# what is an original solobaric worth?



## neuspeedescort (Feb 23, 2010)

just that. buddy has a gen1 solo baric 15 in a really nice sealed box. what is it worth in todays market? i'm not interested in it as much as to help him move it off his garage shelf. i can post a few pictures if need be.


NEUMAN


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## tribals54 (Oct 20, 2011)

Not like it helps too much but when i bought the original L5 solo 10 inch back in the day it was like 130 i believe.....it matters def if its a L5 or L7 as well


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Are you talking about the new solobaric (L5 or L7) or the original round one's from the mid 90's (btw, the best sq subs kicker ever made, imo)?


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## neuspeedescort (Feb 23, 2010)

i will say this slower for the younger crowd "1st generation" round 15 smooth cone. no L5 or L7. by the way the L5 came out after the L7 as a cheaper version of the "cool" square sub. sub is as pictured below. he has all the missing pieces from around the surround just need to glue them back on. or throw it in a nicely tuned band bass. i called kicker today and asked them the real reason they recommended sealed only and its do to a soft spider design. so a true ported or vented enclosure will just tear them apart.


NEUMAN


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## derickveliz (May 15, 2009)

I still have three 10", I was thinking of selling them but probably they are not worth a lot, to be honest I don't want to sell them, if that gives you an idea on how good are they!


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## smgreen20 (Oct 13, 2006)

My friend bought a S10c this past March Off of ebay for $75 shipped. I could see a S15a-d selling for around $125 in good condition.


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

Believe it or not, the round ones are my favorite. The squares will never sound anywhere near as good as the round solo's. Also the round ones where made here in Oklahoma, USA.


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## jking29 (Jan 6, 2008)

TrickyRicky said:


> Also the round ones where made here in Oklahoma, USA.


Actually they were made in Kentucky by Credence.


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## King Nothing (Oct 10, 2005)

Its only worth 12.50. I have paypal ready


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Personally, I would expect to pay at least $100 + shipping for it. Realistically, it just depends on how bad somebody wants it.


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## Salami (Oct 10, 2007)

neuspeedescort said:


> sub is as pictured below.
> 
> NEUMAN



The sub you pictured is NOT a first generation Solobaric. If my memory is correct it is fourth generation.


These are the original Solo's:


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Didn't the original say "solobaric" on the dust cap in gold or something and then it had the kicker logo "K" on the dust cap and then the "s", if my memory serves me correctly. I may be wrong, but I never thought there was much of a difference other than cosmetics though.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

My only concern with any of the older Solobaric subs would be the foam surrounds. If they were stored or installed in less than ideal circumstances, that foam won't last long.


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

ChrisB said:


> My only concern with any of the older Solobaric subs would be the foam surrounds. If they were stored or installed in less than ideal circumstances, that foam won't last long.


So true. I was lucky to get a semi-new original Blues woofer with the surround in new condition. For something thats over 15years old it sure does look new.

But if speakers are stored outside (like in garages with no temperature control) then yes they rot right away.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

TrickyRicky said:


> So true. I was lucky to get a semi-new original *Blues woofer* with the surround in new condition. For something thats over 15years old it sure does look new.
> 
> But if speakers are stored outside (like in garages with no temperature control) then yes they rot right away.


wow, blast from the past. I had a pair of BL10s for more than 10 years before they were stolen. (I was very sad) one of the best woofers that stillwater designs ever made IMHO.


*edit* holy crap, did you know they still make these? 
Blues Car Audio

although they only make the BL10 now and they are $340  ( I bought mine 15 years ago for $89)


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

minbari said:


> wow, blast from the past. I had a pair of BL10s for more than 10 years before they were stolen. (I was very sad) one of the best woofers that stillwater designs ever made IMHO.
> 
> 
> *edit* holy crap, did you know they still make these?
> ...


Yeah I've been knowing of the new Blues speakers. I've met Ray twice and went to Jeri's house where they where making the new Linear Power amps. It was neat to be right next to the new amps while being built.


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## mht_v10 (Dec 10, 2005)

Salami said:


> The sub you pictured is NOT a first generation Solobaric. If my memory is correct it is fourth generation.
> 
> 
> These are the original Solo's:


I had 2 of those back in the day in 12" but I thought it was a little slopy and muddy so I sold it ... that's was my thought for the kicker subs tho :blush:


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

I was just telling Velozity that I have a brand new pair of these sitting in my closet. Mine are the Kicker S10a Model. Just tried to post a picture, but I had trouble. Here is a link to the same ones that I have:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...kicker-solobaric-s10a-mid-90s-pair-4-ohm.html


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Niebur3 said:


> Are you talking about the new solobaric (L5 or L7) or the original round one's from the mid 90's (btw, the best sq subs kicker ever made, imo)?




^^

I have to agree, the round solobarics are the best sounding woofers that Kicker ever sold.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

I replaced a pair of 10" Savard Hi-Q subs in a sealed enclosure with a single Solobaric 12 in 1997. I regained most of the trunk in my '96 Thunderbird and actually preferred the bass provided by the Solobaric. A buddy of mine is still running that Solobaric 12 with my circa 1989 pre-HD punch 150. He dropped by the house last month just to BS and showed me that he was still running the gear I sold him back in 2000.


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

ChrisB said:


> I replaced a pair of 10" Savard Hi-Q subs in a sealed enclosure with a single Solobaric 12 in 1997. I regained most of the trunk in my '96 Thunderbird and actually preferred the bass provided by the Solobaric. A buddy of mine is still running that Solobaric 12 with my circa 1989 pre-HD punch 150. He dropped by the house last month just to BS and showed me that he was still running the gear I sold him back in 2000.


And I remember someone saying old school equipment was mostly crap, . Aslong as your use your audio system properly, it is sure to last a long time. I bought me new Xtant X2 12" woofer, cant wait. Problem is it will take half of my big trunk.


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## onebluec5 (Oct 13, 2011)

TrickyRicky said:


> And I remember someone saying old school equipment was mostly crap, . Aslong as your use your audio system properly, it is sure to last a long time. I bought me new Xtant X2 12" woofer, cant wait. Problem is it will take half of my big trunk.



I think old school equipment is WAY better than a lot of the low-end crap made today


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

TrickyRicky said:


> And I remember someone saying old school equipment was mostly crap, . Aslong as your use your audio system properly, it is sure to last a long time. I bought me new Xtant X2 12" woofer, cant wait. Problem is it will take half of my big trunk.


Well, my single Digital Designs 1508 powered by a 25 to Life Punch 150 easily put that Solobaric 12 to shame in terms of sheer output. While the old school stuff still works, it can't hold a candle to modern equipment in terms of power! 

My main problem with used old school gear was not knowing the life it lived before I purchased it. With my old school gear that I owned from new, it generally lived a nice and healthy life. Sure, I may have run it hard, but, I never went below the manufacturer's rated impedance nor did I ever expose my gear to low voltage. I can't say the same for 99% of the used, old school gear, that I purchased off of ebay with wires soldered in place of fuses and emitter resistors melted right out of the circuit board. After that fiasco, I wouldn't even take my chances with a used old school speaker...


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## neuspeedescort (Feb 23, 2010)

those old kickers with the gold lettering. wow! i used to have a pair of the kicker separates in 12" they also seemed muddy sounding. so i guess my friends solobaric is like 3rd or 4th generation. even at that its a round not a square.

chrisb - how can you compare a sealed box only sub to a ported box only sub. that's not even fair. im a DD dealer so i know how great there equipment is but that still isn't enough for me to say the old solo's can't hand. they can hang in the sealed world just fine.


NEUMAN


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## nineball (Jan 17, 2008)

wdemetrius1 said:


> I was just telling Velocity that I have a brand new pair of these sitting in my closet. Mine are the Kicker S10a Model. Just tried to post a picture, but I had trouble. Here is a link to the same ones that I have:
> 
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...kicker-solobaric-s10a-mid-90s-pair-4-ohm.html


i had the same subs and they were little monsters. i sold the pair about 2 years ago for under $200 shipped and had a hard time getting rid of them, so it would seem that $300 would be a pipe dream (based on my experiences). 

there are people out there who covet older equipment, but finding them is kinda hard. the other thing to consider is that old subs do not last like old amps as they are more prone to disintegration over time.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

neuspeedescort said:


> chrisb - how can you compare a sealed box only sub to a ported box only sub. that's not even fair. im a DD dealer so i know how great there equipment is but that still isn't enough for me to say the old solo's can't hand. they can hang in the sealed world just fine.
> 
> 
> NEUMAN


That was just a modern to old comparison, that is all. I guess it would have been more fair to compare my 13w6v2 to the 12" solobaric that I once owned. I'd still take the 13w6v2 though.:laugh:

Don't get me wrong, the Solobarics were awesome for their time. I'd just have to really trust someone in order to purchase a 14 year old subwoofer. In other words, I would not just buy one off of eBay for the sake of being nostalgic. Granted, I did purchase a pair of those Credence clearance 10s that had similar specs to the OG Solobaric 10. I just happen to trust Credence more than most eBay sellers.


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## andrave (Jan 20, 2011)

old school is cool and I firmly believe most of the gear from the 90's is better made and sounds better than stuff today, but with subs you run into that point where they WERE awesome subs and they might sound good today, but you can't recone them anymore and so you are afraid to put power to them or put them in a car... and though they may be beautiful, speakers aren't really gonna go in a glass case or anything. And lots and lots of subs, like the smooth cone kickers, fall in that category. Not old enough to be worth anything as a collectible, not new enough to be super valuable as a sub... I also think kicker re-released the smooth cone round solos not too long ago, which likely will also drop the value.


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## Salami (Oct 10, 2007)

neuspeedescort said:


> they also seemed muddy sounding. so i guess my friends solobaric is like 3rd or 4th generation.
> 
> NEUMAN


Should be the 4th round unless there was a version I have not seen. 

S10 first - gold letters/steel basket/foam surround like above
S10a second - gray cone/steel basket/foam surround like above
S10c third - black cone-two piece/aluminum/rubber surround basket
S10d fourth - black cone-one piece/aluminum basket/rubber surround like you pictured


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

ChrisB said:


> That was just a modern to old comparison, that is all. I guess it would have been more fair to compare my 13w6v2 to the 12" solobaric that I once owned. I'd still take the 13w6v2 though.:laugh:
> 
> Don't get me wrong, the Solobarics were awesome for their time. I'd just have to really trust someone in order to purchase a 14 year old subwoofer. In other words, I would not just buy one off of eBay for the sake of being nostalgic. Granted, I did purchase a pair of those Credence clearance 10s that had similar specs to the OG Solobaric 10. I just happen to trust Credence more than most eBay sellers.


I happen to snatch a new Xtant X2 12" from ebay. It arrived without no damage, which is always scary for me just thinking on how hard they drop packages. Aslong as the magnet is screwed not glued, you'll be safe. 

But that sucker is just as heavy as my old school Cerwin Strokers, so we'll see which one is more....... better :laugh:


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

TrickyRicky said:


> I happen to snatch a new Xtant X2 12" from ebay. It arrived without no damage, which is always scary for me just thinking on how hard they drop packages. Aslong as the magnet is screwed not glued, you'll be safe.
> 
> But that sucker is just as heavy as my old school Cerwin Strokers, so we'll see which one is more....... better :laugh:


Come to think of it, didn't you get burned on a couple of strokers sold as working and they did not?


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

ChrisB said:


> Come to think of it, didn't you get burned on a couple of strokers sold as working and they did not?


Just one. Out of 6 subs one didnt work, had a burnt voice coil. Thats the 15" that I removed the cone, so its just motor/basket right now.

Ofcourse it wasnt just all from one seller, I bought two or three from one guy, and the rest from different sellers. I've seen the stroker reconed with aftermarket parts and I have to say it looks like it can put out more output, thats LOOKS, lol.


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## neuspeedescort (Feb 23, 2010)

Salami said:


> Should be the 4th round unless there was a version I have not seen.
> 
> S10 first - gold letters/steel basket/foam surround like above
> S10a second - gray cone/steel basket/foam surround like above
> ...


from what i can tell the difference from 'c' and 'd' the c is single coil the d is dvc. from what i recall his sub is only single. however i could be wrong in this designation.

none the less i have it advertised for 125 with a nice box. the surround is in great shape its just the paperboard foam crap between the screws that is missing.


NEUMAN


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## tbomb (Nov 28, 2007)

Round solos were all svc.....have you still not figured out what model this is?



sorry, now i see the pic....that is a "d" series.....definitely single voice coil....now the question is 2,4,or 8 ohm?


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## neuspeedescort (Feb 23, 2010)

tbomb said:


> Round solos were all svc.....have you still not figured out what model this is?
> 
> 
> 
> sorry, now i see the pic....that is a "d" series.....definitely single voice coil....now the question is 2,4,or 8 ohm?



yeah i reread the pdf's this morning. i remember them only being svc back in the day but for some reason when i looked over the pdf's earlier this week i thought i noticed the c which is newer '2000' had a dvc option. but this morning based on your comment and rereading i see it is not. as for ohm load i'm very positive its a 4ohm.


NEUMAN


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## Mike_Dee (Mar 26, 2011)

neuspeedescort said:


> i will say this slower for the younger crowd "1st generation" round 15 smooth cone. no L5 or L7. by the way the L5 came out after the L7 as a cheaper version of the "cool" square sub. sub is as pictured below. he has all the missing pieces from around the surround just need to glue them back on. or throw it in a nicely tuned band bass. i called kicker today and asked them the real reason they recommended sealed only and its do to a soft spider design. so a true ported or vented enclosure will just tear them apart.
> 
> 
> NEUMAN


Just so you know, that's not a Gen 1. I have a Gen 1 12" in perfect condition I'd let go of and the cones weren't black, they are grey, with stitching to the surround. Awesome bass, but need a lot of power. I only used mine for a short while in a .66 sealed box driven with 600W, and it was tight. I ended up going to 15"s 

Pics on request.


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## Salami (Oct 10, 2007)

Mike_Dee said:


> Just so you know, that's not a Gen 1.


This has all ready been established. 





Mike_Dee said:


> I have a Gen 1 12" in perfect condition I'd let go of and the cones weren't black, they are grey, with stitching to the surround.
> 
> Pics on request.


Post pictures. Your description fits a Gen 2 almost perfectly.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

nineball said:


> i had the same subs and they were little monsters. i sold the pair about 2 years ago for under $200 shipped and had a hard time getting rid of them, so it would seem that $300 would be a pipe dream (based on my experiences).
> 
> there are people out there who covet older equipment, but finding them is kinda hard. the other thing to consider is that old subs do not last like old amps as they are more prone to disintegration over time.




^^

I could not agree more. The above listing was not mine, but I noticed that the seller also had a hard time selling those. Come to think of it, I don't think that they ever sold.


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## Mike_Dee (Mar 26, 2011)

Salami said:


> This has all ready been established.


Yeah I didn't read through the entire thread b4 I posted that.




Post pictures. Your description fits a Gen 2 almost perfectly.[/QUOTE]

Will do. After seeing the one with the dustcap, I believe you are right. Mine has a grey cone, and not dust cap. Get some up later today.


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## JohnU (Aug 9, 2020)

neuspeedescort said:


> i will say this slower for the younger crowd "1st generation" round 15 smooth cone.  no L5 or L7. by the way the L5 came out after the L7 as a cheaper version of the "cool" square sub. sub is as pictured below. he has all the missing pieces from around the surround just need to glue them back on. or throw it in a nicely tuned band bass. i called kicker today and asked them the real reason they recommended sealed only and its do to a soft spider design. so a true ported or vented enclosure will just tear them apart.
> 
> 
> NEUMAN


Those are not original at all. Original Solobarics had a convex cone. I still have 2 12s in my 89 Toy. Put them in 92 or 93. They still pound just fine. Kicker used to make some good stuff.


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## JohnU (Aug 9, 2020)

Salami said:


> The sub you pictured is NOT a first generation Solobaric. If my memory is correct it is fourth generation.
> 
> 
> These are the original Solo's:


You are correct sir. Mine still pounding since '93. Priceless!


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## JohnU (Aug 9, 2020)

Salami said:


> The sub you pictured is NOT a first generation Solobaric. If my memory is correct it is fourth generation.
> 
> 
> These are the original Solo's:


It's funny when people think original Solo's had concave dust caps. Grow up, youngin'.


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## douggiestyle (Apr 29, 2008)

JohnU said:


> It's funny when people think original Solo's had concave dust caps. Grow up, youngin'.


He did, by about 10 years


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