Subs for single cab

redneck_nick_z71 · Mar 31, 2020

hello everyone
I’m wanting to get subs for my truck in May. My truck is a 98 single cab bench seat. I want to keep the subs behind the seat and not in the middle. Here’s the problems, I want as much bass as possible. I’m gonna be 16 in May so I don’t have a ton of money lol. Anyone know the best setup for a single cab? Box, subs, and amp but won’t be crazy expensive? Thanks

RawbDidIt · Mar 31, 2020

redneck_nick_z71 said:
hello everyone
I’m wanting to get subs for my truck in May. My truck is a 98 single cab bench seat. I want to keep the subs behind the seat and not in the middle. Here’s the problems, I want as much bass as possible. I’m gonna be 16 in May so I don’t have a ton of money lol. Anyone know the best setup for a single cab? Box, subs, and amp but won’t be crazy expensive? Thanks

You can buy used. Depends on your budget. Best you're going to get for under $500 new is going to be 2 12" shallow subs in box and a decent amp, maybe 500W total which really isn't all that bad in a small cab like yours. If you're looking for used, I've got a set of 10" kicker subs with amp I've been looking to get rid of. You can have it all for $100 plus shipping

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

df2x4 · Apr 1, 2020

The issue is you don't have a lot of available air space for an enclosure in a single cab. I run two Rockford Fosgate P3SD412 shallow mount 12"s in a sealed box (.75 cu/ft per woofer) behind the seats in my single cab, powered by a 90's Lanzar OptiDrive 2500 which is pushing around 500W to each woofer. It'll get very loud and plays very clean, but I'd compare my sub setup to a single standard 12" sub in a decent larger vented enclosure as far as peak output. If you want a lot of bass my advice would be to save up for the best woofers and amp that you can afford, nicer equipment will make up for the smaller enclosure size to an extent. Look for stuff that plays low (like below 25hz if possible) in the frequency response range, low THD, and shallow woofers rated for use with small sealed enclosures.

If I were going to rebuild my same system with stuff that's new on the market today I'd do it with Alpine SWR-T12 woofers and an AudioControl LC1.1500 amp. That's what I would consider to be the "best" available shallow sub setup for a single cab. That's $1500 in parts not including the enclosure or anything involving the head unit or interior speakers though.

Side note... From the perspective of someone who put many systems together when I was around your age, I'd recommend against doing it if you plan on keeping your truck for a long time. I built the system in my red truck when I was around 18-20 and it's been a lot of fun, but now I'm older and I really wish I had that one extra click of seat base adjustment back and I have a few holes I regret drilling in the cab. A lot of people (myself included) tend to grow out of the car audio scene. You may be happier in the long run with just a nice set of interior speakers and a good head unit. I know I would be at this point. I'm planning on ripping everything out and going back to that point in the near future.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Quarantine has got me stir crazy. If you have a set budget I can try and recommend some more specific parts in your range.

redneck_nick_z71 · Apr 1, 2020

RawbDidIt said:
You can buy used. Depends on your budget. Best you're going to get for under $500 new is going to be 2 12" shallow subs in box and a decent amp, maybe 500W total which really isn't all that bad in a small cab like yours. If you're looking for used, I've got a set of 10" kicker subs with amp I've been looking to get rid of. You can have it all for $100 plus shipping

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

So you think two skar vd-12’s and a skar 1200w is too much?

redneck_nick_z71 · Apr 1, 2020

RawbDidIt said:
You can buy used. Depends on your budget. Best you're going to get for under $500 new is going to be 2 12" shallow subs in box and a decent amp, maybe 500W total which really isn't all that bad in a small cab like yours. If you're looking for used, I've got a set of 10" kicker subs with amp I've been looking to get rid of. You can have it all for $100 plus shipping

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

So you think two skar vd-12’s and a skar 1200w is too much?

df2x4 said:
The issue is you don't have a lot of available air space for an enclosure in a single cab. I run two Rockford Fosgate P3SD412 shallow mount 12"s in a sealed box (.75 cu/ft per woofer) behind the seats in my single cab, powered by a 90's Lanzar OptiDrive 2500 which is pushing around 500W to each woofer. It'll get very loud and plays very clean, but I'd compare my sub setup to a single standard 12" sub in a decent larger vented enclosure as far as peak output. If you want a lot of bass my advice would be to save up for the best woofers and amp that you can afford, nicer equipment will make up for the smaller enclosure size to an extent. Look for stuff that plays low (like below 25hz if possible) in the frequency response range, low THD, and shallow woofers rated for use with small sealed enclosures.

If I were going to rebuild my same system with stuff that's new on the market today I'd do it with Alpine SWR-T12 woofers and an AudioControl LC1.1500 amp. That's what I would consider to be the "best" available shallow sub setup for a single cab. That's $1500 in parts not including the enclosure or anything involving the head unit or interior speakers though.

Side note... From the perspective of someone who put many systems together when I was around your age, I'd recommend against doing it if you plan on keeping your truck for a long time. I built the system in my red truck when I was around 18-20 and it's been a lot of fun, but now I'm older and I really wish I had that one extra click of seat base adjustment back and I have a few holes I regret drilling in the cab. A lot of people (myself included) tend to grow out of the car audio scene. You may be happier in the long run with just a nice set of interior speakers and a good head unit. I know I would be at this point. I'm planning on ripping everything out and going back to that point in the near future.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Quarantine has got me stir crazy. If you have a set budget I can try and recommend some more specific parts in your range.

I was looking at 2 skar vd-12’s and a skar 1200w amp. I don’t mind putting it in my truck. I like loud, I already cut off the mufflers lol. I don’t mind about the seat adjustment either, I can get in anything and drive it without worrying about the seat. If I do keep it for a while it would just be a mess around vehicle. The plan is to keep this and get a Cummins in the future, but I can only dream and make it happen lol.

WILWAXU · Apr 2, 2020

I used one of these
https://phoenixgold.com/catalog/enclosures/8-slim-active-bass-enclosure

It won't rock the neighborhood, but sounds good inside the cab.

cngodfather · Apr 3, 2020

Years back I made a sub box for his gmt400 single cab. The box was built with 4 10" subs in a row. It was a single box that spanned the length of the seats. It was shaped to fit the space. I agree with df2x4 that you should buy the best equipment that you can afford. It will definitely help with sound quality and output level. A sealed box will also help. Find out the volume of the box that you are going to make and divide that by the number of subs. Then you subtract the amount of space that the sub will displace. You then need to use that amount of volume and the dimensions available to determine which subs will work in your setup.

digdug18 · Apr 6, 2020

You could also raise or move the bench seat forward if you’re looking for more space, though that will depend on how tall/fat you are. I’m 6’4” and barely fit into a single cab as it is, so I wouldn’t move the bench. But I’ve done so in other cars to make room for an amp.

Are you looking for just raw bass, SPL or both? 2, 12’a do sound great and move a lot of air, but you could also use 4-6, 6” drivers for more SPL, but that depends what you’re going for.

I’ve seen people build custom tuned L-shaped e closures that place a port under the seat and the drivers facing the sides, with 3’ ports tuned to 30 that do sound amazing.

another option would be to build a box into a tool box that lives in the bed of your truck, though you’d have to modify it to not rattle. In that configuration I’d point the drivers down toward the bed, which would bounce the sound into the bed. I haven’t tried this myself yet, but if you set up a 3-way in the tool box, I’d imagine it would be loud AF.

Kran · Apr 6, 2020

depends on your price point.

im a fan of sundown audio. i have the SD4 series in my ford focus daily driver. the 10s are 4.5" deep and 12s are 5" deep. both rated for 600rms per, but they underrate all their equipment. box specs can be found if you google Sundown Audio SD4. or if you want a less pricey option, the previous generation SD3 series. SD series is designed specifically for small sealed enclosures.

im not really sure how much space there is in a single cab, but you should be able to find some decent boxes online that would fit the single cab specifically, so long as they don't cost like $100. unless you want to build your own which would be fine.

soundqubed makes good amplifiers as well. 850rms amp from them is $160.

i enjoy sundown audio's subwoofer lineup due to there being actual in-house R&D. skar attemps to copy all their speaker designs but i wont get into all that lol. skar amps are more than fine as most internet audio brands just use the same catalog parts, utilizing the same china or korean factories.

do NOT try to cram more sub into less space. you would be surprised the difference having a properly spec'd enclosure can do, versus cramming as many speakers as you can.

Realslimshady · Apr 6, 2020

I'm running the skar but mine r 10s. Theres just not enough air volume to really get the full potential out of those 12s I dont think. I'm also 16 and I'm jamming w my setup. This is what I did with mine built the box and everything paid abt 220 for the sub and amp. Hope this helps :biggrin:

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Subs for single cab

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