Kicker 12” Comp Subwoofer

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/124169/originURLEncoded/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.circuitcity.com%252Fccd%252 Fcategorylist.do%253FcatOid%253D-13093%2526N%253D20013088%2B20013093%2B40794641%252 6link%253Dref%2526bMore%253D%2526c%253D1/rpem/ccd/productDetailSpecification.do#tabs

I work with a guy who has 2 of these in his blazer and he showed them to me today and i thought they sounded really nice. he had 2 of them in a sealed box and i was thinking of getting one to put in my firebird. it says it is a 300 peak power sub. so im guessing the sub is about 150RMS watts? i need a amp to power it. i think a Profile AP400 would be good enough to power it. it puts out 200rms watts bridged. tell me if you think this should be good.

should be plenty of power for it

That should sound pretty nice. My friend had a Comp VR in his Camaro and it sounded really good so your setup should be pretty much the same.

should be plenty of power for it

do you think it'd be too much power and when i crank it, it'd blow the sub?

No the Kickers are pretty strong subs. It should take it pretty well. Plus your amp wont actually be delivering 200 full watts to the sub, due to your electrical system not actually being 14.4 volts, which is what the amp is tested at. So it should be just about perfect.

another thing: will this setup sound good when i listen to rap as well as rock/metal?

Well its not going to give you huge boominess, but should respond well in most frequencies. Try a normal sealed box first, and if you dont like it then try a larger ported box. If you really think that this may not give you enough bass, try a more powerful sub and amp. But it should sound pretty good.

ok, will it give me alot of bass when i listen to rap?

Should be ok...it wont be like heart pounding or anything. But it should be pretty deep and hit well. You will probably want to upgrade in the fuuture so you might want to consider something better the first time around. It depends how much you want to spend and how much bass you really want. If you want ALOT of bass try a good sub like JL W7(13) or similar, or mabye even a 15.

maybe i should get 2 of these subs then. what kind of amp would i need if i got another one of these subs?

well just any decent amp that puts out around 150rms x 2 @4 ohms. something like this (http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/120740/originURLEncoded/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.circuitcity.com%252Fccd%252 Fcategory.do%253FcatOid%253D-13095%2526N%253D20013088%252B20013095%2526c%253D1/rpem/ccd/productDetailSpecification.do#tabs) but doesnt have to be that expensive

so each channel has to put out 150rms watts at 4 ohm?

http://www.millionbuy.com/prfcl600.html

that amp should work then.

yeah that will work

the guy that showed me these subs had a sony 600 watt amp. and thats what that Profile amp is (600watts). so im guessing it should sound alot like his.

what would i lose if i got 2 10" Kicker comp subs rather than 2 12" subs?

They wouldnt be as deep. But they would respond a little faster making them better suited to rock music. I prefer a single powerful 12. I have an Audiobahn 1,000watt RMS 12, it doesnt respond very fast because of its large surround, but it plays very deep and sounds good with all kinds of music because of its large frequency range.

so sense i listen to rock as well as rap, i think im goin to go with 2 10"s

youd lose a couple dBs and soem low end.. its worth it for the 12s trust me.. my buddy has a pair and they sound decent for entry level subs

give them enough room to do their work and im sure youll be happy. at least 100 wrms a piece though.. for some reason kicker subs (esp when sealed) take most of their RMS to really shine

dont worry about accuracy between those 10s and 12s.. if you dont have much experience with subs youll find out that kicker comps arent subs made for top of the line SQ and i highly doubt youd tell a big difference in SQ between sizes.. besides its not necessarily true that 12s are 'sloppier' than 10s..

i had a comp VR 15 and it sounded pretty good in the right box with rock.. and i wouldnt have sacrificed the low end and output by going with a couple 10s just so they they were a little 'quicker' .. its not noticable enough

ok, thanks for the help Andon. this is what i think im going to do:

buy 1 kicker comp 12" sub
buy 1 profile clarius 600watt amp. use only one channel.

that way i have another channel to use if i decide to buy another sub. i think that'll work out great.

ok thats fine but arent the subs buy one get one free at circuit city and most internet retailers? if youre buying your sub from an authorized dealer youll get the second one free anyways

now that i look at it again, it does say "Buy two Kicker Comp subwoofers, get the 2nd free" so i guess you do. thanks for pointing that out

no problem man..

im assuming with a firebird you probably wont want to port those subs and take up much room..

but if you do run em sealed, try to make the box on the larger side of kickers recommendations.. they sound a lot better

how big of a box does kicker recommend to make for 2 12" subs?

i saw this on circuitcity and i thought it would probably work but it doesnt give any dimensions

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/119724/rpem/ccd/productDetailSpecification.do#tabs

i think im just going to find some dimensions and make my own box. cause i already have some wood and the right tools. 70$ for a premade box sounds too much.

i thought of an idea today and i wanted to know if it would work.

could i place a switch between the amp and the power supply so i could turn the amp and subs off whenever i wanted to?

yeah you can do that. im not sure what kind of switch it is though. What I have is a bass control knob which adjusts the dB boost on my amp.

ok, cool. but wouldnt just any switch work? like one that opens and closes a circuit?

if you put a switch in.. i would assume you could use any that opens and closes a circuit liek youre talking about.. but i dont think id put it on the power wire.. it would work better on the remote wire i would assume. but why do you want to do that? most head units have ATT buttons for a quick drop in volume (like for cops ;) ).. and sub level adjustments in case you dont want as much bass in certain types of music.

cause when i listen to rock/metal, my system already sounds great. i just want to add the subs so when i listen to rap, i can get louder, clearer bass. so i just thought when i listen to rap, i could turn on the subs and then turn them off.

trust me. rock and metal sound a lot better with subs too. you probably wont turn them up to the level you have them for rap, but subs add to every style of music and youll start to love em.

nix the switch idea and just play with the sub level from the head unit. if you do decide you want NO bass from them, then turn the sub level all the way down. (you do have sub preout level controls in your head unit right?)

also, abotu the enclosure.. this might not make you too happy but i would recommend about 2.5 cubes net for each sub. i wouldnt go under 2 cubes each. kicker says you can go as small as 1.25 but they wouldnt sound good IMO. get as close to 3 cubes each as you can. itll sound louder and play deeper.

well right now, i have a stock head unit. it'd be nice if you could give me a recommendation on a good but cheap headunit.

and about the cubes for each sub - im not really good at finding out cubes so a box dimension in inches would be better. :) thanks.

you cant go wrong with an Alpine head unit.

ONe thing i didnt see anyone realize is that specific sub runs at 8 ohms so he would be pushing less power than its rated they do have it in 4 though. That and the sony amp is a lot weaker than they are rated for instance the 740 watt 4 channel only pushes 50watts per channel and only 125 bridged so dont always rate power by watt the amp has on it. Rockford is big on that too.

they do have it in 4ohm? how would i hook it up then? and would that amp i found work good still?

Yeah that amp is perfect for a 4 ohm sub just dont bridge the amp on the sub and with that amp if you get the buy one get one free deal that amp would power both subs right at rms power.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Profile-CL600-450W-2CH-Car-Amplifier-ONLY-62_W0QQitemZ5784883273QQcategoryZ18796QQssPageName ZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Heres that amp on ebay its a pretty good deal i bought the CA600 about 2 years ago from them for $115.

Heres the 4 ohm sub from circuit city. You could get the 8 ohm model but them the amp wouldnt put out as much power.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Kicker-12-Comp-Subwoofer-05C124-/sem/rpsm/oid/117479/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I wouldnt buy from million buy ive had a couple bad experiences bought an amp from them took almost 3 weeks after i paid for it show up. Then i bought some 6x9 boxes and they sent 2 different ones. Have a had a few good items from them but after those 2 i stopped looking at there site. good luck on your setup should sound pretty good in a hatch.

that kicker sub comes in a 4 ohm and 8ohm. so if i got the 4ohm, the CL600 amp would be perfect?

sense you were talking about having a bass control thing on your head unit, i was wondering if i have one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/rg501/IMAG0014.jpg

the controls circled in red adjust the bass, mids and highs. so wouldnt it be the same thing?

left three should be the bass control, i cant read it in the pic but it should be left to right 60 100 300 for the first 3.

yeah, thats what it is. so could i just use those 3 bass controls to adjust the bass levels?

yeah you can do that. im not sure what kind of switch it is though. What I have is a bass control knob which adjusts the dB boost on my amp.

my friend has one of these. were can i get one of these? how much do they cost? and how do you hook them up?

Well for one if the amp is equiped with it then it should come with one, if the amps not equipped it wont have a use. Im not sure because some one asked this before but i think there might be one that hooks up inline with your rca cables to the amp, not sure but there might be possibility. Your looking for an equalizer if you buy an amp it has the crossover, bassboost and power level built into it the ones on your HU are for the speakers.

yeah, my friend has a kicker amp that has a remote bass control knob hooked right into the amp. im getting a profile amp and it doesnt come with one. i was wondering if i could buy one and hook it up. any links would be great.

It wouldnt matter though theres no hook up for it on that amp. You would need to get an amp with it. If you buy an aftermarket HU you they usually have a mode for changing the bass output for the sub.

does this headunit have a bass control mode? i can get it for 40$ from a friend.

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/reviews/20030708/dehp3500.html

It says that it has a built in subwoofer level input so it might. How much are you willing to spend on a HU.

well, if that one has a subwoofer volume input thing, then i'll spend 40$ on that one.