SS Teacher

Ditto on buying the RF amp used on this forum. I've bought lots of stuff here and always had great results.

I teach economics and history, NOT reading. hahahahahaha, my bad.

I'm not running it anymore, but I still have my PPI A404! Welcome to the forum.

I ran an XCON 10" on a 500 watt Rockford Fosgate T-500 and it sounded great. I upgraded to a T-1500 and it sounded great and got louder. You can run 3 18" ZCONs on a 5K and it will sound great IF your box is designed and constructed well, but you won't be getting full potential on 5K watts.

I probably would have gone that route, but Dayton hadn't made their DSP when I bought the Stetsom.

I didn't want to mess with a PC so I bought a Stetsom STX2436 sound processor because it's controlled and set up with an app for my iPhone. I paid around $200 for it and am satisfied. It expects only 2 inputs and has 4 outputs so you can't run three way active. I use the crossover on the sub amp. I just checked eBay and saw them for less than $150.

Looks great! It's nice to see photos of the 15" and 18" subs. It was a little weird when all the photos were of the 10" or 12".

Since you asked for opinions... I'd stick to a 1000 to 1500 watt amp so you don't have to do too much to the electrical and get a 15" in a ported box. Since the box is super important I'd pay for a box design and buy one of SSA's subs (I LOVE my XCON, but they don't make them anymore). Also, you might be able to save some money and pick up a used amp on Craigslist or OfferUp. Good luck on your bass quest.

The Stetsom is TINY and if fits my needs. Plus, i tend to horde car audio

I wish these were out before I bought my Stetsom DSP. I like the Stetsom, it meets my needs, but shipping took forever and the plastic body feels a little cheap, not to mention the Dayton is $50 less.

No, I have plenty of clearance. I checked out the tinsel and the one that broke is discolored and the spider is burnt. I guess the tinsel burnt? Weird...

The tinsel completely ripped apart right at the area where the shrink wrap stopped. I didn't take pictures and I've already cut out the cone and cleaned up the basket for the recone, sorry. I've never had an amp (I don't think I'll count the cheap PPI) that ran over a 1,000 watts, nor have I ever run a ported box before; I have no doubt something was off on the settings. I'm going to read a few articles and/or watch a few videos before I reset the settings. As to the unloading question, I can't see the sub as the enclosure (which SSA designed (and I LOVE)) is downward firing to keep the sub safe from prying eyes and stray kayak paddles. It sounded great, louder than ever before, and then the tinsel popped.

The 2+ year old coil looked just as beautiful as the coil on the recone I ordered! Love, love, love my XCON.

I was playing "Clearest Blue" by CHVRCHES and it was pounding, in a moment of foolishness, I pumped up the sub out volume on my HU and the sub was putting out some serious bass and then nothing. My fears were confirmed when I pulled the XCON 10 yesterday and saw the broken tinsel lead. I knew I didn't cook the coil as I didn't smell anything, in fact, the coil looked perfect. I do NOT want to do this again. I've had the XCON for over 2 years now and it's in a box designed by SSA. I've fed it with a Rockford Fosgate T-500 bd, then a PPI Black Ice 5000 (1700 watts rms @ 2 ohm (per manufacturer (yes, I know that number is grossly over inflated)), and finally on a Rocford Fosgate T-1500 BDcP. I know the 1000 or so rms @ 2 ohm didn't stess the sub thermally, but it has a subsonic filter set at 28hz and my box is tuned to 33hz. Could that have played a role in the failure? I picked up a PRV 1200 watt at 4 ohm amp for a great price. Would I be better off using the PRV because I can set the subsonic filter to 32hz? My recone is dual 2 so I can run it at 1 ohm on the T-1500 for about 1800 RMS, or I can run it at 4 ohm on the PRV at 1200 watts. I know I wouldn't be able to hear the difference with that little of a power difference. Advice? Oh, I fully understand not to push the sub output on the HU past flat! Hahahahahaha

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