Hey guys, this is my first post on the audio board cuz i havent had much money to spend on my stereo. Ok, my friend works at Best Buy and can get me a 20% employee discount. There are two subs on sale, Rockfords and Lightning Audio. I've heard that lightnings are made by Rockford but sound better. what do you guys think. anyways, I could get two Lightning 12s for $64 or two 10s for $56, both are 500 watt subs. so what should i get 10s or 12s? Also what kind of amp would i need for this kind of power? Lighnting has one for $80 thats 2 channel and delivers 50 watts x 2 @ 4 ohms (I have no clue what that means, somebody wanna clarify?) So im just looking for you guys to shed some light on my situation cuz as you can see i dont know much bout car audio. Thanks alot in advance.
Tom
O yea, i have a Sony Headunit 45 x 4 channel, if that matters.

 

Lighnting has one for $80 thats 2 channel and delivers 50 watts x 2 @ 4 ohms
First off, WELCOME TO 3RDGEN.COM!

Ok,two Lightning 12s for $64 or two 10s for $56? Thats with 20% off, but lemme just say, stick to decent name brands. Ive never seen people talk about Lighning Audio because no one uses them, I used to think it was a best buy house brand.

Get a more powerful amp than 50x2, and stick with rockford fosgate. Its good for the money. 50 watts x 2 is how much power (wattage) is sent to each speaker. an ohm is a amount of resistance, so most speakers are 4 ohms each. I explain it better in my site, but thats roughly what it is .. confusing for newbies.


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1991 Firebird (GT40)
-LO3 305 TBI
-5 speed
-Open Element Air Filter
-Edelbrock Tower Strut Brace
-Kenwood Excelon Headunit w/ 10 Disc Changer
-Alpine MRP-F256 Amp
-Polk EX 4x6's, DX 6x9's, and EX Tweeters
-Kicker ZR240 amp (bridged)
-Dual JL W0 12" Subs

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My page with pics and stuff, and car stereo help.
http://members.aol.com/deadtrend1/index.html

 

well, i missed the part about first post to car audio board so lemme change it to..
WELCOME TO 3RDGEN.COM CAR AUDIO BOARD!!!!

 

Okay, here's the lowdown on Lightning Audio: they are actually owned by Rockford Fosgate.

Another fact to consider is that most companies offer a choice between a "good, better, best" product lines so that they can accomodate a wider range of consumers. You'll notice that Rockford no longer includes a "good" level of products, just the "better" (regular punch) and best (punch power). This is because Rockford is using the Lightning Audio name to sell it's entry level amps, subs, and speakers.

One speculative reason that they've kept the Lightning name is so that they don't have to be "burdened" with the level of quality expected from anything that has the Rockford name on it. Just something to think about. I've heard that Lightning stuff is still a step up from Crunch, Kenford, Rockwood, Boss, and similar equipment carrying the stigma of being crap. Plus their wiring, caps, and various accessories are supposed to be decent. Still, I wouldn't expect too much out of their amps and subs.

And on another note: to save deadtrend the effort of having to post again, welcome to the audio section of thirdgen.ORG

[This message has been edited by TrueBlue91RS (edited December 12, 2001).]

 

yea, it was 2:30/3:00 am when i was answering this, so gimme a little credit ..

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1991 Firebird (GT40)
-LO3 305 TBI
-5 speed
-Open Element Air Filter
-Edelbrock Tower Strut Brace
-Kenwood Excelon Headunit w/ 10 Disc Changer
-Alpine MRP-F256 Amp
-Polk EX 4x6's, DX 6x9's, and EX Tweeters
-Kicker ZR240 amp (bridged)
-Dual JL W0 12" Subs

-------------------------------
My page with pics and stuff, and car stereo help.
http://members.aol.com/deadtrend1/index.html

 

Thanks for the replies, o and thanks for the warm welcome to the CAR AUDIO board of thirdgen, haha. Ok so i guess you guys are suggesting the Rockfords cuz they are supposed to be a better brand and a level up from lightning. I have a ? tho, the lightning subs are 500 watt but the Rockfords are 200 watt. Does that mean the Rockfords are weaker??? I could get two 10" rockfords for $64, o and one more ?. Would that lightning amp be able to handle two 10" or would i need a better one? Thanks again guys!
Tom

 

never base a subs sound quality based on it's wattage. The wattage rating is how much power you can give it before it blows up. However, there is no standard with this.

for example, take a JLW3 subwoofer, which is rated at 250 watts. By JL's standard, that is the maximum amount of power the sub will take on a continuous basis (test tones), for 8 hours straight.

I don't know about you, but I never play my subs for 8 hours at full volume. So say, for a couple hours at a time, they could handle about 500 or even 600 or more watts. In fact, I use a 1200 watt amp on this same 250 watt sub, but only for a few seconds at a time.

While cheaper companies, like your department store specials that say 500 watts max. That means that if they see that level of power, even for a split second, boom!

So really, except for first hand experience and seeing how much power people have put on subs before, there's no real way to know a subs true limits.

Mike

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custom 3rd gen kickpanels at
http://www.djsexay.com

 

well have u guys ever heard a lightning audio amp?? i had the B.200 hooked up into two Kicker COMPVr 12s, at 2ohms mono, the amp is 200Wx1 rms, it is 400Wx1 max, so believe me it friggin POUNDED in my moms lincoln, so dont bash lightning audio, they make a sub that $1000, its just the really high end speaker, for the money Lightning Audio BOLT series is the best entry level amps u can buy, and for the subs, they have the Bolt series,Strike series, and the Storm series, from good, better, and best, the Storm series amps are digital mono amps, anyways, i would go with lightning audio only if u have to, but rockford is definatly better, unless u buy the real expensive Lightning Audio stuff

also the Bolt series amps are only 4ohms mono, putting them into a 2ohms load will put them in protection mode, but they can play for about 1-5mins in 2ohms


[This message has been edited by nagga (edited December 13, 2001).]

 

Welcome too. I saw some of the LA subs for $40 for a pair over thanksgiving sales. I bought four. Took one out to look at them. Don't look too bad. For the money it might be fine for you. I for one would buy one good sub and one good amp (or better amp) over two cheap subs and a smaller cheap amp. Amps last a long time if you get good ones.

In the next three weeks, CES is coming (my favorite "holiday" time of the year.) They introduce lots of new stuff, and then they start blowing out the older 2001 models. Might want to hang tight and do some online shopping to see what kind of deals you can find.

Juan

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Coming soon, CES report 2002 at Sound Domain www.sounddomain.com