What would make more sense? I have new speakers for my 92 bird and was wondering what to do next. I have two Kids who love to go for rides in the firebird and it becomes my daily driver so I don't really want to lose all the trunk space to a sub. A kicker doesn't take up as much room but does it deliver thumping base? Opinions and suggestions are definetely welcome!

 

You're talking about a bass tube vs a sub in a sub box?

I just installed a sub in my trunk, there's a plate that goes across the bottom and sits on the two ledges in the well and I built a box with 5/8" MDF which is screwed and glued to the plate. I think the dimensions came out to 27"x11"x8" which is just about 1.25 Cu. Ft. after taking out for the speaker's volume. The sub is mounted to the top plate on the driver's side with the amp on the passenger side. I'm probably going to post pics tomorrow, I threw a chunk of automotive carpet on top of that and it looks pretty damn slick in my opinion. There's also a shelf on top of the well which covers the amp and woofer, makes the whole back section flat and still allows me to store the T-Tops in a bag.

Cost:
$24 - MDF (could make 2 boxes with a 4x8 sheet)
$80 - 10" Pioneer sub
$137 - 4 channel Pioneer amp (probably want a 2 channel bridgeable to 300-400W RMS if you're just looking to power a sub)
$35 - Amp wiring kit
$50 - (3'x6') Automotive carpet shipped

Total cost: $326

It's a bit more in cost than a bass tube, but sounds a hell of a lot better and looks better.

 

Most peoples sub boxes sit nice and flush so you lose that big section for trunk space but u can still have a little there for small things.
Just check out some pictures people post here get a rough idea on trunk space.
Like ChillPhatCat said if you want bass then you will need the box if not go for the kickers.
You got two small kids so i doubt your gonna turn it up loud and kill your kids ears though so don't go crazy
My parents always try and take my 89 Iroc and come back trying to put groceries in it.. quickly figured out that it ain't a shopping car.

 

Most generic bass tubes sound like generic bass tubes, but if you put together your own from an empty 10" tube and a good quality 10" sub, it can sound very good, and will fit nicely down into the well of the car. A custom 10" box will fit better (and subsequently look better), but the sound quality would be about the same.

 

actually if you make your own bass tube, and make your own enclosure, the sq will be different, most likely the exnclosure will sound better. bass tubes aren't all that good, and they are only good for saving space. if you want good sq, go for building an enclosure or having one built for your car.

 

I disagree. A bass tube that has a sufficiently thick cardboard tube will be mostly free from resonances and won't color your sound. Any differences you heard between an enclosure and a bass tube were likely due to variations in enclosure volume, and if they were ported, differences in port tuning. Either that, or maybe the specific tube you heard was just a low quality piece of crap.

Good quality stuff will sound good regardless of shape.

 

true, but the basic point of a bass tube is to conserve space, so if you want major sound, you need more space so getting a bigger base tube will basically be like an odd shaped enclosure.

 

Tubes were never intended to save space. Most of the tubes I've used are large enough to provide well over 1 cubic foot of airspace, which is more than most modern 10" subs need.

Bass tubes were popular 15 years ago because they were cheap, lightweight and effective. They've sense become less popular because now you can get particle board enclosures from China affordably, but I'm still a fan of them because they fit so nicely into the well of thirdgens. Unfortunately, empty tubes seem to be awfully hard to come by now. Even Ebay doesn't seem to show anything except some empty Bazooka tubes.

 

Kicker the brand is definatly on top, its the best out there that i know of. if you dont want a box, than tube is the way to go. and if you need to "haul" something, just disconnect the tube, and leave it at home, just be careful of the two ends of the wires.

 

how do you know they were never intended to conserve space? obviously they were developed to fit in spots where square enclosures couldn't or atleast for small cars with less space, i dont mean to start an argument but i think they were built to fit in small places and/or to conserve space. thats my opinion. also, kicker is very good yes, but they are better brands out there like jl audio. definately better than kicker. but yeah, kicker is one of the best.

 

From personal experience I had a Bazooka tube in my Sy when I first got it I wasnt overly impressed with the sound quality, I then switched to a JL AUDIO sub and the difference was huge I wont ever buy a tube again... If your wondering which to get the I would go with a small sub like an 8" and a small amp, it wont be overly loud and you will still have trunk space.. Just my ....

 

They were intended to be cheap. The drivers are high Q woofers that require more airspace than other similarly sized subs. Way back when this crap first became popular in the early 90s, they were a smaller alternative to the giant 2x12" boxes that most people still used, but neither then nor now were they any smaller than a properly built enclosure using any good quality woofer of the same size.