Equipment

I finally decided to buy new speakers and an amp for my car. I went with Crutchfield to buy the equipment, and I decided on the USAcoustics USX Series 4-channel Amplifier and the Jensen KS Series 6-1/2"/6-1/2S Speakers. These will go into an 89 Ford Tarus. Overall, I was looking for something around $300 for the system. Anyone have any positive or negative comments about this equipment with the empeg?

Thanks

My empeg site is:http://24.236.3.131/empeg/

If there's any way you can swing it, try and get at least a single 10" subwoofer in there somewhere. You don't have to fill your whole trunk with sealed boxes or anything like that. A free air sub mounted in the trunk playing right through the seatback of the rear seat might work just fine, and will add immeasurably to the quality of your sound.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Another thing he can try is to build his own boxed subwoofer. I spent almost exactly $300.00 on a 10" polk DX speaker, a sealed box, and a Jensen amp with a built-in low pass crossover. It wasn't very difficult to assemble, and it sounds fantastic.

Crutchfield also sells pre-built "tube" subwoofers that contain their own amplifiers. For instance, there's a Kenwood model that I actually owned at one time (but it got stolen). It cost about the same as the pieces for the assembled unit. It worked, but since it was a ported model and the amp wasn't as powerful, it didn't sound as good as my sealed-box unit does.

With my new car, the box resides in the trunk, so I have to turn it up louder than I did when I had it in my GTI hatchback. But if you position the box carefully in the trunk, you'd be surprised how much of the sound comes into the cabin.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Maybe it's just my ear -- but I've never been happy with tube response. Every one of them that I've heard just gets muddy on really "punchy" notes. They seem fine if you want lots of vibe but a mistake if you want clean, punchy bass notes.

I guess if I had to characterize it I'd say that tubes sound fine for rap music but would make classical music sound horrible at high volumes.

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

I agree, I noticed this as well. What DO you recommend for classical?

Calvin

I agree, I noticed this as well. What DO you recommend for classical?

A sealed-box unit, with a subwoofer that's designed specifically for sealed-box use. Make sure to drive it with enough power.

I'm extrememly happy with the one I just bought- a Polk DX 10" woofer with a Q-logc box. I'm driving it with a Jensen XA-series amplifier in bridged mono mode.


Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Isn't a tube by definition a sealed box? Sure, it doesn't have sharp corners but it's sealed.

Calvin

Isn't a tube by definition a sealed box? Sure, it doesn't have sharp corners but it's sealed.

All of the tube subwoofers I've seen in the Crutchfield catalog are ported models. The ports are located at the opposite end of the speaker. You could probably find a sealed tube if you shopped around, I've just never seen one.

In the case of the pre-built subwoofers that come with their own built-in amplifier, those are always ported because the amplifiers are underpowered and they need the port for the extra boom-per-buck factor.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Tony's right on the mark for this. If you want accuracy in bass response a sealed box is the way to go.

Due to the very limited amount of free space in my MR2 I have no choice but to use sealed enclosures with appropriate speakers if I want clean bass. And because I like deep/low vibe -- this translates directly to expensive speakers built for accurate motion ... and a good amount of clean power (i.e. expensive amps) to move them precisely. *sigh*

The punch is easy for me to get -- but getting decent vibe (enough to be heard/felt a block away coming from a car) out of a pair of 8" subs is going to be tough. That's what I'm shooting for, though.

I almost considered scrapping the car for something more workable ... but I just can't bring myself to do it.

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

Tony: What kind of Q-Logic box did you get? It looked like most of them were ported.

On a side note, what do you think about JL Audio subs? I'm thinking about getting a single 10W3 and a sealed box, is this going to be OK for the clear, punchy bass as opposed to the drawn out, muddy stuff?

Tony: What kind of Q-Logic box did you get? It looked like most of them were ported.

I specifically chose the "small sealed hatchback" box for a single 10" woofer. I bought all three components (woofer, box, amp) from Crutchfield over the phone.

I tried looking up the box at the Crutchfield web site, but they only seemed to list the bandpass and multi-speaker boxes there. Get their catalog, they have a much more comprehensive list which includes the sealed boxes in the catalog.

On a side note, what do you think about JL Audio subs? I'm thinking about getting a single 10W3 and a sealed box, is this going to be OK for the clear, punchy bass as opposed to the drawn out, muddy stuff?

I don't know anything specific about that brand. As far as controlling your sound, the most important things are deciding what frequencies you want it to reproduce and how loud it needs to be, then choosing a box, speaker, and amplifier that are properly matched for that task.

The "drawn out muddy stuff" is usually the result of a subwoofer that's got a very narrow frequency "peak", either from a ported or a bandpass box. This is great for folks who want a thumper for listening to rap, but if you want a flatter, more natural frequency response, then definitely get a sealed-box unit. The drawback is that you need more power for a sealed box, as well as a woofer that's designed to handle that power.

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Tony Fabris