Kicker's SoloXS L7XS Square Subs Get 43 mm of Xmax and a Glue-Free Field Recone

The square Kicker L7 is one of the most recognizable subwoofers ever built, and it has been rattling trunks at car shows and in parking lots for a long time. The new SoloXS L7XS is the extreme version. PASMAG reported on August 21 that Kicker introduced the L7XS in 12-, 15- and 18-inch sizes, each offered in 1-ohm and 2-ohm dual voice coil versions.

Kicker president Steve Irby described the SoloXS as developed for more power, more stroke and more Xmax while keeping the SoloX platform's field-replaceable cone design, PASMAG reported. The numbers back that up. All three sizes offer more than 43 mm (1.71 inch) of Xmax.

Power and parts

Recommended amplifier power is 1,500 to 3,000 watts RMS for the 12 and 15 and 2,000 to 4,000 watts RMS for the 18. Voice coil formers are 3-inch aluminum on the 12 and 15 and 4-inch on the 18. The motor uses an oversized ferrite magnet with Kicker's Forced-Air Cooling, and the moving parts include an extra-large dual-spider suspension, a double-pressed pulp cone and a proprietary NBR surround on a cast-aluminum basket.

The clever part is the recone system. Every size and impedance has a field-replaceable recone kit. The preassembled cone, voice coil and spider use a surround compression system, a bolt-on spider landing and alignment pins, so the kit installs without glue.

Why it matters

Big audio is part of the culture for a lot of the scene, from slab cars in Houston with their trunks open at the meet to big-wheel builds and show trucks with walls of subs. When you push thousands of watts, voice coils fail, and the usual fix is a new sub or a messy glue job. A recone you can do in the driveway, with alignment pins instead of adhesive, makes running these hard a lot cheaper over the long haul.

Kicker sells the L7XS through its authorized dealers. Pricing was not listed in PASMAG's report.