Hey guys,

Looking to clean up my install even more..

I have two Infinity Perfect 12.1s in sealed enclosures wired up to a Kicker 550.3 Class D amp @ 400 Watts RMS @ 2ohms..

I am thinking of selling my perfects, in favour of one Kicker 12" L7 or one Kicker 15" L7.

For SPL/SQL which is better, should i keep my Perfects? or go with the single L7.

ED

 

Go with the Infinities if you are really into SQ


SHY

 

400 watts isn't enough for a solo, i'm running 500 each to 2 12l7 and the amp clips way before the subs and really moving. To get that sub to really perform you need at least 750. If what you have sounds good stick with it.

 

So i am trying to cut down on the space my system is taking..

I went from 2 amps and a 1farad cap and all the fuses bunch to ONE amp Kicker 550.3

Now i have two sealed boxes and 2 12"

I thought maybe i can getway with a single 15" L7.. I am not looking for loudness anymore...

Just something to match what i have but in a smaller profile..

ED

 

L7s require a lot of space to sound good ...

Also, the Perfects don't require that much space ... How large are your boxes ?

 

1 cu feet each

 

That's considered a small box

If you sacrifice some output, a pair of 10K.14s are supposed to operate well in 0.5 ft^3 sealed enclosures ...

I'd ask someone else for more info on the Ks, though ... I don't have any personal experience and I'm only recommending them because they're the only ones I can think of that operate well in very small boxes ...

 

If your more interested in sound quality and trunk space, this is what I just did in my Prelude.

I used to have a 4runner with a 7.5 cube ported box for my 2 s12l7's, it was frickin LOUD! So now I sold the 4runner and have a Prelude now, can't exactly fit a 7.5 cube box in the trunk of a Prelude, and I still wanted to retain a bit of trunk space. So I built a 1.75 cube ported box as per kicker specs and loaded my two drivers in a clamshell (or Isobarik) configuration. Basically you just bolt the two woofers together with a spacer between to the surounds don't touch (Just like a clamshell, and wire one of the drivers reverse polarity so they work together not against each other).
What a clamshell does is give you the frequency response of a box twice the size of the one you are using. In my situation I used to have my solos in 3.25 cube each (half of 7.5) and I liked the way they sounded so I wanted to have the same sound but I wasn't worried about the spl too much. Thats why I built a 1.75 cube box, half of 3.25 and loaded the drivers clamshell so they sound like they are in a 3.25. However there are drawbacks to an clamshell. Since you've got the drivers bolted together they only act as one woofer therefore your using two subs but it's only gonna sound like one. And you loose 3db of effeicency so they are actually going to be a little quieter than just one sub. Doesn't sound too appealing now does it, but there are some advantages.

Now for the results
I built the box and put one sub in for a day or two. It sounded ok, not nearly as loud as I was used to but for most people it was still pretty loud. Then I installed the second woofer. The higher frequency bass sounded the same as with one but since it was now acting like a bigger box my low frequency bass was quite a bit louder and the best part was my bass tightened up big time. All in all a clamshell has a brutal spl/price ratio but the bass you do get is tight, low and comes from an itty bitty box.

In your situation you could put your 12's into a ported clamshell about 1-1.5 cubic feet. You will be way quieter in high freq bass but probably louder in low freq bass and your box will be almost half the size. If you want anymore info on a setup like this let me know.

Jaydawg

 

Hmmm INteresting idea...

However a 3 db drop is like cutting my amp power in half from 400 to 200 RMS..

Thats a brutal drop..

However a box that is 0.75cufeet is very intriguing..

ED

 

It's a 3db drop as compared to one sub in an enclosure twice the size. If you go from sealed to ported you usually gain several db around the 40Hz area so if you take that several db gain minus the 3db loss you get from the clamshell you still come out ahead. i would not suggest clamshelling a sealed because the 3db loss is really gonna hurt and you are only saving a little bit of trunk space. You really get the advantages of a clamshell in a ported where a big box would have been needed.
I checked the spec sheets for your subs.
Lets look at frequency response at 40hz:
Sealed about 86db in a 1 cube box
Ported about 93db in a 1.75 cube box

You were running two subs so now your sealed is at 89db in a 2 cube box

In a ported you start at 93db, clamshell it and now your down to 90db HOWEVER, since you are essentialy doubling the power to the woofer you gain that 3db back so in theory you are now back at 93db in a less than 1 cube box.

WOW 4db gain and half the box size, sounds good right!!

Now this is at 40hz at higher frequencies like 70-80hz you are going to have at least 3db loss from what you have now but personally i don't really like those frequencies belching out of my subs.

Another interesting thing about going from sealed to ported is when I had my solo's in a sealled box for about a week I had a 18db 40Hz bass boost on my amp cranked to get those suckers to play low, now i've got it all the way off. And believe me if you think a ported box is sloppy when you run an clamshell the sloppieness is gone.

mmmmmmm.. nice tight clam......... whoops get back on topic!

One more theoretical advantage of a clamshell.
In theory some subs will have suspension inconsistencies between pushing the woofer out and pulling it in, in a clamshell since you are mating the subs in opposite direction you cancell out those inconsistencies.

Jaydawg