Need A Little Help Deciding...

[siucsaluki11]

Im new to the SMD forum, ive been on Sound Domain for a couple months now, and I figured I would come over here and check things out.

I have a 2000 chevy blazer 4dr. that currently has 2 Clarion PXW1251s in a ported box i built, 2.2ft^3 per chamber, tuned to 34hz, 2 blaupunkt PCA1350 amps, am getting a new HU, currently have an old kenwood thats crappin out on me i think, and a set of either RE or Focal 6.5" comps for the front doors and an amp for those.

On to my point. Im looking at getting a new system in a few months. Probably gunna be in April or May. Ive been looking around at some brands that arent as widely known to those outside the car audio scene, ex: NOT jl, alpine, mtx, etc. I was pretty set on getting myself a pair of RE SE15D4s and a new amp for them. But...I started doing some more looking, and i realized i could possibly get more for my money, well, less money. Now im looking more at the Fi SSD line of subs. I have read a few reviews written by members of a few different forums now and have heard nothing but good things about them. I listen to just about every kind of music you can imagine, but mainly since i got the subs its been drum and bass and rap. The car will be my DD and I plan on doing bass race with it.

I would be buying sooner, but jan 5 i start at acoustic edge institute and wont have time for a job, so unfortunately i will have to delay this project, but if i come across some money, it will happen sooner rather than later.

On to my point.... I currently have 2 12s, they do the job, but ive kinda built up a tollerance of sorts, lol, and now i want more. The SSDs are right in my price range. I decided i wanna go bigger than 2 12s now. From what i understand, more surface area with the same amount of power means it will be louder. So Im kinda stuck as to which ones, 15 or 18, to get and which options to get.

I am pretty set on running a pair of em, and I am ready to sacrifice my cargo area, since i already dont use it even though my box isnt THAT big. I know the 18s will need a bigger box than the 15s, but the difference in size isnt that significant. I have been told by some to get a pair of 15s over a pair of 18s, but they wouldnt go into detail as to why they said that, just that they personally would do it that way. I played around a bit on WinISD Pro, and from what its telling me, i should be getting more output from the pair of 18s, even thought they will take the same power as the 15s.

I know some people dont like to read a lot so here is the boiled down version.

Car: 2000 Chevy Blazer 4dr.

Subs to come: (2) Fi SSD 15 D1 or (2) Fi SSD 18 D1, which should i go with, 15 or 18. And what options do i want, copper or flat, and BP power(whats that do)?

Amp: Well, im going to need a new one, but i figure i can run those at 500RMS while i break em in then get myself a bigger amp to power both of em. Any suggestions? Reasonably priced, AQ2200D is about $400, something around that price range would be nice.

Thanks in advanc for any input.

[Beanz]

the two fiftteens will have more cone area thus being more louder then the 1 18

the "BP Power" option got it from FI,

This new option adds a machined aluminum compression plug to the pole which helps channel all of the air under the dustcap around the coil for better cooling

[siucsaluki11]

not 1 18, 2 18s, ill edit the post so its a little more clear, that 2 applied to both, 15 or 18

[Beanz]

Oh then the 2 18's then. you'll need 3 15's in order to get the same cone area as the 2 18's

and your getting that audioque right that's about a lil too much power for those subs IMO that amp will alteast put 1200-1100 rms to those subs but you should be okay as long as you dont too bass knob crazy with the amo.

[siucsaluki11]

From what ive been told, they will handle more than the 800 theyre rated at, and the BP option adds more power handling. I knew what it was for, just not what it did and how it worked. I planned on setting the gain conservatively, for the first little while they will probably only be being fed, 500 RMS each. Which isnt all that bad, since i will need to break them in anyway. A little bit after i get the subs, ill be able to save up for the AQ amp, and my buddy is lookin at buying my old setup, well, the subs atleast, off me when i get the new one.

[Beanz]

Yeah they will handle more but it will just be goin in thier max wattage but its all good thought. .all right cool so you have any electrical upgrades?HO ALT?Other Batteries?

[01 S-10]

From what ive been told, they will handle more than the 800 theyre rated at, and the BP option adds more power handling. I knew what it was for, just not what it did and how it worked. I planned on setting the gain conservatively, for the first little while they will probably only be being fed, 500 RMS each. Which isnt all that bad, since i will need to break them in anyway. A little bit after i get the subs, ill be able to save up for the AQ amp, and my buddy is lookin at buying my old setup, well, the subs atleast, off me when i get the new one.

You need to set the gain to match the output voltage of your headunit. The gain does not control how many watts the amp puts out. Just don't use any bass boost on the amp and you should be ok.

[siucsaluki11]

Beanz- Not yet, that is all on its way. Currently im pushing around 1000w RMS, so a run of 4ga was enough for what i have for now. Im planning on doing a run of 1/0 awg and the big 3 in 1/0 to start with. Once that has all been done and i save up more money, ill be getting an HO alt, not sure how many amps though. Ive found 200amp alts for around $200, but im thinking since i know im going to be going bigger some day, I may just get a 300amp alt the first time around and call it good. 2nd battery, no i dont have one, yet....Im thinking ill do a bigger alt first this way when i do the 2nd one it doenst fry my stock 110amp alt. Untill then im thinking of a yellowtop.

01 S-10... From what i was told, to set your amp, you needed a DMM and some test tones. When i set my gains on my current amps, i turned the boost off, turned the EQ on my HU so that it was flat, and since my box peaks around 55hz, i could only get a 50hz tone, so i used that. Then i played that over and over till i got the right amount of voltage showing up on my dmm, to figure that i used the formula of P=(V^2)/R where P=>Power V=>voltage and R=> resistance. That is how i was told to set the gain on your amp, and that is how i did it, was that the right way or did i do anything wrong in there?

[siucsaluki11]

anyone fit a pair of 18s in a blazer before without puttin a wall in? Its gunna be a little while till I save up enough to do it, but i like having my shit all planned out before i start things.