Kenwood KSC-SW10 not enough...at all

gaveup

When I originally built my system (going to cheaper, but still good) I was looking at putting an infinity basslink in my Z in the rear hatch. It bothered me that it would be a little too big and noticeable from the outside. I had a basslink in my wrx, and for what it was, it was really good. Especially considering the rear seats didn't fold down so it had to go thru there. However, I have heard that some people have issues with their amps blowing out

So I started looking at other powered subwoofers. After reading a bit on here it seemed everyone with it was happy with it. I'm really not sure how. Currently this is what I have (please excuse me if I can't get the model numbers 100%):

Pioneer AVH-3400BH Head unit
Polk DB6501 speakers
Kenwood KSC-SW10 "subwoofer"

As it sits after messing with the kenwood for about 3 days, it just doesn't have enough to fill the sound like I would hope. I'm really not sure why they included this bass remote when anything past, say, 15% on the gain causes the sub to cough and just run out of breath/distort/flop/whatever. Anything really below 15% is unnoticeable with the volume remotely turned up on the HU.

Just testing with my HU, I turned the sub output off and it seems like the door speakers were doing just as good of a job with handling bass, just without the farting/coughing noise.

So is there anything else anyone can recommend that is a cheaper alternative that will sound good and not fall on its face? I'm really only wanting to spend $200ish, which is right around the cost of the basslink, but I don't like the fact it is so easy to see from the outside.

__________________
2010 Magnetic Black Metallic 370Z 6M
stillen gen 3 CAI - topspeed test pipes - invidia gemini CBE - UpRev tune
301whp (HP Logic Mustang Dyno)