(2) Kicker 12" L7 vs Q18

[JQA3 0]

I have two Kicker 12" L7s, I absolutely hate the sound quality they have, but the SPL is OK. I am looking for a SINGLE 18" Sub, what would be the best? I want it to be louder than the kickers, but sound a lot better SQ wise. Would the Q18 be louder than two 12" kicker L7s?

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

What are the specs on your current box?

[JQA3 0]

What are the specs on your current box?

1.25cubic feet per sub ported. Thats all i know. It is prefab

[cheese20323 13]

I would take the BL out of all of them.....

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

What are the specs on your current box?

1.25cubic feet per sub ported. Thats all i know. It is prefab

Why not build a decent box and see if that makes them sound better. Would be much less $$ and would make a HUGE difference.

[ulrisa 26]

If you are worried about SPL, then I would definitely suggest the BL. A Q can get loud, but its more designed for SQ. A BL is still going to sound way better than an L7. You might want to try getting a new box for the L7's, 1.25 ft^3 for a 12 ported is way too small. Also, prefabs tend to have tuning around 40 hz, you would want something in the 30's for it to sound good. Good luck on whatever you decide.

[JQA3 0]

They cannot take the 1500RMS power very well, the Coils heat up FAST, and I want to get a QUALITY sub instead of these.. I need someone to build the boxes, so its not something I want to experiment with.

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

BL + Khaotik enclosure = you very happy fella

[JQA3 0]

BL + Khaotik enclosure = you very happy fella

Where do i get that enclosure?

EDIT: Will the BTL have better or Equal SQ to L7s?

Edited October 16, 2010 by JQA3

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

BL + Khaotik enclosure = you very happy fella

Where do i get that enclosure?

EDIT: Will the BTL have better or Equal SQ to L7s?

Enclosure right here from SSA.

Get the BL you will love it.

[JQA3 0]

BL + Khaotik enclosure = you very happy fella

Where do i get that enclosure?

EDIT: Will the BTL have better or Equal SQ to L7s?

Enclosure right here from SSA.

Get the BL you will love it.

Where are the prices...where do i order?

[ssh 924]

Both the BL and BTL will sound better then L7s, granted your enclosure is built right and not tuned high.

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

BL + Khaotik enclosure = you very happy fella

Where do i get that enclosure?

EDIT: Will the BTL have better or Equal SQ to L7s?

Enclosure right here from SSA.

Get the BL you will love it.

Where are the prices...where do i order?

Click the link at the top of the forum that says Khaotik enclosures. Doh!

[ssh 924]

BL + Khaotik enclosure = you very happy fella

Where do i get that enclosure?

EDIT: Will the BTL have better or Equal SQ to L7s?

Enclosure right here from SSA.

Get the BL you will love it.

Where are the prices...where do i order?

http://khaotikenclosures.com/

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Both the BL and BTL will sound better then L7s, granted your enclosure is built right and not tuned high.

Maybe to you, but that is only an opinion. The "SQ" of a subwoofer is 99% personal preference, and has pretty much nothing to do with the driver. The other 1% will be the application.

JQA3, the L7s should EASILY handle 1500 watts. Don't take any offense to this, but I don't think you quite know exactly what you are doing. I think if you get a proper enclosure and apply them properly, you'll be quite surprised how well they will perform.

[GoBigRed313 4]

L7's are pretty decent woofers. My cousin has ran them in 5 or 6 vehicles and they sound really nice with a properly tuned enclosure. Get a sheet of MDF and build a decent box before you give up on them. Unless you have an endless supply of cash, then move on to the next one.

[///M5 2,833]

Most of a subs sound is in its box. Yours is currently terrible for the subs you have. Quality wise you aren't stepping up much if any by changing the drivers, but SQ wise by changing the box you can gain a TON. You'll gain output too. Wrong box for what you have is by far your biggest problem.

[grnrpr68 0]

agree with the others make your box right and you will probably be happy with your l7s i have ran them for years and loved them but i wanted to step up and got the 18 btls ....

[s_carter 5]

Either build a new box that is around 4-5 cubes after driver and port displacements, and has about 60 inches of port area for that size box, with a low tune (26-32 hertz), or go with a BL 18 or an XCON 18. Enclosure design and building is fun, once you get the hang of it.

[///M5 2,833]

Either build a new box that is around 4-5 cubes after driver and port displacements, and has about 60 inches of port area for that size box, with a low tune (26-32 hertz), or go with a BL 18 or an XCON 18. Enclosure design and building is fun, once you get the hang of it.

Seriously??? 26-32Hz??? NO. Not for those. He should tune higher. I am really getting perturbed at all these nonsensical recommendations to people based on hype and non-understanding

[SubSam 21]

Out of a million or so ported boxes I've built for kicker L7s I have never heard a ported box tuned higher than 33 that had an acceptable freq response to my ears. Don't tune it below 30, no higher than 33. But the box is your biggest issue... nobody with L7s is really going for SQ, but they are capable of sounding very good regardless. I ran two L7 12s for about a year, but I eventually traded them in for two 12w7s to even out the "muddy bass". Tried about 8 boxes with the w7s, moved on to a single Fi Q15. The Q gets almost as loud as the others on the same power and sounds incredible doing it. I got like +4 dB from 45 to 100 Hz with 31.05 Hz tuning.

If you want more output, you can buy a BL or BtL, just don't necessarily expect better SQ unless that p.o.s. pre fab is tuned to 40 Hz or some bs. If that's the case, stick with the L7s, give them a fair chance. Like M5 said, its alllllllll about your box.

[qazjun 0]

[slim2fattycake 85]

Out of a million or so ported boxes I've built for kicker L7s I have never heard a ported box tuned higher than 33 that had an acceptable freq response to my ears. Don't tune it below 30, no higher than 33. But the box is your biggest issue... nobody with L7s is really going for SQ, but they are capable of sounding very good regardless. I ran two L7 12s for about a year, but I eventually traded them in for two 12w7s to even out the "muddy bass". Tried about 8 boxes with the w7s, moved on to a single Fi Q15. The Q gets almost as loud as the others on the same power and sounds incredible doing it. I got like +4 dB from 45 to 100 Hz with 31.05 Hz tuning.If you want more output, you can buy a BL or BtL, just don't necessarily expect better SQ unless that p.o.s. pre fab is tuned to 40 Hz or some bs. If that's the case, stick with the L7s, give them a fair chance. Like M5 said, its alllllllll about your box.

Did you have a SPL meter to test your output gain? I really can't see that much of an increase from 2 12w7s to 1 15 Q beside from bad enclosure design for the 2 12w7s especially with all the testing you did with 8 different boxes for the 2 12w7s.

lol.

OP, what vehicle do you have and do you even have space for an 18" driver to begin with? I agree that you should build a new box for those L7s first before you dish the money out for a new driver and box, but if it was me, I'd have a Fi sub already and not the L7s cus I'm bias towards Fi.

[SubSam 21]

Of course! Got all sorts of sweet acoustic programs, we regularly plot SPL curves for almost every install we do, it only takes one minute to run a sine sweep across a couple thousand Hz and just plot it through termlab into any graphic program, even maple works tho we typically only use maple for our in house displays. We got a wall of jl w3s on an LRC circuit oscillating at 22Hz lol its sweet I should post a vid.

Yea I was surprised by the increase also, but its entirely due to box placement. I fire my woofers into the cabin, from the trunk. With two 12s I got a wide, flat, soft bass response at higher freq(>50), which was worse with the w7 than the L7s or rockford hx2s. I tried angling those w7s upwards a bit, built a smaller higher tuned box, built a huge box tuned to 27 trying to flatten everything. I just hate when it is hella loud at around 32-38 Hz and drops several dB at higher freq... many don't care, I've just been in the game so long I get erked by these sort of things... I need to hear all the notes clearly, including some subsonics, so I tend to tune it lowww. If you listen to a song like Drake "Over" in a box tuned higher than 35 it just sounds like a different song entirely I love the 27-30hz bass too much to sacrifice

Edited December 3, 2010 by SubSam

[slim2fattycake 85]

Nice. That's a good increase.