Extreme Car Audio

In any car audio system, the subwoofer must absolutely be present. It might not sound important at first, but if you remove the subwoofer component, there's no bass left. A subwoofer by definition is a loudspeaker dedicated to producing low frequency sounds. Have you ever heard the booming beat screaming from a car? That's the subwoofer at work. Of course, it's turned past what the average car owner would have it at.

The top companies you'll want to look for if you want to upgrade your car subwoofer are JL Audio, MTX Audio, and Kicker. These three are leading the car audio industry, all with early origins. JL Audio's W7 line is one of the most advanced and most powerful subwoofer lines available on the market (pricey, but well worth it if you care about the quality). MTX Audio has released an amazing 60-inch subwoofer that holds the record for the size. They also have the largest consumer subwoofer that measures at 22 inches. Kicker's L7 seems to be the best from the Kicker lineup, and there's no reason why it shouldn't be.

Cars usually carry their subwoofers in the trunk or back parts of the vehicle because of the lack of space. Subwoofers and their enclosures tend to take up more space than is expected. As such, fitting them into dashboards and doors is extremely difficult.

An interesting thing subwoofers are used for are volume competition, also known as SPL wars. SPL (sound pressure levels) get extremely high in these battles, and some companies decide to produce subwoofers geared extremely towards the SPL rather than the sound quality. Companies like JL Audio have focused on both SPL and sound quality, as shown in JL Audio's W7 series.

When installing a car stereo subwoofer, it sometimes requires modifications to the vehicle itself. Obviously, each car is built differently, and that includes the space allowed for upgrades/changes like the subwoofer. If you want to shoot for a larger one or one with a different shape (although mostly circular, some subwoofers are square), it's important to make sure you have the right size available; otherwise, its time to bust out tools to make it so that you have the right size.

Never assume that a smaller subwoofer is weaker. For example, JL Audio's 8-inch W7 subwoofer is more powerful than some 12-inch subwoofers from other companies. Because of this, you must always read reviews on the subwoofer you're looking at before buying it in case that smaller subwoofer is indeed weaker. If you keep with the more popular brands, though, you shouldn't have many problems, because these have been reviewed many times over and won't fail to deliver.