Ive haven't had a system in about 5 years. I don't know a whole lot about systems but I know enough I guess. Back then I was just wanting the hardest hittin subs. I had 2 kicker L7's in ported box with a planet audio amp. The quality of music wasnt good but it was super loud. You could hear me miles away. Well thats what I was told. It was in an accord. I now have an escalade ext. I still want deep base with a good hit but I'm wanting something with a bit more quality too. It doesnt have to be JL audio quality but if you knew how the 2 L7's sounded with that planet audio .. you would know all there was to it was bass. I had a couple tweeters but my bass overshadowed it. I need a radio in my ext too. I want to spend about 2-3 grand on everything I'd need .. from wires, to box, etc. and any upgrades I would need. I have to pay for installation to but its no problem to fork out a couple hundred more for that. Researching would take me many days and possibly weeks if I didnt post this haha. I want to go off something to research on so please give me some suggestions.
For sub-woofers at this point in time, I would avoid any form of paper cones or paper woofers. All Polypropylene, maybe even steel added. Mine are polypropylene and steel, and they have been tuned and balanced. But with those, being stronger, maybe somewhat heavier than paper, they will need higher power to operate. Mine are from DUAL, I have 2 12" woofers. they take 600 Watts RMS but run fine with my 300 Watts RMS amp. I will but a stronger amp later, but for not its okay, I'm not into loud speakers that much... Each 12" woofer is 8 ohms, but they are in parallel making 4 ohms and My amp is a Mono-Block amp. ---------------- Also, DUAL isn't the best audio company, but they make good products. My friends thought they were "cheap" but that was until I turned them up. However I only have 300 Watts RMS, not 600 Watts RMS like they should have so I couldn't go really loud, but it was loud enough, it vibrates the car and your body very good. lol --------------------------- If I would have done it later, I would have bought a 2 channel amp or 2 mono-block amps that output about 500 Watts RMS per channel and have 500 Watter per 4 ohm 12" woofer. At the time I bought my amp I did not want the peek power over 1100 Watts, and my amp is 1000 Watts peek. I should have ignored peek power and went with RMS power, but ow well, I have the amp now. lol I might buy a 4 ohm signal 12" woofer for my other car later in the future, and then buy a 600 Watt RMS mono-block woofer for my two 12" DUAL woofers I have now.
Peak power vs. rms or (real power) I noticed over the past 20+ years that most of the lower quality amps immediately throw a big "peak" number on the cover trying to entice beginners to jump on their product. The best companies usually spend their advertisings $ on R&D & word of mouth to get a quality product sold. Unfortunately peak power means nothing besides they can count that high,lol. RMS is part of the true numbers to look at besides noise,thd,the list goes on.... I have Xtant which isn't very well advertised for a reason, they produce descent products, but I also am looking for even better products on the market. Car electronics has taken a downslide on sales do to the economy & other things, so I would be patient & wait for that right product. Look forward to a reply, good luck.
I use 1 Xtant 1001dx monoblock w/40 farad Tsunami cap (250 amp custom alt. & Optima red) to push 3-10's. I like that it has multiple configurations & a cooling fan. 3-4 of these (used,it's hard to find the old school units unused) will keep you in your budget with some $ to spare. I mostly setup mine for SQ but the megabass is good too.