Not looking for excessive bass, would 8s be enough for bass? Looking to save room and wieght, mostly room.

 

it depends on wat type your goin to get but since your not lookin for a ton it would probly be enough

 

They can be. I've had quite a few systems with only one 8" sub and I was perfectly happy with it.

AAMOF, of the two systems I have now, one is a single DVC 10" with an old Alpine 3527 amp running it in my '04 Pontiac Vibe, and a single 8" Pyramid in my '83 C10 with a RoadGear 50 watt amp running it.

Based on what I wanted (space being one) they both work well for me.

 

Better question: are 8" subs about the same bass as good 6x9s or closer to the bass of 10s?

 

Uh... they're more like 8" subs.

They're way better than 6x9's, as long as they're in the right enclosure. But not hardly 10's.

Although I did have one 8" (don't remember the brand. I think Ultimate) in my '81 Mustang that pounded like an SOB. A guy I knew that delivered for Dominos was pissed because it sounded better than his two 10" Coustic subs.

But you gotta remember. This was back in the late 80's when RF was new to the market.

 

The right 8" sub can be "enough". The wrong 8" sub won't be. But then again, isn't that the case with anything?

The physical size of the sub is really only a small part of what you've got to worry about when choosing a sub. How much airspace does it take, how much power can it handle, how loud do you want it, how good do you want it to sound, and what type of enclosure are you going to run?

There are a few 8" subs out there now that have a nice low Fs with a high-ish Qts. This combination will let it play deep in a small-ish ported enclosure, which is the only type of enclosure that I recommend for most 8" subs due to the fact that they generally just can't go deep enough in a sealed box. However, because they require such a low tuning frequency with such a small box, you wind up with a port that takes up twice as much room as the enclosure itself, so you need to get creative with your porting schemes.

I put a pair of 8" Tangband subs into my fiance's car. The box came out great and the subs sound very good (they get loud too, considering the amp driving them), but after you factor in all the space the ports take, I could have just tossed a couple 10s into a sealed box and been just as well off and not taken any space. But... it's cool that I used 8s, they were dirt cheap, and I got to get a little bit creative with the enclosure, so it was all good.

Here's a pic of the design with the slot-ports. Like I said, when you take just the exterior dimensions into account, a sealed box for a couple 10s would have taken up around the same space:


And finished up with the plexi windows:

 

Dayum jim, that think looks frickin awesome!

I like the little "Jim85IROC" paper you stuck in the trunk too

 

I have 2 8inch JLW3v2's in a sealed box no bigger than the offset portion of the rear well. Leaves tons of room. They really add fullness to to anything I listen to and when I want they will boom. I think they are great.

 

you'd be better off going with 2 10's instead. they are alot better and will be pretty much the same price. you'd be better off.

 

That's in the pictures because this enclosure was built as part of a contest, and you needed to put your username in the pictures to prove that you were the person doing the work.