Cheap Super Subs

[adirevolvo 0]

Once again, these reviews are bassed of mostly first hand experience

Adire Shiva - One word for this driver would be "Tight". At the price of $125 for the 12", (the only size it comes in) this is an awsome sub that will make your ears tingle with joy if you like SQ and low tight bass. These work well in ported and sealed boxes, however they generaly like a little larger of a box then other subs that they compare to. There is no one given rms rating for it but anywhere from 150 watts to 500 watts is good, and yes 150 is enough to make this pound. They can be tuned into the high teen's if thats what your looking for. The new MK 3 is a little beefer then past Shiva's but this is not a "cool" looking sub really. It's kind of plain and dull, and it might look kinda cheap to some but trust me, its not.

Adire Tempest - Basicly a Shiva but its a 15" and costs $150. The reason I gave this sub its own thing is that it is a great value for almost any type of set up. Great SQ like the Shiva, great LSQ but this sub gets LOUD. One 15" with 700 watts in 4.5 cubes can hit mid 140's easy which is not bad at all for $150. Great sub here.

ID IDQ - Alot like the shiva. About the same in price, maybe a tad more. This one looks like its made a bit better. The SQ is about the same but back to back the Shiva and this sound a little diffrent. Niether is better then the other, just diffrent. The IDQ is maybe a little crisper and faster while the Shiva is Tighter and goes a lil lower. Yet another good sub that I recomend.

PG Ti - These subs seem to be everywhere to me, and there is a good reason for that. These subs rock. They are very cheap, on ebay they can be had in any size for under $100. They are about 60% SPL and 40% SQ. Very good sub for someone first system. A well rounded driver that will please most.

Kicker Comp VR - The cheapest driver on this page at about $60 each on ebay. This is not really a super sub but it is worth a spot on this page. This is the sub I recomend to people on a tight budget. It's potent for the money. Kicker is not the best name out there but I respect them for the Comp VR and its price. Loud enough and sounds good enough to be worth at least $60.

RE SE - The sub I would take off this page. Very good SQ. As with any RE product these are made well and will last a while. Work in a decent sized boxes that can meet most peoples needs. Another sub that is rated for like 700rms but will work fine with 100 watts, but also take 1000 watts if need be (I dont recomend that at all but I've seen it done). These cost just under $200 and are worth it for sure. Pairs of 10's seem to be run by alot of people and those people seem to like em.

ED O - I dont have experince with this sub but I'm sure it should be on this list. It's just under $200 which i would think is a great value like any ED product. They look nice also. I would think they are about 65% SQ and 35% SPL. ED has had issues in the past but the O has not had many problems. I'd rather have other subs on this page but this is somthing to look at.

Kicker L7 - Under $200 if you get em off ebay. Loudest sub on this page. Lots of people use this sub and think of it as a higher end SPL sub. My take on it is that it plays loud and fairly low but once you tune under about 33hz you start to loose lots of spl and it becomes just so-so in everyway. If you get this sub port it, expect mostly spl that stays loud until its tune point, and tun to around 37hz for best everything. The L5 is ok also but I don't feel like giving it its own thing.

There are tons more that fit into this list but these are the ones I recomend the most B)

Please add to this list to help people out

[XTRMEASURES 0]

very good write up, i think Aaron needs to pin this....

im doing a review on more high end subs...

like the idmax12, 12a, 12L7, XXX12 and the old style magnum12d2

plus the 15a, sx15, 15L7 and hopefully the 15magnumd2

but it wont be up for awhile....

jamie

[adirevolvo 0]

very good write up, i think Aaron needs to pin this....

im doing a review on more high end subs...

like the idmax12, 12a, 12L7, XXX12 and the old style magnum12d2

plus the 15a, sx15, 15L7 and hopefully the 15magnumd2

but it wont be up for awhile....

jamie

Thanks! already did the XXX idmax and others in another post called supersubs. I really want to hear what people think of the SI's though.

[geolemon 0]

Yep, for sub-$200 subs there honestly are a lot out there...

But many are specialized.

Even if we generalize just a little bit... maybe grouping them into three buckets like "SQ", "competition SPL", and "street-booming SPL", we could really find some winners.

One of the best values that I've gotten were a pair of DEI Studio subs, that were both together well under $200, purchased from an online (non-authorized) dealer.

I was really honestly tremendously impressed when I saw these subs, the build quality was fantastic. Classy poly cones, with a slick B&W dustcap that was equally classy, black texture-finish cast baskets that were downright sexy, "Directed" rubber magnet boot, rubber gasket. Build quality was fantastic.

Subs require an absolutely tiny enclosure, which generally doesn't say good things for their efficiency, but these weren't bad. The sound quality was definitely decent as well. Really, all said and done, the overall final look, and sound of the product was great.

Another one that is often accessible online for very low prices are the Alpine Type-R subs... really impressive looking subs, that would particularly make for a show install mounted inverted... and I've never personally dealt with these subs, but I've heard a great number of people comment positively about the sound quality of these guys... seems like a tremendous value, particularly if aesthetics are important to you.

If we can get our own butts in gear, we should have at least one, maybe two subs of our to add to this category...

We'll have to send some to someone for an unbiased review though.

Hmm... Nick?

[XTRMEASURES 0]

im very very unbiased LOL

jamie

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I too am unbiased, and I write for momentum

[Tirefryr 1,742]

What I love about today's technology in driver design is that darn near every driver is better than a lot of the higher end drivers of the past. I bought some SS SPL 160s back in the day when they first came out and I loved them! Same with the ORIGINAL Kicker Solobarics. I think I paid about $700 for the SS and around $500 for the Kickers. Back then, that was quite a bit and today's $100-$200 drivers can give you equal or better performance. God bless technology. And thank Heaven for the amplifier revolution! High powered amps from a while ago were not for the budget-minded.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

so true, and I used to run a pair of Solo round Barics 15s

[adirevolvo 0]

so true, and I used to run a pair of Solo round Barics 15s

even today the round solo's are decent if you can find them cheap in good shape or like new.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

they were one of the tightest subs I have dealt with, low dropping tones were insane, sealed or ported, were damn good both ways

[mrray13 30]

  And thank Heaven for the amplifier revolution!  High powered amps from a while ago were not for the budget-minded.

don't forget high powered amps "back in da day" were HUGE!

for the under(or close to it) $200 price..the alpine type r's are a good choice...to me, equal th the vr's in sql, but maybe not quite as durable

again with the treo...the tsx series are a good "budget" sub

and diamond subs..both the m6 and cm3s....are excellent subs for around the $200 range!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Edited February 19, 2004 by mrray13

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

[mrray13 30]

If we can get our own butts in gear, we should have at least one, maybe two subs of our to add to this category...

We'll have to send some to someone for an unbiased review though.

Hmm... Nick?

i, too, am VERY unbiased and, i think most importantly, where i live..nobody has even heard of si...let alone magnumd2's..and i happen to have a couple of different size 15" boxes (5ft^3 tuned to 45 hz for single 15, 7ft^3 tuned to 38hz[crx box] for two 15's and 2 2.5ft^3 tuned to 34hz in my truck)just lying around...like the two in my truck!!hehe

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[foolioGrimz 0]

Ive had a pair of the sony xplod L1236 12"s for about a year. Theyre pretty loud and have so-so SQ, im running 300 watts rms each and dont notice too much distortion when cranked up. Ive set off a car arlarm or two back when i went to school. its a decent first sub for $50 off ikesound

Edited February 19, 2004 by foolioGrimz

[adirevolvo 0]

Ive had a pair of the sony xplod L1236 12"s for about a year. Theyre pretty loud and have so-so SQ, im running 300 watts rms each and dont notice too much distortion when cranked up. Ive set off a car arlarm or two back when i went to school. its a decent first sub for $50 off ikesound

just wait till you get a real sub and you will see why people bash sony. neither the spl or sq even compares to most of these subs.

[mrray13 30]

Ive had a pair of the sony xplod L1236 12"s for about a year. Theyre pretty loud and have so-so SQ,  im running 300 watts rms each and dont notice too much distortion when cranked up. Ive set off a car arlarm or two back when i went to school.  its a decent first sub for $50 off ikesound

just wait till you get a real sub and you will see why people bash sony. neither the spl or sq even compares to most of these subs.

nuff said!!!

anyway...only sony's MOBILE ES line of h/u's and certain MOBILE ES (including mobile es xplode)amps are to be given any credit..at least in my opinion..and i have owned a few..while the amps were decent to good and the h/u's from good to one of the best(c90 i believe) the speakers and subs leave A LOT to be desired...and the red subs seemed better then the silver ones. and that ain't saying alot

but i did..didn't i?!?!

hehehehahhaehhehehahha

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[foolioGrimz 0]

Ive had a pair of the sony xplod L1236 12"s for about a year. Theyre pretty loud and have so-so SQ,  im running 300 watts rms each and dont notice too much distortion when cranked up. Ive set off a car arlarm or two back when i went to school.  its a decent first sub for $50 off ikesound

just wait till you get a real sub and you will see why people bash sony. neither the spl or sq even compares to most of these subs.

that may be true about sony speakers, but theyre good for a first system, and they do sound better than alot of other subs ive heard. Wouldnt call them super subs or anything near that, but they were good for a first time learning to install, and seem to be alot more durable than other "name brand" subs like audiobahn.

So they might not compare with something that costs $300 apiece, but for the price, they kick ass.

[mrray13 30]

that may be true about sony speakers, but theyre good for a first system, and they do sound better than alot of other subs ive heard. Wouldnt call them super subs or anything near that, but they were good for a first time learning to install, and seem to be alot more durable than other "name brand" subs like audiobahn.

So they might not compare with something that costs $300 apiece, but for the price, they kick ass.

while u make a good point about $value....there are entry level subs...ie: rf z series, jl w0's, mtx 4000's and such that are far better subs for close to the same price compared to sony. as with anything though..ppl get an rf z and think because it's rf that it has to handle 500 clipped watts from some wal mart jensen amp and when it blows they say they are junk

in the end...personal opinion will ALWAYS win regardless of what ppl say or type or whatever....

#1 rule of car audio should always be listen, listen and listen some more to various different brands and installs and decide what sounds best to u. it's ur money...it's ur decision.

and i'll shut up b4 i start rambling......

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[sandt38 448]

Adire will have some "superwoofers" coming out soon that will fit in the sub-$200 range. As soon as they do, I will post the info... (I love doing this )

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Man, I've been in dire need of some info on the new Kodas forever! Tell Dan to hurry up!!!!

[adirevolvo 0]

Adire will have some "superwoofers" coming out soon that will fit in the sub-$200 range. As soon as they do, I will post the info... (I love doing this )

yeah, ive seen a proto at the shop. They will come in 8,10,12 and 15. they used XBL^2. The 10" I saw had 21mm one way, and that was a proto, and keep in mind, they will be in the 175-250 price range, so thats a damn good deal.

[Jordan94z 0]

I saw Josh Gull mention something of these Kodas on SInet... They look VERY promising, I get tired of these companies releasing these new speakers... I want to try them all

and to add to the sony sucks... Xplod sucks! ..... Mobile ES is good stuff (see sig )

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Boy do I miss my C90/400 combo!! I had the chance to get my hands on an ENTIRE X1 system once, but I was $50 short.