hi there,
the advice given thus far is all correct, but i c ur point on the money thing. fortunately, these days due to massive amounts of competition in the the manufacturing industry, its quite easy to find very high quality equipment for very small amounts of money.
to an extent u still get what u pay for, but you sound like someone who is after a decent (not competition winning) system without having to take out a 2nd mortgage to pay for it (& some guys really do take out 2nd mortgages by the way!!).
in reality, the so called 'facts and figures' given on most subs dont actually mean anything or very little. power depends on many things but mainly the type of enclosure the sub is placed in and the purity of input from the amplifier. in other words, you could have a sub that says '1000 watts rms' on the packaging box, run it with a amp that says '500 watts rms' on its box and you could quite easily destroy the sub! when an underpowered amp is push to its limits, the output voltage 'clips' or massively distorts leading to a damage to the speakers or sub. the link below is for an amp that i have personally been using for quite a while now. it doesnt have anything like the power that is claimed, id say its about a little under half the power they claim, but its VERY well built, has lots of useful features and delivers huge amount of 'clean' power to your sub:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4000w-Subwoofer-Amplifier-Monoblock-Sub-Bass-Amp-Car_W0QQitemZ290202836316QQihZ019QQcategoryZ18797QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemits a nobody make, but the components inside come from the same factories as those found in much, much more expensive units. if you bridge both coils of your sub (4ohm+4ohm) the amp will see a resistance of about 2ohms, this amp claims to deliver about 900watt rms at the ohmage (so about 450ish in real terms) which is more than enuff to give you serious chest pains! power consumption is always an issue with big stereo systems, so id recommend a 90amp alternator and as previously suggested a bigger battery, the biggest you can afford and the biggest you fit under your bonnet on the battery tray!
the other thing to remember is that by placing the sub into a ported box, you can increase its efficiency (or its relative loudness at a given volume level) by about 6db (4times as loud) at its tuned frequency and 3bd (twice as loud) across the frequency range that it plays. you'll need a slightly bigger box but it means that you wont need quite as much power to deafen yourself and innocent passers by!!
the basic rule of thumb with ICE, bass in particular is that if you want something, you have to give something. BIG BIG bass means big boxes, which means a heavier car slower car, more fuel consumption and electrical power requirements which means more expense and more things to wrong. of course not to mention the fact that you'll have no boot for your shopping etc!
ive tried to keep things simple (ish) but the subject is kinda large and would take much more words to explain fully. any other questions, please ask. oh, one other thing which you may have already noticed: ICE builders
all have their own theories and opinions of how to achieve and what is the best system, no1 is really right or wrong, just different ways of approaching and handling the issue!!
hope that helps, a bit
