hooking up my new system

Okay here we go. Before i start my questions, heres the hardware.

The receiver is a pioneer deh-1800, wich puts out 22 RMSx4. Its a simple budget model. It hooks to my factory speakers wich are 97 ford crown vic speakers. The car has the optional premium sound wich means it came with an amp and subwoofers from the factory. I havent looked at the speakers other than to wire the new H/U to them. The factory amp is disconnected and the H/U hooks to the speakers direct.

Next is the slot ported 12" sub box, wich holds 2 subs. Each side of it is a little over 1.5 cubic feet per sub. From what ive gathered its tuned to around 35 HZ excluding sub space.

The subs are Kicker 12" CVR's, the ones with dual 4 ohm voice coils. those hook to a kicker amp. Right now i hate how my crossover works, so i will soon be deleting the built in amp crossover and moving to one with more features.

Current stereo settings are

LOUD = off or low
bass = -2
mid = -2
high = 0

current amp gain = 50-60%

Moving on to the questions.

Question 1: how should i wire these subs up to the amp?

option a:
2x300 RMS @ 2 ohm unbridged

option b:
1x600 RMS @ 4 ohm bridged

wich looks like

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18/hotrod_chevyz/misc%20pics/speakerwiring.jpg

Question 2: This box is WAY wrong for these subs... Im thinking of doing away with the port and making it a sealed box. Matter of fact i already bought 2 pounds of pillow stuffing. How would that change the sound it makes right now if i changed it from ported to sealed?

Heres the box as it sits.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18/hotrod_chevyz/misc%20pics/cvr2.jpg

The speaker covers are sound killing junk. To my suprise they dont rattle. I was going to get these fancy looking chrome ones but most i looked at were just made for dress, and offered little protection to the subs when it comes to things like jack handles and windows scrapers that end up in the trunk. Oh yeah, peep my Ghetto amp rack.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18/hotrod_chevyz/misc%20pics/rack2.jpg
Feel free to rag on it. I know its a masterpiece. Or some kind of piece..
Anyways, how should i wire these up? Should i go ahead and seal the box?

question one is simple which ever way you want. ( if you look at it closely you will see why)

question 2: don't go sealed with kicker

Wouldnt the 4 ohm method be better on the amp than 2 ohm tho?

According to kicker the new CVR's can be used for sealed or ported. What would be the problem with running it sealed?

it would be the same output and same stress on the amp either way.

i don't think there should be a "problem" running them sealed, its just that from what i know Kickers arent really hot on SQ, so going ported would only shine light on its spl abilities.

actually in a ported the amp does stress but not as much, this is mainly due to the listener in a ported box the lows can be reached with less volume which means less power, in a sealed box the listener will turn the radio louder until the lows get to the level they prefer, leave the box ported your subs will last longer, and cool better, which means less impendance rise

Ported boxes reach excursion limits easier and its harder to hear distortion so someone who doesnt know how to properly set gains can melt the VC with no issue. Depending on his listening styles sealed may be better than ported. Ive had sealed and ported enclosures and dual sealed enclosures can pack a nice punch. It can depend mainly on how its installed.

just be careful with ported, below the port tuning freq the speaker is unloaded (it see the port as just a big hole). Don't try and play real low freqs at higher volumes with a ported box.

According to the book that came with each sub, a CVR12 in a sealed compact (minimum enclosure volume) the power handling = 400W RMS. The same exact sub with the maximum sealed enclosure volume the power handling = 300W RMS. In a ported box they are rated at 300W RMS no matter how big the box is.

Im going to seal it. This box is better for these subs sealed than it is ported. If i wanted SPL the box would have to become 2 cubic feet per sub bigger, or i would be wasting my time. My trunk doesnt have that kind of room to spare because i have to keep room in it for my jack, spare and other things.

As for these speakers working in a sealed box, even though the SQ is supposedly not good on kicker subs, these are a completely different beast than any previous kicker comp ive seen or had. Being a sealed box the subs would perhaps forgive the errors in the box design. Considering the size of the box im guessing that i could come closer to a SQ system than a SPL system even though CVR isnt considered a good SQ speaker.

I listen to all kinds of music. And the kinds i dont listen to my GF listens to. It plays rap, pop, country all fine its nice and accurate. But when listening to rock, metal, or classical sounding music they dont seem to know what the heck is going on. Like when listening to metallica or similar with fast paced bass drum hits they seem to lose track. The gain settings are never changed they are always as i stated before. Its the rule of the car. The only gain ever messed with is the volume button. Distortion shouldnt be a problem.

I bought a crossover today. Not sure how good it will sound as of yet but its GOT to be better than the original one the kicker amp came with.

Heres how it plays out. Its an el cheapo but its functional so bleh.

Lowpass filter:

120Hz
90Hz
50Hz

bass boost:
+12dB

110Hz
80Hz
40Hz

This will be hooking up to the kicker amp powering the 12" cvr's.

At the same time this is installed, im going to be installing a jensen amp i got from crutchfield a long time ago (XA2100) to power the cars original rear subs. Im also going to install an old Kraco 7 band EQ to power the door and dash speakers, just to have something to laugh about (although it really doesnt sound that bad). Eventually my system will have SOME balance now that i will be able to tune out each component individualy.

Im not sure what the system would rate at a competition, but im guessing around 125 SPL once its completed. Possibly more, im not sure really. I might enter it into the next local competition just to get it gauged.

What do you guys suppose such a system would do for SPL?

my 2 8's with 125 watts a peice does like 128-130 .......

making a sealed box bigger will increase the relative level of the lowest frequencies and decrease the power handling, making the bo smaller will have the opposite effect. Reason for lower power handling ...... the speaker uses the air in a sealed box as part of it's suspension, when there is less air it's harder to compress it so it takes more power. If there is a lot more air, it is compressed more easily so it doesn't take as much power.