downgrading from 18" to 15" BL

[hayes55987 0]

ok guys, currently now I have an 18" BL fully loaded for daily. Its being powered by a JBL BP1200.1 at 1200 watts. Its in a 5 cu ft box tuned to 30Hz firing upward. The reason it is firing upward is because I cannot fit an 18" into my trunk rear facing.

With a 15" though...I would be able to fit it rear firing into my trunk. So my question is...what sort of difference would i see? obviously i'd see a drop in ouput i'd imagine...but at the saem time, would it be noticable? Right now my BL is fully loaded for daily driving (daily option, flat wind, cooling). So at 1200 watts, even though its 200 over RMS, it isn't really pushing the sub to that much of its capability im guessing.

So if I were to get a 15" with 1200 watts, no options except maybe P chamfer...and then in a 5 cu ft box also tuned to like...30Hz also. maybe a bit higher like 32 to squeeze some more SPL out of it. Do you think I would see a noticable decrease in ouput? granted that I don't play my system super loud all the time. Just to "demo" to friends i guess you could say.

Sorry if this is confusing, but maybe you can see what im saying. This horizontal mounting this is just really annoying me for some reason and if possible, i'd of course like to do the rear facing mount as much as possible.

[jonbearsmt 919]

this is just my opion i think it will sound better, i think you were under powering that 18. i think you will be in the sweet spot with the smaller sub i think tha rms on a bl 15 is like 1100 so but hey what the hell do i know! good luck

[Fi Car Audio 64]

While you will have some drop in output, you will also have the firing scheme you are looking for as well as save some space. Might not be as drastic of a loss due to the new loading as well. Shouldnt be more than 1.5 dB overall (which may be less around tuning as they do peak differently).

We are also having a promo on the BLs for our 1 year anniversary. We are offering free cooling on any BL purchase with the flatwinds... saves $40 as a thanks for helping us through the first year... see the "BL Promo" thread in the General section for more details.

[hayes55987 0]

yea, I figured the output would drop some. But at the same time, rear firing is supposed to be the best set-up for a trunked system (generically thinking). so i'm hoping that will help a bit. as for the options though, i only have around 1200 to play with. Due to my amp and the fact my electrical system is at its max. my 18 BL right now has full daily options (daily option, cooling, flatwind). If i get the 15" BL with like only a p chamfer...will that fit my wattage better? Because I don't believe I have enough to run a fully loaded BL. I guess in summary...is the flatwind going to hurt me more or help me if I can't fulfill th wattage requirements for it?