need help installing l7’s in s-10 x-cab
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=16730
Printed Date: July 18, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Topic: need help installing l7’s in s-10 x-cab
Posted By: l7sdime
Subject: need help installing l7’s in s-10 x-cab
Date Posted: July 26, 2003 at 8:11 PM
I have a 96 s-10 extended cab. Id like to put 3 L7 12's in the extra cab section of my truck. The local installer told me that i would have wall off the whole back of my truck and he would put in a huge ported box. Im lookin for more spl than sq. I am going to buy my L7's and two kicker amps a 1200.1 and a 600.1. Would this be good enough to regularly compete with in dB drags?? Im only 15 and my father is gving me this truck so id like to do it right and only do it once. Would the box need to be ported or sealed for spl? how loud would this be approximately? thanks for your help. wes
Replies:
Posted By: donkason
Date Posted: July 26, 2003 at 9:03 PM
In my opinion a wall seems like a bit much. You could problably get by with a custom made box. A wall seems a bit extreme for 3 12's. Sometimes your local stereo shops will b.s. you to make some money. My local kicker dealer will gouge your eyes out for everything. They almost charge you to walk into the store. A ported box done right would be your best bet for spl. Your 1200.1 amp should get the job done for the setup. What are the speakers, dual 4 or 2 ohm, What impedance is your amp stable to. Get on the net and look around at different installs on s-10 trucks and you should get some different ideas on how to set up your system. I don't know about the competing aspect of it because I don't compete. Good luck
Posted By: l7sdime
Date Posted: July 26, 2003 at 10:10 PM
what should the dimensions be for the ported box in my s-10?? there is a pretty good amount of room to play with back there. i am guessing i will get the dual 2 ohm version??? im not really smart about the whole ohm thing but i am tryin to learn as much as possible. the amps (1200.1 and 600.1) are stable at 2 ohms. i have been tryin to find extreme kicker installs in s-10's or sonoma's but i cant seem to find any that would help me. i would like to install it myself but im not exactly sure how to and i need mega bass because we have many braggers in my townso i would like to kill them in dB drags. Also i have about 2500 dollars to work with. For that amount does anybody know what could be louder?? I would like it to be somewhere in the 155 range hopefully.I am gettin my local dealer to do it because i dont know how to. Crusin Concepts Deland Fl. they seem knowledgeable but like you said they gotta make money. Well thanks for the help so far but anymore will help. wes
Posted By: iaudio
Date Posted: July 27, 2003 at 6:02 AM
1 DD 9515 https://www.ddaudio.com/caraudio/woofers.asp?series=9500e Properly powered and installed will get you into the 150s. -------------
Posted By: tdsteele
Date Posted: July 27, 2003 at 7:03 AM
Go to this site https://www.cardomain.com and search for your model truck, should be able to get some cool ideas.
Posted By: donkason
Date Posted: July 27, 2003 at 7:46 AM
If your amp is stable to 2 ohms I would buy dual 4 ohm speakers. You could run your voice coils in a series and your subs in parallel and that would yeild a 2.66 ohm load which would run your amp at near your full potential. When you buy your speakers you will have a data sheet that will tell you the dimensions of the ported box you want. You can go to www.kicker.com and look up the L7's manual and data sheet. The min. box volume they reccomend for your speaker is 1.75, the max. is 3.25. They say for spl use you need a box of 3.25 cubic ft. with a port length of 3x13.25 running 750 watts to them. You also need a subsonic filter for a ported enclosure. It cuts out the frequencies that you can't hear but will create a lot of distortion at high volumes. Kicker says it will increase your output by 30% in a ported enclosure. If you want to read more go to the kicker website and check out tech tips and FAQ sections for box building tips. The dimensions of the box you could manupulate to work in your truck as long as they are 3.25 cubic ft. So once again I really don't know the exact size. Measure your truck and see what you can fit.
Posted By: l7sdime
Date Posted: July 27, 2003 at 12:45 PM
Thanks guys for all the help. Im able to make two types of boxes either a wall or a rectangular box. Im not really into the whole fancy scheme just noise. Im able to fit a box that is about 50 inches wide, 16 inches deep and about 25 inches high that i am capable of wedging into the back of my truck. Now if i wanted a wall i might just be able to go with 4 l7 12's and two kicker 1200.1 amps. the dimensions for the wall would be the same except for the height would now be 42 inches. that would make the box about 18 cu ft. I think 4 12's could fit right there and i am very sure that they are capable of getting me into the 150's and maybe if im lucky 160. also if there is anything else anybody wants to know feel free to ask and i thank everyone for the help and support they have given me so far. I also plan on dynamatting the whole truck with as much as possible to keep it from flexing. thanks for the help so far and i hope to hear more suggestions. wes
Posted By: donkason
Date Posted: July 28, 2003 at 6:15 AM
If you are running a budget I wouldn't buy dynamat. It is waaaayyyyy overpriced and somewhat overrated. I use brown bread. It did a great job for me in my camaro with 3 jl 12's. I buy it off of ebay and you can get it for 150 bucks including shipping and handling for 70 sq. ft. Normally the guy throws in a wood roller to install it with to. You also could run 4 12's off of one amp. If you bought dual 4 ohm voice coil speakers you could run all the v.c.'s in a series for an 8 ohm impedance and run the 4 subs parallel to your amp for a 2 ohm load. I don't really know of any benifit of having 2 amps when 1 will do.
Posted By: l7sdime
Date Posted: July 28, 2003 at 2:27 PM
brown bread?? what exactly is that??? I can get 36 sq ft of dynamat xtreme bulk pack for 107. you dont think that the 4 l7's would overpower that one kicker amp?? thats not that many watts per voice coil. i would think that it would need more than that. but you guys know more than me. a subsonic filter?? what is that and what does it cost. i really wan to be in the high 150's or low 160's im willing to spen the extra dollar to make it just right. thanks for all the help guys. wes
Posted By: donkason
Date Posted: July 28, 2003 at 8:04 PM
Brown bread is pretty much the same as dynamat but much cheaper. You can get it on ebay for 150 bucks for 70 sq.ft. If you got 2 rolls you could cover your entire cab twice probably. I actually put up a post on your amp configuration. Everybody agreed that you should have no problem running 4 12's on one amp. I suspect your amp runs 1200 watts at 2 ohms at 14.4 volts. So each speaker will get 1200 watts. You don't divide the 1200 watts of the amp by the number of speakers, 4 in this case, and then get how many watts the sub will get. Don't worry though it is all about learning. You should have seen some of the stuff that I pulled before knowing better. A subsonic filter filters out all of the frequencies below what your speaker is capable of handling or in other terms bass that is so low you can't hear it and it hurts your sub. If these frequencies are allowed your speaker will distort easily and sound like a loud fart. For example do you use a 3 inch dash speaker to make big bass, of course not, because it is not suited for that frequency range and it will sound very poorly. Your sub is made to handle 20-100 Hz. So if you set your filter at 20 Hz. in theory your sub will perform at its best frequency range. I don't know how much one will cost but you should be able to find a crossover with one in it. I am pretty sure soundstream has crossovers with this feature. The kicker kx3 crossover has this option as well if you want to keep it all kicker. You can pick one up on ebay right now for 100 bucks plus shipping. You are doing the right thing by spending the extra buck. Most people try to get by with a cheap system and roll around town with their seats leaned so far back you can't even see them bragging about how hard they slam. That is what drives me to make my systems the best around town. You might want to set aside a few bucks for a new alternator and a new battery. I can explain that if you want as well. Amps are power hungry beast and your trucks charging system might not be able to handle the massive load. What state do you live in?
Posted By: l7sdime
Date Posted: July 28, 2003 at 8:43 PM
donkason you are a lifesaver thanks so much. ok 4 would work. that what ill get. thanks again man. yeh i will probably keep it all kicker. ill get the kx3 crossover and make it easy. yeh my step bro has a 96 cavalier with two lanzar dc pro series and a 820 amp and he keeps killin the battery but he thinks he knows everything so i just let him go. yeh i was thinkin about a optima red top for the truck and maybe a yellow top for the stereo. I live in florida. near leesburg if you know where that is. well thanks for the help. wes
Posted By: donkason
Date Posted: July 28, 2003 at 8:50 PM
Glad I could be of assistance. Anything else feel free to send me a private message through the 12 volt. Hopefully within a year you are tone deaf and loving it.
Posted By: 97neon
Date Posted: July 28, 2003 at 11:04 PM
man, go with the 4 12 inch L7's, i know a guy who has 6 of them in an f 150, wqith 4 1200.1's, man, they poyund, the money in my pocket rattle around when im like 50 feet away, so loud, although i would suggest different amps, i had a kicker 1200.1, it wasn;t worth what your paying, i would suggest getting 2 memphis 1000D's, i have those now, and man there amazing, there 1100 watts RMS,
Posted By: l7sdime
Date Posted: July 29, 2003 at 9:30 AM
ok man thanks for the help. how would i hook up the subs in a series?? that seems logical enough. so get the 4 ohm dvc l7 and one kx1200.1?? thanks for all the help. hey donkason my bro needs some help too. in the car audio forum there is a topic that says l7 15's in silverado. he needs help nobody is replying to him and if you could help him out it would be great yeh man ill keep in touch and tell you how im doin. thanks again. wes
Posted By: donkason
Date Posted: July 29, 2003 at 2:50 PM
Here is a diagram that would help. https://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/pdfs/12w3_man.pdf You should look at the diagrams on the left that has voice coils in a series. On the back of your speakers there is a 4 post for speaker wires(2 for each voice coil) you run a wire between on black one and one red one closest to eachother, and then run the wires from your amp to the other 2 post. This will give you an 8 ohm load for one speaker. Now do the exact same thing to the other speakers, 1 wire connecting 2 post, 2 wires from amp to pos. and neg. post on the other side of the speaker. An easy way to calcualte and ohm load is this, If you have all of your speakers voice coils wired at 8 ohms in a series just divide 8 by the number of speakers you are adding. 1 sub 8 ohms, 2 subs 4 ohms, 3 subs 2.67 ohms,4 subs 2 ohms, 5 subs 1.33 ohms and so on. Same way with other impeadences. If they all are wired to 2 ohms 4 ohms, 6, 12, whatever just divide that numbe by the number of speakers you are hooking up and BAM.
Posted By: tdsteele
Date Posted: July 29, 2003 at 5:36 PM
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