Which hits harder/better, two 10's or one 12?

right now i have 2 ten inch pioneer immp's. my friend just got a 12 inch mtx sub and it hits muuuuch harder then mine. should i go with one 12 inch sub instead of my two 10 inch subs? also, how does increasing or decreasing the gain (on the amp)affect sound?
Mike

Depends on the speaker. He probably hits harder because ALL his power goes to ONE sub. MTX is a little better too.
10s will hit harder and shorter, and 12s will deliver a deeper longer hit I believe.

okay, well i guess i could just keep the 10's set up, but which subs would be better? are immp's ****ty?
Mike

two 10s will hit harder but one 12 will hit deeper...

Mike, Your question is difficult to answer because there are literally thousands of possible combinations of amps and subs. My advice is to decide what you want from your system, figure your budget constraints, space constraints, and shop, shop, shop and listen, listen, listen. There is no magic involved in a good set-up. It's a matter of matching proper pieces together. And when it comes to subwoofer systems, it is absolutely critical that no corners are cut in the installation, proper box design and size is used, and proper amplification is a must. Failing to follow through in any of these areas will cause the end result to NOT be optimum. You absolutely cannot just buy a couple of 10s and put them in a box. And have fair expectations for what you get. If you buy a $29 fleamarket sub and amplify it with a $79 Rockwood fleamarket amp, no matter how well installed, don't expect it to sound like a correctly set up $1000 JLAudio system.

bloomy i agree totally. my current set up was a gift from my parents. im not really happy with how they sound. they dont hit deep, and not really all the hard. they are powered by a 400 watt pioneer amp. right now im looking for a possible 10 inch subs that are better sounding, or possibly a single or 2 12 inch sub set up.
Mike

2 12's is the ideal setup, in my opinion at least. pioneers subs or amps have never impressed me honestly...

what subs (12's and 10's) are considered good? i dont know a ton about audio stuff, im mostly into speed parts... it would be really helpfull if you guys could help me find a pair of 10's or 12's which would be good for me. i would like to go with a pair of 12's if possible. can my 400 watt amp power 2 12's?

Well technically if he had the same brand and line of subs as you and had one 12 and you had 2 10's you would hit harder bc you have more surface area. But Bloomy put it very well when he said there are thousands of variables that affect this. My guess is his amp or sub are better quality then yours. Maybe both. What is the model number on your amp? If it's 400 watts max it's not even putting near 400 to the speakers. What kind of budget are you looking at and we can tell you some good speakers or amp.

if you want 2 10's go with 2 10 inch kicker L7's, if you want 1 12 inch sub then go with a 12 inch JL, if your also looking for amps go with a rockford fosgate amp perhaps at 1000 watts, or a precision power amp.

The anwser to your question is Both! Either setup can create more sound pressure depending on the equiptment, and the setup. Fron a general standpoint, 12" subs will play lower frequencies better, while 10" subs will play higher frequencies better.

You can make 10" subs as "loud" as 12's or 15"s but if you like deeper bass then obviously a bigger woofer will give you that.

thanks for the imput guys, well right now my budget is about 500-600. if i could possibly keep my amp that would be a big plus, as it would keep the $$$ down. my amp is a pioneer GM-X952. Is this amp under powering my impp's?
Mike

u could get 2 alpine type r's and a jbl 1200.1 amp and a box for 6

You're only getting about 100w RMS to each sub out of that amp, so that's probably one of your problems. Try disconnecting one of the subs and bridging the amp to the other. It should give it about 300 watts which is around the level you should be giving them. 2 Type-R's running sealed with a JBL 1200.1 like mentioned above will get pretty loud and have good SQ too. If you want just loud, you could run them in a ported box tuned to about 30Hz and run them off a JBL 600.1. That'll kill your friends setup any day.

i want good sound quality also.. im not just trying to kill my friends set up lol ill try running the amp to just one of the subs and see how it sounds. 2 type r's and a jbl 1200.1 sounds like a sweet set up. how would a ported box compare to a regular box like mine? (sq, sound levels, how deep, ect?)
Mike

If the driver's made for one, usually a ported enclosure will hit lower than a sealed =, if made properly. You can get great SQ out of a ported box, but sometimes it can get a little boomy. You also get higher SPL ported. This is very driver dependant, though. The Alpines can handle much higher than what they're rated for. They can get great SQ in a small sealed box, though they also sound great with a larger ported enclosure. I'd go sealed with the JBL 1200.1. The JBL doesn't have a sub-sonic filter, so if you built a ported box, this is one thing you'd have to consider.

well i just switched all the power so it feeds to just one of them, and it hits harder/deeper then when i power both. (i switched between powering the one and both just to see if i was hearing things, but the one definitly hits harder and deeper then when i power both) So clearly my amp is too weak for my subs. Now i have four ways to go. 1) more powerfull amp, keep the impps 2) get 12's, box, amp, and possibly capasitor 3) get 2 new 10's (type r's possibly, my brother had a 10 inch type r and it hit nicely) and same amp 4) new 10s and new sub.
how will the costs break down? what do you guys suggest?
Mike

I like what BBrinks said... And I agree, with the JBL 1200.1, go with a sealed enclosure for sure! IMO sealed enclosures sound a lot better when the amp is capable of giving the drives all the juice they can handle (With the proper install of coarse).

If you want to keep your subs, you could get a JBL 600.1: http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/186 wire the subs in parallel for a 2ohm load on the amp and give each sub 300 watts. It's a solid amp, and if you want to upgrade the subs later, you still could get a couple of type-r's, Elemental Designs 10K's, or infinity perfects for about 100-125 each.

BTW, if you decide to get that amp or the 1200.1 for that matter, sounddomain.com price matches ikesound's prices. Sounddomain carries the JBL factory warranty, while ikesound doesn't.

I'd agree with what bbrinks said.... but if you decide to change the subs def go for the elemental designs over the type r's or infnitys they are way way better. Might want to consider a pair or resonant engineering SE's too. I have ONE re se 10" in a ported box powered by the jbl 600.1 and it hits WAY harder than most of my friends who have 2 12's. ONe thing many people overlook is the box. The box makes all the difference in getting the most out of your sub. Make sure you get a good box that's close to the specs on the sub or get a custom one made or better yet build it yourself.