friends trying to argue kicker are the best subwoofer brand? haha

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

I has 40.1. Though I think sundown is also made in korea. TREO Linear Power and MMATS are the only ones I know of made in US

There's a small bundle of companies that make their woofers in the States. Vegas has a company or two, and so on.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

I just got some sa-12s... so my friend knows someone who owns a shop and he said he is gettin some subs for free kicker l7's and he is saying kicker is the best subwoofer brand you can buy and will blow any other brand or subwoofer. He claims because this is my only second system he is right because he has been doing this for years..that kicker is the best subwoofer brand by far... what you guys think?

They are the number one selling woofer in the world for a reason...

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

probably one of the funniest statements on ca in 2011.
can they get loud yes. will they sound good doing it, very unlikely.

that said, the old school kicker was very good, but as has been said in the thread already the new stuff is china built junk. and the fact that they sell them at bestbuy now isnt helping their reputation any.

and yes, most of us have heard them in properly designed enclosures, i personally have heard much better.

A bunch of people have been ragging on the Kicker SQ, and for all of the lower end I will agree with you people. The Solo X is in a league of it's own in this category as well, however. They won SQ comps the first year out and my X's are not only much louder than any other Kicker sub, but sound much better doing it. Listen to someone with a good Solo X build, and then make your judgements. The other Kicker stuff is for entry level audiophiles anyways and shouldn't be compared on a forum in which people are running $1000 (retail) and custom built subs.

 

[1rockford1 5,000+ posts]

kicker=yum

 

[mossberg385t 10+ year member]

They are the number one selling woofer in the world for a reason...

Maybe before Jeri Mccord left.

A bunch of people have been ragging on the Kicker SQ, and for all of the lower end I will agree with you people. The Solo X is in a league of it's own in this category as well, however. They won SQ comps the first year out and my X's are not only much louder than any other Kicker sub, but sound much better doing it. Listen to someone with a good Solo X build, and then make your judgements. The other Kicker stuff is for entry level audiophiles anyways and shouldn't be compared on a forum in which people are running $1000 (retail) and custom built subs.

Maybe before Jeri Mccord left.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

They are the number one selling woofer in the world for a reason...

yes its because of marketing at the name they built in the past.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

and..... same thing that happened with pioneer....... they were pretty good, put out some real nice products in, and up to the 90's, then came out with the deh-8000, and deh-8000r (i believe it was) with the first oel graphics, whuile un-officially up for sale. that one porduct made the sale of pioneer, and they rode the name train for years, pumping out steadily declining junk...... but there is what happens at the end of the ride- either the name goes down after sales finally drop, or products get worked over into something decent again..... well, here we are at the middle of the ride for kicker. they kept the origional run of l-7 and solo-baric for a few years, then cheaped out..... i can see them coming back up in a few years. they alread implemented another quality drop this year, part of, being the l-5 downgrading to the new l-3. not far is price drops, and after that, we shall see if they make a rise in quality, or shift to another wall-mart brand.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

probably one of the funniest statements on ca in 2011.
can they get loud yes. will they sound good doing it, very unlikely.

that said, the old school kicker was very good, but as has been said in the thread already the new stuff is china built junk. and the fact that they sell them at bestbuy now isnt helping their reputation any.

and yes, most of us have heard them in properly designed enclosures, i personally have heard much better.

i believe what they are doing with the whole best-buy thing, is modleing after rockford marketing. they want to get the product to the masses. masses= higher sales. just like rockford, apple, ford, etc..... they are going to come to a point where marketing isn't enough, and the product will have to advance in performance. i believe the kicker square sub design in general, is a good one. how they are currently producing and carrying it out......not so much. none the less, i will still stick to using them, and the solobaric/comp line as viable options for a decent build....

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

very true. only thing i still have to disagree with is that imo square subs suck

 

[Bob Saget]

Make no mistake, Kicker subs can get damn loud. That said, you need new friends.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

Make no mistake, Kicker subs can get damn loud. That said, you need new friends.

x2 especially on the latter part of the statement

 

[Trancer 10+ year member]

Its a brand like Kicker than upsets me that I am even from Oklahoma and grew up down the road from Stillwater. Its a shame really, with all of the history that comes along with Kicker/Stillwater Designs and all. Its still a decent company, decent products, and what they are aiming after, they are achieving. I just wish they would have kept their branding history and continue to keep striving and pump out great products like their Solo's. Their products are still good, but in this industry, good can also mean mediocre.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

Its a brand like Kicker than upsets me that I am even from Oklahoma and grew up down the road from Stillwater. Its a shame really, with all of the history that comes along with Kicker/Stillwater Designs and all. Its still a decent company, decent products, and what they are aiming after, they are achieving. I just wish they would have kept their branding history and continue to keep striving and pump out great products like their Solo's. Their products are still good, but in this industry, good can also mean mediocre.

This. It's like they one day decided "ok, time to cash in on our name!"

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

Its more cost effective for kicker to give you a new speaker then it is to repair your broken one that says alot right there.

Of course this does not apply to the X.

 

[macisme 10+ year member]

Its more cost effective for kicker to give you a new speaker then it is to repair your broken one that says alot right there.
Of course this does not apply to the X.

There are a few things to be said about this though. Having them made over seas in bulk is probably pretty cheap, but ordering parts, paying a tech to trouble shoot every amp/sub that comes back is probably expensive for them. Your talking about guys that are probably only hired with mechanical engineering degree's and electrical engineering degree's.. I'm pretty sure they aren't working for a mere 20 bucks an hour with that sort of education under their belt. Then you have people working in the shipping and receiving department that also cost the company money for the work they do, as well as service reps who communicate with the techs. All of these different jobs are costly and yea.. I'm pretty sure it is a lot cheaper to just send out a new sub compared to fixing an old one... or even amps.. the key to all of this is the way they have their products made in bulk over seas at a low cost.

When you talk about how Sundown can do repairs etc, you are talking about a much much smaller company who doesn't have millions of products currently floating around. It probably isn't worth replacing a sub, amp for Jacob yet.. it's probably still cheaper for them to just repair an item due to the fact that he wouldn't be getting as great of a discount on bulk items as all of the major brands out there floating around. They sell a lot less of their product and in return have a lot less of them being shipped back right now for repairs, compared to kicker, alpine, mtx, Jl, pioneer.. etc.