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Face it: making decisions is tough. Car audio equipment decisions are no exception. Deciding on a 12 inch woofer is tough since the market is downright flooded with options.
Luckily for us, we live in the future and we have the opinions of seasoned hobbyists from around the world posting their experiences to youtube, to help guide our decision making.
Enter HiFiVega, a car audio youtuber who's been in this hobby longer than a lot of the young bangers out there have been alive. His opinions, observations, and his testing methods carry some weight in our community. In these two videos, he is putting five quality budget 12 inch subwoofers to the test to determine which $150 subwoofer will deliver the goods.
First Video - Introducing the Subwoofers!
In the first video, HiFiVega details his test enclosure and lists the five subwoofer drivers. He then goes over each subwoofer's general specifications (such as magnet weight, mounting depth, power handling, and xmax) and then weighs the subwoofer driver.
He concludes part one with a teaser of part 2, where he's measuring the voice coil temperature of a subwoofer playing music.
- Cadence UltraDrive UD12
- Sundown E-12
- Check Amazon for current pricing and availability!
- Check out the Sundown EV3 12 D2 12 inch subwoofer box designs on Subwoofer.Tools!
- Resilient Sounds RS12
- Check Amazon for current pricing and availability!
- Check out Resilient Sounds RS12 12 inch subwoofer box designs on Subwoofer.Tools!
- Savard Rap 12 Version 2
- Check Amazon for current pricing and availability!
- Check out Savard Rap 12 D2V2 12 inch subwoofer box designs on Subwoofer.Tools!
- Rockville K9 12 Version 2
He's using a Taramps 1800 amplifier to send a signal to each woofer.
Second Video - Putting the Subwoofers through their paces
In the follow-up video, HiFiVega puts each woofer to the test. These are his test parameters:
- SPL at 550w RMS
- Peak temperature during a 1 minute sine wave at one-half RMS power rating
- Peak temperature on RMS power on music
After the tests, HiFiVega discusses his caveats and thoughts, and then explains the winner in each category. He goes over the data from each test, and then awards the best in these three categories:
- Most Likely to Survive
- Best Sounding Subwoofer
- Best Overall Value
Finally: HiFiVega has posted a challenge. When the second video reaches 5000 views or 500 likes, he will perform a full rms 5 minute test video on the woofers. And he will give one of them away! So click through and give it a view and give it a like!
If HiFiVega makes that third video, I'll edit this post to include it!
So please, go watch the videos!
