Audiobahn ALUM12N

the alum12n 12's

i have to of these ALUM12N in my 1996 caprice and my friends say that they can hear it a few blocks down the kick hard. inside the car its a nice crisp thump.

Great sub... so stop blowing them up!

I was a little leery of this sub due to half the reviews being poor... I have owned Audiobahn AW121T subs in the past and loved them, also a speaker to receive mixed reviews. Let me put it to rest once and for all... these speakers ROCK.

Bare in mind, this is not the case if you:
A> Under power them... RMS ratings are not light hearted suggestions, +/- 20% of the RMS wattage at the MOST is acceptable. Under-powering speakers is worse than overpowering them! I have a rated ~1000w rms in a 1.2cf box with poly fill and it's not even strained (and this is during BREAK-IN).
B> Don't break them in... breaking these subs in is definitely not optional.
C> Wire them wrong... this can wire down to a 1.5ohm load if you have 2 of them, if you're not running a class D amp, you'll have some issues.

As I mentioned I am running this sub in a sealed box and my goodness, the clarity is top notch. It's punchy, smooth, clear, and it still hits very low. Without a doubt the best value on the market today.

With less than 25% bass boost from my amplifier, I hit 122dB without trying too hard. That's with ONE of these little monsters. Don't let the price fool you, this is a top notch product. It looks great to boot! Picture do it no justice. Buy one and see for yourself!

Great subs

These are practically being given away at this price. Subs are an awesome blend of sound quality and SPL. I have one in a 2.0cf ported box tuned to 33 hz. It replaced an RE Audio SX12 (at over twice the price) which fried after a couple years.

The Alum12 sounds better, but doesn't get as loud at VERY low frequencies (less than 40hz). That's expected as it's half the size, and a fraction of the cost. The sound quality more than makes up for that, and the volume throughout the range of frequencies (30-80hz) is very balanced. The bass is accurate and tight even in a ported enclosure.

I don't think these are capable of 1000w RMS for long periods. If you can place fault on Audiobahn for anything, it's for overrating them. I have the one sub hooked to a Hifonics BXI1608D where it's getting about 825W RMS at 3 ohms and it's plenty for this sub. I don't play it as loud as it could go, because I think it's possible you could damage it at that power. I don't want to find out because I have a second sub waiting to go in the car as soon as I build an enclosure for it. With two subs, they should be running about 1400w to the two (1.5 ohm mono) which I will be more than happy with!

It should be known that I owned two Alum12Q's 7 or 8 years ago in sealed enclosures. I later sold them and after owning a couple sets of more expensive subs since, I'm back to these and happier than ever. If they would get rid of all the flashy chrome, it would be to their advantage IMO. There is a such thing as trying TOO hard.

Update

I suspected these subs were overrated and I was right. Not long after installing a second, I matched the gains to the input such that the amplifier would conceivably put out its rated power at max volume with no distortion. That should equate to about 700W per channel from my Hifonics amp.

Bass was good and loud with quality to match, but it wasn't to be. I had one die a smoky death about a month after the install. The other one probably wasn't far behind, but I took it easy on it after that.

An Autopsy revealed what I suspected, a crispy fried voice coil. Much to my surprise, the voice coil is only 2.5", not the advertised 3". It paled in comparison to my RE SX12 3" voice coil (also rated at 1000W RMS), so the proof is in the pudding that these are grossly overrated.

I still stand behind my opinion that these are great subs for the money. Just go in knowing that these can probably handle 400-500W RMS at best (still pretty respectable) and you'll be more than pleased.

Even with the voice coil charred to a black charcoal mess, there was no discoloration on the aluminum cone; so not sure what the other reviewer had encountered.

Good value

The subs are great. But they should come in a better style or design color.

Nice, efficient sub

Originally I got this sub a few years back on a recommendation from a friend of mine. At the time I had just 1 JL Audio in a 2000 Toyota Corolla. I was very skeptical, but as soon as we did the swap out, the difference was obvious, and amazing. While I could actually turn my radio up just about all the way when the JL sub was in, I could never get volume more than 3/4 of the way up once we put the Alum12 in it's place. More recently I had it connected into a Ford Fusion, and even with the volume half way up on the radio and only about 120 watts going to the sub, you could hear the bass resonate over a block away. Also, the fact that sub hits bass tones as low as 18Hz is a plus. Audiobahn always makes a good product, and this one is efficient and very affordable.

AudioBahn 12

This sub is awesome i have two of them and they totally rock your car... no matter wat music your listen'n to they simply kick ass!

great sub!!!!!!

I think this sub is the best one ive had so far it hits hard and hasn't gave me any problems. Money well spent for me. People know when i am coming down the street. It's awesome thank you for ur product its gold in my book.

WOW

Im currently running 3 of these at 1 ohm and let me tell you the sound is incredible. They hit those really low notes!! great BANG for the buck

Pretty good so far!!

Fast shippin and looks great! Nice crate for them to insure no damage! Love the speakers so far. I haven't hooked them up will write a new review once I do but plan to buy 2 more and have 4 in an acura integra so best of luck should slam hard!

Little rust on inside the magnet on one of them but the other than that looks good.