I have been looking at two 15 kickers for $400.00 I hear that is a good deal, but i hear that kickers just hit hard, and sound like $hit, but then i hear good things about them too. So what is it. Are they good or bad?
Comp VRs are pretty good, the Solobarics are the square subs and are the ones that suffer from stress points, etc. I consider the Comp VR to be a sub that's considered to be more "good for the money" than a top of the line fantastic sub. You have to consider the price, though. Cerwin Vega V-Maxes are a good alternative and put out more SPL, there are single 15" subs that will hit harder a little above $400, such as the Adire Audio Brahma 15" ($439 shipped) and the Resonant Engineering X.X.X. 15" ($435 plus shipping). The Brahma and X.X.X. will hit harder than the L7 Solobaric if that tells you something, and has much better SQ and SPL than Comp VR's.
let's see a link to a non-biased test where the X+X+X and Brahma beat the L7 in spl
get the L7's off eBay, 2 of them, for the same price as a brahma and you'll be happy. they'll absolutely murder the brahma.
just some advice that you would be just fine taking.
if you have to get a forum woofer, get the RE. the brahma has glue problems and dustcap problems, or has in the past, i don't keep up with them. RE has a pretty good clean record with only few incidences popping up here and there.
You fail to mention the all too many solobarics that shred surrounds, also those with cone flex destroying the subwoofer, uneven stress points, lead slap, poor motor design, it's all much worse than the build quality of a Brahma or X.X.X. Take the Kicker 15", 16.25" X max, Sd of 1056 cm^2, the Brahma 15", 28mm Xmax, Sd of 749, use the simple volume of displacement equation, (Sd x Xmax)/1000, the kicker would displace 17.16 L of air, the Brahma would displace 20.972 L, voila, Brahma displaces more air, netting more SPL. The motor also has less inductance, better linearity, sub has lower mass, all around better build quality, doesn't suffer from the problems of square subs, and sounds a lot better. So yes, the Brahma will hit harder than the L7 and sound better doing it. The L7 15" being the largest, it also has the highest xmax, the 12" L7s and 10" L7's fall even further behind the equivalent size Brahma. The X.X.X. will hit harder than a Brahma, so you know where how much further ahead the X.X.X. is than the Solobaric. Do some research before you challenge what you think someone else is being a "fanboy" about, it just makes you stupid in the long run.
the solobarics have issues. I wouldn't bother with any non-round subs to be honest.
if you want a rough idea of output between two subs like an S15L7 and a RE triple X, take the surface area of the cone, and the linear Xmech for each sub, and compare them side by side. the RE 12" has an Xmech of 3" which will move a lot of air, and do it with outstanding linearity thanks to even stress distribution around the cone, and a very good speaker design.
If all you're after is cheap and loud, and SQ isn't a big factor, nor is reliability, jump on those Solobarics, and get a good box for them. Plenty of pre-fab boxes on ebay for them for about $40
A quick answer- to a good question, more frequently the speakers made in u.s.a., canada, europe, and japan are great quality. Kicker is American so yes. There of course may be a few brands of the above countries that make poor speakers, however that is because they are focused on other things like head units, amps, navigation systems and etc.
sounds like this toy my last girlfriend had.. er, nevermind.
*grin*
xBrettx
Unregistered guest
Posted on
well all i have 2 say is that i have 2 of the compvr 10inch kickers and they are amazing! In my truck(98 ford ranger reg. cab lol) i have 1 of these subs hooked to a audiobahn 400watt RMS amp and the sub is in a junky 1.73cubic ft. seald box that i ported myself and this thing pounds, hits very hard and still has sound quality.
I have 2 12" Kicker L5's and they crush most subs in their price range. You know what your getting with Kicker. I would buy more or upgrade to L7's if I had the mounting depth/room in my camaro. SQ is pretty good and the SPL is Great. Tune them really low with a solid 600 watts each and you will be proud... Try them with a JBL 1200.1 like I run and I guarantee you will love it. And as far as the weaknesses go, there are none, anyone who blows these subs is retarded, they either A) over power them too much B) Go ported and dont use a subsonic filter C) Just plain retarded to begin with