Are Subs Chav? Boyracer? Scally? Townie? etc...?

[Shilakadaddy 0]

I'm in a bit of a quandry...

 

About 6 months ago I bought 2 Viper d1200.1 amps (1200W RMS each) second hand off talkaudio, with the intention to use them with 2 RE SX12 subs. At the time however I didn't have enough money to buy all the equipment, therefore I only bought one of the subs, and only used one of the amps (the other one just sits in my wardrobe).

 

Now I've always liked listening to music in the car, and ever since I learned to drive, loved the feeling of loud bass... and so as far as car audio was concerned, I've always been more interested in the SPL side of things over SQ.

 

As I get older however (still only 19, lol), I'm very concious of not being thought of as a boy racer... as that tends to be the stigma attached to pretty much any young driver. And so with anything related to my car I want to minimise the strength of that opinion when modifying (I know the obvious way to do this would be to keep the car standard, however I'd rather enjoy my car more and be thought of as a boy racer, than simply driving in a standard car.... the key is finding a happy medium)

 

So back to the question: Are Subs Chav? Boyracer? Scally? Townie? etc...?

 

I don't know whether to get another sub, and possibly feel too embarrassed to ever listen to it on a high volume, therefore defeating the object of getting it. OR sell my spare amp, and spend the money on something else... still keeping the single sub setup which I have at the moment, which is ok.

 

What would you do? Is there anyone else on the forum that likes SPL? Or even people that have had the same kind of worry when doing something else related to other areas of modifying?

 

Cheers, Chris

[Rob_B 0]

put the other sub and amp in! if you enjoy listening to your music and you want more bass then put it in. i wouldnt worry too much about what other people think of it. at the end of the day i dont see myself as a boyracer and certainly not a chav and i am only 20. ive got a sub and amp and play my music loud as i enjoy it. i dont think you can be seen as a boyracer as you have a decent car. if you owned a nova/fiesta/saxo or similar crap cars then u could and probably would be seen as a boyracer!

that is my humble opinion anyhow

[JBOB 0]

If everybody thought "what are people gonna call me if i have this/that on my car" then we wouldn’t have so many fantastic looking individual cars out there. I say if you want subs then have them, I dont think there chav etc both my g/f and i have subs/amps in the boot cos we like music and want to get the best out of it :D

Just make sure its done right cos ive seen some really bad things on Talk Audio :lol:

[Slimbo 0]

Subs are only chav if all you can hear is them thumping, a good quality set up should ensure that subs enhance the sound of the music.

[The Hub 0]

I agree with the points above, but you mention the sound in your car sounds good enough, so why bother with the second amp and sub when the money could maybe be spent on something your car needs more.

On the other hand if you think you need to improve the sound I would add the amp and sub and to hell with what others think, if it's good quality then it's certainly not Chav :multi:

[Shilakadaddy 0]

Cheers guys, I was actually expecting everyone to say "yes they are..." lol :lol:

 

Its a shame that I'm actually bothered what other people think... But I do certainly value other Corrado owners opinions. Knowing that owning a big ICE system is not seen as Chav actually makes this decision harder.. as now its question of whether or not the £500 extra is worth it :oops: Either way I have more important things to spend my money on at the moment, so I'll keep the spare amp for now and wait until I'm wanting to spend some more money on something else before deciding whether to sell it or keep it :)

 

Chris

[dinkus 10]

Subs are only chav if...

 

They're pumping out crap tunes

They're horribly distorted

The whole car rattles with every beat

You have a nos canister shaped one on the parcel shelf :roll: :lol:

[JBOB 0]

You have a nos canister shaped one on the parcel shelf :roll: :lol:

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[pablo_vr6 0]

if you intend to compete then not chav at all.

 

if you want it for sounds then its TOOOOO much and therefore chav ;)

 

1kw is enough subbage for any man lol!!

[Cannondale99 0]

No, it isn't.

 

I think it's really based on how you use your subs.

 

As Pablo has mentioned above, if you compete in IASCA, or if you have an SQ (sound quality) system, then it basically means you're buying equipment as you appreciate music.

 

In my opinion anyway.

[chrishill 0]

IMO they're only chav if you're going to use them to try and attract attention to yourself, if you're doing it for the music then go for it! if your musical tastes include music that is bass heavy then obviously you'll want to enhance that aspect of your system and theres nothing wrong with that in my eyes.

[pablo_vr6 0]

2.4kw for musical reproduction tho is way OTT. I hope you plan to buy a couple of optimas and 200A alternator too ;)

[Cannondale99 0]

2.4kw for musical reproduction tho is way OTT. I hope you plan to buy a couple of optimas and 200A alternator too ;)

 

Agreed, unless most of the power is driving an active front end :wink:

 

I've got just over 1000w rms in six channels (2 x 100 for tweeters, 2 x 100 for mids, and 2 x 300 for midbass).

 

You can't beat a good amount of headroom :lol:

[pablo_vr6 0]

certainly not ;)

[Shilakadaddy 0]

I never really thought about competing tbh.. I just really like bass :lol: I certainly don't like attracting attention with it tho, I only ever listen to higher volumes when driving on a dual carriage way or motorway... and always turn my music down or off when in residential areas.

 

As for having too much... I dunno really. I was gonna be running the two subs in sealed boxes, i know that kinda defeats the object of going for SPL, however I decided that I wanted to have a nice looking install, plus I prefer the sound of a sealed over ported boxes.. I was simply aiming for a good streat bass system.

 

I'd kinda forgotten about having to uprate the power side of things :( Thats actually quite a major factor in this whole thing. And I can't help but think about the weight.. I've got a tuned G60 that I'm gonna make heavy and therefore slower with all this stuff :? :roll:

 

The more I think about this, the more I'm thinking I should just try to get the most out of what I've already got... pablo and Cannondale, you're from talkaudio... Does EFMax still make custom boxes? :wink:

[Cannondale99 0]

I wouldn't fill the boot with an awesome amount of subs.

 

If it were me, and you want to go for something out of the RE range (good choice), I would go for a single XXX-12. I used to own an XXX-15 in a sealed box, and it hit hard. It was powered by a single DLS A6 monoblock, and there was certainly enough bass there for me......

 

Last time I knew, Erskine was still making boxes, yes. Better get in touch with him to make sure, though....

[pablo_vr6 0]

2.4kw is a lot of juice which is gonna suck performance thru weight and electrical load.

 

do one sub in a trick fibreglass ported box. keep the weight down and the port *should* get you the same kind of volume as with the sealed boxes. slightly different sound but you wont notice as your organs will be vibrating ;)

 

saying that 1.2kw into a sealed box should still pound!!

 

Erskine is still in the business afaik and should be able to sort you something out if you decide to go for sealed.

[Shilakadaddy 0]

yeah I used to own a XXX 12 powered with the RE35.1D when I had a 306.. it was very loud at one point when I built a ported box for it (shown in the pic attached). Strangely enough I based the ICE layout on a similar one I'd seen in a Corrado... didn't even notice what car it was back then.

 

I would have gone for the XXX again, however the 2 of the SX line appealed more.

 

You guys have almost convinced me to just stick with what I've got... I'm not sure its worth all the hassle and cost just to have another sub in the car (I can't be bothered to build ANOTHER box either :lol: ) I'll still have to make it look all nice tho :)

 

Thanks for the advice :wink:

[JBOB 0]

I think everybody should have one of these :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Shilakadaddy 0]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Are subs chav? Far from it. Bass is the most important frequency in any music, unless chamber music is your bag ... it's the meat in the sandwich so to speak. Having no bass is like watching T Rex stomp onto the screen in Jurassic Park on an Alba 14" portable. It's just plain wrong.

 

Chavvy bass is inappropriate bass. That is to say the ICE dominates the car (often a small hatch not made to carry such weight) and the bass completely drowns out the rest of the music.....and they use cheap class D amps (bigger bang per buck) and natty 15" subs with foam surrounds that tear through the excessive cone excursion from being in a completely inappropriate cabinet.....or free air sat on the OE parcel shelf.

 

And as already mentioned, chavs blast Eminem or something like that at full chat in McDonalds car parks to impress their fellow burberry compatriots and school girls.

 

There's nowt wrong with chunky bass, just enjoy it when on a drive and don't draw attention to yourself in urban areas, or it'll all get nicked.

 

And yes, 2.4KW is plain ridiculous unless you're competing in SPL sound offs. For one thing, the Corrado boot will not like you for it and neither will the spoiler, which rattles like a bar steward once you turn the bass up, and secondly, to need over 2000 watts to get the bass you want highlights a poor box design / sub choice. The bass speaker up to a certain price range becomes irrelevant..... you can pay £400 for a Lotus Sub or double that for a Phase Linear Aliante Ltd edition- makes bugger all difference - it's all in the cabinet design.

 

At the moment I've just got two channels of my Genesis S3 4 ch bridged feeding the lotus ported 10" sub (about 250W RMS) and that quite happily massages my back side at moderate volumes with some serious 50Hz and below action. I think the Dual Mono I've got going in soon will be too much, will have to see :lol: