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.