???? need your opinions

 

600 REAL watts should be good for 130+ db.

adam

 

telling us 600 watts is pretty vague. that is like going to a tire shop and telling them you want tires to go on 16 in wheels and asking them how fast your car will go. 600 watts rms or max. what brand. what speakers. there are plenty of people here that can help you, but the old "how good will this sound" and "how loud will this be" get really annoying really fast.

this may sound alittle mean but im telling you what many of the other ppl here are thinking but dont want to waist their time to type it. give us some more info and someone may help you. but dont expect alot if you end up with one of the questions i mentioned above.

 

well i mean 600 watts rms

 

kicker 12" L5 600 rms would that sound good or weak?

 

how many watts from the amp. that speaker is a pretty good speaker but it can only be so good. if you get an amp with numbers in the neighborhood of 400-600 watts rms, you should be pretty well bangin'.

 

what kindda box to you plan to have? the amount of power you need is install dependant. A ported box won't need as much power to reach its mechanical limits as a sealed box.

 

yeh im thinkin about getting the JBL 600.1 with a sealed box

 

SPL depends on a million different variables; power being one of them.

Different subs react differently to power. One thing that I'm currently learning about (and hadn't realized previously), is that 2 subs, both with similar sensitivity ratings (such as 90dB @ 1w/1m) can still react differently. Just because both produce a 90dB SPL at 1 watt doesn't mean they will produce the same SPL at 100 watts, and at 1000 watts. This has a lot to do with the linear excusion capabilities of the driver, and since I'm still learning about it myself, I'm not going to attempt to explain it for fear of goofing it up.

Anyway... regardless of how complex it is, it's very safe to say that 2 different subs will produce 2 different outputs with the same power. Now you add box design, cabin size, sub placement in relation to the microphone and a million other factors, and it is apparent that you can't make a power = SPL assumption.

Just as an example... I watched a 4th gen Camaro get metered. He had 4 15" JL subs (w6s I believe), and a pair of Kicker ZR 600 amps powering them. He hit approximately 145dB.

I have a single Kicker ZR600 powering a pair of 12" Oz 300Ls. The Oz subs have a rated sensitivity very similar to 12" JLs. The 15" JLs are rated at a bit higher sensitivity. So... he had 2x the power, and approximately 3x the surface area with subs that are more efficient than mine. A rough guess should place his SPL at around 7-9dB higher than mine.

I managed 141.1dB with a system tune oriented toward sound quality, and a conservative 100amp breaker. My system should be capable of at least 143dB... 2dB less than what he scored. So what does it mean? Not much. It means that for some reason, his car didn't make the SPL that it should, and illustrates perfectly that when it comes to SPL, you can guess all you want, but you're not going to know what you have until you test it.

 

speaking of if anyone could take a guess, what db would you estimate my system could be capable of putting out

I got:

Pioneer CD player (dont matter)
Kicker Comp VR 12"
Phoenix Gold 350.2 amp
Monster .5 Farrrad Cap
and all good wiring (forget the gauge, but its the monster 500w kit)

 

152.6 db

 

:sillylol:

 

actually it does matter. because the lower end decks arent goin to have as clear of a signal as a higher end deck. so that will effect the spl.

for example, a 100 watt amp made of high qaulity parts matched with high qaulity subs, will outperform a 500 watt amp of low qaulity parts and a set of low qaulity subs.


its all in the qaulity of the parts, not how many watts you have. at some point, power does make a difference but you dont need 600 watts rms to have a slamming system. especially in a car with such a small interior such as a 3rd gen.

 

I'll bet I can reach the same SPL with the cheapest Pioneer deck currently available as I can with an ODR unit. If the pre-out voltage isn't enough to drive the amp to its maximum output with the gain maxxed, you can install a line driver.

The output signal of even a cheap deck is as clean as is necessary as long as it's not being overdriven.

 

good point jim. of course that is pretty much not true with amps and speakers. what ever they have is about all they have to offer.

 

yea, but im sayin that each part plays a role. and if its a real cheap deck it could pick up noise and **** even if it has a high output voltage, which would degrade the sound. im not sayin his particular stereo, im just sayin at some point, it will have an effect, but your right as well. it would be very small if any to notice. but in an spl drag, you needa have everylast db u can muster.

 

I forget the model number of my deck, its 1/2 decent, it was 279 last year.

One of the ones with the orangic EL display.

My system is confusing me, cause it hits hard enough that it can skip CD's (in-dash player, and the changer) but its only 350 watts. I have a .5 farrad cap and my lights still dim greatly, but the sub doesnt distort.

 

chances are there is something wrong w/ the player if it skips with that low of an output. i regularly see pioneer hu take close to or even exceeding 150 db w/o skiping. yours is probably in the low to mid 130s. there could be something else, but it shouldnt be skipping with what you have.

 

does the amp have a regulated power soource. if not. it can suck alot more than 14.6 volts and even with the cap. cause problems. you should get a meter to put on your cap. so u can be sure of the voltage its holding

 

I can only make the in-dash unit skip in certain songs with real hard crisp hits of bass, doesnt happen often.

The changer, thats another story, its 1 ft to the left of the box, its not gonna last long i presume.

 

the in dash shouldnt skip period. it may not be mounted very well, may have a piece inside that is shotty, or something else but it shouldnt skip. the changer is a different story. i wouldnt expect much from it especially w/ it right by the box. i personally am against changers cause its just too much work. but if you like it.... hope you figure out why the in dash skips.

 

if you dont have it. add a strip to the back. that will stiffen it up real well, and help you out alot.