sqguy

Find a song with a bass track that goes up and down. One I use is a couple of modanna songs on a best of cd but there are others. The bass goes low and steps up above subs all through song. Now if it gets loud on some tones and quiet on others, there is your problem. Between tune of your box and output of mids you can have ugly peaks/valleys that make one song sound fine but another that hits those faults sounds nasty. You can use a test cd also but I find it easier to use the right few songs at a reasonable volume. Also try moving/aiming the sub. It seems to be worse with powerful subs, it can make a peak worse and then if your midbass is weak it really shows. I have weak midbass right now too running 4 doors to help it for the moment until I have time to mod install more. I also have a parametric boosting low mid. You could also be trying to force a frequency your subs are not making. If they are way down on db there it just isn't going to work well.

SS tend to be a little cold and precise sounding IMO, but are clean and good power. It depends on your drivers/install if that will sound bad and if you have lots of EQ well then it does not matter. I'm going to try a pile of amps here soon, have some rubs, naks, HK, alpine, ppi all old school and then some cheaper and newer amps to compare to them. What I don't like I will bail on since some of them can be so pricey....still just another amp to me but they tend to be more durable than new ones that is for sure. I have 2 of the rubs, that should be enough to run active highs I would think providing I like them. I have used older D series in the past but not the rubs. I did run a 12 with one, pretty powerful even on an 8ga wire I tried it on. The first one I got for $40 local couple yr ago so deals are out there. Pretty compact for 300w also, but I don't like the crossover chips.

What size is the big wire to the alternator? I would do the rest and see where you are at. A better battery certainly will help especially if it is the only one you have. Like I said, new alt wire would only help if the factory put too small a wire on the stock alternator. Otherwise you may get a hair more voltage but that wire is fairly short.

Don't forget to unhook the battery. Often a nut on there if it is separate from the other wires.

If you get one you will need a quality one like audiocontrol maybe alpine/etc. Cheap ones will add noise and/or degrade SQ. You can tell if you crank it up and it will distort much sooner with it inline. I am using an alpine g190 right now and I'm happy with it. It has a parametric for the sub and think three higher eq controls I don't use much. Also has 2 way crossover and sub gain, plus a fader if you need that. The parametric is great, you can boost or cut a band or frequency and adjust how wide. So you can boost say 35Hz and under if your sub is too tight...or boost midbass at around 150 like I am doing now...or cut 100Hz...whatever you need to do. I have not bypassed it to test it though, I went by recommendations for it. System seems to be on par with a nak I had in there before or close but I changed amps too. It does get funny at top end of output in the highs but I'm guessing it is my amp, with a bad eq in my experience it slowly distorts at high output. Or you can get a HU with that stuff in it, what I don't like is you can't fiddle with it while driving...I can just grab a knob and change it easily. But likely I will at some point for t/a and dsp/etc. I would stress whatever you get go for quality or don't bother unless it is dirt cheap so you can bail on it easily. Also M5 is correct it is better to mod your install than to eq...my best systems had no eq just crossover and gains did the trick.

X2 If you have one stock battery I'd try to upgrade it or add another. Remember when they get older they don't have as much power.

More battery will always help, in quality or quantity.

Yes, battery ground to chassis. Battery positive to amps. Battery positive to alternator positive....but if you can't get to it I would not worry about it for a stock alternator and see how it works without. If you want to do it then you will have to get it out of there, or get at the plug anyway. It comes out one way or another search some auto forums you might find posts about it. You can also tap into the hot wire near the alternator and it would work fine. Be very careful of making a solid and insulated connection however you do it, and make sure the wire can't short on something/etc. Should not have to worry about battery ground to engine block since the starter has a large cable and you don't often/can't use the starter when playing music. Most cars cut the HU on start unless you rewired it.

I'm no electrical engineer, but I read a lot about caps and I know what capacitance is. That is the best simple answer I can tell you after many hours of research. It seems to come down to a few points; one is that an alternator can not react as fast as an amp can draw. This is why even with a large alternator you may get some lights dimming, the voltage drops before the alternator can kick in. A cap can help this by smoothing the current flow, this is what caps do in electronics unless it is filtering AC current like in a speaker crossover. There are arguments as to how much current a cap can hold and how fast it can do it to be useful for this purpose, that is dependent on its specifications. Another point is that you have to fill the cap back up if you discharge it for some milliseconds. If your system is already overdrawn how can it fill a cap too? It relies on the system having over capacity between draws, such as rock music bass drum compared to a sine wave that would not give a break for it to fill. Otherwise it relies on the alternator having enough power once it gets going no matter what you are drawing, or the empty cap could cause an even longer recovery of voltage while it fills. Yet another issue is that soon as you draw the cap its voltage falls, and going from 14 to 12v on a cap is not much current and at 12v your battery will supply current. Now if you have one battery that falls to 11v with a big hit, the cap may help more if your alternator is backing it up. If you have a stack of yellow tops that hold 12v easily then the cap does less. Certainly a battery provides way more current, a cap is only good for a moment unless you have a huge one. As far as the cap helping the alternator live I'm not sure about that just read it, but they do use caps everywhere in a car amp as well as other electronics to smooth current flow and eliminate noise. The more draw you put on an alternator the sooner it will let go it seems, providing it has no other mechanical failure in the mean time from weather/etc. So that makes sense but I have no proof about sharp draws being harmful to them other than repeated statements from what appear to be smart people. It is likely a cap would work on voltage drops that most meters would not see. I bought a 1f for $15 and soon as I swap amps I will wire it in, it can't hurt. I'll be under 1kw and I don't want to put another battery in due to weight in this car, but I might try a little jumper battery in back. Odds are a cap is not going to make your system louder, or if it does not enough for you to hear. I think lights dimming and alternator abuse are the only things they will really help and not in every situation. Is possible they might help quality of sound in some instances if amps are fading out. Better amps should hold some current within themselves as well.

You want to add a battery ground to chassis since you grounded your amps to the chassis in the trunk. The stock wire is mostly for your headlights and a few other things that ground to car. Then put your large positive run to amps. Then a positive run to alternator positive...I never have on my cars as I figure the stock wire should be good for a stock alternator, and I have not put a larger alternator in my cars. Also have not seen a test that showed it making a difference but I don't really know. A larger alternator may need it. The twin cam, yeah those are a treat to work on. I run a 700.5 kicker and it has plenty of power during the day on a 5ga wire, I think alternator is 125A not sure. I get slight dimming at night if I have blower and stuff on with lights....that is loud as it goes clean on 4 speakers and 4 12s at 2 ohms.

I was told a cap can help your alternator live longer by softening surges/spikes, but no it is not a replacement for power you don't have.

What is the issue with it, what does not sound right? Are you using the amp crossover between mid and sub then and what is it set to....and what xover for the tweeters to mid?

Lol, that is funny M5 you are right on. The only thing I have ever done with a board of speakers is just what you said...only use it for comparing them, pick the one with the most midbass/bass, and the tweeter that you like and in my case does not scream at me usually a soft dome. Actually, I have found that often the coax not a tri/etc of minimal wattage was best, had more bass, more efficient, tweeter in better control unless you need a bright speaker for your application. They blow up if not careful naturally. It has been a long time since I was in a place that had a board with a bunch of comps....long time since I went looking I guess. I bought my bostons used I've always liked their sound. They sound nice but not much midbass just like the comps in there before that, but my doors are not prepared properly either, not yet. Actually the tweeter in the old kenwood comps seemed to work a little nicer, very old kenwood set. They were likely brighter and my location is not the best.

I'm like that planet Uranus...I run rear speakers and I like it. In my car they are nearly straight below my head in the rear doors, so hardly behind me. Also they have the armrest over them so they aim low and not good at highs. This provides a kick in the mid/midbass that I like. Also can give a slight headphone effect, but the stage remains forward. With my kicker 5ch the front stage alone is so weak I really need them right now anyway as I'm not going to bridge the front, new amps just need to be put in. And when I am outside the car I can hardly hear the front comps, I crank the rears up for that. IMO I'd buy some used amps of quality, you will be further ahead. I've used kenwoods with no problems, maybe not great but not a bad amp and have worked for me better than this kicker....but each system is different so hard to nail the amp. I am going to try old alpines, infinity, SS, nak, and maybe something else. I'll post what I end up using if anyone is interested.

I bought a rub 302 a while back and think I got it for 70-75 shipped. It worked fine and came with the wire cover also. 8+/10 shape, only marks were around feet really. Been looking for a while to pair with another figure they would be good high side amps? I ran one on a 12 and it went pretty loud actually.

I had subs in a car in the late 80s, it certainly was a new thing back then. But around here it was way cool and people were trying to steal anything they could. Luckily I didn't live or go into town that much where most of that went on. The funnest thing was when I had a omni with a sweet ported box that filled the whole rear end up. It hammered, just shook the whole car. I was working in town then for a subcontractor and would drive all over, people would freak out over subs. My nice car was broken or something so I drove that for a summer. I'd drive along in that little mundane tin can and nobody could figure out which car had the subs! Heads were spinning all over and I was ROTFLMFAO every day. Today I turn it down around other people, actually I only crank on it when I feel the need and I'm on an open road.

Lol, I bet I am older than all of you and I don't care what you do with your car. I'm partial to stealth, when I got a 5.0 mustang years back I got an LX didn't want a GT. I took the 5.0 emblems off it, but left the twin pipes on the back. I was much more interested in driving the car and not having the law notice what I was doing with it....but having done plenty of hands on stuff I can certainly appreciate custom work even if it is not in my style, so good job on the car. If I were going to give anyone $.01 of advice, I'd tell you to have your fun but avoid hassles. Avoid the law, people that suck, jobs that suck, towns that suck, etc. Just keep working your way into something better, try to help people out but keep your eye on #1 and always expect to find a bad apple to avoid where ever you go. If you don't like helping people, just remember they will get you further ahead than anything else most of the time far as opportunities....just try to pick them right so they don't lead you to a pile of ****. If you can do some of those things your life will be much easier. Don't let something unimportant PO you so you do something stupid, it will only be your setback if you see what I mean...think #1 for you and yours. Hate is always around but what good does it do you, if it does not advantage #1 then move on. It is very rarely an advantage more like a waste of what could be good times. I've worked with/for people from all kinds of races and other countries. Just like the people here in my town some suck but most were good and some were great people to know.

Good tires can really make a difference, every time I've put expensive tires on a car it rode/handled better and was quieter. Not something you like to replace until you need to, but sure makes a difference. I hate vehicles without a sub, I have a cheap 8" tube I used on stock systems when I was driving rentals for a job. First thing I'd be doing is getting some reasonable tunes setup. I agree with the shocks, if they are gone that makes a big difference too. Those cars are holding value really well here with gas the way it is.

Lol, I just want to see a better pic of the chrome naked chick. I had to put some bumpers in the back of my car because with the 4 subs and trunk full of weekend stuff it sank way down. Dang subs are heavy it was not that bad before.

What kind of use? I didn't look at the sub but if that is a minimum cf then it will be tight sealed, where the same ported cf will go deeper w/half the drivers. Myself I have built the sealed and went to larger ported because I hated the sound, it was too hard to crossover as the rolloff was huge....but that's just me and depends on sub in question.

I love SPL the kids are into, that way I don't hear it in my house when they go down the street. With one of my good setups you hear it coming down the road and stuff starts vibrating in the house when its in the yard. SPL boom just makes a few booms and then I don't hear it anymore. So to clarify, you want loud SPL and don't care about good sound or good bass? If so your box should be pretty close. Run it through some of the sub box programs on the net with the specs from your driver to verify. 50Hz is pretty good SPL tune, what kind of vehicle is it? Larger port is better but makes the box larger too. Can you do an external port where you are mounting it? Check this thread out, you should have amp cooling the way he did it but look at the box/port design see if it would work for your space. Just an idea. http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/i...showtopic=15691

Very nice project, I like external ports.

You can do it, you might get away with it. It depends on the impedance the amp actually sees in use at the frequencies it is running at, as well as the particular amp itself. Many of those blown amps on ebay were run at a low load is all I am saying. You are stressing it and operating it outside of its designed use. Many of the SPL guys run right at the impedance peak so real load is much higher than what the driver says....and they only burp. Music will sound like crap this way. If you know the amp will do it or you don't care about roasting it then its ok. It might protect or might not, some amps that run low loads are actually worse I've been told (?) because they run so close to a short and may not sense low loads as well. If I wanted to do it I would use an amp that others have had success with, and set it up carefully. I could care less what you do its your amp, just trying to inform and not familiar with that particular amp either. I like to hotrod stuff too, but like to use known equipment to do it and not have it smoke if possible. Cool the amp if it gets warm, that might help.

Yeah some of that wire is a real scam....a box lol I got a hold of a blitz amp, going to test it and see if the neon tubes make it go louder or not. Then again they are not expensive either.

It all depends on how the amp is built, but high power amps make more noise with higher voltage to the driver. When you half the ohm load, you allow more current to go through the driver and amp at same voltage (rails). Current makes heat not voltage, current burns things up. The amp is pushing power through the VC and ohms load is only thing that keeps it from shorting out. I would not recommend running under what the amp is rated at. Most amps that run lower ohms run less voltage on rails to balance it. The SPL guys that do that stuff set it up very carefully looking at rise at a particular range of frequency...usually not for music use or they smoke. You can do it, it is just like running N2O on a car daily it will just blow up faster unless you set it up properly.