did the kicker sub swap.. not worth it.

[ttt123]

Not bashing kicker, it just isn't worth the money for the reward.

So I swapped out all component speakers and sub for kicker. the sub is the 8" comp that everyone is using. bought the kicker 500.1 key to power it and ... just not impressed.

#1... that is wayyy to much amp for the little 8". My amp is up maybe 1/3 of the way and it just bounces that speaker like a fart in loose silk undies I have to turn my bass all the way down to get clean sounding bass out of it. watching it thump .... its just to much.

#2 the bass I'm getting is not much more then the factory sub. in some ways the factory sub covered more range and felt better tuned for the system. could this one be chalked up to my tuning of the sub.. maybe a little bit but not to the extent of what I'm hearing. Not to mention.. I blew the 1st sub on start up bad wire harness that I paid good money for which was another issue

#3... this mod was not cheap !!!!! lol I'm just peeved I went down this rabbit hole for such minimal results. my system sounds fine and i love everything about it but the sub part.. it just wasn't worth it and that's my main beef.

That little kicker key 500.1 is quite powerful so I'm going to put a single 12" box I have on my shelf in the back and just use that. Just going to divert the speaker wire from the 8" to the 12".. or 10" I have a few nice speakers laying around. I don't like that I will be taking up room in the back but I want some bass that is worth it and that 8" just isn't cutting it.

oh and I did try the factory sub housing as ported and non ported. both ways... disappointing.

Just my opinion.. do it right the first time and think before you spend the money. I brought this bronco home about 3 months ago brand new from the dealer and sank about $7k into mods and out of all of them.. this sub is the only one I'm complaining about.

Just thought I'd share.

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[Brian_B]

Well, I won't say your wrong.

But I do wonder what exactly you were expecting? And how much you were expecting it to cost?

Most people aren't using that 8" because it blows the doors off and causes panties to drop. They are using it because it fits in the stock enclosure and can stay hidden / doesn't take up any extra cargo room. And among that - it's not even the "best" option for staying hidden, you can get 10" custom enclosures that will do that if you want to spend a bit more money. It just happens to be a pretty economical way to get a good deal more bass out of what most Broncos already shipped with.

If you are just after great bass, you'd do something external to that fender well and get yourself out of that constrained volume.

 

[Hemisfear]

Well, I won't say your wrong.

But I do wonder what exactly you were expecting? And how much you were expecting it to cost?

Most people aren't using that 8" because it blows the doors off and causes panties to drop. They are using it because it fits in the stock enclosure and can stay hidden / doesn't take up any extra cargo room. And among that - it's not even the "best" option for staying hidden, you can get 10" custom enclosures that will do that if you want to spend a bit more money. It just happens to be a pretty economical way to get a good deal more bass out of what most Broncos already shipped with.

If you are just after great bass, you'd do something external to that fender well and get yourself out of that constrained volume.

Not bashing kicker, it just isn't worth the money for the reward.

So I swapped out all component speakers and sub for kicker. the sub is the 8" comp that everyone is using. bought the kicker 500.1 key to power it and ... just not impressed.

#1... that is wayyy to much amp for the little 8". My amp is up maybe 1/3 of the way and it just bounces that speaker like a fart in loose silk undies I have to turn my bass all the way down to get clean sounding bass out of it. watching it thump .... its just to much.

#2 the bass I'm getting is not much more then the factory sub. in some ways the factory sub covered more range and felt better tuned for the system. could this one be chalked up to my tuning of the sub.. maybe a little bit but not to the extent of what I'm hearing. Not to mention.. I blew the 1st sub on start up bad wire harness that I paid good money for which was another issue

#3... this mod was not cheap !!!!! lol I'm just peeved I went down this rabbit hole for such minimal results. my system sounds fine and i love everything about it but the sub part.. it just wasn't worth it and that's my main beef.

That little kicker key 500.1 is quite powerful so I'm going to put a single 12" box I have on my shelf in the back and just use that. Just going to divert the speaker wire from the 8" to the 12".. or 10" I have a few nice speakers laying around. I don't like that I will be taking up room in the back but I want some bass that is worth it and that 8" just isn't cutting it.

oh and I did try the factory sub housing as ported and non ported. both ways... disappointing.

Just my opinion.. do it right the first time and think before you spend the money. I brought this bronco home about 3 months ago brand new from the dealer and sank about $7k into mods and out of all of them.. this sub is the only one I'm complaining about.

Just thought I'd share.

I'd never use the brand Kicker myself, but I'm an audio snob! lol
What did you do to your sub enclosure to run the replacement sub?
I replaced the factory sub with a decade old JL8W1-V2-4, plugged the port because the size of the enclosure worked better with as sealed with this sub.
I have a ton of base and I'm also running it with a MoBridge DSP/Amp, which outputs 500w for the sub.

 

[ttt123]

Well, I won't say your wrong.

But I do wonder what exactly you were expecting? And how much you were expecting it to cost?

Most people aren't using that 8" because it blows the doors off and causes panties to drop. They are using it because it fits in the stock enclosure and can stay hidden / doesn't take up any extra cargo room. And among that - it's not even the "best" option for staying hidden, you can get 10" custom enclosures that will do that if you want to spend a bit more money. It just happens to be a pretty economical way to get a good deal more bass out of what most Broncos already shipped with.

If you are just after great bass, you'd do something external to that fender well and get yourself out of that constrained volume.

oh I wasn't expecting eye ball shaking. like I said, I was just expecting a bit more then stock and .. it just doesn't seem like it did that. again.. not bashing the mod just sharing for me.. I would say to someone whos going down this road.. invest in something other then that factory enclosure.

 

[ttt123]

I'd never use the brand Kicker myself, but I'm an audio snob! lol
What did you do to your sub enclosure to run the replacement sub?
I replaced the factory sub with a decade old JL8W1-V2-4, plugged the port because the size of the enclosure worked better with as sealed with this sub.
I have a ton of base and I'm also running it with a MoBridge DSP/Amp, which outputs 500w for the sub.

The 8" fit in the enclosure just fine. made new screw holes and a seal ring. closed off the port to the enclosure and mounted the kicker to the enclosure... just doesn't perform the best.

certain levels I can get decent hits but again.. the range seems less then I could get with the factory set up.

as mentioned above.. I wasn't expecting to blow off my doors but I thought I would get enough over stock to give me a smirk.. just doesn't seem do much more then stock.

just sharing

 

[Brian_B]

oh I wasn't expecting eye ball shaking. like I said, I was just expecting a bit more then stock and .. it just doesn't seem like it did that. again.. not bashing the mod just sharing for me.. I would say to someone whos going down this road.. invest in something other then that factory enclosure.

Hmm interesting.

I had factory sub, and it was anemic. Could barely tell it was there.

Went to a 500W Kenwood amp and had an old 12" Boston in a standard external enclosure and threw that in the back. It put out a lot of bass, sounded great, but I hated that it was a) completely visible and I couldn't leave the top down anywhere, and b) took up a big chunk of cargo space.

So I tore open the rear end and dropped in a 6.5" Kicker - the bass definitely increased but it was very peaky - the frequency response was all over the place. Some notes would rattle the windows, then the next pitch change the bass would drop off all the way.

So I opened it back up to seal the port and try that out. While I had it open, I dropped in a 8" just because I could. That - that sounds pretty good. It's not audiophile, but for a $140 driver and the 500W amp, it puts out enough bass that I can roll down the highway with the top down and still hear it well. It wasn't as great as the 12", but it was hidden, the profile flattened out nicely, and it was enough for top down on the highway, which was all I was really looking for.

Honestly, the 6.5" probably would have been enough for me had the frequency response profile been flatter, and I think all I needed there was to seal the port up.

As far as cost - the amp was 5 channel, so the incremental cost over just a 4 channel was about $75. And the price of the driver was... I think the 6" was like $110 or something, and the 8" I paid around $140. Now if you are doing a dedicated sub amp, like the 500.1, that's a bit more in cost there. But still, let's call it $250. A bit of wiring and a fuse... I didn't pay for installation - that price could be anywhere though, and it's not a horrible DIY project.

If you aren't getting markedly better bass than the stock subwoofer, something is wrong - the amp isn't tuned right or forgot Forscan edits or something.

 

[ttt123]

Hmm interesting.

I had factory sub, and it was anemic. Could barely tell it was there.

Went to a 500W Kenwood amp and had an old 12" Boston in a standard external enclosure and threw that in the back. It put out a lot of bass, sounded great, but I hated that it was a) completely visible and I couldn't leave the top down anywhere, and b) took up a big chunk of cargo space.

So I tore open the rear end and dropped in a 6.5" Kicker - the bass definitely increased but it was very peaky - the frequency response was all over the place. Some notes would rattle the windows, then the next pitch change the bass would drop off all the way.

So I opened it back up to seal the port and try that out. While I had it open, I dropped in a 8" just because I could. That - that sounds pretty good. It's not audiophile, but for a $140 driver and the 500W amp, it puts out enough bass that I can roll down the highway with the top down and still hear it well. It wasn't as great as the 12", but it was hidden, the profile flattened out nicely, and it was enough for top down on the highway, which was all I was really looking for.

Honestly, the 6.5" probably would have been enough for me had the frequency response profile been flatter, and I think all I needed there was to seal the port up.

As far as cost - the amp was 5 channel, so the incremental cost over just a 4 channel was about $75. And the price of the driver was... I think the 6" was like $110 or something, and the 8" I paid around $140. Now if you are doing a dedicated sub amp, like the 500.1, that's a bit more in cost there. But still, let's call it $250. A bit of wiring and a fuse... I didn't pay for installation - that price could be anywhere though, and it's not a horrible DIY project.

If you aren't getting markedly better bass than the stock subwoofer, something is wrong - the amp isn't tuned right or forgot Forscan edits or something.

At certain pitches I get decent bass but the over all .. very underwhelming. its more then stock but stock had better range (sorry to be a broken record lol)

This 8" .. its either you hear it or you don't. plus .. I have that amp down quite a bit and I still have to keep the radio bass almost all the way down.

could I have done something wrong... maybe but I'm not completely new to systems and I did everything as directed.

I think my expectations were a little to high.

 

[Hemisfear]

The 8" fit in the enclosure just fine. made new screw holes and a seal ring. closed off the port to the enclosure and mounted the kicker to the enclosure... just doesn't perform the best.

certain levels I can get decent hits but again.. the range seems less then I could get with the factory set up.

as mentioned above.. I wasn't expecting to blow off my doors but I thought I would get enough over stock to give me a smirk.. just doesn't seem do much more then stock.

just sharing

Geez, I don't know what to say...I have all the bass I want or need, it hits pretty well!
(But I don't listen to dance music, I listen to real music)
I had the opportunity to experience the B&O stock, speaker upgrade only, Amp upgrade with stock speakers and the whole enchilada...huge difference to stock!
You really feel the bass...

 

[ttt123]

Geez, I don't know what to say...I have all the bass I want or need, it hits pretty well!
(But I don't listen to dance music, I listen to real music)
I had the opportunity to experience the B&O stock, speaker upgrade only, Amp upgrade with stock speakers and the whole enchilada...huge difference to stock!
You really feel the bass...

... thanks .. now I'm bothered I researched and read/watched just about everything I could find on doing this and made sure I crossed all my T's and I's. I don't see where I could have something wrong in the set up

you sealed your port on the factory enclosure right ?

What do you have it tuned to if you can remember?

 

[Hemisfear]

... thanks .. now I'm bothered I researched and read/watched just about everything I could find on doing this and made sure I crossed all my T's and I's. I don't see where I could have something wrong in the set up

you sealed your port on the factory enclosure right ?

What do you have it tuned to if you can remember?

Yes, factory enclosure and sealed it with a piece of 1/8" plastic and JB weld.
I'm still running Fraser at MoBridge's JL C2 tune, I plan on tuning in the spring when it's not so cold outside!
Is your sub single or dual voice coil, I'm wondering if you might have a wiring issue?

 

[Brian_B]

At certain pitches I get decent bass but the over all .. very underwhelming. its more then stock but stock had better range (sorry to be a broken record lol)

This 8" .. its either you hear it or you don't. plus .. I have that amp down quite a bit and I still have to keep the radio bass almost all the way down.

could I have done something wrong... maybe but I'm not completely new to systems and I did everything as directed.

I think my expectations were a little to high.

What you describe sounds like the frequency profile issues I was having with the 6.5 before I sealed the enclosure - it would hit hard on certain frequencies, but roll off steeply - often just seconds apart in the same song.

I'm surprised sealing the enclosure didn't help with that (do note, it has to be sealed, as in air-tight / water-tight).

Now it could be a different sub would act better with the stock enclosure, but the Kicker has been relatively well regarded to work "decent" (not perfect) with the stock enclosure. I had issues with mine until I sealed it, other people have reported to be happy without sealing. Maybe you have a better trained ear than me, and what I think is fine isn't well enough for you -- I definitely don't disregard that as a possibility.

So where do you go from here, I suppose is the question? I think the only way you get around that issue then is a new enclosure of some sort. I don't think it's necessarily your speaker or amp -- subwoofers have to be installed very particularly to work correctly. There's a good deal of math that goes into sizing a particular speaker with a specific enclosure.

 

[ttt123]

Yes, factory enclosure and sealed it with a piece of 1/8" plastic and JB weld.
I'm still running Fraser at MoBridge's JL C2 tune, I plan on tuning in the spring when it's not so cold outside!
Is your sub single or dual voice coil, I'm wondering if you might have a wiring issue?

dual voice coil.. hmmm

 

[ttt123]

What you describe sounds like the frequency profile issues I was having with the 6.5 before I sealed the enclosure - it would hit hard on certain frequencies, but roll off steeply - often just seconds apart in the same song.

I'm surprised sealing the enclosure didn't help with that (do note, it has to be sealed, as in air-tight / water-tight).

Now it could be a different sub would act better with the stock enclosure, but the Kicker has been relatively well regarded to work "decent" (not perfect) with the stock enclosure. I had issues with mine until I sealed it, other people have reported to be happy without sealing. Maybe you have a better trained ear than me, and what I think is fine isn't well enough for you -- I definitely don't disregard that as a possibility.

So where do you go from here, I suppose is the question? I think the only way you get around that issue then is a new enclosure of some sort. I don't think it's necessarily your speaker or amp -- subwoofers have to be installed very particularly to work correctly. There's a good deal of math that goes into sizing a particular speaker with a specific enclosure.

you make some very good points.

I planned on tearing back into it in the next week or so. Maybe I'll recheck how sealed it is before I put in an external box.

I have put nice systems in my sports cars and have always gone with 10" and 12" speakers for my bass needs. this is the first time I have ever used an 8" for bass.

Maybe I'm just doing this speaker wrong and need to re-address. I set the frequency to the recommendations of the kicker pamphlet that came with the speaker... that might be part of it.

 

[Brian_B]

dual voice coil.. hmmm

Really doesn't matter which version of the CompRT you got (there's a 4 Ohm and 2 Ohm) - the 500.1 is rated down to 1 Ohm, so you'd probably wire your voice coils in parallel either way. If you wired them in series, even if you had the 4 Ohm version, it wouldn't break anything, but it would be quiet, as that 500W amp would be down to like 50W output against so much impedance. So maybe???

My Kenwood amp is only rated down to 2 Ohm, I have the 2 Ohm version wired in series for a 4 Ohm load.

 

[brkdncr]

I’m running the 8” comprt and the Mobridge dsp. I “sealed” the stock box. It’s so much better, but I had to deal with a lot of vibration, and a decent amount of tuning.

I listen to dance music, and I think I set the sub for -24 lpf, tuned around 50hz. Tuning is extremely subjective.

if you’re pulling from the stock subwoofer output from the stock amp you’re going to have problems.

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