioned, I work at a cabinet shop where we have lots of MDF as well as other woods. Making ~1ft3 boxes costs little to no money, and most likely will be able to be made out of "Scrap" from the cabinets for free, so I'll have a lot of opportunity to play around with it, rebuild, whatever I need.
Besides, I'm an engineering student. Any time I get a chance to design and build something, I do!