That's why you don't buy Pioneer or Kenwood.

And Again and again he will not blow up a American bass like you guys blow up your Wal-Mart's pioneers,Kenwood,alpine... sorry to break it to you but there all junk...and you guys keep bashing the American bass..

FWI they sound waaay better than any of the brands you guys keep mentioning. Better quality too. ..why do you think they are $117 each for the tnt and other said subs are around $50,

So the audio q sq that was recommended is a off brand too? It's only $100... so since it's only $100 you think it will blow VS a Pioneer or Kenwood that is $50(you think Will last? )

A few of you guys know what your talking about but statements like it won't last because it's 100$ is just dumb.

The knowledge you are sharing is about the level of knowledge that you would receive at Wal-Mart. ..no offence, but if you think a American bass life won't outlast a pioneers warranty that's comical. ..and a American bass is a spl sub which can be rebuilt. .vs your Pioneer where IT will literally be a paper weight. ..

You have Internet do some research dam..use your eyes. If you know ANYTHING about subs you will know the American bass, sq,Orion,fi,RE,Memphis, blah blah blah are ALL crafted for competition, how many of your off the shelf Wal-Mart speaker are comp worthy? Right none.you would be laughed out of a comp with k Mart brands.

You guy are brand loyal to junk.. its like this..... you would rather eat nasty McDonald's because it's cheap and says McDonalds. And one time was good ...

When you can go get a better burger for cheaper anywhere else.it just won't say McDonalds. ..

Literaly hundreds of people in Wisconsin have systems from my sisters shop and they last years. Especialy American bass. So you don't know what your talking about. Again do a search. Learn what makes a sub work and then look at how a pioneer is built its not even equivalent to geo metro. Its put together to be economical and for people with low standard for bass . ..

We can go back and forth but until you have experienced hundreds of different system combos and do be many installs. .. I'm not claiming that I did anywhere near all the work at my sisters shop but I built enough boxes and amp racks there and spent enough time of my life dedicated to stereos I think I know brand quality, and your knowledge is laughable in the car stereo world.

The only thing your right about is the 6×9 thing. .which I already told the OP get 6.5 with dimes...

Not sure how Pioneer deals with outsourced sales..obviously you say they won't (clearly because there junk.
American bass will replace there subs no matter where you bought them.just have a receipt with purchase date...

Sonic is a wholesale that's why there cheap not because there fake or anything...

 

Wow, somebody really got their shorts in a knot over a perceived slight that was never said. Read my post again... I never said anything about American Bass and I only mentioned Pioneer and Kenwood in relation to their websites disclaiming any warranty on product sold by Sonic Electronix. I made no brand recommendations other than to avoid Pyle and Boss which I think you will agree is reasonable.

I was working with electronics and audio probably before you were born. You need to tone it down a bit or you will find yourself taking a forced vacation from this site.

 

I was responding to everybody's advise in name brand I wasn't directing that all toward you. I know you didn't say anything about American bass, but a lot of ppl did. And a lot are trying to dicuorage him when most don't even know what they are talking about.

I'm not going to go back and forth with everybody so I just wrote one reply to all..

Update... since you have lots of experience for years yo know the quality of main stream brands has went down significantly. ..bringing brands like American bass to the surface. . Wouldn't you agree?
And what do you think about the TNT vs some of the said subs.

 

It's just frustrating when the OP asks about sub info and more than half these guys just say.. you can't get a quality sub for $100 .but than they turn around and say there $60 pioneers are good...

The guy need help picking out a system because he dont know what he's looking at... and is looking for advise from experience. Which nobody has shared any other than trying to tell him he dont have enough money to sound decent... when in reality for $400 you can sound good.(assuming you do the install yourself) $400 is plenty for a sub and amp for a work car. He's not looking to blow the doors off,he just enjoys music like everybody else. ..only he wants little more bass than most people who are satisfied with a pioneer or Kenwood etc. .

 

No, I don't necessarily agree that the quality of the major brands has suffered in recent years. I think that perception comes from the fact that they have introduced more entry level (Walmart level) products to bring their names into the low end market. Those products sell because they have familiar brand names that even people without audio experience will recognize.

But that doesn't mean that their higher level products are any worse than they have been in the past. For example, Pioneer SuperTuner head units still have the best FM radio tuners on the market, Kenwood Excelon double-DIN DNX- and DDX- series head units are extremely good, Alpine SWX and SWR subs rank with some of the best in their price range. Granted, all those are much more expensive than what you'll find at the discount shops but my point is that the brand name quality is there just not so much in their low-end offerings. Sony might be the exception... I don't think their quality is what it used to be in any of their product lines.

I'm afraid I have no personal experience with American Bass or TNT but they get decent reviews and the specs look good so they are certainly worth considering.

 

I'm not go buy no wal mart subwoofer. NO WAY!!

 

who every said a 60 dollar pioneer was a good sub? no one in this thread did that I read, I know I sure didn't (hell in my book the only thing Pioneer that belongs in a car is there Headunits, I don't touch there amps and subs). like whitebird said even the name brands have crap in this entry level price range. I also agree that once in the 400+ range you can sound good but the OP has set a 200 budget for amp and sub which I feel is to low even adding another 100 would bring him up and just out of most of the entry level stuff.

I too have no experience with American Bass but I am suspicious of ALL brands entry level quality.

 

I agree. But I was referring to there entry level since that's what his price range is.even the quality of their higher end stuff has went down a little, less material,cheaper material, ... not all but most. ..combined that with the fact that the newer subs I.e American an bass, massive etc. All are advancing there subs which is good for comp, it makes them look even worse.

Excelon decks are super nice sound quality. Not so much for options. I have a 5 volt Excelon now and it is as good as the old school 8 volt eclipse deck which IMO is the best deck.

 

A tnt is not entry level, there entry level is a DX and is still better than Pioneer entry level. Way better.. he has roughly $200 for a sub and amp, tnt=$115 tarantula amp is like $120. That's 235 which is roughly $200... he knows he still needs a box, wires +CAP. Which will put him right around $400

 

are you seriously advising him to get a Capacitor, those things are the "snake oil" of the car audio world, you of all people on here (based on your claims of number of installs) should know that, caps just add another load the alternator has to recharge, in my experience with caps when I was younger I saw MORE headlight dimming after the install of a cap.

 

Thread is getting interesting. To be honest I was just go do a simple battery upgrade for extra cranking power but like I said I don't know what I'm talking about (audio). I know you can just slap in a speaker and a amp and have a system but I don't want that. I'm after my best bang for the buck. I'm kinda learning a lot more about speakers and amps as this thread continues. I appreciate all the comments and info I'm receiving here. I didn't know a capacitor could dim my headlights..... I need those headlights staying bright by me getting off at midnight at work.

 

Obviously it puts a extra load on the alternator. ..it's one more thing to charge...
But the load the cap takes off the alt by the amp relying on it to hold a charge is a great trade off. .. this is if he doesn't want to put a better battery in.
If he is replacing the battery with a nice new one the cap will not be needed. But he's buying a used geo..probably has a used battery. Since he's on a budget I recommended a cap VS a new battery to save money... but again if he needs a new Battery anyway I wouldn't bother with a cap as it wouldn't be needed. Were talking about a 1200 watt sub not a 3k watt.

 

personally I ALWAYS plan on replacing a battery with in the first 6 months of ownership on a used car, odds are it was neglected and if the car sat as an extra car for the previous owner it has likely gone bad from that anyway (I know that is what happened on my firebird, it still cranked the car everytime but after a few months of owning the car I was getting the "sweeping gauges" on the first crank after sitting all night). Either way new, better battery ALWAYS trumps the band-aid fix of a cap.

 

Well its a story behind the car. The car is actually the cleanest GEO I've seen around. It's a 97 Prizm with barely over 90k on the clock. The car stayed in a shed forever due to my boss being in the military (now retired) and being away for so long it's still in incredible shape. Everything works and functions well. The car was bought brand new by him and he have the paperwork to prove it. He wasn't go sell the car but after his daughter enrolled in college he needed some money to help her out so it's mine now and by me doing a little tig welding for him on the side the car is basically gave to me.

 

I missed this the first time around...

I did not say that Sonic Electronix was selling fake or knock-off products. I said they were selling grey market products. Grey market is the practice of selling products in the US that were destined for another market such as Europe or Asia. The products are much cheaper for a variety of reasons such as the far less stringent consumer protection laws overseas, packaging and warranty differences, missing certifications (UL Listing in the US, CSA approval in Canada) and even simple things like currency exchange rates. They are genuine products from the manufacturer as claimed (although they sometimes don't have exactly the same specs as the US equivalent) but the manufacturer did not intend for them to be sold in this country so they will not honor any warranty.

There is nothing illegal about grey market selling although not advising the consumer is perhaps somewhat unethical. As long as you understand what you're buying and don't mind getting no factory warranty, you might find the savings worthwhile. Personally I prefer to pay a little more to get the proper product intended for sale in the US and backed by a warranty. YMMV.

EDIT: One other thing to consider... suppose you install an amp from them and it happens to overheat and cause a fire in your car. If the insurance company finds out the amp was not UL Listed, they will not cover any repair costs and you'd be on the hook for fixing the damage.

 

Is sonic electronics the only "Grey market" place it is ?

I did some more digging get up on my budget for the sub and cane up with some more.

Focal Performance P30
MTX 3512-02
Cerwin-Vega H4124D
Image Dynamics ID12 D2 V.3
Pioneer TS-W31154 champion
Power acoustik Gothic W3-12
Sound Ordance M2-12 DVC
American Bass DX 124
Alpine SWS-12 D4

 

Yeah that would suck lol. I've never orderd anything through sonic, probably never will either. Audio q which is now SQ has there stuff on sale through Xmas through them directly, and they have a pretty decent 12 for $95.. after thinking about what you just said that would be my choice.

 

All I can say is if I didn't know what I was looking for as far as a sub and amp combo, I would not have gotten the answer in these 3 pages

 

well if it was a year ago and your budget was 300 I would have said an Autotek M2500.1D amp and Planet Audio BB212D 12" sub, the amp is FAR over rated in terms of the power it claims to put out but will NEVER run hot, for that low price point they would be a great options and well suited for each other and would give you a great bang for your buck, but they are both discontinued now so finding a new one is hard.

 

Well before I start pulling triggers on the system I have in between now a January to make the selection of the sub (mainly) and a amp to power to it.