I have used Elemental designs 9kv2s before and they sound at least like a ten. had a single driver off of an alpine mrp 350 and it sounded real nice

 

yea I bet those 2 12" infinity kappa's that we installed in my truck would blow apart some 8's...

 

Definitely, not to mention having a fuller and deeper sound.

 

Lol I didn't want to be the ******* to say it, but I agree with ya Scott.

That isn't what she said. Sure she'll be pleased for a little while, but in the end you'll just leave her wanting more.

 

I've seen legal150's on the dash with 8's.

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Too many throw misunderstandings thinking 8's are less equivalant than maybe a 10". Sure, Sd plays a part in more output, but 8's can get pretty dang loud, when installed correctly.

A well placed 8" will outperform a 12" shoved in too small of a box.

 

Well obviously, but why sit around and play the what if game.

All other things equal, a larger speaker is going to be louder

 

not always true.

Power, amplifier, enclosure are more dependant that sheer woofer wise.

a 12" stuffed into a 1.0 sealed box will have less output that an 8", if it was designed to play in a larger enclosure. Parameters of the speaker is what helps determine how the woofer should be set up, generally pointing towards a sealed application or ported, and how large to reach maximum output performance.

 

Yes, and I'm sure most people know and understand that. But most 8" subs do suck, with very few that can actually handle a decent amount of power and produce a good amount of bass. Stepping up to 10"s allows you to have that same amount of bass output without having to spend as much money on a higher end speaker, and so on with 12"s.

Of course the box and amp play a huge part in the game, that's a given. I have heard MANY MANY MANY better sounding systems with 12s, and I have heard just as many sorry excuses for systems with 8s, even with a custom box set up to specs for each sub with a decent amp. If you just want a little bass and never listen to your music past half volume than 8s might be alright. But for the regular guy (not the guy wanting to spend 3 or 4 hundred dollars on speakers) a 12" sub is almost always going to be the loudest and best bang for the buck assuming the rest of the setup is done properly.

Vehicle type and box location/direction also plays a huge part in sound levels and how the subs can push air, but we're not even going to get into that one.

 

He isn't talking about squeezing the max amount of volume out of 50 watts....in which case an 8" would probably be optimal. He is talking about throwing a ton of power at multiple 8s. So for sheer volume, in a box designed to maximize output, 2 12s will always put out more than 4 8s. Just do a little math; the surface area of 4 8s is smaller than that of 2 12s. As Scott said, all other things being equal, including being in an enclosure well designed for the speakers they sit in, the larger speaker will be louder.

But all that aside, why not just build a system that sounds good instead of being just loud? I've got 2 10s in my truck and they sound amazing

 

I've got 2 10s in my truck as well, @ ~600 watts RMS. But unfortunately I think one of them is on it's way out after years of abuse. Unfortunately it's hard to hear speaker distortion as much with a downfire box under a seat, so the speakers really take a beating sometimes and you aren't aware they're being overdriven.