Earthquake Car Audio?

[Tunerfreak]

I have noticed there are some quite cheap powerfull mono earthquake amplifiers around that are perfect for my application, but I have no expeience with earthquake.

From what I have heard they are designed with quality and do put out the rated power specified. What im looking for is a mono amp to put out 700-1000rms at 2 ohms for 2 subwoofers and have quality sharp bass response.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with earthquake or their amps? Becuase I don't want to dive in blind and find them to be just a cheap knockoff.

[steelsnake00]

Car audio is for the most part a waste of time anyway. The acoustic qualities of a metal box full of glass and foam are at best, terrible, and at worst, utterly useless. The best sound you will ever get from a car is from upgraded components and a decent head unit, amps and the like are great if you want people to hear you from about 200 yard away but sod all use if you want any audible quality and definition.

[boganbusman]

amps and the like are great if you want people to hear you from about 200 yard away but sod all use if you want any audible quality and definition.

With subs that is true, because people like to use subs that are way too big for what they need, but speakers definitely sound better when they are running off a good amp. This is mainly because you can't fit a decent amp inside a head unit.
What most people neglect is a proper installation, which should take up about one third to half of your budget.

Yes, car audio is a waste of money, but then so is everything else that we like doing to cars



As for 'Earthquake", I've never heard of them.

[Tunerfreak]

Put it this way, I have an amp for my front speakers and an amp for my rears and a good headunit so all my midrange and highs are already covered. I made a 93 litre sub box which fits perfectly and is a good size for 2 subs. I have one 1200w DVC Pioneer sub which isnt enough for the volume of the box and im getting a second one and need sonething to run them loud and clear to the max of their ablility. And im not changing the box before anyone asks lol.

As for the car not having good acoustic qualities, very true yet I use my car alot and it is the one place my neighbours cant come over and complain, thats just a portion of the reason.

Anyway the thread was designed with a slightly different topic in mind but I still enjoy reading your views on car audio. Thanks for your replies.

[Koenigsegg_Rox]

2 subs? One PUNCH in SIC EM was enough to rattle your kidneys.....oh well, each to their own.

[steelsnake00]

2 subs? One PUNCH in SIC EM was enough to rattle your kidneys.....oh well, each to their own.

Car audio is for the most part a waste of time. You are better off sound proofing a room of your house and then deafening yourself with badly distorted bass noise.

Cheaper, too.


I'm all for a few modifications to improve clarity, tone and definition, but cars filled with subs just make me thing "tosser".

[Koenigsegg_Rox]

I totally agree. And so does my mum, which is why only one sub was necessary...unlike those w***ers in their VT Commodores...

[Tunerfreak]

A subwoofer is a woofer, or a complete loudspeaker dedicated to the reproduction of bass audio frequencies, from perhaps 150 Hz down as far as 20 Hz, or in rare cases lower. Subwoofers, also known as "subs", are used to augment the low frequency performance of main loudspeakers. Subwoofers are constructed by mounting one or more woofers typically between 8" and 21" in diameter in a well-braced wood or plastic cabinet.

So they can be argued to be for clarity and tone becuase of the reproduction of low frequencies speakers struggle to provide especially at high volumes, and when they do it interferes with the speakers clarity. My main use for them is I do use high volumes often and mostly when in the car because A) neighbours (especially parents) can't complain B) I use my car alot C) My room already has a good audio system and most of it is actually car audio due to the increased power handling and I belive clarity of some car audio brands supasses home audio and its a hell of alot cheaper.

Now the reason for two subs, as I expalined I custom made a box to fit perectly in the boot and it ended up being 93 litres. My sub is designed for 40-50 litres thus the output frequencys are too low and mid bass has suffered in clarity and strength. I have decided im not changing the box so the easiest solution is to add another subwoofer to make use of the rest of the box size and it will push more air requiring less power and less strain on my cars charging/ audio system. When matched with the right amp clarity will be inceased and output power will soar in case I ever need to use it (To shame my friends lol). Besides the wow affect on some people is always good.

Subwoofers only distort if you have a bad amplifier, have bad settings, overpower them, or if the subwoofer are in bad condition etc. When a subwoofer is set up properly it gives out strong sharp bass and dosent fluctuate and distort on complex songs (E.g. Rock music) It isnt evident as a box in the boot it blends with the rest of the audio system and only really gives out power at high volumes to overcome the high trebble and need for bass from the speakers.

Just because you have a very powerful audio system in you car dosent mean you go driving around town blasting it to annoy people, one thing alot of people don't understand.

[steelsnake00]

Just because you have a very powerful audio system in you car dosent mean you go driving around town blasting it to annoy people, one thing alot of people don't understand.

The thing is you can get professional quality audio from a single amplifier and handfull of speakers. I'm something of an Audiophile, and the setup in my house is worth a fair bit of money, but I digress.

The reason car audio is a waste of time, PARTICULARLY with bass reproduction, is no matter how big or powerful your subs are, the quality of the amps they are connected to and how careful the careful positioning of speakers is, it's still going to sound farking awful. Heres why.

Cars are metal- this itself is not a problem but you have to understand how many different pieces cars are made up of. These pieces are seperated by bolts, nuts, washers, rivets; basically anything that can and will vibrate loose with a high reverberation. Cars have significant ammounts of plastic in the interior- plastic is prone to vibration and to give distinctive "rattle" sounds if low frequency vibrations are passed through it. Then we have the glass- most door glass is of variable quality and isn't fitted securely into the doors- yet more things to rattle. The audio qualities of glass in comparison to the rest of the car tend to be quite high. Finally, theres the shape and filling of the car. Lots of plastic and metal to reflect or reverberate sound, lots of seats and padding to insulate it, lots of windows to leak it, a small area which makes ballancing bass tone and definition with overpowering volume almost impossible, lack of pre-amplification to really define the sound...I could go on all night.

Car audio is built with these facts in mind. It's far, far worse quality than home audio because cars aren't built to sound good, whereas rooms can be, and concrete and brick squares sparsely filled with objects have far better acousic qualities than a metal box full of glass and screws.

[boganbusman]

Tunerfreak, If you want to go nuts on your car audio then by all means go for it, but your logic defies me

[steelsnake00]

Tunerfreak, If you want to go nuts on your car audio then by all means go for it, but your logic defies me

It's the same logic as people who bolt massive tatty body kits onto cars- they think it's cool and makes them look like they own a supercar, when in actual fact they look like a knob.

[Tunerfreak]

What your saying is true but im looking at getting the best bass I can IN MY CAR, whether is should or whether a car is an appropriate place is not the point, yes I am looking to go nuts on my car audio lol. My logic is only from my experiences and preferences, by all means ignore it. BTW I hate massive bodykits.

Anyway back to the question on Earthquake, ive found a bit more positive feedback on them, they don't sound as bad as I thought they might have.

[Carcrazy]

Truthfully, I try to stay with more established names, such as JL Audio, Rockford Fosgate (if you have a deep wallet lol,) Kicker, Alpine, etc....

[steelsnake00]

My E36 M3 was full of Rockford Fostgate and MB Quart components, with a Clarion head unit

Fantastic audi, well, for a car.

My home stereo setup is ~£10k. No joke.

[S2000_Skyline12]

You could try getting the Pioneer Primer or Alpine Type R subs, very good reviews from what I've seen and the Primers have good excursion too =)

[Koenigsegg_Rox]

I now actually know a bit about Earthquake after a quick trip into AutoBarn...

and last time I remember carcrazy, the Punch sub wasn't really that expensive, although the whole car audio set up cost AU$3000...most of that was from the headunit though.

I do agree though that the more well known brands like carcrazy said would probably be better quality, although the Earthquake subs do look cool.

[bashderq]

I also don't know much about sound systems and what not but I have noticed Earthquake systems being used in decibal drags, and they usually do well.

Just my two cents.