Hi, I have a 06ZX400.1 kicker amp pushing a single 06' 10"L7 sub in kicker's truck box. My question is that I feel like the amp isnt giving the sub enough power when I get it loud because it starts to distort pretty good when it hits low. I am running a 1farrad cap which helped tighten the hits up. The sub recomends 600w RMS/ 1200max. I had the L5 but wasnt impressed so I got this one and didnt feel like getting an amp to. Would the kicker 750 be safe to use or would a JL500w be better(i know that JL is great but it is also $$) I also have be told that is better to over power than to under power? is this true. Thanks

 

Are your gains set properly?? Im wondering if they arent to high, maybe you turned them up to compensate for the lack of power?

The only side affect of not running as much power to a sub that you can is lower volume. It wont blow it or anything like that.
In terms of overpowering or underpowering, one really isnt better than the other. With overpowering you run the risk of damage to the sub if you have a lot higher power and arent careful.
The only way underpowering can be bad is if you turn the gains up to compensate.

If your pushing 400 watts to that, putting a 500 watt amp on it would be a waste of money. The 100 watts will make so little of a difference that the cost and time doesnt make up for the difference you will hear.

Is that box ported? If so, do you have your subsonic filter set.

 

yes the sub box is ported and again it is one that I bought premade so I dont know the specs, it does have polyfill though. My subsonic filter is on and I have a cd4000 eclipse headunit with the x-over is set to 80(out of 100 and pass). The amp is set also, had a friend that works where I bought the sub set the amp (which Circuit City did a bad job adjusting). I used a bass cd to try to get it where it sounds good and now it is better but I really think that a L7 should hit a lot harder, reason being is my coworker has a box w/2 cvr 12" subs that rock his truck cleanly with the same amp and it is a lot cheaper sub. Thanks

 

Those CVRs are impressive output wise for their cost. My buddy has a pair in his GrandPrix off 600 watts and I know a single L7 in a daily install isnt going to get that loud...

If your wanting more output though, a bigger amp is all you can do. Dont waste your money on something only 100-150 watts bigger though. If your doing it, make it worth it and go with something like the Kicker amp.

Is the box a Kicker one that is designed to work with the L7, or just some random prefab box?
Boxes can make or break a setup.

 

The box is a kicker box. I bought it from Circut City (the L5 version) and was happy for a month then I needed something more so I got the L7 and it is in the same box just has a 1/4 larger cuttout for the sub. The website is: http://www.kicker.com/06/kicker_home.html // I would like to have a custom box but really dont have the tools or knowhow, I know that I seen a guy on here I think that had a 12'' L7 in a regcab like mine without having to cut threw his cab. Secondly do you think that the shallow mount subs from kicker or JL would put out as much, say I got two, reason being is kicker has a shallow mount 12".

 

Like I said, if its sounding good now, you must have just had something set wrong on the amp of your HU. If its not getting as loud as you want, then a new, higher power amp will certianly help out....or build a huge ported box tuned high

I didnt even know Kicker made a shallow mount sub. New JLs arent even out yet that I know of. So I really cant tell you for sure.

 

thanks alot I will see if I can grab the 750 for a good price, just sucks cuz I just wired new high quality 8g in my truck last week. Yea Kicker and JL both were suposed to have the shallows debut the begining of this year, saw the Kicker but only pics of the JL. I would like to hear that 12" in my truck

 

Thats no fun rewiring something.

Knowing JL that new shallow mount sub will cost as much as a small house