Wassup guys,

Figure its more audiophiles on this side of the forums...I'm tryna bring back that breath taking bass my friends brothers '98 Honda Accord used to emit waaay back in the day using (3) Round Solo Barics the '97-'99 era.

Kicker just brought back the classics w/their new Solo Classic; http://kicker.com/solo-classic

I've been joking around w/damn systems for too long and I've never been able to recreate that bass they would emit out of the trunk of that accord lol. Never took it so serious because of other things. I never realized the significance of the original solo barics, being they were designed to operate in smaller enclosures while giving big bass.

So, Im back for this breath taking experience...I ordered (3) and I'm building a box now, here's where I have a couple questions.

- The original solo barics were rated @ 450rms w/a recommended enclosure of .88 cubes sealed, heres where the kicker is(no pun intended). IF you were to power them to the tune of 600rms they recommended .66 cubes per sub.

-I can fit (3) of em in the trunk facing up w/ .88 cubes as the trunk hinges kinda get in the way. I built the box to the specs of 41" x 14" x 10.75" to put me right at 2.64 cubes internally.

-Im gonna run em using my BXi2610 @ 1.34 ohms(subs are dvc 2 ohm). The new and improved version comes w/a rating of 600rms. I'm planning to overpower them in an attempt to hit 150+ dbs. Maybe 700-800 a piece, should I build the box to .66 cubes like they recommended for the older ones? the new brochure doesn't mention anything like that...

-I'm gonna use the one I just made for now to see how it sounds but I worried about if I should use a common chamber or throw dividers in. I'd like to use a common chamber for better sq, I know the woes of doing such a thing but my only concern would be trying to keep the box together. I know these things are designed to play low and hit notes that can break things .....I wanna keep it tight, I know the dividers can act as braces and only take about .1 from the internal cubes.

Any thoughts if read through all that?? lol...

 

what size subs?
The larger box will be louder with less power at the expense of space and control, (the sub will be more prone to over excursion or bottoming out ) the bass will be not as sharp or tight as with the smaller enclosure. Now you shouldn't need that much power to hit 150dB 2400watts is alot of juice which presents a problem , with the given efficiency of a class D AMP 85-90% your gonna need feed the amp(s) alittler over 2600 watts 12*90amp dose not =2600watts you cars electrical system will never be able to sustain something like that without some upgrades. a system like that will drain the batt faster than the alt can recharge them , you'll need at lest a 180-200amp alt and a deep cycle battery,along with upgraded wire and such.

If you want to be loud , id go ported. the SBC is for people that dont want to give up space ,since you have 3, space doesn't seem to be an issue , i would have gone with 2 subs (l7's or comp vx) in a pretty good size encloser. hitting 150 is gonna have alot to do with a good install. to prove a point years ago i built a system with 2 old 12" audiobahn cheao $60 and a $170 lanzar opti1000d(great budget amp ,the amp was bench tested at 1006 wrms @14volts into 1 ohm ) i built a 4cu ft ported box tuned to the cars resonant frequency (40Hz) i did 148.5 at the dash. now granted the box was a pure fart box,lol ...one note wonder.

Its gonna take some power to hit 150dB especially sealed. i think on average it takes about 3-4KWatts to see 150 or a lot of cone area.
but then its been a few years so im way out of the game lol.

 

My bad, 12" subs is what I ordered,

Just finished up the box, its actually smaller than the 3.5 interally cubed/ported Type R set-up I have right now, just wider ya know...the set-up got loud, never metered it but I'd say it probably would hit around 145 w/the rockford 1000d I currently have on em.

Yea, I definitely dont need 2600watts and Im sure it doesn't do 2600 though alota ppl will swear by them to about 2400. I'm gonna upgrade the alternator soon, the plan was to squeeze a couple kinetics out back for now as a little band aid type of fix until I can get a good alt in the car. With box rise I'm sure the set-up will probably see around 1700 on average. I'm worried about killing the amp due to it not getting enough current though.

I've heard plenty of dual L7 Set-ups and they do sound great, dont get me wrong, just they werent giving me exactly what I needed. Overkill was the mission and I didnt feel like going with like some dd 9500s because the weight of those subs alone is killer and 2 of them probably would completely kill trunk space. The box is actually slim and compact so I still have trunk space.

There's one other guy who jumped out on the limb recently also and tried em out, and got some great results, been talking to him lately, he managed to hit a 148.4 the other day w/2 and a older kicker zr1000.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZpponTu5u4

 

thats a good point of reference , just remember that dB is a logarithmic unit so 3dB =twice as loud ,or twice the energy. thus the energy needed for an incress of 3dB needs to be doubled or you could double the amount of air being moved ( more cone area). according to that you should be able to see 150 not factoring in cabin gain and loss

 

I see, great info...I'm still a beginner in many aspects of it. Not really looking to compete much but I know if your around 150dBs your system should get plenty loud. The Saturns tend to be very acoustic when it comes to stuff like this so we'll see haha...

 

ive been a kicker solo baric fan my whole life. i havnt had a system in about 3 years. i went to the local audio store and the guy whos always cut me great deals and given me great advice told me he dropped kicker. im like why what happened? he said their quality has declined enough where he doesnt want to do buisness with them. i was surprised by this. he recommended me to jl for my future subs. we'll see what happens. i had 2 12" solo barics in my truck and i loved them, i had 2 kicker comp vrs in my cavalier and loved those, i dont mean to run off topic this is just what i aquired the past few days.

 

try building a box firing back instead of up... try and keep the height as low as possible (just the heights of the subs if possible) you will need them to be angled so middle one flat and the other two i would angle as far out as possible to reach the sides.

That should give you the loudest you can do with 3 12s and look good as well.

FYI you wont hit a 150db sealed and musical in our cars. at least not on the term lab. any other meter regardless of cost will be shot down

 

Sall good, appreciate the input...

I would say, I woulda heard your guy out on why he wasnt dealing w/kicker up until that comment lol. JL makes good products of course but are crazy overpriced for what your getting IMO, theres so much better out there. I can't see where kicker has been slacking either actually, L7's are still very popular and still get very loud, sure their mainstream and all but I think their one of the better "mainstream audio companies."
Yea I've been playing around w/box design ideas, tough to work w/a minimum of 37.5" long and 12.5" tall. If I can't fit a single box in using the methods you mentioned, I'm gonna build 3 separate boxes; put em together and angle the two side ones.

As far as the 150dBs, thats not a major deal, if they can get just as loud as the old ones, I'll be content. I have access to a term lab so I'll definitely keep you guys posted on the numbers.

 

he mentioned something about the quality going downhilll compared to their subwoofers of 3-5 years ago, i never had any issues personally but i guess being a dealer he would see it more than i would