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Blown 40lb speaker!!! NOW WHAT?

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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 10:08 AM
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Default Blown 40lb speaker!!! NOW WHAT?

I have 2 rockford fosgate rfr3112 (1000 watts rms - 2000 max) 2ohm 4'' voice coil subs in the back of my 01 chevy malibu powered by two brutus 1500 amps giving out 1500 watts rms @ 1ohm a piece, thats 1500rms per woofer and all the wiring and batteries, 5farad cap and stuff. It was my dream system which took me 6 months to complete.Well my dream system finally craped out on me. ONe of my subs blew its voice coil and when I took it to a repair shop they charged $250 to repair it, I paid 250 for both of them when I bought them from a freind (really cheap price). the guy also said it was a common problem with rockford and that the other subs days where numbered. So now I want to sell my remaining speaker before it blows too and get new ones. So far this is what I've been thinking of. Two kicker 12'' or 15'' L7's ( my current amps feeding them 750 watts @ 2ohms, or 1500 @ 1ohms) or a single 12-15'' kicker solo x, running 1500watts to each input for a total of 3000 rms input. The price comes out to be about 500 bucks or so with either option. Which one do you guys think would be better? thanks in advance for any input.
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 12:18 PM
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go with Jl audio 13 in w7, jl is the only sub i will put in my car
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 01:46 PM
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Originally Posted by chrs1313
go with Jl audio 13 in w7, jl is the only sub i will put in my car
than your an idiot.


people swear behind JL because of what others say and all the hype theyve recieved when in reality there are much better subs out there. I'd put a kicker L7 in my car long before a W7, but there are much better choices. Look at Image Dynamics or Digital Designs to name a couple.

Don't get caught in the hype. JL's good, but certianly not that good.
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 02:06 PM
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Funny thing is, if you take a L7 vs. a W7 for sound quality and efficiency with power, the JL RULES IT. I have been a JL dealer for over 10 years, and have sold KICKER for over 7 years. Don't get me wrong, the L7s in ported enclosure are awesome for all out bass, but they sound like crap, period. In audio, the one thing you have to remember is that not everyone hears the same. IDMAXs and IDQ woofers sound awesome but are mainly a sound quality sub, I had 1 IDMAX12 in one of my stores cars for a year or so, and liked it a lot, I was running an Audison amplifer on it.

Point being, calling someone an idiot for what they stand behind for audio equipment is ignorant, and quite honestly you need to just realize that some people like stuff to hit hard and do not care about sound quality, while some people like perfect tonal balance in their system and could care less if it pounds. Most JL Audio customers like them, because they are very efficient with power, sound good, and bump very well.

That being said, I recommend to the thread starter to go with a single L7 15 or one of the new SoloX15s and make the 6+ cubic foot vented enclosure it needs and beat the hell out of it. You should like the results.

Scott
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 02:19 PM
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jl is good, but i have to agree. step off the wagon, they aren't all mighty.

you have to pay close attention to the amps clipping. you will kill any sub with clipping. also, if your voltage was dropping and you continued to pound, that will also kill equip. just some insight so you don't have it happen again. if i remember right, the brutus is only good for 1100-1200 max, despite what they claim. $250 seems a little steep to recone a fosgate. i don't think too much of them either and there's a reason for that.

out of what you have listed, i'd go 2 L7 15's with dual 2 ohm coils.
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 03:00 PM
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SOLO X! SOLO X!

Everyone runs the L7's. Be an outkast and one of the few to run that beast in your ride. HUGE box with a HUGE vent. True, the W7 dominates all Kicker gear when it comes to SQ. But does that mean the L7's/SoloX will sound like cr@p? Seriously doubtful. You're obviously not looking for MAX SQ from the sound of your last setup, so go for the gold and make some poor sap puke from the pressure!!!!!!!
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 03:51 PM
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Try an HPO 15" Ported from Memphis also. With what you were up to before, you seem like a bass head so SQ is nothing much to you. The L7 or Memphis HPO 15", DD, Crystal should all fit the build. Also check out Adire and Elemental Designs. There are good and great. There are SQ, SPL, SQ/SPL subs. They all have their pros and cons.

JL is a great sub manufacture. They always have been and always will be.

$250 is rediculous. My HPO's are only $65 each for a recone. and $165 if I have to strip everything out and replace it new from the magnet up. Now shipping sucks on these things.

Oh. Earthquake also. They have a good SPL sub. I would sugest a Ported enclosure, but I have no clue what music you listen to and that will determine what type of enclosure to prescribe. A vented has alot of efficiency benifits, but can be blown out because of the loss of control below the tunning freq.

What type of music do you listen to? If you can you would like a single 15" ported. With the right stuff, it can be a LOUD set-up.
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 04:15 PM
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i have been doing car audio for about five years now and i've built a few systems on the side and a lot in a shop i ran a lot of amps but have decided to go with zapco for life. the price plus the power that you are going to get from their amps is going to be unmatched. jl is good but there are more subs and speakers out there that will do the same job, without having to pay for the name. personally i go with image dynamics for sound quality, but if you want to bang then i would go with treo. i have never been dissappointed with these companies especially zapco and treo. both can take punishment and keep asking for more. check em out www.treoonline.com, www.zapco.com, www.imagedyanmicsusa.com. good luck
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 04:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Mackzero
Point being, calling someone an idiot for what they stand behind for audio equipment is ignorant, .......
Scott
i understood it as he was reffering to the mentality of someone being narrow minded. that only 1 brand is the best, and if you don't run that brand, you don't have squat. which yes, if you only know of cheap best buy lines and can recite a couple main stream names because you're cool if say those names, that is .........well......

there's lots of good equip out there. they all have their trade offs and some are better than others. by far, there is more hype and bullcrap out there. i don't think you will go wrong if you get one of the proven "super subs" no matter what brand it is.
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 05:46 PM
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IMO, any more than 500 wrms per <15" sub is overkill. You are wasting alot of power, pumping it into the subwoofer where it turns what it can into mechanical movement, and the rest into heat. If these amps truly are capable of 1500 wrms into 1 ohm, lose one amp, and use the other to power 4 12" subs in a properly designed ported enclosure. I recommend Resonant Engineering, Digital Designs, Adire Audio, and Elemental Designs. JL make a good sub, but are too $ compared to what they are. The W7 is kind of like a Porsche: Stylish and fast, but there are faster and just as stylish cars out there for way less money (F-body).
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 07:07 PM
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Building the right enclosure for the speaker is more important than feeding it 3000 watts of power. I had pair of 12's in a box in my old Mustang that you could hear a mile away running on 250w of power, but they had the recommended 2 cu.ft of space and the right size vents... If you go for power and not quality of sound you're going to end up destroying your alternator and generating a lot of noise/heat for no reason at all.

I just can't see how anyone could justify putting 1500 watts of power into a speaker unless you want to either entertain the whole town or die when your head explodes from sound pressure.
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 08:03 PM
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JLs are space hogs, but they are very well built. dont forget soundsplinter. they are an awesome brand of subs and their stuff is on sale now cause they have a new product line coming in. thats probably what i will be putting in my car. that, or a RE audio sub.
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Old Sep 4, 2005 | 08:43 PM
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hell, just go with the jackhammer. but really, kicker <> speakers put out a serious amount of bass for their size. i have 1 10l7 in a .5ci sealed box and it hits alot. not the absoutely best quality sound turned all the way up, but still on par with most speakers ive heard. ported they are unreal. that said, kicker is really good but not the only option, and JL is good but requires a lot of airspace.
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Old Sep 5, 2005 | 09:40 AM
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I agree with 250 being rediculous ....

Kicker is good but with that kind of power I would get cerwin-vega strokers. They will cost a little more but will take alot of abuse
If you do go with strokers make SURE you get the box down to the T.
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Old Sep 5, 2005 | 10:02 AM
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Justin. You seen the review of the new stroker? That thing is awesome.
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Old Sep 5, 2005 | 12:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Richiec77
Justin. You seen the review of the new stroker? That thing is awesome.
For all those curious...
http://www.cerwinvega.com/products/m...dio/index.html
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Old Sep 5, 2005 | 09:29 PM
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Re Xxx
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Old Sep 5, 2005 | 11:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Richiec77
Justin. You seen the review of the new stroker? That thing is awesome.
No kidding. Thats why I recommended them. They have always been awesome, but the box has to be EXACT.
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Old Sep 6, 2005 | 02:47 AM
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Originally Posted by CAMAROWITHBASS
Re Xxx

This would be my vote.


However, an Adire Tulmult or Adire Maelstrom also get a strong vote as well.


IMO though, and it's been stated by someone else. Your pushing way too much power for your application. You should ditch one of the amps, and run both subs off of a single amp. Then have your box designed with your power handling capabilities of your speakers.

It's very possible that the box was designed incorrectly for your power ouput.
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Old Sep 7, 2005 | 08:31 PM
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Thanks to all of you who put in their $0.02. I was just about to buy a replacement speaker on ebay when I checked out this post again and decided not to bid after all. To answer a few questions, yes I'm a bit of a bass head and really liked when my car shook like there was no tomorrow leaving me with a loose back window that I now have to take to be resealed. Both speakers had dual 4'' wide 12'' deep circular ports (which are the recommended specs) and that helped out a lot with the bass. But I did notice with this setup that when I didn't want it really loud I wasn't getting the SQ I wanted. In fact now that I have only one speaker running I'm enjoying medium loud music a whole lot more because I'm paying attention to my mids and highs. I'll run one woofer for a while until I make up my mind on what type of SQ or SPL I really want. Again thanks for the input.
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