Mike's Car Audio Reviews

I am not really a big fan of 7 inch car stereo speakers, because a lot of them don’t seem to be that good.  I have recommend in the past to get a adapter and go with 6.5 or 6 inch speakers, but Kenwood has put out the KFC-C1739ie 3-way speakers.  These really do sound great, and with the 7 inch speakers you get a lot more mid bass than you would expect.  This speaker also comes with a 1 3/16 inch midrange and 3/8 tweeter to complete the 3-way speaker.  The Kenwood KFC-C1739ie can handle up too 170 watts of peak power and has a frequency response of 30Hz-30KHz.  The mounting depth might be a little to much for some people so check the space in your car before you buy these.

The JBL GTO1514 is my favorite car subwoofer of the GTO series.  The GTO1514 is a 15 inch subwoofer with a single voice coil and has a impedance of 4 ohms.  One of the great things about the GTO1514 is that it has a tinsel wire protector increases strength with the cone, voice coil and spider.  This subwoofer has a RMS of 350 watts and can handle peak loads up to 1400 watts.  It also has a very nice frequency response of 23-400 Hz.  This car stereo subwoofer offers great sound and some really had hitting low bass.  If you are looking for a 15 inch subwoofer with a RMS of 350 I would have to recommend this one.  With a MSRP of $229.95 I think this is a good deal.  The GTO1514 comes with a dual voice coil option in the GTO1514D.

As y’all know i have never been a fan of the 12 inch subs. Fast tight bass, go with 10s, deep low bass, go with 15s, but the JBL GTO1214 is a really nice 12 inch car audio subwoofer.  This GTO1214 has a nice mix of of the sound you might expect from 10s and 15s, so it is not a bad option.  The GTO1214 has a single voice coil and is a 4 ohm subwoofer.  The RMS rating is 350w and can handle 1400w at peak.  The sensitivity rating on the GTO1214 is 90 dB making it a little bit higher than the 88dB of the GTO1014.  All in all I think this subwoofer could be a nice addition to any car audio system that you might have.  If you need a dual voice coil version of this sub check out the GTO1214D.

The JBL GTO1014 car audio subwoofer is the first the GTO series.  This subwoofer is really designed for hard hitting tight bass which we have all come to expect from JBL.  If you liked the GT5-10 but wanted to step it up to the next next level, this is the subwoofer you should be looking at.  The GTO1014 can handle 350 watts RMS and 1400 watts at peak, this definitely puts it in a class above the GT5 subwoofers.  GTO1014 has a frequency response  of 25-400 Hz and a sensitivity of  88 dB.  I really like the GTO1014 as a 10 inch subwoofer, the sound is clean and has really good bass reflex.  If you are looking for the dual voice coil version check out the GTO1014D.

After doing the car subwoofer reviews of the 10 and the 12, its time to take a look at the big JBL GT5-15 subwoofer.  This subwoofer could a really nice addition to any car audio system.    The GT5-15 is a 4 ohm subwoofer with a single voice coil and has the same vented motor structure as the other GT5 subs.  The GT5-15 has a RMS of 300W and can handle up to 1200W of peak watts.  The frequency response of this subwoofer is 25 Hz – 400Hz, and in my opinion is really nice for 15s.  The GT5-15D is the dual voice coil version of this subwoofer.

JL Audio has released their new car audio amplifiers for 2010.  The new series is called XD Amplifiers.  They will be available in 3 different sizes.  XD600/1 a single channel mono subwoofer amp. XD400/4, a full range, class D, 2/3/4 channel amp. XD600/6, this is the all in one amp, full range, class D, 3/4/5/6. The main idea behind these amps is more power, less space and lower cost.  This will make the new XD series much more desirable than last years HD models.  They started to be available in march 2010 and all will be available by mid-year.