lithium

yep, definitely over excursion. they could have probably gotten louder with a higher hpf and raising the sub's lpf to fill in the gap. that is until you reach the thermal limits of the driver and/or crossover. the lower the frequency the more excursion required to reproduce that frequency. so by raising the hpf you can run more power at the expense of losing low frequency reproduction. edit: you should have been able to hear the speaker distorting when driving it so hard. this is something you need to recognize to prevent future failure.

so your saying having 500 watts per side on tap isnt too much? i realize i would have to back down the gain quite a bit, but if they can take it then i may just go that route, it just scares me knowing that there is that much power on tap per speaker considering i blew a ctx mid with only 125 watts, granted ive had them a few years, and they went thew a roll over in my last vehicle. wow, i just found this http://www.diymobile...ics-xs-65s.html coming from erik himself, one of the main guys at image dynamics. after reading that im willing to spend the extra 100 bucks and get there XS series components and bridge them for 500w per side like you said. looks like he recommended 250 per woofer with a highpass around 80hz, of course you can just back the gains down or raise the cross over point some. did you previous set die from over excursion or did you burn them up?

no problem man, hope you find something to work for you. ...but if not, active is probably the solution. i mean look at a driver like the exodus ex anarchy, 12.5mm xmax! show me a better driver then something like that. it sure as hell wont be close to 70 dollars a piece like the anarchy. http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?products_id=538

i see that there are 2 models for this component set, 2 and 4 ohm. i would just get the 4 ohm model and wire up everything like normal but bridge your amp to each side. so effectively in this option your amp would be running at 500 rms x 2 @ 4ohm. i little bit of head room here. haha your idea would also work i guess, although i would use the passive network with the tweeter. this is assuming that there is no filter for the woofer. in this case you would use the 2ohm model for the woofer, which would receive 250x2 @ 2ohm. The tweeter on the other channels would get 125 x2 @ 4ohm i assume. i bet they just have the same tweeter for both and you would attenuate accordingly. too be honest im surprised that a 300 dollar set of comps do not have a filter for the woofer.

more speakers per side does not make it louder. the band of frequencies reproduced by any one speaker is determined by the crossover. that is to say that each speaker is working individually. in a 2 way the high frequencies are played by the tweeter and the low frequencies are played by the mid. in a 3 way it is split three ways. you are confusing the idea of 2 speakers playing the same frequencies which, through constructive interference, produce more output. now i bet your thinking, "then why dont i just install multiple sets of speakers on each side?" the reason for why NOT to do this is another acoustics term called, destructive interference. (this is frequency dependent so that is why it works fine with subwoofers) when you go with a passive 3 way you want to keep all drivers as close together as possible. another forum member used a bravox 3way set and installed all the drivers in the kickpanels. his build is on here somewhere. What is a your real budget? for 350 you could probably get the results your after with a 2way active build, including the price of a new hu. for example, a used alpine cda 9855 or 9853 goes for about 100-150 dollars. that leaves 200-250 for drivers. depending on what you have space for you could do a mid and tweeter or a large midbass and full range. here is an example of a nice 2way active build.

http://imgur.com/a/cYqRY fiber optic stars- diy

only 350 bucks.... i spent that much on drivers for a 3 way + sub ditching rear fill for an active front stage is an easy call for me. if your not up to it that cool, just something to think about.

im not familar with how the stock headunit works. Optimally, you would want to tap into a fullrange, unfiltered signal. definitely do the big three!

i used a wire clothes hanger to fish the wire through the hole/boot.

How come? Lol... Would like 100 be fair? But why not do t line? i dont charge my friend to help them install stuff. i did charge my brother once but it was a pretty big install. Why do a t-line? its doesn't offer any advantages over a simple ported box that would warrant the time spent design and constructing it.

have you considered going active?

im not familiar with any rf subs. any particular reason why your restricting yourself to just their subs? whats your budget and available space?

i prefer control at the hu. The automatic tuning doesn't appeal to me either.

i would go with a false floor with some fans.

that will work great

IB is a great way to save some space and retain output. the only thing you need to worry about is sealing the trunk from the cabin and building a solid baffle. i think an ib 15 would likely have equal if not more output then the other options listed.

1-ohm stable in stereo, interesting. pointless, unless your bridging to a sub perhaps. either way, very sexy amps

much better value in used/refurb gear http://www.db-r.com/sell/store2/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65_67_69_105

i would start by picking up a used/refurb amp like an sundown 1500. i doubt you will hear a difference between any of the amplifiers listed. From there the subwoofers are really up to you. i think you wanted to go with a pair of 15's? Its unfair to group a subs like the Sundown SA's in the same category with subs like the Fi Bl but with the amount of power your running it may or may not be beneficial to spend more on subs. i would NOT spend your entire budget right away. perhaps its best to put together a basic setup. A pair of SA-15s on a sundown 1500, for example. And, see how it performs for you. after that you can decide if its worth selling the subs and moving up to something better, add more power, etc. if you buy used equipment you wont suffer a huge loss when you're ready to upgrade. i would think that you could find a pair of sa-15s for about 200 shipped a piece and the 1500 for around 250.

the same dude designed both subs and given that they are priced similarly i doubt you will even hear a difference. sounds like your just itching to spend (waste) money.

you need a minimum port are of 182 in^2. a 4 inch port has about 12.5 in^2 of area. how many 4" ports would that be? you do the math A Slot port is the only way to go. just messing around with a box calculator i got 16 cubes net, 189 in^2 of port area tuned to 35 hz. i assumed 0.1 cubic feet in woofer displacement per driver and 1.5" thick wall all around. did not calculate for internal bracing which you will need. the port would be 22" x 8.5" and 22.5" long.

you fucked something up.

just look up what the recommended specs are for a single woofer and multiply by 4. http://www.dcsoundlab.com/level3.html next you need to find out how much port area you need. Enter the info to find how much area you need and then divide the "minimum area" by the individual area of the port your going to use. The number you get here will tell you how many ports you need. for example if you get something like 3.23423 for your final number you would need to run 4 ports. http://www.carstereo.com/help/Articles.cfm?id=31 once you know the number of ports required you need to find the length required to tune the box to your desired frequency. http://www.mobileinformationlabs.com/HowTo-1Woofer-Box-CAL%20Port%20lenth%201.html with the port size and length you can calculate the gross volume of the box. which is simply the net volume required for each subwoofer plus the displacement of the ports plus the displacement of the subs,bracing, etc.

no point in making a T-line, just build solid sealed or ported enclosure and call it a day. preferably ported if there is enough room and if your friend wants some decent output. if you only running 200 watts you would just need an 8 gauge kit. this would probably work fine, http://www.audiosavings.com/products/8-GaugeAmpkit/Cadence-WK81-8-AWG-Gauge-Complete-Car-Audio-Amplifier-Installation-Wire-Amp-Kit/WK81.aspx i wont go into how much you should charge him.