Dysentery4You

Thanks for the advice all, ordered a Sundown e12, felt like the right combination of excursion, cost, reputation and power handling.

in his case I believe used equipment is his friend. its hard to be on such a tight budget and get impressive gear.craigslist ftw! Considering my experience with used woofers, I really want to buy new. Also, this is not a "save up until I can afford something better" situation. I'm just setting a strict budget for myself to limit my total system cost. I'm only pushing 500 watts so I'm not in the market for a $300 sub.I wasn't insinuating that you couldn't afford a new sub, just sayin a used one might be more up your alley. if you listen to the sub and take it out of the box and check everything over then its really hard to get a bad deal on a used sub.. I hear you, it's just that people typically tell you to save up for the best whenever you talk about buying on a budget. Speaking of which...B-Stock Sundown SA12 vs refurbished Kicker L7 12", same price (160ish). Which would you go for?

I did everything you're supposed to do- gains cranked fully clockwise as far as they would go, bass boost on tape deck at +10, and fuses on amp replaced with jumper bars. I even broke the sub in with 110volt AC current. Not sure why I'm getting the blame for this. . . . . And. . . . Wait, what?! LOL, good catch I'm fooling, no tape deck, gain on amp is set properly, no AC current., etc. Wow, do people really do stuff like that?

Don't eliminate or purchase a sub because of one spec. I'm just a little gunshy about power ratings since Polk denies warranty claims if you gave the amp more than it's max RMS power,which I did. I'm not one to lie to the manufacturer...I mean, I knew I was giving the Polk more power than what it was rated for. I'd just prefer to use something rated higher than my amp to preserve warranty coverage.

I did everything you're supposed to do- gains cranked fully clockwise as far as they would go, bass boost on tape deck at +10, and fuses on amp replaced with jumper bars. I even broke the sub in with 110volt AC current. Not sure why I'm getting the blame for this.

I want to keep my sealed enclosure as it is a custom wall in the front of my trunk which doesnt intrude into the trunk space and preserves access to the spare tire. I never considered SSA because the dcon had too low of a power rating and the gcon was too expensive.

in his case I believe used equipment is his friend. its hard to be on such a tight budget and get impressive gear. craigslist ftw! Considering my experience with used woofers, I really want to buy new. Also, this is not a "save up until I can afford something better" situation. I'm just setting a strict budget for myself to limit my total system cost. I'm only pushing 500 watts so I'm not in the market for a $300 sub.

Hello all, My current system consists of all Kicker mids/highs in an '04 Accord. I have an Alpine MRV-M500 at 2 ohms connected to a Polk DXi DVC 12" in a sealed, rear-firing custom enclosure that measures around 1 cu ft (maybe a little more). Listen to all kinds of music, love heavy bass but am realistic with expectations from only 500 watts. I smoked the voice coil on the Polk within 4 months of installing it. It was rated for 360 watts rms and I got it in a Best Buy deal of the day sale for $40, so no big loss. I'm searching for a 4ohm dvc sub that will easily handle 500 watts from the Alpine sub amp without burning another voice coil AND will be happy in that small sealed enclosure of around a cubic foot AND won't break my budget. I'd really like to spend less than $100, but would consider going up to $160, which is what I can get a scratch & dent SA-12 for. Here's what I've been considering so far: Sundown E-series 12" in 4 ohm DVCSoundqubed HDS12 (LOVE the cost although I hear they're not happy in small, sealed enclosures)American Bass XD 12Power Acoustik MOFO 12 (seems kind of cheesy but curious if anyone's used it)Soundstream Rubicon 124Alpine Type SFosgate Punch Stage 3Sundown SA-12 (very top end of cost spectrum)So, which would be my best boom for my buck? Any other brands I should consider?