Printer Friendly Forum Posts - 2 12" Xplod’s vs. 2 15" BMF’s

I am in the process of redoing my system right now, and am starting to get a little bit worried about how much money I'm spending. The last count was about $1300, including new wiring and an extra battery. So my question is, I bought 2 12" Xplods and an 800-watt Sony amp a couple years ago for about $450. The subs are in a sealed box. I am now looking to replace all that, and just bought one Crossfire BMF 15" today for $250. I am going to put two BMF's in a ported box, with a VR1000D amp and an extra battery. All the previous wiring has to be redone to go from 8 gauge to 4 gauge. All that will cost about $1300. I don't know too much about audio stuff, but I know that Sony Xplod's are crappy. I just want to know if you all think I am justified in spending all that money to replace the system that I only paid $450 for. Basically the question is, is the cost worth the benefit? or will the crossfire system only do a little bit better?? Just want your opinions please, before I spend all that money. Thanks.

the crossfire stuff will kill the sony stuff thats like comparing a pitbull to a pug in a dog fight what kind of head unit /cd player are you running and you can get the 4 gauge amp kit for about $30 at walmart of all places one other ? for your mids and highs what r u running

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

i'm running the factory head unit, a six-disc in dash cd changer. i can't replace it because if i do then my factory DVD system will no longer work properly. so i'm stuck with the factory head unit. My mids and highs are all factory, most likely going to replace those later on in the summer

i dont think thats a good idea your factory speakers are matched tyo the power of your factory head unit just add some cuspid tweeters you can add those thay have a tiny crossover inside that dosnt change the load your headunit is running you can get those from my buddys shop for like $15 and as far as the extra battery kinetik batterys are the way to go

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

what kindof ride do you have

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

ive got a 2003 explorer

ok i got ya what kind of box are you gonna go with ??? vented or sealed

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

thats cool instead of puting an extra battery in u should just replace your main battery with one of the kinetikbatterys the hc1800 will do the trick check out www.kinetikaudio.com there expensive but worth ever penny with a stock alternater you can run 2 kx 1200.1s with no problems

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

just replace the regular battery with one of those? which one would you recommend? i don't really want to put in a second battery because i'd have to find the room for it, and i dont want to do that

for your explorer i think the hc 1800 will be just right the is a calculater on the web site it will let you know what one is right for your setup .

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

You don't need an extra battery. You should first upgrade your alternator if you have power problems. An extra battery would only allow you to play your system longer with the car turned off.

The crossfire system will be sooo much louder than anything sony makes. I have never listened to the crossfire subs you mentioned though, so I'm not sure about their SQ.

ok i will have to check on the RMS wattage of the amp. i thought that the first thing i would do would be to run the system straight up without anything to see if i needed some extra power. the guy at my audio shop said that i probably would, but he wasnt sure...i'm sure that i will, but i want to see how its gonna do without anything before i spend more money.

thats what i would do that setup is gonna be so much better than that sony setup i think you will be glad you spent the money

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

yeh i think it should be pretty loud. ive got a friend with two P1's in a cadillac and it is very loud, and he doesnt even have the 1000 watt amp, so i'm expecting a lot. as long as this guy knows what he's doin and makes the box correctly then it should be worth the money

the P1's do a lot will a lower power amps were r you from ???

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

im in las vegas i here so many cars with nice setups its not even funny and most of the local shops are so over priced it makes me sick do u want to add the tweeters in stead of the new mids and highs???they would only cost you like 15 to 20 bucks shiped to your door

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

i gotta think bout that one. im not quite sure where i'd put em, and i'd have to pay someone to install em too, cause i have no clue what im doin

Dont waste money on tweeters to go with your cheap factory speakers. Get some coaxial speakers to replace the factory ones instead. If you just bought tweeters your highs would be exaggerated and your midrange and midbass from your factory speakers would still sound bad.

Blowntweeters wrote:

thats cool instead of puting an extra battery in u should just replace your main battery with one of the kinetikbatterys the hc1800 will do the trick check out www.kinetikaudio.com there expensive but worth ever penny with a stock alternater you can run 2 kx 1200.1s with no problems

PLEASE stop telling people they WILL NOT need an upgraded alternator. You CANNOT, in any way, shape, or form, run a 2400 watt system from a stock alternator forever. It might work for a while, but the fact is, that without sufficient charging capacity, the battery will simply die sooner than it should, potentially taking the alternator, and OTHER electrical components (read: ECU) with it. It HAS happened. End of story. The alternator IS where the power comes from, there is no such thing as a magic battery. Is it possible (and sounds probable) that you have had good luck with this battery, and I have had good luck with other batteries as well, but the fact remains, that eveybody here that knows what we are talking about, consistently recommend an alternator as a FIRST step in an electrical system upgrade, and THEN the battery and wiring. We also do not ever recommend a battery or cap as a fix for ANY electrical system issue... It is NOT the fix.

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

ok...so you would suggest upgrading the alternator before doing anything else?

alright i've got another question. should i go with a ported or bandpass box? I know a bandpass should be louder in an SUV (that's what a friend said) but I also want the bass to sound decent. If you can, just tell me what you would recommend and why.

Avoid the bandpass...

I got a bandpass...and even though it's a very cheap one...all i hear is that all bandpass boxes have one similar characteristic and i can vouch for this - they hit a very small frequency range with unbelievable loudness but the other notes they're not even near that. So in other words if the bass notes in the song you're listening to do not fall under that frequency range, the sound quality will not be very good and the bass wont be very loud.

And they're are very hard to make properly, since they have very little room for error.

Stay away from it.

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don't rush into things...you'll get ripped off

Either go ported or sealed. But since no one chimed in about your factory dvd system, yes you can add an aftermarket head unit and keep the screen in the rear working, i have done it. You have a few options, 1. Replace your head unit with a nice unit with a AUX input and get a cheap dvd player to link your audio to your headunit and video to the screen. 2. Get a DVD head unit and just send the video to your factory screen. You can also put some head phones in their so you can listen to your tunes on the head unit and passengers can watch and listen to their movie at the same time. Many options. #1 is the most economical costing approx $500 or less, or more depending on the quality of the head unit, but for this task i definately reccomend one of the Eclipse head units with the circle surround feature $400 cd8445, or $500 cd8455 with the digital input from the dvd player.

Personally i would do the headunit upgrade before changeing up the subs and amps, it will make your current system ( sony, i know ugg) sound much much better.

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

ok. i thought that there had to be a way i could replace the head unit and still be able to use my DVD system, but i just didn't know what it was. I will look into the Eclipse head units...i'm somewhat partial to Alpine though, so is there anything Alpine makes that would work?

your cost is gonna go over what you set out to spend in the first place the alternater is the way to go as far as the electrical power i was told that what i said could /was done with one of these batterys i never said you would'nt need an alternater upgrade and im not telling people that this battery will fix everything as far as hte head unit go to alpine's web site and check the options on there head units as far as the box for your subs go vented for SPL go sealed for SQ

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

not trying to be rude...but i would reccommend a little restraint here...you are looking at putting quit a bit of lower end frequencies to a factory system that doesn't exactly have a lot of high end frequencies...just be careful and make sure that upon having all of this stuff installed that you can return it all if you arent happy...you might find that there wil be too much bass and not enough of everything else...i agree with whoever said not to replace your factory speakers also...unless they are blown...replacing them will gain you no spl in most cases in which the factory cd player is being used...and i reccommend a sealed box...me personally...i am a vented enclosure type guy...but in your case with a factory stereo and speakers i would reccommend a sealed enclosure...one more thing...have fun man...that is what this is all about...

Alright I will make Myself clear on the Kenetik batterys. We have ran 2 kicker kx1200's at shows and had no voltage issues during burps, but that is just it, It is during a show and we are only burping for a matter of seconds. I would enforce that you could not drive daily like that, although we are running one battery the kenetik and the stock alt in a honda civic, and running a kx1200 at .5 ohm and it manages to keep up just fine, the dimming is so slight you dont notice it unless you lok for it.

If anyone has any further questions regarding kenetik please feel free to ask me.

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
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SAMT18 wrote:

ok. i thought that there had to be a way i could replace the head unit and still be able to use my DVD system, but i just didn't know what it was. I will look into the Eclipse head units...i'm somewhat partial to Alpine though, so is there anything Alpine makes that would work?

Basically any CDA model Alpine head unit is capable to do what you want, however the only models i reccomend would be The CDA-9830, CDA-9831, CDA-9835, CDA-9855, all the other models have pretty much sunk in quality beyond what i would call satisfactory.

Definately still check out the Eclipse head units, they are very compeditively priced, look at the CD5435 $350 or CD5425 $250 as a cheaper alternative but still with 3 pre outs and built in crossovers to protect your factory speakers from being demolished from bass until you can afford an upgrade, or desire an upgrade.

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

alright fellas i appreciate all the advice. sorry it took me so long to get back to you, i was at the US Open for a couple of days. I will definitely get on here if i have any more questions

I highly recommed installing a good power cap close to your amplifier. There is definately no need for a second battery, just forget about that idea. Go with atleast 4 Farad, and one with a digital display of your voltage. A capacitor very quickly recovers the power that your amplifiers have just sucked back each time the bass hits. The number one importance of the power cap is that it prevents NASTY surges of electricity to the rest of your vehicle, which is very bad for sensitive electrical components, such as the computer brain in your car. All these sensitive components have their own little capacitors to keep a steady, safe level of current, but fact is, cars have very erratic levels of current. You need a capacitor to prevent surges of power to your car, which a monster sound system will always cause. If you get any dimming with your headlights when the bass hits, and you've installed a monster capacitor, then go for a fancier alternator, But I say go with a good capacitor first, see how that goes, and if it still sucks, then throw on an alternator. Cause a good alternator won't stop the surges to your entire car when the bass in your amps hits hard enough.

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Don't have a hero.
Look up to no one;
because if someone's leading the way, the best you'll ever be is second

ok i will look into that. how much will a 4 farad cost? i'm already going to spend more than i want to, but if it will protect the rest of my car then it is probably a good investment.

BS caps are junk waste of money an alternater and a kinetik battery is the way to go do you ever see caps in big SPL setups no you dont because putting a cap in a setup that runs 1000 rms to 2500 rms is like putting a bandaid on on a gunshoot wound i installed a soundstream van gogh 1600.2 with a 5 farad soundstream cap it worked for the first 2 OR 3 times the bass hit a cap or battery for that matter CANNOT charge any faster with the stock alternater running i am not the only person that thinks caps are a waste or money

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1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

A cap is one of the most wrongly understood device's in car audio...hence why they are selling them by the boat load. A cap does nothing unless you have a good power supply in the first place, if you have major power fluctuations your either have a weak alternator or a bad battery. The only thing a cap is good for imo is to get rid of some unwanted radiated noise in the power wire before entering an amp. Shure it can store power,,but if your alternator can't produce enough power to keep the system at 14 volts, how can your cap magically make your system stay at 14 volts if its power source (the alternator) is already way behind, so basically in that scenario (about 99% of the average misinformed consumer) the cap is just adding more resistance to the power wire. The only thing i can see the cap doing is sucessfully keeping your voltage at a steady low which stops dimming, but thats because your system has no chance to get back up to 14 volts, and that my friend kills a car's electrical system.

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

good lord. there is just too much stuff to know when it comes to car audio. i think i will stick with my putting in my new subs and amp in for now, then if that doesnt work out i will look at a bigger alternator first, then possibly a better battery. if i need to upgrade the head unit and other speakers, then i will do that as well