2 BTL 18 Daily Driver Review

[NDMstang65 403]

Product Review by Tejcurrent:

Follow the link to the post here: http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/i...?showtopic=7337

Over the past year alone I have been through almost a half dozen systems in the constant quest to find a sub that was not only loud, but sounded decent doing so. I've owned Alpine, Kicker, and many other brands in between. I would only purchase one sub at a time in order to decide if it was worth buying more than one, and I never bought more than one. I had never owned an 18 inch woofer, and having owned 10s, 12s, and 15s, I wanted to try the next biggest step, especially since my 99 Yukon had the room to accomodate the system.

After I had placed my order for an 18" dual 2ohm BTL with cooling, 3rdMagnet, and HiXmCoil, I began to beef up my electrical system in anticipation. I already had a single Hifonics Brutus bxi2006d, and figured it should be sufficient after electrical upgrades (I found out later I was wrong).

I put in a 200amp Powermaster Alternator and an Optima yellowtop to keep the starting battery company. I Ran 1/0 guage to the back after doing the 'big 3' upgrade, and put in a 3rd battery under the rear seat. I wanted to have the box built so I could have the sub in as soon as it arrived, so I started to build that as well.

I decided to go for the simplest box I could make, so I just made a rear firing box with 8 cubic feet net tuned to about 35hz. Here is a picture of the sub in the enclosure. I only used a single sheet of mdf for the faceplate, and you can see it flexed enough to actually blow the rubber gasket from under the sub.

This was a picture of me holding the sub to give you an idea of how large it is.

This is how big it is compared to my alpine type-x 12

About 10 days after I placed my order it came in the mail.

That night I had it in my yukon and started playing it. The hit it delivered amazed me, it was sooo accurate compared to the L7 15 I had just before, and even rivaled the detail and clarity of the type-x. I listened to some rock and enjoyed the way it sounded, then pulled out some Young Jeezy to see what it would do. WOW, at a low volume it started tickling my nose and shaking things. As I cranked it up it became uncomfortable to sit in the car. I did my first hair trick that evening, and was very happy to say the least. After metering this setup I found out it was hitting about 148dbs @ 42hz, and still 145.x @ 32hz. The strength on the deep notes was amazing to say the least, so about a month or 2 later I put in my order for my 2nd btl 18, and ordered a 2nd bxi2006d. After asking around I decided to make 2 CRX style boxes (7.5cubes net each tuned @ 35hz) so that I could remove one at a time for work. I also used 3/8" bolts for the terminals to prevent leaks and make a good solid connection that I could interchange the connection from 1ohm, to 4ohms easily.

I tested just the one btl I already had in the new box and my score went up to about 149.x @ 42hz. In the building process I ran out of carpet, so I only covered one of the boxes, and as soon as the 2nd sub came in I put it in there. With 4kwatts rms going to 2 BTLs, it was by far the loudest vehicle I'd ever owned, and the loudest 2 subs I've ever heard. With my window all the way down I was able to get a good hair trick going, and figured it was time to get metered. At 42hz I was hitting just under 151dbs. To say the least I was pleased, but when I found out I was doing 149.8 @ 32hz, I was very happy with the increase. The lows are so strong you can watch your vision blur and feel the air move in and out of your lungs. These things really pounded.

This is by far the best setup I've ever had, and aside from 1 or 2 others that cost in the 5 digits, it's one of the best I've ever heard.

I know, the cars dirty.

This is a really bad image of how I set up the boxes, just with the subs where I plan on making them in the future.