Impious

Need to know your budget. "As cheap as possible" and "Cheaper than Kicker" are not answers. State a dollar amount. Need to know what power @ 2ohms you are looking for. Need to know if you have any space/size constraints. Need to know if there are any features you require the amplifier to have. Would be helpful to know what speakers you were using. Would be helpful to know what your electrical system consists of, or if there will be any upgrades to the electrical system and what those are.

Minimum Port Diameter To calculate the minimum diameter of the port required to prevent port noises, you will also need to know the following: Xmax = maximum linear displacement (mm) Dia = Effective diameter of driver (cm) Np = number of ports Calculate the minimum port diameter from the following equations: Sd = pi*(Dia/100)^2/4 Vd = Sd*Xmax/1000 Dmin = 100*(20.3*(Vd^2/Fb)^0.25)/Np^.5 where, Dmin = minimum port diameter (cm) Note: You CAN use ports that have a smaller diameter than that given by the equation above, especially if the ports are flared at both ends. However, at higher volumes, you may notice some port noise caused by the air rushing through the ports. The Subwoofer DIY Page - Port Calculations

Like others have said, #8 should be black

No, it won't.

A lot of people here compete and enjoy it. And many of the products sold by the supporting manufacturers of the forum are used in those competitions. The difference is that no one gave (or gives) a crap about competition in the context you were using it in.

I drive a 95 Geo Prizm... how exactly would I check it out myself? Thats a pretty broad explanation. Allow common sense to prevail. Roll your windows down (if the speakers are mounted in the car's doors), remove your current speakers (assuming new speakers will be mounted in the same location) and measure the depth, with a measuring tape, from the mounting baffle (the surface that the speaker will be screwed into) to the closest obstruction directly behind the speaker opening. You do know how to read and use a measuring tape, correct? This length, as measured by the measuring tape, will be your available mounting depth. If your measurement is less than 2.75" (you do know how to convert that to a fraction, correct?), then you presently do not have enough mounting depth for your new speakers and will have to investigate the option of making a speaker ring to create enough depth for the speakers. If your measurement is greater than 2.75", then you have enough depth already. How do you plan to install 6.5" diameter speakers in a location that presently holds speakers that are only 5.25" in diameter? Are you using a mounting baffle/plate for your current speakers? Or are you going to modify the speaker opening to fit the larger speakers? Or mounting the new speakers in a different location?

Can't imagine they'd receive bad reviews considering it's just a different heatsink on an OEM'd board.

yes 1 single sealed box with divider in the middle Then ditch the idea of dual terminal cups, drill a hole in the divider to wire the subwoofers together in parallel-parallel as pictured in the diagram, and run one speaker wire to the amplifier. Problem solved. Not seeing the big issue here?

When is the dimming.....sitting still idling in traffic, when driving down the road, etc? Do you know what your voltage is dropping to when the dimming occurs?

Are there two separate enclosures, or a single enclosure? You said "box", singular, in which case I would presume both subwoofers will be in the same enclosure. In which case, why are you bothering with two terminal cups? Just wire them as in the picture and run a one pair of wires to the amplifier. Two separate terminal cups would be completely unnecessary.

You're making it way more complicated than it is. Just wire the drivers in parallel-parallel as in the image above. No need to wire the drivers to the amplifier separately.

Is this for competing, or daily driving? If it's daily driving, you could possibly relax your power requirements some as the difference between, say, 1500w and 2000w won't be audible.

That's a pretty poor method and recommendation. Drivers first, then amplifier. Not the other way around.

Don't purchase amplifiers based on supposed "sound quality". More information about how these amplifiers will be used would be helpful. Just off hand I can't say any one of those would be extremely high on my "to buy" list primarily due to the limited power output capabilities compared to my preferences.....but I'm a big fan of headroom. Also, must it be a single 4-channel, or are you open to the idea of two 2-channel amplifiers?

I believe the Ubers were based on the TC 3HP motor. If you search around SIN you'll probably be able to find some T/S parameters and more info on the driver. The "uberwoofers" sold by Laine are pretty rare, TC 3HP motored drivers are not. That "tunable diaphragm" is a passive radiator.

Not recommended.

Good, well designed drivers. Generally good distortion performance. Based on the TC2+ motor, which was a fairly popular affordable motor design used by many manufacturers in OEM designs back was TC Sounds was thriving. Slight displacement advantage in favor of the Epic. Qts & Fs are pretty similar between the two, so response probably won't vary greatly between the two in similar alignments. I've not seen any measurement data on the IDQv3, but I would be surprised if they performed $100 better than the Epic (price based on woofersetc.com). Personally I'd probably go with the TC driver.

The problem isn't so much "power" as it is current. Even though the power may be the same, the amplifier has to output more current when driving a lower impedance load (basic fact of Ohms Law). The required increase in current may exceed the capabilities of the amplifier. I personally wouldn't chance it. Jacob may disagree however as he would have a better idea of the current capabilities of the amplifier.

As loud as the laws of physics allow. The only way to answer your question is to have the setup metered after it is installed.

Just due what the rest of us men do......hide the new sub from the wife and install it when she's not home so she never knows That's one of the foundations of this hobby.

Mounting under the dash affects imaging and staging and frequency response at the listening position, not really the efficiency. OP: What horns do you have currently? I find it hard to believe you wouldn't be able to obtain the output you are looking for out of a quality set of high efficiency HLCD considering a single pair would literally be able capable of deafening you. You said you want to step up to Ultra's, which leads me to believe you may have the older CD1e series? In which case yes, I would recommend you step up to an actual HLCD. I was testing my stereo the other day, and with a 1khz test tone playing though my CD2Pro's at a rather uncomfortable listening level I was only getting about .15V out of the amplifier

It means someone didn't do a good job of setting up their component set initially and so they're using a band-aid to fix it But yes, auxiliary tweeters (or imaging tweeters) are tweeters crossed at a higher crossover frequency (generally 5khz+) intended to help "raise" the soundstage.

BXI is not a BRZ. So not really relevant. As an aside, swapping one for the other isn't always a valid comparison. Something as simple as a difference in gain structure could cause perceived "differences" (if there were perceived performance differences that caused you to enjoy the Sundown more). Not saying that's necessarily the case, but something that just saying "I removed X and installed Y and Y was better" doesn't exclude and needs to be considered before taking subjective experiences into account.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it doesn't mean shit or that it's marketing crap. It sets a measurement method standard by which compliant amplifiers can be more easily compared. If you are purchasing an amplifier that is CEA compliant, you are purchasing an amplifier that is capable of the published specs under the testing methods indicated by the CEA-2006 testing standards which, by the way, are not any different than the method used by Sundown to rate their amplifier's power output. While I wouldn't make a decision based on CEA compliance alone, it's not really just "marketing crap". It gives the less informed a better and easier to understand means of comparing amplifiers apples to apples.

I personally would probably go with the Hifonics if the price is the same, probably moreso since you are planning on a 2ohm load. I don't see where you are losing any useful features by doing so, and the Hifonics has higher power capabilities. By the way, have any of the users who are shitting on the new Hifonics amps tested one under proper conditions, observed a reputable objective test of the amplifier, or reviewed any failure rates or design and quality control measures for the amplifiers? Or is everyone just assuming it's crap because someone on the internet said so?