Hrag Grag

I wanna buy one JL Audio 10" sub for my 2009 528i. I herd JL is one of the best Sub's out there. But I was just curious since, i don't know much about installing sub's, if my BMW stock AMP is OK to use when i add the 10" sub or if i need to purchase another AMP?
Thank' you in advanced

Gatriel

I'd definitely purchase another amp.

Pay special attention to the impedance of the sub you are purchasing. For example if you wanna get a W1 10" get the 2 Ohm single voice coil, or 4 Ohm dual voice coil version of the sub, and as long as you get a 2 Ohm stable amp, you can purchase a much smaller amplifier.

If you think you might add a second sub later, then get dual 2s, if you are pretty confident you're just going to stay with 1 -- go with the single voice coil.

Hrag Grag

Forsure, thank's man! I can't decide on what to get. Either the: 10" Single 4 ohm W3v3, or the 12" Single 2-Ohm W3V3. Which one do you think is a better buy?
And What should i look for when buying a new amp ?

Gatriel

It depends,

If 1 sub is going to be good enough for you -- and you're 100% not going to be adding another one in the future than the single 2 Ohm would be fine.

If you think you will be adding another sub in the future then you should go with a dual 2 Ohm or a single 4 Ohm W3. (sorry about saying dual 4s above, its been a couple years since I installed for a living.)

If you think you might we wanting to go with another 10" in the future (usually stupid to do a bass system in pieces as you'll have to swap out a box as well) then you should go with a single voice coil 4 Ohm W3/10, but until you add that second sub you're running your first at half power.

If you are 100% confident that 1 sub will be fine (which I think a single w3 would be in this application) then get yourself this;

JL Audio 10W3V3 2 1 Way 10" Car Subwoofer 699440921503 | eBay

As far as amplifiers go, there is lots of confusion in the market place, and sadly opinions, anecdotal evidence and creative marketing supersedes Ohms law many times. With amps, you are focusing on "RMS Power" not Peak. Peak power as advertised on shitty amps is a myth -- for example if you see a 4,000 watt amplifier for $150 -- its not a 4,000 watt amp, its probably 10% of that at RMS and can either only theoretically hit 4000 watts on paper or do it for a split second before toasting.

For cars such as our e60s I recommend micro foot print amplifiers such as this guy here;

JL Audio XD600 1 Car Amplifier 605814541345 | eBay

This amplifier coupled with that SVC 2 Ohm sub in a ported box would be bang'in.

Hrag Grag

Btw, thanks for helping me. You've helped me out a lot already.

These are a little cheaper then the links you showed me. Should i go with any of these two? And im only going to have 1 sub.



Could you explain to me what ohm is?
& Is this amp a good buy also? Its the same company.

Gatriel

Hey,

So don't go with the first sub, bad idea, because its 4 Ohms, and given you're only going to have 1 sub it wouldn't serve your needs.

However, the bottom sub and the amp are both fine.

An Ohm is a measure of electrical resistance. Essentially it breaks down like this;

You have an amplifier than can output 100 watts at 8 Ohms

This means (strictly according to Ohms law, amp manufacturers can do things differently, but this is generally the way it works) that the same amplifier can output 200 watts at 4 Ohms, and 400 watts at 2 Ohms. If the amp is 1 Ohm stable it would output 800 watts. Every time you cut the resistance in half you double the power output of the amplifier.

So if you were to buy this amplifier you have in this post above its 500 watts at 2 Ohms -- so if you couple it with the 2 Ohm sub it'll output 500 watts when you have the sound system muted. (Its a tad technical more than that -- but that is the general jist of things). If you however go with the 4 Ohm sub with this amplifier you'll be running the sub at 250 watts, or half the power and thus a reduced volume. So in order to get the same volume of sound out of the 4 Ohm sub as you would with the 2 Ohm sub you have to turn the gains up on the amp that much more -- increasing distortion and reducing the lifetime of the sub.

This stuff is a simple science, really.

subterFUSE

1. Your BMW stock amp is absolutely not suitable to run an aftermarket subwoofer. Frankly, it's not very well suited to run the factory BMW speakers for that matter. You would be grossly underpowered trying to run a JL Audio sub with the factory amp. Furthermore, you would likely cause damage to both the sub and the factory amp. Do not even think about trying this. Get a dedicated subwoofer amp.

2. Yes, JL Audio is among the respected producers of car audio subwoofers. I have been using JL Audio subs in all of my car stereos since I was 18 years old. Currently running a single 12W6v2 woofer in the E60 specific stealthbox.

3. A single 10" sub will definitely give you more bass than you have now. Depending on your personal preference, you may decide you want more bass. In that case, a second 10 inch woofer would be ideal. I would personally be using 2 10 inch woofers in my car now if I was not concerned about losing the trunk space. I'm running the single 12 inch sub because it's a small footprint and I can still use most of my trunk and fold down both of my seats if needed. My ears wish I had the two 10s, but my golf clubs dictate otherwise.

4. If you go with a JL Audio sub, then I would suggest one of their amps as well. They do a good job of making amps for their subs. Be sure to get an amp with more power than the recommended range for the sub. For example, JL Audio recommends 500 Watts to run my 12W6 sub. I'm running 1000 Watts to it, however. You are far more likely to damage a speaker by giving it too little power than by giving it too much. Plus, if you decide to add another woofer down the road, you'll be ready with the bigger amp.


I don't have any experience with the W3 series woofers. I've always had the W6. The W6 series has always been a dual voice coil, which allows you to wire the woofers in different impedance loads. This is a nice feature because you have more options. You could start with a single subwoofer, and wire it 2 ohms to the amp. Then, if you add another subwoofer you can wire them 4 ohm parrallel, which is 2 ohms to the amp. Or, if you have an amp that can handle a 1 ohm load, you wire them 2 ohms parrellel which the amp sees as 1 ohm.

As for encolusre, I've always preferred sealed boxes because of the sound quality and they are safer for the woofer. Ported enclosures will give more bass per watt, but you must be careful with them because the woofer can be pushed to over-excursion easier with ported boxes. And avoid bandpass boxes like the plague. They suck.