What makes Kicker so bad?

[BASSMEKANIK89 10+ year member]

L7 motor on a round sub. Good stuff

Oh, I didn't know that. Id like to play with one of these.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

Kicker has its place in many types of installs and if installed properly and used properly they work great. My biggest issue with them is that if you are trying to get them loud you lose a little of the punchy output. The bass seems muddy and not articulated. This is not a issue that only Kicker has, lots of subs have this problem. The higher end Kickers don't have this issue IMO as much.
What type of vehicle is this going in to? Is it possible to combine the money and purchase a higher quality single woofer and run the same power for what you are trying to do?

It is going into a Jetta 2003 model. & I wouldn't mind comprising for one sub if it has everything I would have got with 2 CVX Kickers.

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

I dont think kicker is awful but when I see a CVR at best buy for 350 bucks it makes me mad. Then When you look at the motor/magnet and 65% of it is actually plastic boot, that pisses me off. Same thing with rockford. I wouldnt say that their stuff is junk, because its not. I had a pair of CVRs as my first subs, I beat the **** out of them and never hurt them. They didnt sound the best but you get what you pay for. I have also had countless kicker amps, I dont have anything bad to say about them lol. I wouldnt pay what kicker is asking for their product now a days but I would take it at a discount. the Square subs are nice though because you get some extra cone area. IA or Sundown or SSA or DC etc I could go on about internet brands are more or less home brew subs. These guys are smaller companies and give you the personalized support and depending on the company, a hand built sub. For the same price as a CVR you can grab a monster sub from one of these other companies that usually out performs and sounds better. I would say the biggest factor is probably the cost/quality margin. Its not that they are bad, you just pay for the name. If I could get a solo X for under 200 I certainly would.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

I dont think kicker is awful but when I see a CVR at best buy for 350 bucks it makes me mad. Then When you look at the motor/magnet and 65% of it is actually plastic boot, that pisses me off. Same thing with rockford. I wouldnt say that their stuff is junk, because its not. I had a pair of CVRs as my first subs, I beat the **** out of them and never hurt them. They didnt sound the best but you get what you pay for. I have also had countless kicker amps, I dont have anything bad to say about them lol. I wouldnt pay what kicker is asking for their product now a days but I would take it at a discount. the Square subs are nice though because you get some extra cone area. IA or Sundown or SSA or DC etc I could go on about internet brands are more or less home brew subs. These guys are smaller companies and give you the personalized support and depending on the company, a hand built sub. For the same price as a CVR you can grab a monster sub from one of these other companies that usually out performs and sounds better. I would say the biggest factor is probably the cost/quality margin. Its not that they are bad, you just pay for the name. If I could get a solo X for under 200 I certainly would.

I totally agree, their retail prices are ridiculous and I would never pay that much for a CVR. But typically if you look on Google for a few minutes you can find them at way discounted prices. I would go for all of those internet brands but they are much more expensive, and I figure 150 for a 12 inch Kicker CVX is a pretty good price.

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

I totally agree, their retail prices are ridiculous and I would never pay that much for a CVR. But typically if you look on Google for a few minutes you can find them at way discounted prices. I would go for all of those internet brands but they are much more expensive, and I figure 150 for a 12 inch Kicker CVX is a pretty good price.

Thats not a bad price at all. You can find Type R 12s for 120 each too (I still wouldnt mind playing with them). I wouldnt say those brands are too expensive though. Sundown and IA and SSA all have some affordable budget drivers in the 150 and under range. Thegreatestpenn on here has an IA 187 12 he would get rid of cheap. He got it for testing (we were all pretty impressed) and now wants to get rid of it. I would say the best part of kicker is its hillbilly/ ghetto following. you can buy an L7, beat the crap out of it for 3 years, then sell it on craigslist for double what you paid for it.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

Thats not a bad price at all. You can find Type R 12s for 120 each too (I still wouldnt mind playing with them). I wouldnt say those brands are too expensive though. Sundown and IA and SSA all have some affordable budget drivers in the 150 and under range. Thegreatestpenn on here has an IA 187 12 he would get rid of cheap. He got it for testing (we were all pretty impressed) and now wants to get rid of it. I would say the best part of kicker is its hillbilly/ ghetto following. you can buy an L7, beat the crap out of it for 3 years, then sell it on craigslist for double what you paid for it.

Exactly, I figure that if I'm not satisfied with the kickers I could sell them for more than I paid for, or even the same price I would be fine with.

& I also find the Kicker following pretty hilarious, I do not fit into any of those stereotypes though. & that 187 looks like it can hit pretty hard.

Also, I hear a lot of hype about Type R's, would you recommend them?

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

I ran almost every kicker line of woofers. From the cvr to l5 to solo x. Never had any issues. Yhe cvrs I had to some abuse and never quit. Yhe cvx is a great woofer just have to feed it the right power. I like kicker stuff as I'm still running a kicker sub an amp. IMO you'll be happy with the cvx.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

I ran almost every kicker line of woofers. From the cvr to l5 to solo x. Never had any issues. Yhe cvrs I had to some abuse and never quit. Yhe cvx is a great woofer just have to feed it the right power. I like kicker stuff as I'm still running a kicker sub an amp. IMO you'll be happy with the cvx.

What did you use to power it? or what would you recommend? I'm looking for a decent amp for a low price and I can't seem to find one.

 

[Pataforce8 10+ year member]

I have a kicker amp and used to have a pre-packaged 10 "CVT. It was hard-hitting for the size and that sub took all kinds of abuse without a complaint. The amp is being used to push some 15" subs now and it has no problem. I like my kicker products but I only paid retail once.

Basically, like everyone else is saying, they make bulletproof products that can be had for half of retail price.

 

[BlactimusCrime 10+ year member]

Thats not a bad price at all. You can find Type R 12s for 120 each too (I still wouldnt mind playing with them). I wouldnt say those brands are too expensive though. Sundown and IA and SSA all have some affordable budget drivers in the 150 and under range. Thegreatestpenn on here has an IA 187 12 he would get rid of cheap. He got it for testing (we were all pretty impressed) and now wants to get rid of it. I would say the best part of kicker is its hillbilly/ ghetto following. you can buy an L7, beat the crap out of it for 3 years, then sell it on craigslist for double what you paid for it.

yup, did this hahahhaa

 

[IonRL205 10+ year member]

I have 2 CVRs in a sealed box with 1500 watts and I'm happy with them. I got my CVRs for $220 brand new the pair and could easily sell them for $250 locally. Of course there are brands that are better, but it's like that with everything, but just because there are better brands doesn't necessarily mean that the lesser brand *****.

 

[TIG 10+ year member]

I was running 2 15cvr and loved them. Got good numbers out of them also but I decided to jump on the dc ban wagon and see what they are about. I am still waiting on my new xl 15. But I have no problems with their subs, not a huge fan of their amps tho. I have had several blow smoke and they are laying in my basement lol.

All in all Kicker, JL Audio, Fosgate, all good quality just for the prices you can get as good or better underground stuff.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

Well I was going to give my personal experience about trying to kill my L7s by purposely wiring them wrong at 1ohm on a KX1200.1 and not being able to mess them up, but there have already been multiple instances in here of how people have abused Kicker equipment with little to no repercussions. Funny how for every person bashing on Kicker unmerited, ten people come out of the woodwork with personal experience saying nothing but good stuff about the product.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

All in all Kicker, JL Audio, Fosgate, all good quality just for the prices you can get as good or better underground stuff.

There is a reason these companies can spend more on marketing in a month than other companies take in during a year, and it's not because of shoddy quality.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

Well I was going to give my personal experience about trying to kill my L7s by purposely wiring them wrong at 1ohm on a KX1200.1 and not being able to mess them up, but there have already been multiple instances in here of how people have abused Kicker equipment with little to no repercussions. Funny how for every person bashing on Kicker unmerited, ten people come out of the woodwork with personal experience saying nothing but good stuff about the product.

Lol, I hate on people that kill their equipment. It makes me wish I had the money to be able to do so, hah.