What makes Kicker so bad?

[akheathen Premium Member]

lol...... i've been with kicker AND other brands since the 90's......... it's been covered- good subs, not so good price. i remember when the cvr came out, and i got all gitty on the cvr train...... then the l7's came out, and i went down and paid a 75% price on 2 brand new 15's. still have them to this day, as well as an origional 8...... imho, the newer cone design *****, both in looks, and, not sure what affect it has on sound, but they also changed up the whole line of products to go cheaper. the fact that they went a little cheaper on materials is what has everyone in "kicker *****" mode. well so does jl, alpine, and many other name brands. really the one that took the biggest dive into "*****" territory is sony. the cv line is still a good, efficient sub, with some nice durable characteristics. and, all of the cones are stiffened up by design. the fact that they are plastic means nothing. the general population still regognizes kicker as decent, so resale is always good... don't pay full retail, though. get it at a good deal.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

give me 1 company that has actually gone to the drawing board and spend time/money designing a truly new sub.

have you seen the work that jacob from sundown has put into the x-8?

kicker isnt bad, just one of the things that too **** many people run for me, ill stick with my custom monsters.

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

Always liked my CVX. Ran 1 12" sealed off 1000rms and took it like a champ! I adjusted gains pretty low though, but beat nicely.

Always wanted to try it ported, just never got to doing it.

Also liked my Type R's. I personally dont think you could lose with either choice.

There are so many choices for ya, it is hard to narrow it down to one. That is why I buy and sell so much....then buy again...to sell, lol! It is a sickness!

 

[Bass911 10+ year member]

Kicker is not bad at all. I've ran better quality subs, and still like Kicker. The Kicker cone is very rigid IMO. They hit the lows real well in the recommended Kicker boxes. The only downside is they require a big box. The W7 cone is less rigid and some think it's the best sub ever made. Kicker is not going to change their lineup for a few haters on a forum! Kicker bass satisfies the average consumer and some above average. Everyone is not trying to blow their eardrums out with DD and BTL's. Sony and Boss make bad products and still move a lot of product. I'm simply trying to say it doesn't matter if the product is good or not. Ford knows their product isn't as good as BMW. They don't care because they sell cars by volume, not quality. It's the same way with car audio. That is why Pyramid is still in business. OP, you are looking for the answer in the wrong place IMO. You need to hear Kickers installed properly first, then decide.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

So you'd never run about 98% of companies out there? As much as you want to believe, practically everyone uses the same stamped baskets.

Beyond say, Jacob, give me 1 company that has actually gone to the drawing board and spend time/money designing a truly new sub.

Taking my statement out of context completely changes what I said...

You are an idiot //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Please stop posting.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

I had an old-school 12" Kicker Comp, a friend had a really old-school dual 10" Kicker full-range box with two 2"x6" horns, I had a 12" 2nd-gen Kicker L5 and a 12" 2nd-gen Kicker L7, at one point I had four 10" newer Kicker Comp with the ribbed cone and surround, another friend has a latest-gen 12" L7 and another guy has four 12" 2nd-gen Kicker Solo-Xs.

They all were great IMO. They're not exactly tailored towards SQ(at least the newer ones) but SPL-wise they were awesome. I ended up blowing all 3 of my Kickers, the Comp, L5 and the L7 but it was all due to me overpowering it by A LOT. Good product as long as you can get a good price.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

Then you are wrong.............L7 has a die cast basket and you can get kicker sub recones. Again, (1) and (3) of your list. So the last time you checked.....................was wrong son.

You can get recones for the solo-x.... tell me where to get a recone for any other kicker sub? you can't.

The new L7, compvx, and solox are die cast.. I'll give you that.. IIRC the older L7s were not, and none of kicker's other subs are either to the best of my knowledge...

 

[SACRAMANIAC916 10+ year member]

made in china...enough said.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

Here is a pic I took a long time ago of two subs I got from a guy for recone... on the left is the softparts out of a Kicker CompVR and on the right an Alpine TypeR... These subs were powered by the same amp in the same install... The coils had an almost identical ID, but you can plainly see the alpine had a longer winding height.. What you can't easily see is that the alpine also used a slightly thicker gauge of wire...

I recall the owner had stated that he ran the alpine for six months or more before it died... As you can tell from the pic the coil was blackened yet held together, but eventually shorted open... After the alpine blew he put in the kicker which he was very dissapointed with as it died within a week...

The real 'kicker' is that the CompVR was rated for 50 watts more then the Type-R //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/nutkick.gif.acc8dcd6c1bd27fba0cbeda5b212085c.gif

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

^^^ pics don't lie.

 

[Bass911 10+ year member]

Here is a pic I took a long time ago of two subs I got from a guy for recone... on the left is the softparts out of a Kicker CompVR and on the right an Alpine TypeR... These subs were powered by the same amp in the same install... The coils had an almost identical ID, but you can plainly see the alpine had a longer winding height.. What you can't easily see is that the alpine also used a slightly thicker gauge of wire...
I recall the owner had stated that he ran the alpine for six months or more before it died... As you can tell from the pic the coil was blackened yet held together, but eventually shorted open... After the alpine blew he put in the kicker which he was very dissapointed with as it died within a week...

The real 'kicker' is that the CompVR was rated for 50 watts more then the Type-R //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/nutkick.gif.acc8dcd6c1bd27fba0cbeda5b212085c.gif

That pic doesn't prove anything! I've had Cvr's that lasted for years until I sold them, and the same goes for the Type R. I've sold subs to people that blew them within a week because they overpowered them or did something else wrong. Maybe it is user error?

 

[Loudizzzzle 10+ year member]

I own a 15 inch Kicker Solobaric L5 and it currently lives in a box WAY too small for it. About 1.5 cubes sealed. It handles about 400 more watts than it's rated RMS and the thing still sounds really good. I've owned Kicker subs frequently over my 15 year car audio addiction and have yet to blow one. I just uploaded some pics a little while ago of my old CRX build. 2 12 inch L7's in a prefab sealed box. They only had 400 watts going to the pair of thm and it still sounded pretty loud. Kicker prices have dropped recently and if you know where to look online you can get em for a steal. The 12's in the CRX picture I bought for 150 bucks blown and the shop sent em back to Kicker for me for free and I got 2 refurbished subs back in about 3 weeks. They worked well for a few years before I sold them in perfect working condition. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ge_off_me 5,000+ posts]

I own a 15 inch Kicker Solobaric L5 and it currently lives in a box WAY too small for it. About 1.5 cubes sealed. It handles about 400 more watts than it's rated RMS and the thing still sounds really good. I've owned Kicker subs frequently over my 15 year car audio addiction and have yet to blow one. I just uploaded some pics a little while ago of my old CRX build. 2 12 inch L7's in a prefab sealed box. They only had 400 watts going to the pair of thm and it still sounded pretty loud. Kicker prices have dropped recently and if you know where to look online you can get em for a steal. The 12's in the CRX picture I bought for 150 bucks blown and the shop sent em back to Kicker for me for free and I got 2 refurbished subs back in about 3 weeks. They worked well for a few years before I sold them in perfect working condition. Just my 2 cents.

When you put a sub in a box too small for it, it can handle more power... Also, sounding "good" is completely opinion based, I bet I would highly disagree with you.

 

[09civic 5,000+ posts]

made in china...enough said.

and what does it say on the box you get when you order sundown subs?

 

[Ge_off_me 5,000+ posts]

He wouldn't know, he is an lp nut hugger lol, he probably uses blues speakers and subs lol