I hear ya, everyones ears are different. I actually went from a single 12 sealed to a ported 10 in the GN. Its output is a lot louder, but not overpowering. I actually got motivated because of you yesterday and finished running my RCA's down the center/right of the car under the console. Power wires (1 4 gauge, 1 8 gauge) go down the passenger side. All front speaker wires go from the trunk up the center/left of the car under the console. Just gotta plug it all in and hope my noise is gone now!