mjmarovi

In my experience, focals will basically get the loudest per watt. they are great speakers for getting loud and clear, and have quite a bit of quality. unless you are upgrading amp, I would highly recommend going with focal. they make some smaller coax too for you to replace your pillars with the kickers. if upgrading power, the morels are probably the best quality speaker on the list, rainbow makes fantastic products, but are really more well known for their upper lines which will far surpass your $300 dollar mark. kind of the same for morel, but if you can find morels for less than 300 dollars go for it.

crazykenkid, thanks for your info. yeh, could be possible your older kinetiks just didn't get completely charged, but interesting you found it took them longer to charge. like you said though, they were older so who knows what abuse they went through. I think the final conclusion here is, if you are going to spend the extra dollar, kinetik, batcap, or XS are all great not really a bad choice, and if on a budget like shizzon said, as I do hear a lot about that the dekas are a good choice, but not so sure how "budget" they are, price I saw for a 9a31 was 187 dollars, I'd much rather have a kinetik hc1400 for 3 dollars more!

sundown amps are underrated, chances are you could by a single 2000d and get similar performance that you were getting out of both of your power acoustik amps. anyway though, what vc configuration are you icons? D1's or D2's? that audiopipe amp may not be the best choice for you. if they are D2's you can put one of those amps on each pair perfectly, but from i see, that amp is a 2-channel amp, and it's 1 ohm capability is when it is bridged to a 2 ohm load, so each channel is at 1 ohm. that means you must wire to a 2 ohm load for full power, and wiring to 1 ohm would really put each channel at .5 ohm, and on a budget amp I would highly not recommend doing that.

wise choice

as was I, thanks for finding that link!! not sure why but my reply got put above part of the quote, where the "?" is. Lol, I noticed that. It threw me off for a second, because it was like you were talking about the link and then you were completely contradicting it. I thought you went weird for a second nope, still sane lol to OP: many people are gonig to tell you to get the 1500d because that's what they would want, and yes it is a more powerful amp, but my whole point is the SAE 1200d will still have plenty of power plus headroom for you, so I'm suggesting to you to save the money.

100.4d's are str8 beasts. I love both of mine Hybrid Audio Technologies/Sundown power FTW!!

as was I, thanks for finding that link!! not sure why but my reply got put above part of the quote, where the "?" is.

the BTL's are the loudest woofers Fi builds, regardless of power. on 1 watt, as tested, the BTL will be louder, same as it will be on 500 watts, or 1000, or w/e. cone movement is not everything. the Xmax is only one factor to help figure out how loud a woofer can play, or what it can play, but really shouldn't be used in a str8 comparison. if in the case every parameter of two said woofers were the same, except for xmax, then I would say the woofer with the larger xmax would be louder, but those conditions won't happen, and don't exist.

open circuit? all the lead does is connect the vc to the amp. and you don't have to have an amp hooked up to a speaker to get an ohm reading, that resistance will always be there, it's a reading off the coil, has nothing to do with amp/or tinsel leads for that matter.

try setting your gain with a dmm, there is a tutorial on that somehwere here on the forum, but basically you get a read out with a test tone of the true signal strength (Vac) you are getting from the rca's from your head unit and then match the gain up to that number on the gain knob on the amplifier. which optima? or really how much you trying to spend? you can pick up a kinetik hc1400 for 190 shipped to your door from www.onlinecarstereo.com it's a 1500 amp batt, so basically equates to a 1500 watt system which is probably pretty close to what you would see from your amp if you had decent electrical to back it. even an hc800 for the $140 dollars on top of your stock batt would really help out a lot. the hc1400 could flat out replace your existing battery altogether.

turn bass boost on the amp all the way down, that's what's doing it. sorry man, I know it makes it "louder" but really you're not helping yourself. on the HU there is a difference between sub "level" and "bass boost" sub "level" is just fine to crank up on a HU all it does is strengthen the signal strength, but bass boost, only effects a central frequency on a short bandwidth, causing the woofer to sound louder usually around 45 hz. that's the cause for the odd sound at lower notes when it is trying to play the musical since wave on top of the 45 hz sine wave that is being boosted from the amp itself. understand?

havocs are SQ woofers with high power handling capablities, the orion is more SPL oriented with no where near the SQ as the havocs, and the RE MX is kinda different than both, but closer to the Orion, where it is meant to play music loudly, but not same SQ as a true SQ woofer. If you are looking for a single woofer setup, why not the Mayhem? for a two woofer setup, I say havocs FTW. of course remember, that amp will probably push ~ 65% of the power it says after voltage loss.

bassmaster we want to see more of this thing!! LOL

how much power are you looking to run on them? I used the MB Quart 8's from their reference line, cheap closeout from when rockford was making them on www.woofersetc.com although the assasins should def. be worth the wait. but the mb quarts are really great, can handle ~250 watts a piece. I ran two before for mid-bass and if not for the 2 15's in the trunk could have worked for the entire low-end... depending on how much power you are trying to run on them, sundown has some higher-powered 8's coming out, not available to ~February though lol

glad you found it, but not really sure why it's not listed on their site, just noticed that!

great woofer, yeh I'm sure it will handle everything that amp is capable of, just be careful not to get gain/bass boost crazy. what install config you have it in? vehicle/box design?

I'm guessing the sub is reaching mechxmax, and not because of power but because of clipped signal. no offense, but as I'm sure you already know that is a cheap amplifier, and is not putting out anywhere near that 2200 watts, lucky if 1400-1500 after voltage drop. Therefore your gain is probably up too high along with bass boost to try and compensate. BTL's are beasts, but improper install on a 1kw amp will do more damage than proper install of a 5kw amp on one.

for a Q to handle a 1200d or 1500d it would need some extra work, extra tinsel leads help, and of course the BP power option. even then especially the 1500d is really too much for a Q. I have run 15" Q's, 1 sealed, 1 ported, 2 ported, 1kw a piece, 1200 watt/piece, and over 1500/piece. Every one I had had extra things done to them, so if this one you have doesn't then go with the 1000d and then you can strap a second 1000d when you get the second woofer. edit, oh if you are planning on only using the one amp to power two of them in the future, although either will still get the job done, I see no other choice than the 1500d at least to run two Q's in the future

why would tinsel leads change the resistance of the coil? not really surprised that's the issue, but glad you got it figured out

Actually your wrong, they are made outside the country thats why Jacob has to wait a little longer to ship out amps because US Customs holds them for awhile as they come into the border. if the amps were made here in the usa they wouldnt be nearly as affordable as what they are and yes the 1500D will do 2600 watts under the proper conditions which if I remember right is 16v and wired down to 1/2 ohm with a rise to around 1 ohm Yeah, but that's really just if it's just playing a sine wave. ? isn't that what music really is anyways? a bunch of sine waves lol and burps just a bunch of tones!! but they all follow the general sytle of a sine wave? i guess you could use a squarewave to burp and it would be louder b/c the peak will be there for a long amount of time...!... but i didn't know music came across as anything other then sine waves did i miss something? can someone else shed light on that comment? nice site ppl check it out http://www.bewitched.com/m/music/ I believe what he's saying is that the 2600 watts was done on a test tone. or single sine wave. there was impedance rise, which makes it ok to wire below 1 ohm in some cases for SPL/burps. in daily music there are a bunch of sine waves and impedance levels are all over the place, sometimes well below 1 ohm even when wired to 1 or even 2 ohm nominal. There was a big discussion about this on another thread. Basically, unless you are doing SPL, save yourself the 100 bucks and get the SAE line. There will be no audible difference in the 2-300 watts difference. even if it's a 400 watt difference you won't hear the difference with your ears, only a meter. save the money and take advantage of the great deal on the 1200d. that is my recommendation. also keep in mind though for future use you can always strap another 1500d to a pre-existing 1500d, can't do that with the SAE. just not sure if you ever plan on doing that.

yeh I mean if someone told me they were to ban kinetiks, batcap and XS would def. be my next two choices. I don't really have experience with the nsb's, but don't you have to be more careful with how you mount those? I thought they were not agm's. also curious what you liked about the batcaps? what specific power cells did you use that you are comparing? not trying to disprove you, just curious always looking for that edge!

the sundown 125.2 over the 50.4, two-channel amps especially compared to bridging a 4-channel will have better channel separation and slightly better signal to noise. so basically the 125.2 will be cleaner. the JL is a good amp, but In my experience I have yet to see one of their amps live up to what they say they can do. I have also seen several blow capacitors for no apparent reason (grant you I didn't install those). the other amp I would recommend along with the 125.2 would be the arc audio amp. arc audio makes an incredible product. I think on those speakers you won't hear the 160 dollar difference between the two amps. just an FYI though, I run Hybrid Audio Legatia mids/highs off of sundown 100.4d's and the sound is quite astounding.

1.) hifonics amplifiers are tested to make within at least within %10 percent of rated power. so at minimum the 2610 will make ~2350 watts. that would be the absolute lowest power capablities from the amp at 14.4v. as long as you set your gains correctly you will receive nothing but clean power from the hifonics amplifiers. I have used mb quart by maxxsonics, loved them, grant you it was the premium series. other amp I had was the crunch gp3000d-pro, competition series from maxxsonics, so again not perfect comparison as they are tested to different standards. I have also done several installs with the brutus series though, and have had great results. IMO for the money you really can't beat'em. as M5 stated though Sundown is def. worth a look. I am personally on their team and don't want to sound like that's the only reason I recommend them, but they really are IMO the best amps per dollar. they will always push more than rated power at less than rated voltage, which is impressive. And it is pretty safe to buy one used or refurb, with proper install no need to worry about problems.

it's not just my opinion, but I do, as do many professional electrical audio guys, including the top dog at Ohio Generator, would recommend kinetik. I see a lot of guys run a single hc2400 with a sundown 3000d or 3500d. With all the correct wiring, big 3, and upgraded alty of course. Which it seems you do have all of that. I have used optimas in the past, work great but not a lot of amps. Powermasters are great powerhouses, but for audio, I have found kinetiks to have quicker power delivery, withstand more abuse, hold voltage the best (key is to charge to 15volts), and also give the lowest amount of resistance to an electrical system, resulting in cleaner power deliver to your amplifiers and in turn you speakers. Not saying others won't work, but I believe kinetiks are well worth the money. www.onlinecarstereo.com a valid website for purchasing equipment has great deals on them. depending on how long you plan on being able to play your system full tilt, I would recommend at minimum the hc2400, and preferably their new hc3800.

I have had lots of thoughts about hosting a competition in my neck of the woods. I have a shop that I know would be willing to team up with me to do it. I would want to eventually get the event to grow into something on a larger scale with SQ judging as well, but would start off with bassrace and db drags. Any comments or suggestions for hosting a show (especially if you have done so yourself) are great appreciated. Would also be great to see how many guys from Team Sundown could make it.