Originally Posted by Unsullied_Spy

"Individual experience may vary" would be a good way to describe "Professional Installation" on anything. I have seen what some installers do to factory wiring and some of the aweful things they can do to your car which scared me off of paying someone a ton of money to do it for me. As ****-retentive as I am about my stuff, that was the only way for me. It's quite easy once you get into it, the hardest part for me is pulling apart the interior and making sure not to damage anything in the process.

Anytime. To me, Techno bass needs to be fairly boomy yet refined enough that you can hear the actual music. A good 12 should be fine for that. Most Rap needs a ported 12 to sound the best, my 10 does very well but the larger diameters respond to lower frequencies better. If you listen to a lot of Tech N9ne and stuff like that you need a 15 to pick up some of the really low stuff. I think a ported 12" sub would probably be a good choice for you, but get something fairly good. IMO a Kicker sub would sound bad for your Techno, they're pretty loose and mostly for boomy rap. I really like my Boston, and you can't go wrong with Infinity. Alpine subs are built like a brick sh*thouse but would probably be a bit tight for rap. I'd put together a test CD of all the various music you listen to and take it to a local car stereo shop and see what their display model subs sound like and get some input from them.

Originally Posted by oldsch00lf00l

It was a baited question. Perceived loudness at a particular frequency and subwoofer size are often over-generalized topics. In the end, what really matters is choosing the correct subwoofer for the task and implementing it properly. A 8" or 10" subwoofer that is properly implemented can easily outperform a 12" or 15" subwoofer that is not.

To sum it up, one should look for the correct subwoofer, installed in the correct enclosure, while taking the vehicle's cabin gain characteristics into consideration. Unfortunately, with the advent of pre-fabricated enclosures combined with the fact that most custom shops just want to make a sale, the proper equipment selection and implementation criteria tends to go out the window. Furthermore, the smaller "custom shops" rarely do anything custom these days.

Originally Posted by Unsullied_Spy

For straight-up bump there are a lot of good subs out there. I can't think of anything in particular off-hand but look through Crutchfield's selection and read up on them all (customer reviews are great but not always totally accurate). For straight-up bumping 12s or 15s would be good for you. Personally, I think a pair of 500-750WRMS 12s run off a 1,500 watt amp would be nasty but I'm not into as much bass as you are. I know a guy running a pair of 12s off a Kenwood 800W amp (don't recall what kind of subs they were) and it lifted the trunk of his Oldsmobile off it's gasket!