Decibel meter Accuracy

[Natsuru]

Alright, final question for you guys and i'll leave you alone

Is it possible, or even common to hit in the high 140s with a single 15" cheap sundown?

I was under the impression that it took several thousand watts to do such a thing

The enclosure wasn't even that amazing, just a simple ported box

[pa-pa-platypus]

depends on the vehicle and how well the enclosure is set up.... i've seen upper 40's and lower 50's with very cheap subs on not alotta power.. a simple ported boxes can have hundreds of hours of testing behind it to give amazing numbers

[Natsuru]

The vehicle with the sundowns was some kind of SUV with a... 3.5 ft^3 box or something tuned to 40hz I believe...

Reading through past threads on the forum, i'm rather flabbergasted by some of the stuff and numbers being posted

My setup (It's cheap, I don't care if it breaks, don't laugh), is 2 Boss Audio Chaos subwoofers in a cheap ported box, 2.8 ft^3 per sub, ported at 40hz, on a 1250W Power Acoustik BAMF (Around 600W RMS)

This is all in a VW Jetta with the seats down, box faced to the trunk (Takes up the whole damn trunk)

I know my stuff is really cheap (I'm more into home audio), but is it even feasible that I might be hitting over 130db?

I'm probably sounding like a complete car noobie right now, which I am, but I appreciate any input that you guys might be able to offer me

[Guest]

unless the numbers are from a termlab, the numbers mean nothing. the world standard for measuring spl (for stereos, at least) is through the termlab system.

[adam6604]

im like 90% sure you're over 130db, ive seen prefab kicker cvr's do atleast 128 lol, but anywho you can't tell what you're hitting without using a real meter, such as termlab. and Yes the cheaper sundown woofer could hit 150 im sure, you can make anything very loud with just the box design...granted, im sure that cheaper sundown woofer guy you gave as an example can't play music for crap. He is probably a 1 note wonder to hit such a high level. Stick around this site, you will learn A LOT more about this. with your 2 15's you could be hitting 132db for example, give it to someone experienced he may be able to break 145-150db with them. Knowledge is power.

[bighossf150]

unless the numbers are from a termlab, the numbers mean nothing. the world standard for measuring spl (for stereos, at least) is through the termlab system.

I have a spl labs meter, it might be a tl but Im willing to bet it is within .1db of one

[Natsuru]

I'm really surprised you guys haven't laughed at my cheap subwoofers and told me to leave

I really have to applaud all of you guys for your knowledge and kindness

Like I said, I normally only do home audio, so I don't really know very much about car audio, and I don't claim to know anything

I am happy to hear that I might not suck as much as the chinese meter told me I did

WIth that out of the way.... cheaper sundowns, 125$ on ebay, is this an actual good upgrade, or would I do better to just fix my box up?

Edited because of bad keyboard

[adam6604]

I would run the cheaper sundowns over boss any day! As long as you're just wanting to learn no one here should laugh at you, there is a ton of guys here that could give you any information you would ever need. Grab those 2 sundowns, get maybe an Audioque 750.1 ( I think the cheaper sundowns are like 300-400rms each... ) and that would be a good start! wouldn't need much electrical upgrades either.

[bighossf150]

I'm really surprised you guys have laughed at my cheap subwoofers and told me to leave

I really have to applaud all of you guys for your knowledge and kindness

Like I said, I normally only do home audio, so I don't really know very much about car audio, and I don't claim to know anything

I am happy to hear that I might not suck as much as the chinese meter told me I did

WIth that out of the way.... cheaper sundowns, 125$ on ebay, is this an actual good upgrade, or would I do better to just fix my box up?

its all attitude, no one will give you a hard time for having cheap stuff as long as your cool about it. The sundowns would be a huge upgrade over the boss' but I'd do the box and sundowns at the same time

[adam6604]

if you don't want to sell/buy new equipment, I would suggest sealing your enclosure off from the trunk since they are already firing forward as it is, you lose pressure threw the trunk. Using expanding foam/MDF to seal around the box.