15's or 12's...the endless debate.

[Mazderati]

Obviously it is a matter of musical taste and the type of sound you are after.

Should you wish to offend all sleeping seniors on your route home after a night out at the local watering hole, no doubt a 15's are best. However if you want your bass notes to start and finish at the same time as all the speakers in your system and maybe dont always just listen to techno or rap, then maybe a 12 is a good choice.

I have settled on a single rear facing 12 DVC JL sub. What is the forums thoughts on what works best in what applications? Lets talk pros and cons of both sizes. Maybe share some box designs? Pics too.

[Legato626]

Ya I am thinking of going to 12's but I am thinking its cheaper to go with one 15in. Right now i got one 15 in my car i am about to sell it to a freind and get a 15in crossfire BMF 1200watts max. I am going to make a costom ported box for it to. 2 12's would sound just as good vs. 1 15 of my kind. But i say eather way you will like it.

[Flashpoint2]

Mazderati's right. If you listen to alot of stuff with heavy basslines, you may want to go with the 15, but if you want "snappy" bass, and a quicker response, then 12s, or even 10s may be your best bet

[PATDIESEL]

15s are under designed IMO, they require too much air space and sound like crap. Any good 12 will give the performance of a 15, but with better sound quality and take up less space. Plus with the newer heavier, but supossedly better quality, cone material a 15 requires too much power to maintain a good steady bass beat. You really need a top quality amp, gell cell, large cap, huge wiring etc. A good 12 will require all that to perform optimally, but will work ok on half that.

[reaper of souls]

if your going for respones two 10" in a sealed box if you want to pound the ever living crap out of two 12" in a forth order band pass box

or to save room in your hatch go with two 12" dvc with at least 600w rms and put them in a isobaric clam shell loaded box. the bass will sound the same as a ported box but with the air space of one sub and the feeling of getting hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat on every singel bass hit

[PATDIESEL]

1- 12 in a sealed box, best of all worlds. Good response, not much space, good bass. but a good one, 1200 watt RMS and push it with a good amp 1000 watt class D.

[Devilhog]

My single phoenix gold Half comp in a sealed box, 1000 watt amp.

pounds good and sounds awesome.


(edit: haha one to many golds)

[reaper of souls]

hell i shake the hell out of my car and i'm only running a 10" phoenix gold octane r with a 200w clarion pushing it

[2fazed]

I used to have two 12" Earthquake Magmas in my trunk well, now I have 1 15" Earthquake Magma. Both sound fine to me. I would say, if you are going to put them in a box, to get the two 12's. If your going to put them in the tire well, then the 1 15". Maybe you should get the setup that best fits you, like room, access, etc.

[Aston Wards]

After running a 15 in the presso, and 2x 10's in the ZX, my preference is the 10's, properly enclosed and running off a decent amp, they hit pretty hard and can keep up too!

[mx34u2nv]

12's....15's.....ha ha 18's is the key..........

[mxmaz]

I cant understand how you people can listen to music with so much bass that it hurts. Plus it rattles the crap out of every last piece of your car. I would just get some high end speakers and amplify them.

[mx34u2nv]

when it hurts, thats the cool part. If its too loud, you're too old..........

[mxmaz]

Well i am only 22 and i am glad to have good hearing. I dont understand whats so good about listening to music when all you can hear is the bass and that over powers every other part of the song. You guys will all be going around with hearing aids in 10 years. It wont be so cool then will it?

I had subs in my car for years but i just grew out of it and now i love the sound of a nice high end system without subs.

[Aston Wards]

18? sheesh! it'd be like carrying a fat-chick in the boot!