Need some advice..

[9876543the 0]

Hey everyone, well, as you can tell I am the new guy, aka the noob. I don't even know if I'm posting this in the right spot. I will try and keep my grammar and spelling good though. So if I am posting in the wrong spot, please tell me where to post this(lol). Anyways, I've been trying to put together a good stereo system for the least amount of money I can...without having horrible sound. To make it all clear, all of this is in my house. I'm not old enough to have my own car, sadly. The room is 20' x 20' square and is converted from a garage(thus, concrete floor). So heres what I've got so far:

15" TC Sounds TC2+ 15" SVC sub @ 400 watt RMS and 4 ohm.

Unknown brand Plate amp, 240 watt. Not so high quality, needs to go. I'm looking for a car audio amp to replace it. Its for the subwoofer.

DCM bookshelf speakers, model # is ripped off. Small drivers in them though, 6" bass/mid with one tweeter.

A/D/S Powerplait 100 amp, works good and I'll keep it for now.

Two 13/14 Volt 60 amp transformers to run car audio amps.

So, more information:

The subs box is 3.5 Cubic Foot sealed. It seems to work well, but its rough. Plus the sub has developed leeks in the box, and one side actually started coming off. I put it back on and filled the cracks with hot glue, but that won't last very long. So thats one of the things I wanted to get some suggestions on, a new box. I'll probably make it myself, I'm thinking close to 1" MDF would be pretty good? I'm not sure weather to go ported or sealed. I hear sealed is more common for in the house, but for my type of subwoofer they recommend a much much smaller sealed box. I think I like my "boomy" type sound If I did go ported I would probably tune it to pretty low, probably in 26 to 28 hz range. Specs for the sub are in the link. http://www.oaudio.com/TC2_PLUS.html

So what do you guys think I should do for a new box?

One of my other problems is, I've got plenty of sound coming from the sub, just not where I want it. Would a ported box make any difference with that? Its already in the corner of the room as well. I looked into moving the sub to a better spot, but I can not.

Yet another problem, heh. I've got a huge "range" of frequencies that my speakers won't do. I cant really blame them because there small little bookshelf speakers. So, the range I'm "missing" is about 100 to 200 hz. I do have some sound issues above 200 hz, but I don't care about those at this point. So basically, I want to add different speakers to my system that will cover that range well. Its gotta be home audio speakers... and they have to be under 30 pounds a piece, or the shelf they are on will tip over. Any suggestions on a brand/model?

Now for a new amp for my sub. I don't wanna skimp on this part of the system, because the sub is pretty good quality... I don't wanna run it all the time on crapy amps. So any suggestion on an amp? I don't have any preference between bridging a 2 channel amp or having just a 1 channel amp. It will be a car audio amp. I have 13 volt 60 amps to work with as far as powering it. I could go higher but it would involve wiring two of the 60 amp transformers in parallel, and then they have to be on dedicated wall sockets of 20 amps a piece or it will blow the breakers. That I do not have. The amount I'm looking to spend is about $150 and it could be a used amp.

If you don't know about how much I wanna spend on this, well, I payed $10 for the subwoofer, $10 for the box its in, $20 for the bookshelf speakers, $80 for the transformers, and $3 for the A/D/S amp because it was dripping diesel fuel... but it still worked after I cleaned it out. So that gives you an idea what I wanna spend on future stuff By any means, my system isn't supposed to look nice. Just supposed to sound nice.

I just wanna know what would be a good quality brand of "high" speakers and a new amp for my sub. I know a little bit of stuff about amps, and I've been working on them since I was 11, so a broken amp is a possibility as well, if its quite a bit cheaper. I'm trying to avoid new equipment. The only thing new in my system now is my sub. So any suggestions would be welcome, even if its just personal preference.

Let me know if you need anymore info or want pics. Thanks everyone.

DJ

[NB50 206]

1. I'm not to fond of running car audio amps in the house and im sure the cheap amp you have now will be more then enough output for a room stereo providing a good enclosure.

2. Have you thought about designing your own bookshelf speakers. You can get some good designs off the internet and could be a good cheap alternative. look into zaph audio for some good references. http://www.zaphaudio.com/