helotaxi

Do you have a different amp to try out for troubleshooting?

If you're local I just might do that...

Sounds like there is something amiss in the amp. Speaker wires in close proximity won't be an issue. Does the hiss change with the gain setting? What about with crossover setting? You might have a tiny pit in a contact in one of the pots that adjust one of those things and adjusting it in and out of that spot might clear it up. You could also have damaged one of the preamp op amps when you blew the amp and they didn't notice it or bother to replace it when they repaired it.

Electrically everything you've drown is exactly the same. Don't waste wire, send it to me.

From what I remember, the older Orions, Extreme and HCCA's had nearly identical insides, except the HCCA's were meant to be able to take much lower ohm loads. The HCCA 225 was built on the same board as the XTR-275 (these were the "pop-top" models which i have). The board even says XTR-275 on it. The similarities end there though. Every component on the board is different to the best of my knowledge. The 225 used a lower rail voltage but higher current capacity output devices to optimize it for low impedance operation. The XTRs were not capable of the same feats of low imp. operation as the HCCAs. PPI did a similar thing with the PROMOS and PROArt series. PG did the same thing with the MS and MPS series amps.

The hiss that you hear is the noise floor of the system. Usually means that you have some really long RCAs, really weak preouts, gains set wrong, or a noisy component somewhere in the signal chain. This is one problem that a line driver might be of use on. If you have really long signal cables (over 20') combined with a weak HU and/or one with a really high output impedance your system can pick up thermal noise on the signal path. Shielding won't help this. Only getting a stronger signal and/or a greater differential between the output impedance and the input impedance of the next component in the signal chain. The EQS will act as a line driver to a point. Make sure the levels on it are set correctly. Use test tones to set the input levels using the indicators on the EQS. Turn up the input gains until they come on and then back them off until they just go out. When I was using my EQTs I had the gain on my amps set to the absolute min and then used the output level controls on the EQT to set my gain. Zero noise.

Go as high as you need to and then build a port plug to lower the tuning for daily driving.

OH ok then how do you anodize? Who does it? What amp and how is it currently finished?

Congrats!! Another year older than dirt

That statement cannot be categorically made. There are a ton of excellent amps out there that are/were painted or powdercoated. Most of the US made amps in the late 80's early 90's were painted. For mass production, annodizing is easier to get consistent and cheaper.

The HCCA series were never rated below 1/2 ohm stereo. Some ran them there but is was never anything like recommended. Same can be said for the XTR series. Only rated for 2 ohm stereo operation. Might be OK below that but usually not worth the risk to the equipment to run it as such when you might only get a marginal increase in power over the rated impedance. The power supply is sized for the rated power at the rated impedance. Running it outside that greatly increases the chance of blowing the power supply.

The doors look really nice.

The original "MOAB" was the Mother of all Battles that Saddam promised in Desert Storm. Turned out to be the Mother of all Blusters when his troops surrendered without a fight after we dropped a BLU-82 Daisy-Cutter nearby and followed that up with leaflets bombs stating that the big explosion they saw/heard/felt was the world's largest conventional bomb annihilating their sister unit and that they were next. Worked on both of the sister units when dropped between them The MOAB is the new king of bombs. Giant fuel-air bomb. Lived at Al Udeid in Qatar for awhile. I know people that got in trouble for taking pics of them riding it ala Slim Pickins in Dr Strangelove.

Actually the port velocity is dependant on the amount of air displaced by the sub in relation to the cross sectional area of the port, not necessarily the velocity of the cone. I also doubt you hear sonic booms regularly. The Air Force is very strict about when and where a jet can go supersonic. WR is not one of those places. The NTTR here by me is one of those places and even then is isn't very common. It happens by "accident" sometimes in unapproved locations but those are few and far between. I remember 3 growing up in P'cola, FL with a 3 Navy bases in the area and they are much less stringent on supersonic flight. Also at extreme high altitude the sonic boom never gets to the ground. Additionally depending on the geometry relating your listening position to the aircraft breaking the sound barrier you may not hear it.

You might get it to run a 1ohm stereo load. Might. The amp is rated @ 200x2 @ 4ohms 800 bridged @ 4 ohms.

The increase in cross sectional area will have a diffusing effect, even though it is only on one side. It will improve flow and reduce port speed at the exit point which can help out a lot in the realm of port noise. Say the port is 3" wide and the single sided flare is a 3" radius. You've doubled cross sectional area and halved velocity at the mouth of the port. Same priciple as a full flare on a round port. You do have to account for the volume of air in the flare though.

That's exactly what they are. They'll work just fine in the car though, just don't tell them that they're not part of a concert stack and they'll behave

Funny that they put "Only" next to the price on the Madisound site.

Don't forget the Macrom, Morel and Dynaudio raw drivers. If there's no limit on $$$ we can find ways to spend some serious $$$. The install will make or break any set of speakers though.

The level of support you want/expect from your sponsor will also determine a lot. If you just expect some help on setup and a special decal, it's really pretty easy. If you want the nexy level, i.e. access to limited run products, a discount on a companies products, etc..., it's a little bit harder, but if you perform well, should be a logical progression from the first level. If you want the full factory ride treatment (translation: free stuff) you will have to prove your worth on the national/international scene over the long term. You also will have to pretty much convince the company that you are the kind of person they want to represent their product. Willing to travel, willing to spend time showing your car to anyone who wants to see it at an event, good attitude, and so on.

Currently installed: Alpine 9856 CDT ES-620 that's it, no amps no subs, no back seat, no music. Awaiting install: CDT ES-02 CDT ES-06+ (once they come out; I'll live with my current midbasses until then) AltoMobile Drive30 Coustic XM-6 (on the sub amp only to keep the sub level control on my HU functional) Either 1 '03 XXX 12 or 4 AA Assassin 8s Either a PG Son of Frank and a MS-2125 or 3 Orion HCCA 225s and a HCCA 2100 my back seat Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Frequency and voltage are only a tiny part of the whole equation though. You have to have an allowable limt for distortion, you have to define the test load, you really need to give the freq range over which the power rating is valid, with tolerance. CEA is a step in the right direction, but is still a far cry from the answer. Power output is not the only thing that needs a standard with amps IMO either. A standard way to measure s/n that actually means something is important. For example the best s/n I remember Ken Pohlman ever getting on an amp he tested for CSR back in the day was the 80dB he got with the first gen Soundstream REF500. The current tester for CA&E (Cogent Labs) routinely get results well in excess of 100dB. Are the amps that much better? No. The answer lies in the basis of the test. Testing for CSR was referenced to 1W with the gain at maximum. This is worst case scenario for an amp but it is a VERY telling test. If noise is below audibility on this test it means you can actually use the full range of the gain control without worrying about line hiss and noise coming from the preamp. CA&E references s/n to full 4 ohm power with min gain. Let's make it a joke of a test why don't we?!? That number tells you that the amp is functional, nothing more, and the more powerful the amp is, the better chance it has do put ou a really high number here since noise voltage is a constant and the signal voltage is even higher that with a lowre powered amp. Using min gain also doesn't tell you anything about the quality of the preamp stage making the test doubly useless.

How big is your port that you think that the port needs bracing?

If anyone wants it, I made a spreadsheet out of this complete with conversion from imperial units. It does both single and double flares. I also included a velocity ratio to give you an idea of how much the flare will reduce port velocity. It's not fancy but it is functional.

Question: Is the value of Lv given by the equation the length of the vent from the mouth of the flare or from the throat? Kinda important to know, ya know...