11/30/2025
In the final chapter of our speaker discussion, we come to the most controversial aspects of car audio, the subwoofer.
Subwoofers gained popularity in the late 80’s when hip hop, or rap music became mainstream. Depending on your age, you either adored the Honda civic that you could hear six blocks away, or you despised it. Either way, subwoofers became a fixture, and regardless of how you feel about them, they are here to stay. But do you really need one?
The simple answer is yes, you need a subwoofer. Regardless of the music you listen play, there indeed exists part of the audio spectrum that not even the best two or three way speakers can reproduce. Most subwoofers will drop down to as low as 20 hertz. Far below the level of all other speakers. So the real question is, do you need a subwoofer to balance out the sound, or do you want to shake the seventeen cars around you. We can help regardless of what you intend to do with a subwoofer.
Before planning on adding a subwoofer, you need to make some some hard decisions. Subwoofers must have an amplifier that can drive them. There are two main setups we sell and install for subwoofer amplifiers. You can do a seperate one (called a monoblock)or two channel amp, where you bridge the two channels into one, or you use a channel from either a four or five way amp. Most serious installs with the idea is to really make serious thump, a monoblock amp is the go to for these installs. Monoblock amps can reach wattages all the way up to and past 3000 watts. But for the mainstream car audio enthusiast, a dedicated large amplifier is the choice. In my two vehicles, which are both considered to be on the upper end of car audio, I have a dedicated amp in the car, and use a channel off of a five channel amp to drive the subwoofer. I prefer the single dedicated amp setup, as it gives you more power, control, and down the road if you want more power it is easier to swap out.
The next decision to make is whether to go with a sealed enclosure, or a ported one. The enclosures we sell, or custom fabricate are usually made of high density particle board and covered in carpet or other fabric. Sealed enclosures are superior in delivering precise bass tones, ideal for sound quality enthusiasts seeking tight and accurate low frequencies. Ported boxes excel in producing maximum output and louder bass, catering to music genres with heavy beats. You can also tune ported boxes to concentrate on specific spectrum values, to the point where if you listen to only one particular genre of music, mainly hip-hop, the sound from these boxes is nothing short of insane.
Once you figure this out, it is time to select the subwoofer to use. In years past, the best way of selecting a superior subwoofer was the size of the magnet. However, engineering and advances in magnent technology has made this less of a case. The materials of the cone are important. As is the method of sealing the cone to the speakers basket. Usually, this seal is either rubber or foam. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but I tend to favor the rubber sealed speakers. We can show you a variety of subwoofers, and you can make this decision yourself.
The final piece of the puzzle is where to install the subwoofer. In a car, usually the trunk makes a great location for the subwoofer. Trucks we can either sell you a box that fits behind the seat, or construct one for under the back seat if you have a four door truck. SUV’s we can either fit a prebuilt box or construct one that allows for great sound, but still looks factory and allows for the loading of luggage.
There is another option that is growing in popularity, and these are factory boxes and matching speakers that are usually made of metal. This setup is extremely versatile, As these speakers are matched from the factory with the enclosure and the speaker. They will not reproduce huge sound levels, but in terms of sound quality, and visual appeal, they should be seriously considered.
There are other things to consider if you decide to go all out with a subwoofer setup. The first is power consumption. To drive the large amounts of sound these speakers can produce, you have to have an equally large power source. This sometimes entails adding a second battery and/or increasing the power of the car’s alternator.
Regardless of what level of sound you desire from the subwoofer, we are the experts in helping you achieve your dream setup. So come on down to the Sound Depot and let us hook you up with a subwoofer. We can design, and have installed subwoofers for anything from a Ford to Ferrari.
