What bass processor gives the best bang for the buck?
 

I use to work in the industy many years ago ( 10 to 15 ) and I am getting the itch to put a system together again.( It may be a midlife crisis thing or something) I would like to do something similar to my first system (12 years ago) which consisted of;

Clarion 9180 w/changer, crystal line line driver (8 or 10 volt one) Orion 6.5 midbass, Image Dynamics CD1e wave guides, Linear power 45 amp for the highs, us-amps x-over,2 x 15" Petras prowlers in a monster ported box, petras bass processor and a us-amps usa150 for the subs, mbr 70 isolator,2 yellow top optima batteries in a white honda prelude. This system pounded like crazy, hit 143.1 db and 142.9 in 2 different events, (have a couple of waiste high 1st place trophies 0-150w) I'm not to sure if I want to compete again but I definately want to shake the neighbourhood perhaps one last time before I ride into the sunrise of married life, kids, and that whole shpeele.

Heres what I have kicking around right now, Pioneer avh 5700dvd, crystaline line driver, 2x usamps usa 150, 1 usa 100xt, 1 Linear Power 75, ID cd1e v2, Mb quart 5.25 midrage components, mb quart 6.5 midbass components, Mbr 70, petras x-over, and some other odds and ends.

What I need is subs, a Bass processor, and batteries i guess. Here is where you young bloods and seasoned vetrans come in to play.

1- What is best quality bass processor as far as bang for your buck, eg epicenter, epic 160, bass cube, SS x15, ect. I dont mind used so shoot me some pms if you have something I need.

2- I am thinking of buying 3x ID 15" all 8 ohms, now in parallel they will give me about 2.6 ohms or so, and the usa 150 puts out about 450x1 at 2 ohms, Will that be enough power to get these subs to really pound? If so what type of box would you recomend( I always liked ported) If not than please recomend a pair of 2 ohm subs that can handle 450w a piece that are affordable and can produce some high spl.

3- Batteries, I dont want to go to crazy like with optima's, so can some one recomend a good battery to use that is alot cheaper but can take the abuse of a stereo system?

Any and all suggestions are welcome and are much appreciated. Also I am looking for a us-amps The Optimizer, if you have one for sale or know where i can get one please let me know.

Thanks in advance

Kerri

350 watts to 3 15's (@ 2.67ohms) will make some bass.... but your post indicates that you have a pair of those amps, so I'd be inclinded to look for 4 12's, 2 15s, or 2 18's that you can run at 2ohms per amp FTW....

How much air space do you have to work with ?

Good to have you back into car audio, I myself left for a bit due to health issues but I am back too. To answer your question now.

1=Epicenter, hands down the best followed by the Bass Cube.

2=It really depends on your wallet what subs to get, I would look around see whats out there, I had the same idea when I did my last setup and I got DD 2515's dual 4. They are a bit much for the little power you have so if their lower end stuff works for you then you got a winner. I like the DD's because they break in just right and rarely get sloppy.

3=For a battery any sealed dry Lead acid would work fine. Check to see what interstate has imo I find they have good warranty. Such a vast choice there so look around alot for prices.

Thanks
 

Thanks to all for the great info. Please keep the suggestions coming. I also have a question as to what amp to use with the highs. I have a us amps 100xt, a linear power 75, and a ppi sedona 4x30.

Thanks again

Kerri

im pretty partial to my soundstream BX-15 bass processor myself. works very well, never had an issue and not hard on the wallet either.....

1- maxxlink, its just not a bridging module. Has great processing abilities too.

2- mach 5 audio or maxxsonics.

3- you can find an energizer lead acid rated for 900-1000cca for under 100 bucks

carefull with that amp. I ran a usa2150 (usacoustics is the old alphasonic brandname), I think it was rated 800 watts @ 4 ohm bridged. Problem was it cut out whenever mounted to an average "4 ohm" curcuit. I was lucky in that I was buying bulk mtx remanufactured woofers that had a lower than regular ReVc of 2.6 ohms, so I built a 3/2 series/parallel curcuit making almost exacly 4 ohms DC.

If this is all alien to everyone then just understand "stable" was a loosly used word in the ampifier section of car audio. Maybe I had a bad unit, but it pounded the CRAP outta the discovery islands through 6 10" RT1040 remanufactured woofers for years. This was a "6 ohm curcuit" that had a ReVc of 4 ohms.

Just trying to warn if you have problems with bridging it Don.
PS: congrats at rejoining the fold.

soundstream xbp10 processer hands down

What makes you think you need a bass processor?