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Hi everyone! Even though I have had my Civic for a year and a half I am a total noob when it comes to doing any modificiations to it audio wise. My brother is selling me his 12" Kicker Comp VR that he recently purchased from a friend. He bought 2 12" and an amp from him but decided to just put one into his RSX. I was wanting to get your opinions on what would be a less expensive but "good quality for the price" amp. I replaced my headunit almost right after I got the car -- its a JVC. At this moment in time is it essential for me to replace any speakers or can I hold off on that for a while? Also, is there any special lining or anything that I will need for the trunk to keep the rattles down, or is it not that essential for just one sub? Last question, I am here in a southern california -- does anyone know where a good place to buy boxes for the subs would be? I don't have the time or the know how to build my own.

Thank you in advance for any help on this -- I am sorry in advance if this is a repost type subject!

 
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stuff you'll need:
box- probably around $50. you can buy online, but shipping is a bear, try a local audio shop or one of the big stores (circuit, best buy).
amp kit- $30-40 dollars.
amp- this can vary. figure around $100-150, depending on what you go with. you need to find out if it is a dual or single voice coil sub, and also if it is 2 ohms or 4 ohms per coil. then an amp decision can be made. the symbol for ohm looks like an upside down horseshoe
as for rattles, if you get them then deal with them. more than likely your license plate will rattle, put some foam tape on the back of it and problem solved. i doubt you'll have anything else too bad except maybe the rear deck.
speakers is personal preference. if you want a cleaner sound, you may want to upgrade your speakers. try it out with the new sub, then see what you think. the speakers probably are the biggest limitation to your system after you upgrade, but it's all preference.

 
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Thank you so much for your input and advice -- that helps out a lot!! Will probably help my brother out too since he is kinda in the same boat trying to figure out just exactly what he wants to do with his audio system. He just had the advantage of already having an amp! But thanks again -- hopefully will have things done within the next couple of weeks.

 
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for cheap, try a kicker dx700 on ebay. 149.95. it may be too powerful though, search for any dx series amp, they are real cheap since they dont make them anymore.

 
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Thank you guys for your imput -- another quick question. The sub I am getting is 4 ohm -- would a 4 channel kenwood (Kenwood Amp) be a good choice -- I was finding it for between $120 and $170? Or is there a better brand out there for about the same amount of money? Does anyone know about the Profile Brand (Profile Amp) ? Thanks!!

 
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How many voice coils does the sub have? If it is a single voice coil (SVC), you will need a 1- or 2-channel amp (and you would bridge the 2-channel to power one channel). If it is dual voice channel (DVC), you can get a 4-channel, I believe, and power the coils, each with two channels bridged.

That sub is, I think, rated at 400W. Your amp is going to be putting out 80x2 (bridged, 4 ohms). Even if you have a DVC, that's still probably not going to quite be enough. I would look (if you are looking on Crutchfield) at Alpine, Phoenix Gold, and MTX amps. Something like this or this if you have a SVC, or the 4-channel versions if you have a DVC. Crutchfield is going to be fairly expensive, though. You might check cardomain.com or ebay (if you don't mind that you probably won't get a warranty).

And wait for more responses before you buy something because I am only 90% of what I am talking about.

 
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rockford: power 351s or 451s, punch p2002 or p3002
kicker: kx350.2 or kx450.2
mtx: thunder 342 or thunder 421d

profiles aren't great, but they don't have any glaring reliability issues that i am are of. they look OK too. CA400 or CA600, CL400 or CL600 is what you should check out with them

^^^these are all amps that give you around the power your sub needs. SVC. there are so many amps, i'm giving you mainstream, easy to find/see at bbuy or circuit city names. PLEASE look at the sub and check how many + and - hook ups there are, that tells us how many coils there are

 
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DoubleDeuce2k2 -- On the back of the Sub it says its a Dual 2 OHM Power Coil -- I hope that helps! Also, thank you Brash for you advice about Crutchfields. I wasn't planning on going through them -- I used them when I purchased my headunit (they surprisingly had it the cheapest) but I was really unhappy with how long it took them to ship it and everything so I don't think I would used them again. They are one of the few online audio stores that I know of so I was more using them to get ideas then anything else. I was thinking about e-bay once I had a definite idea on the amp to get. Thank you guys for all your help on this, I really appreciate it. Ask me anything about horses and I am like an encyclopedia but when it comes to modding my car, yeah its still baby steps with the learning process!

 
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ok, you can use any of those amps i mentioned. you want to shop be what an amp does at 4 ohms, on 1 channel. look for around 3-400W RMS. ignore max power ratings, they are useless. example:

Ajax Amp: 1000W peak power
100Wrms x 2 channels at 4 ohms
200Wrms x 2 channels at 2 ohms
400Wrms x 1 channel at 4 ohms (bridged)

^^^ that amp would work for you (wired to do the last setting) searching will show you how to wire a dual voice coil sub (like yours) and it will show you how to set up the amp. search has been kinda random lately, but have been tons of people who have had similar questions in the past

 
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Thank you so much for all your help -- I will get pictures posted once I get everything and get everything installed!