pain2bare

I'm looking for a sub/amp setup for a little more bass and depth out of my factory speakers. I've been looking at amps and am wondering what the benefit is with the multi channel amps? Also, I've seen some tube subwoofers but don't know anyone that owns one, are they worth buying? Any and all constructive input would be greatly appreciated.

imported_loudsubz

multi ch amps are good because they save space

just make sure in a multi channel amp that for each section it has its own power supply

so if you have a 5 channel amp make sure the sub section has its dedicated PS aswell as the 4 channel section

bazooka tubes are good if you need to save space, i think they have come a long way and others have said they sound decent.. i havnt not heard one so i cannot comment

Cynikal.Mindset

a powered bazooka tube is the route I'm gonna go to add some depth and save some space...they fill in a factory system pretty decently and take up no more space than a back pack...and since the amp and enlosure are all in one it makes everythin so simple and easy to install and remove and they arent priced too bad either

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

frankly, I dunno how much bass you're looking for, but a good deal of improvement can be had by replacing stock speakers with high quality ones, and adding a small high quality amp to the rear ones.

imported_loudsubz

Id rather spend that money and amp the front speakers, and leave rear stock, makes more sense since you will do the majority of the listening from the front...

its a good idea to upgrade your speakers as well, but a bass canon will only help because stock speakers can only play so low before distorting

pain2bare

Thanks all so far for the input, been reading a bit more and have a question. What does a crossover do or it's function? CM, thanks for the input on the tube I didn't know they came with an amp also. The reason I'm not replacing my speakers just yet is because the shop that did my alarm told me the factory speakers I have right now are good, so I'm in no rush to replace them just yet.

imported_loudsubz

crossover filters out frequencies you dont need/want

for a sub, youd want to only play frequencies below 80hz or so (depends) so a crossover will filter off the frequencies and anythign above 80hz will be rolled off on a slope dependant on how tight or loose the rolloff slope is (usually 12db/oct)

pain2bare

So then the crossover enables you to just run the bass through the sub or the entire song?

imported_loudsubz

yes, its so your sub wont play high frequencies meant for the tweeter etc

imported_kane2k

Here's a helpful tip for getting all the power you can out of your stock speakers. Basically as was mentioned before, the stock speakers can't handle bass. In order to get them to play louder without distortion it would be nice to filter out the bass, this requires a crossover.

Surprisingly, first order highpass crossovers (6dB/oct) are ridiculously cheap since they are just made up of a single capacitor wired inline on the positive wire of the speaker. You connect the positive terminal of the crossover to the amp side and the negative to the speaker side. They should be mounted close to the speaker.

But which capacitor do you buy? Here's an online calculator http://ccs.exl.info/calc_cr.html to figure out what capacitance you need and you can go down to Supremetronic on Queen St. or any other electronics retailer and pick up small caps rated for ~15V for about 10-20 cents a piece. I would suggest a crossover frequency of 80-100 Hz for the stock speakers but you can try different frequencies by buying a few sets with different ratings.

If you do this your stock speakers will sound better at volume and last longer than running them full band.

pain2bare

Whoa, once I wrap my head around that one I'll try and respond. I guess my last(possibly) question would be what to look for when buying used? Any specific questions you guys can think of that should be asked about the equipment?

imported_loudsubz

this is what you want to accomplish with the 6db/oct slope