ulrisa

Rick: I currently have a D1 sub so I would wire them both to make a 1 ohm load vs the 2 ohm load it is at now. Then I would drop the gain to match the same overall wattage. Thanks for the replies guys, I thought the alt would probably be the best way to go. Has anyone noticed a significant increase in performance with the same equipment with an alt swap out? The voltage isn't super unstable as it is set right now, but I feel like if I had more power on tap I could safely increase the gain without overheating the sub.

Hi- I have been using a ZCON 18" for about a year now and I love it. It's powered on an IA 40.1. I have an XS D3400 & XS XP3000 for a battery set up, and the stock 120 amp alternator. I've gotten it down so that the sub won't heat up during normal use and it's fairly loud. It get's a bit louder when I can crank it up but it also heats right up since my electrical begins to sag. I am working at a decently paying job for the summer and have decided I can either buy an additional ZCON 18" and making a new box or get a 300 amp singer alternator. I can only do one upgrade at this time, though both is obviously best. What would you guys think would be more beneficial (loudness-wise)? If I were to add the second 18" I would have to balance the power so it is the same as it is currently, there would just be double the cone area. I'm leaning towards the alt because it's less overall work, but I'm willing to put extra work in for more spl.

Drilling holes and grommets work well. If you are unable to do this, I'm not sure how this buick is set up but I did an install an a buick lesabre once. It was only 8 awg so I ran the power wire through the door and up into the top of the hood protected by a sturdy rubber hose. If you have the same clearance that that car had between door, interior, and hood this is a good way to go. I was amazed at how well such a rig worked lol.

I do the same with my crossover, it works quite well. I think a majority of the issue at hand with the DD-1 is a lack of understanding by the defending party. Its been said a thousand times it seems, but the DD-1 does not make your gain setting any more safe than setting it by any other method. The only truly safe way to set it is by taking the time to listen to distortion, time being quite scalable to understand what distortion sounds like, and the time it takes for you to immediately notice a problem and turn it down. If a user does not truly understand what distortion sounds like, within reason, distort the speaker on purpose. This is how you can teach your ear to differentiate the difference if you really have no idea. Once you know what it sounds like, adjust accordingly. If you have a hard time with this, set the gain lower for a safety net. Most people should be able to discern a difference pretty rapidly, which is why I use a level knob near the driver's seat so that I can adjust it easily. It seems to me that people think the DD-1, multimeter, o-scope, etc, are the reference to trust. In some cases in the real world such as this, your own senses are better tools to trust. If you think about it, the only way you could get a tool to give you the best possible scenario for SPL on music would be to have a tool that could automatically change your gain in a specific pattern for a specific song. That becomes a pointless and complex venture very quickly.

Does the noise go away if you plug them into something? They could be picking up noise radiating in the car.

You could probably go 200, but if you have 250's they will work. To answer your earlier question having two batteries is going to even out the distribution of power better, so there will likely be less amperage flowing through your main power wire than there would be with just one battery. If any short did occur, it would probably be more than 250 amps anyway haha, the only thing to be careful of is using a fuse that is too high of a rating for the wire. This is the same set up I've used for years, it's a really safe way to go.

While it's possible to crack all of these types of encryption, using a mac filter will take care of any of this for the most part. It's pretty difficult to realistically crack a wireless network unless you really know what you are doing. If you have MAC filter in place on your router though, it's WAY harder to get connected. The router will simply block a computer based on it's hardware id, so unless someone physically breaks in and finds out what your hardware ids are, they aren't getting connected. If someone were willing to do that you must have some important shit on lock haha. There are ways to get in obviously or these multibillion dollar corporations wouldn't get hacked, but that is a lot of effort just to access someone's personal accounts.

I'm not familiar with the car, so this is just a thought. I would avoid using the speaker level outputs if possible where he has a stock sub because it's likely there is filtering going on at the head unit to not send those bass frequencies to the rear speakers. I would imagine the volume cap is also built into the stock head unit, theres no reason to use discrete components for something like that these days. It going to suck to hear, but he's probably better off replacing the head unit or getting a processing unit like an ms-8 (probably not of this calibur) to properly get it booming. Those stock head units in modern cars can be a bitch to work with. Good Luck!

It may seem like it has been fixed, but if the amp is indeed broken and the output filtering is out of wack, it's probably a lose component in the filtering section of the amp. Those brands of amplifiers are not known for bad outputs. Just throwing it out there if it crops up again. Don't be afraid to take the cover off and wiggle around components and look for broken traces, unless it is under warranty haha.

As previously stated I personally think it's not worth the hassle to switch out amps at that level. The SQ will not be noticeable to the ear and you already have those set up.

I don't have the Seas Prestige persay but I have had a set of the AA Havoc ST-10 which is pretty similiar and I loved them.

THD is total harmonic distortion. The more THD the worse the quality of the output signal will be. Companies will tell you the THD at their rated loads as it changes. Lower loads typically have higher THD, but it really depends on the design. The number they post is only accurate for the rated load.

Hi all- I have been battling with alternator whine for a majority of my car audio hobby. I have tried countless things. I had just made an LC filter to filter out noise in the power line of my radio thinking it was finally it, but unfortuately it remained. Then it dawned on me, I have 2 amps for speakers in my car now and I tried disconnecting the one I've had for years. The noise went away, which is great to finally know what is causing it. The problem is I don't have the cash to buy a new amp for my midbass. Does anyone have any idea where to start troubleshooting inside the amp for something like this? I'm a fourth year electrical engineering student, so I'm quite confident when it comes to the internals; I just don't know where I should start. If you need any more info just let me know. The amp in question is a 4 channel RF T400-4 Thanks!

As others have stated, adding even a small battery in the back will probably fix your problems. This is of course assuming the "no name" alt is not made poorly. I would suggest having a rear battery for anything over 500W RMS to be honest.

The incriminator set on the SSA store sound pretty nice. I'm no SQ guy, but my ears enjoy them.