Good shallow-mount sub?

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by Alien Mantis

I would avoid buying a used one.

You never really know how hard it was abused, or if the voice coil has been warped due to misuse.

Also, speakers deteriorate in the outside environment.
I seen suspensions that crumble just by touching them.

Buy new, and don't look back.

as long as the sub was made in the past ten... or even 20 years... the surround or spider should not "crumble"... Sure... a 40+ year old speaker made in the 70's or before is likely to do that, but materials have changed since then.

[Alien Mantis]

Originally Posted by talnlnky

as long as the sub was made in the past ten... or even 20 years... the surround or spider should not "crumble"... Sure... a 40+ year old speaker made in the 70's or before is likely to do that, but materials have changed since then.

I was referring to a pair of Earthquake subs that were made back in the mid 90's. The surrounds were shot on both of them. No doubt, mostly from the heat. We have hot summers out here, and it gets really hot inside a vehicle.

Most people buy subs to play them HARD.
Nobody puts subs and amps in their vehicle to play their music at 80db's.
We like to crank it up and rattle the windows!

A top quality sub, in the correct enclosure, with the correct amount of power pushing it, with a properly adjusted amp gain setting and a clean signal, can certainly live happily for a long time. And buying one of these "used" would not be a problem.

But how many times have we seen people violate the "code of car audio ethics" ?
Can I have any faith in how this "used" sub has been treated over it's period of service?

I say NO.
My money is on a new one, and let ME be the first person to enjoy the new sounds coming from a fresh speaker!

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by Alien Mantis

I was referring to a pair of Earthquake subs that were made back in the mid 90's. The surrounds were shot on both of them. No doubt, mostly from the heat. We have hot summers out here, and it gets really hot inside a vehicle.

Most people buy subs to play them HARD.
Nobody puts subs and amps in their vehicle to play their music at 80db's.
We like to crank it up and rattle the windows!

A top quality sub, in the correct enclosure, with the correct amount of power pushing it, with a properly adjusted amp gain setting and a clean signal, can certainly live happily for a long time. And buying one of these "used" would not be a problem.

But how many times have we seen people violate the "code of car audio ethics" ?
Can I have any faith in how this "used" sub has been treated over it's period of service?

I say NO.
My money is on a new one, and let ME be the first person to enjoy the new sounds coming from a fresh speaker!

buy used online from people who frequent the same car audio forums as yourself... if you recognize them, and they are contributing regulars to the forum... then most likely you'll be good to go.

If you buy used in person... bring a DMM, check the DCR of the coil(s) to make sure it's not all funky, DCR will always be around 15% below the Nominal value (4ohm will often become 3.6 ohm, maybe a bit lower)
You can also push slowly on the cone to feel the stroke of the sub, do you hear any crunching, or nonlinear resistance that might be evidenced of a voice coil unwrapping. It also allows you to check the spider, to see if the spider is torn. Also check the Tinsel leads to make sure they don't look worn. A worn tinsel lead is a huge indicator of an abused sub (due to mechanical limits being pushed).

I've bought used speakers, and don't recommend it to everyone, but do recommend it to people looking to cut costs down, especially with high end subs. Sometimes you can buy a blown high end sub for under $200, and then have it repaired... end up paying less than $300 and get yourself a $500+ value sub which has brand new moving parts, and is basically BRAND NEW, minus the scratches you see. Gotta be careful though, its mainly only the subs that have cast aluminum baskets, and cost more than $200 that can be reconed.

[DFA]

Went to take a look at the RF today, the thing sounds great, has a couple of dings on the outer (decorative) metal rim, but it's nothing I can't live with (especially since I'll be putting this under the spare tire cover).
I'm really happy with how it sounds, took it off the guy's hands and brought it home, cleaned the dust off of it, then realized the box is crap, I'll go grab some 3/4" MDF and build me a better box a couple of weeks from now. The two coils wired in parallel have a beautiful impedance of 2.01ohm and the cone moves freely, so voice coils are in good shape.

Thanks everyone for the advice! especially goku for that sexy sexy chart. I beleive it's something you should share with everyone once it's ready.

Now, on to raking up some extra cash to get an amp to actually move this thing.