The Best Sub Under $300

Author's Rating:

Pros: Sound Quality, Performance

Cons: price, but maybe not!

Author's Review
My car, like most cars out on the road today, had a rather horrible stock sound system. So I decided to upgrade. Now many kids today, when they get subwoofers for their cars, don't care how it sounds, as long as it's loud. They want "thump". Audio manufacturers know this. They sell subwoofers that are really loud for cheap prices, letting every kid on your block wake you up at 3am when he passes by your house.

There's a tradeoff, however. These "bargain-basement" subs sound like, well, Epinions doesn't like the word so you can guess. Not that that's a problem to the kids, his dying eardrums can't tell the difference. But when you're interested in sound quality, you just can't stand the thought of having an inaccurate, horrible-sounding sub in your car.

Enter the Infinity Perfect 12.1. Infinity makes great car audio equipment, and they divide it into two classes: Reference and Kappa. The Reference is your everyday speaker, designed to replace stock systems that are lacking. The Kappa is the top-of-the-line speaker, competing with some of the best companies in the business.

Infinity makes 3 categories of subs, though. Reference, Kappa, and Kappa Perfect.

Guess which is the best one. Yup, it's the Perfect. The Perfect 12.1 MSRP is $350. Crutchfield (the leading car audio seller) sells on for $300, plus a box ($50 value).

Now $300 is a lot to spend on a sub, but you get a lot in return. Here's some stats:

Configuration: 12"
Power Handling: 350W RMS
Sensitivity: 96dB 2.83V/1m in car@40Hz
Frequency Response: 18 - 150Hz

An aluminum woofer cone is used, mounted to a precision die-cast aluminum basket using a high roll butyl surround. The basket is vented to provide additional cooling of the motor structure.

Mounting Depth: 6.5"

Maximized for performance in small sealed, vented, and bandpass enclosures. Check out the suggested Box and Parameter Sheet available for download.

Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms

Kappa Perfect truly bridges the gap between subwoofers intended for SPL and those intended for sound quality. If you're looking for a subwoofer that sounds great and hits hard, look no further.

Fs (Hz): 23.32

A huge flared, polished and vented polepiece is used to provide optimum cooling of the voice coil and minimize turbulence.

Qts: 0.44

14mm linear one-way excursion makes the Perfect10.1 ideal for high output applications.

Vas (liters): 83.28
Xmax (mm): 14.15
Levc@1kHz (mH): 3.05

I didn't buy my sub from Crutchfield, because if you simply go to eBay you can find it much cheap. Case in point- I paid a mere $170 for the sub, a box was $30 so I saved $100. Just something you might want to try incase $300 seems a lot to you.

Any, here are my first-hand experiences with this sub.

Sound
It rocks. I have it hooked up to a RF Punch 250a2, which is bridged so it puts out a decent 250w RMS. My sub is also in a sealed box, to maximize sound quality. It hits all the way down to 18hz. It's started to drive me nuts because no other sound systems have the quality and clarity of my car's. The bass isn't turned up loud and in-your-face, but its there, doing what it's supposed to by doing, accurately reproducing the recording. My dad has a 2000 Lexus ES300 with the premium Nakamichi option, and my system sounds better. I haven't heard any other sub that sounds as good as mine. I suggest you find someone who has one of these, and listen, because you'll be impressed.

Quality
It looks good, feels good, and I've heard nothing but good things about the Perfects. These are Infinity's top-of-the-line subs, and they treat them as such. On every review of these subs on the net ppl say nothing but positive things for them.

Well, there you have it. The best sub, IMHO, for under $300. And if you go the eBay route, $200. I would strongly urge checking this sub out, and prepare to be amazed.