Okay, since my W7 had a crack in it and my old 1800W power acoustik amp was running on borrowed time, I decided to sell it all since I had a good offer ($850 for both).

Now, I've decided to try to get something a little bigger and better for just a little more money ($1000 or so for amps and subs) and build a custom box. I already bought one amp... a power acoustik A3000DB (2300W RMS @ 1 ohm) and I'll probably buy another one.

Right now, I'm trying to decide on what subwoofers to buy. I've kinda narrowed it down to Audiobahn (Eternal, Flame Compression, or Flame Q), Soundstream Tarantula T4-12, Orion H2 12.2, and Eclipse SW8200... and I'm thinking about using one 3000W amp for one Orion H2 and another 3000W amp to power 2 Aaudiobahn Flame Q's.

Any thoughts, suggestions, personal experiences, etc?

anyone have any suggestions or experiences with this setup?

If your going Orion, try and find the older series on ebay. The new orins made in the last 4 years are garbage. I was loyal to orion for 10+ years until shortly after the second year of making the HCCA subs. That year they sold out to DEI, then 2 years later some arabian company bought them. They no longer build their equipment to be the most ruthless in the industry. Pioneer is more of a quality and that isnt saying much.

Same happened to Diamond audio.

I still harbor the HCCA 2100, XTR 475 amps and NT2 10's, NT5's, NT6's, and The NT 4's. All my money was comsumed by orion with amps i bought and sold over the years, now I look at the company in discust.

Terry

im a huge fan of the W7 subs. If you dont wana stay with that company, check out some Treos, Memphis, Eclipse and MB Quart, Resonant Engineering ones, they all sound great

thanks for the suggestions. I'm looking into your suggestions. I loved the 12W7, but I just can't justify spending that much money on another one, especially after having blown one and cracking another one. The specs on the Orion H2 are impressive (comparable to that of the W7... but much cheaper) and Audiobahn subs seem to have very good reviews from what I have read so far. Does anyone have any advise about Audiobahn? Here are the some specs on the subs that I was considering if that helps.

Orion H2 12.2/4
Max/RMS: 2500 W/2000 W
Sensitivity: 88 dB
Freq Response: 30 - 2500 Hz
Voice Coils: 3" Dual 2/4 ohm
X-Max: 1.14 in
Sealed box: .5 - 1 cu ft.
Ported box: 1.0 - 1.5 cu ft.
Cost: $225

Audiobahn Eternal AWES12P
Max/RMS: 2200 W/1100 W
Sensitivity: 92 dB
Freq Response: 18 - 500 Hz
Voice Coils: 3" Dual 4 ohm
X-Max: .51 in
Sealed box: 0.75 - 1.75 cu. ft
Ported box: 1.0 - 2.8 cu. ft
Cost: $170

Audiobahn Flame Compression AW1208T
Max/RMS: 3000 W/1500 W
Sensitivity: 91 dB
Freq Response: 20 - 500 Hz
Voice Coils: 3" Dual 2 ohm
X-Max: .79 in
Sealed box: N/A
Ported box: 1.30 - 3.15 cu.ft
Cost: $190

Audiobahn Flame Q AW1206T
Max/RMS: 2200 W/1100 W
Sensitivity: 96.4 dB
Freq Response: 20 - 500 Hz
Voice Coils: 2.5" Dual 4 ohm
X-Max: .71 in
Sealed box: .5 - 1.25 cu ft
Ported box: 1.30 - 3.15 cu.ft
Cost: $115

SoundStream Tarantula T4-12
Max/RMS: 1800 W/900 W
Sensitivity: 89 dB
Freq Response: 25 - 1700 Hz
Voice Coils: 3" Dual 1 ohm
X-Max: .63 in
Sealed box: N/A
Ported box: 2.2 cu. ft
Cost: $185

... and finally just for comparision ...

JL Audio 12W7
Max/RMS: 1500 W/750 W
Sensitivity: 86.2 dB
Freq Response: ?
Voice Coils: Single 3 ohm
X-Max: 1.15 in
Sealed box: 1.35 cu. ft
Ported box: 1.75 cu. ft
Cost: ~$600

I have 2 Audiobahn Flame Q AW1206T.....I havent had any problems and they sound great. Each one has its own 1000w Planet Audio Amp. I think they sound great and will hit real hard if you want them too. I have had them for a while now and have some friends that have other Audiobahn subs and to my knowledge none of them have had any problems.

thanks for the comment. so far that's what I'm leaning towards, but I'm still in the research phase.

im running crossfire xt2 series subs and they are awesome and can handle about 2600w all day long. I am running 4 of their 15s and 1 1000d on each which put out 1350 rms watts at 14v.

Audiobahn is flashy garbage. Divide their RMS power rating by about 2.25 and you have what their coils can actually handle. I would recommend Elemental Designs completely, entirely wholeheartedly. check them out at http://www.edesignaudio.com/ and read some testimonials on their forum at http://www.icixsound.com/

I have an old school elemental designs 12K.44 and it is the favorite of all the subs I've owned, and I've had a lot of stuff.. and from what I've heard, they have gotten much better over the past four years since my sub was new. They also have an amazing line of amps.

thanks for the link. I checked out thier subs, but Elemental Designs don't really look all that impressive. I know Audiobahn subs power ratings are a bit lower than their rated specs, but I think 2.25 times less is a bit much. It's more like 200-300 Watts less maybe and I can live with that, especially for the price.... but not saying I'll buy them yet tho.. still lookin.. so many subwoofers.. so little time. :)

If you are a looks guy then yeah the elemental stuff doesn't look impressive, but only if you are a ricer. Elemental is clean and classy, like something that belongs in a BMW (and many people with BMWs are running elemental).

They have grown insanely fast in the last few years. They are only about six years old if I remember right, do no advertising, and are anticipating more then $2 million in sales this year. They sell purely based on their performance. Every line of subs they have sells out for the first few months of production. They have a cult-like following.

Audiobahn is the domain of ricers and show queens that don't care about how their shit sounds. From one W7 to two audiobahns is a big step down in output and an even more gigantic one in sound quality. You might think that, since you have a 1,000 watt amp running on a supposedly 1,000 watt Audiobahn, the coil can handle it.. but if you are smart when you set the gains to avoid distortion and you do the math, you will realize that even at full volume you are only actually using about 400 watts and the sub is barely handling it.

Audiobahn is CRAP, end of story. It sounds like you don't have much to spend, if that is the case, stick with internet retailers like Elemental who have no middlemen and an amazing warranty without fuckin around on eBay, and you will get the most bang for your buck.

By "look impressive", I'm talking about their specs, not thier physical appearance. I really couldn't care less about that. I just gave them a second look tho and I suppose they are pretty decent for the money... similar to Audiobahn, but they are only rated at 600W RMS compared to 1100W (even though you say it'll be less), they have 2.5" voice coils (rather than 3", although the Flame Q also is limited to 2.5"), and so far, I have yet to see sensitivity or any type of frequency response numbers... and usually when those specs aren't listed you have to assume the worst. X-max numbers look similar tho, which is impressive at the lower power rating. Now I do realize that stats are stats and SQ and SPL speak for themselves, but its hard to just take someones word for it without hearing something. I have heard Audiobahn Eternals and I must say that the SQ was only slightly worse than my W7 and SPL was quite impressive (especially for the price). Anyway, I do appreciate your advise and I'm actually still looking at the subs that you suggested (I assume the 130v.2 is the best fit for me.. right?)

I'm actually thinking about getting two cheaper ($125-175) subs (audiobahn or something) and one more expensive ($250-375) SPL sub (Orion H2, Pheonix Gold Titanium Elite, Hifonics Goliath, Eclipse Titanium, etc)

here's a couple good threads to find a replacement super-woofer for you :D they have the H2 on here.

http://www.icixsound.com/vb/article.php?a=13 Listening Evaluation
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/article.php?a=13 Vented Output

and then just some other stuff, I couldn't find everything, this is just what I recall from when I still visited that forum..

ED amps MECA record
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18564&highlight=record

and then instead of sensitivity and theoritical FR tests like a lot of guys do, they do actual in-car tests
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12483
compared the 15AE (their old flagship) to the 16Ov2 (new one)

this is a test of every single sub they make, from the 9" to the 16"
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12788

same thing in a sealed box
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12785

and then another one
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12458

All those measure real-world peak SPL the same way they would measure it at the dB Drags or other sound competition, and then the same thing for frequency response. All of eD's subs can go 10-100Hz with less then 0.5dB variation :D ...even the 9"!

I would definitely recommend the 13Ov2. If you look at the SPL test of all the other subs and then the SPL tests of elemental's stuff, you can see that some of elemental's subs are overall louder then the subs from big manufacturers that cost three times as much :D

you make a good point... those are exactly the numbers that I was looking for. I just might get a pair of the 130v2's now instead of the audiobahns and pair them up with a 12" Pheonix Gold Titanium Elite. What do you think of those subs? 3" peak to peak excursion, handle 1200W RMS..

I am a big phoenix gold fan, the Titanium is good, but is lacking in high end frequency response.. the 13Ov2s would definitely compensate for that. If you were to combine them I think it would sound pretty good.

Originally posted by BumpinTalon
Audiobahn is flashy garbage.

he's got it! ill put up my W7 against any 12 out there SQ or SPL

My goal is to hit 145-150 dB, but it will be used daily, not just competitions.. and I have about $700 to spend on just subs. I will have at least 4000W RMS coming from two amps. Anyone have any other suggestions? I want good SQ and SPL if possible and was planning on using 2 or 3 12" subs of some sort.

damn.. so many woofers out there. I hate to have to choose.. argh.

Anyway, my plan is now one powerful mainly SPL sub in the $250-400 range along with two less powerful mainly SQ subs in the $150-200 range. I think that will work the best for my needs. Do you think that will get me in the 145-150 dB range?

I need suggestions for subs in each of those categories (mainly the more expensive SPL sub). They cam be 12's or 15's as long as the recommended enclosure size is reasonably small. So far I'm looking at the Phoenix Gold Titanium Elite, Eclipse Titanium SW9122, Eclipse Aluminum SW8200, Hifonics Goliath XX1612, Adire Audio Brahma (but can't find any specs on current model lineup), Cerwin Vega Stroker 124, and RE Audio SX12 or 12SE.. maybe 9512 (cost?). Any other subs that I should include in this roundup? Which would you choose and why?