sqguy

You can also look the alternator up and see what cars that case is used in, if any others. It might come in a higher output for yours or another car with more electrical equipment for example (power seats, roof, etc), then you can find a used out of that car and slip it in to get some more amperage for reasonable cost using original equipment. American cars used to put a larger one in nicer models/larger engines all the time, but I have not played with newer Hondas. Or of course just by a rebuilt in the higher output if it is available in the size yours is...and pulley...may not or may take some work to find out. Should be able to change a pulley or have a shop do it if just that, most companies use similar plugs and stuff but you never know. In fact a junk yards spec all that stuff out, and can tell you if other cars take the same alternator.

What these guys mean is loud and sound good are opposites....they can't make a specific recommendation unless you pick what one you want or at least how close to one or the other. Maybe stupid idea as I have not read up on the results of it, but has anyone been able to get reasonable SQ with the multi-ported boxes and plugs?

That is also assuming the HU has a clean signal at max output voltage; that it is a usable signal. I have run many 2v HU in many vehicles and never had a problem with noise from anything RCA related....even with power wires right next to the RCAs. The only one I recall were the ancient pioneer HU that had half or less than 2v, they would get noise in them. But back then in the 80s either the equipment was not as good or the cars were noisier, because everything had more noise problems than today. Of course most of it was in power wires not RCA. Now I run the power and RCA down the same side of the car in my daily drivers, why bother separating them as it does not matter. If I detect noise I'll move them. On the other hand many times I have seen a line driver improve the SQ of a system at high output due to inaudible distortion/noise in the HU at high volumes....could not tell until the driver was in and it went louder/cleaner. The HU had been setup to max out at something like <2/3 volume, what was thought/tested to be well into the clean zone of its output. Not a junk HU either. My Alpine 2v seems to work fine, though I was thinking of trying a line driver just to see what it does. Right now I am pretty sure my amp is giving out since I have run other amps higher volume on the HU and they were still clean. I have tested some amps on an older early 90s sony HU, not sure of voltage, and they do not have enough gain to go loud (could not set it to max at ~2/3 HU volume). One was a dual xia460, another a sony 2002gtr. So I would look for a 4v minimum HU if I were shopping, but if a nice 2v was there I would have no problem taking that as I have plenty of amps that will work with it. Unless you need it higher for SPL uses, I would not know much about that as I don't use 2Kw &+ amps.

I have mine dialed in better with a parametric EQ, as far as SQ I am really happy with them. They have punch and the thunder down low. Don't have time now but I do intend on swapping them to something lighter maybe two 15s with higher efficiency. These 4 12s are so heavy I feel it in my little car and think I can do it better without so much weight. I have maxed it out now and 420wrms is not enough to max out the 12s, they are not close to xmax but for daily driver SQ it is a lot of bass in the car and great bottom. Unfortunately still not had time to fix up high side either. I EQ'ed the midbass up to make it acceptable for now.

Ok thanks for the info, I have all three here on a shelf. I want to try some older amps for non-sub but these would make a nice backup if the old school doesn't work out.

I'm not familiar with them, I see some are JBL also. Someone has a reference 2x75rms that is pretty new and wondering if they suck, so on a scale of 1 to 10 how good are they? Or should I say scale of Pyramid power booster to McIntosh...lol. I just need in the middle or better.

Lol, I bet my four 7x10s in a boat sounded better than his 6 pack in the rear deck. I had 4 6x9 in the back of my car once, and it didn't work at all until I opened the hatch at a party and stood the box up...aiming outside.

Me? Good 6x9 can put out, the single 5x7 in front does not have a chance. We used to put multiple sets of 6x9 in boats all the time, and 7x10s. They work nice, even not bad without subs and they go loud. For parties on the boats they were the ticket, given that was years back as now everyone has subs and often not much else.

I think he has a little front fill.

Yes, check wiring/ohms first. Memphis are pretty good amps.

Infinity/JBL/Harmon Kardon is same company right? Now I have a 7541a here also, that is 111x4rms at 4ohm. Pretty hefty for front stage if those are real ratings. I would not use all that but more can be good for SQ. I want to go old school but it would be so easy to drop this in there. Have access to a 900w rms class d kenwood too, instead of the 350w alpine d. Just wonder what S/N ratio and stuff is, if they would work for SQ or are mass junk. Or most importantly; should I keep those around to try as viable options? Anyone?

Sorry that part should have been for Jdizzle. (giant amp, small car)

Like I said, weld some steel with them....serious power. Those amps are like works of art. You might need a couple extra batteries in back. Lol, in a civic! That is great.

Oh I don't doubt it, I just never used amps that big for myself; have no need. Trying to get a 2400wrms class d cheap right now, but not for me to use. Have a 1K sitting here and I doubt I will ever use that....in fact going to put a smaller 350wrms in my car soon but more efficient subs. That amps is huge, it will come with the thunder.

400A, that does not even sound right. Maybe you could weld some steel together with it when you are not playing music....

lol, no M5 is right we (him and me) did have that conversation; I just don't want to believe that oval cones are that different than round...but some could be for all I know as M5 certainly knows these things. I've used 6.5 a lot but not real high grade ones that I just wont pay for in a car. But the similar 6.5/5x7 I used were near the same. I have a set of 6.5 but don't know what they are. Still want to run 8" in my doors anyway, but working out how to mount the highs. As far as rear fill, guess I just feel that it is the listeners preference. I do use them for passengers and also when I am outside the car so I would put them in anyway and use a coax always....for music while driving they might be on part way or might be off. Yes until one quit they were helping midbass nicely, now they are off all the time.

Yeah the big ones are hungry, that is the reason all the big amps are now class D. They take less current and make less heat. Those go for big bucks on ebay though, a lot of people like them.

An AB amp will take more power than a class D per output (if it is AB), some say they sound better it depends on the quality of the class D...and maybe on opinion. But most class AB are not as big as the large Ds are now. A US amp is high quality, they put out a lot of sound for their ratings. Just check the voltage under use. I see the 200 on ampguts, that is a big one. I would guess you should see no more than a 1/3 more draw at same levels and likely less, compared to a class D. Do some google or other searching, maybe use forum in the search and you can find info on them.

The front speakers are going to make the quality in your sound, no doubt about that. However I like rears and 6x9 are great back there. You can just dial them down with a fader if you like that is what I do...if I am outside the car I run them back up. Get a coax that handles your power, get one with bass and not much tweeter. I have boston comps in front, 5x7, am going to deaden and see if they do better in midbass soon as I get to that. Otherwise I want to try to fit 8s in there. Have some 6.5 but they are not any larger than the 5x7 so I'm not sure what the point is of using them. I've used lots of 6.5 and they all are weak in bass when you try to get low in front, I suppose that I never hit the right setup is possible.

Yup, and I hate Sony too. Who is going to buy their new vhs beta, bluray? The music industry is the most bass ackwards industry I know of. They actually keep new technology from you (and thus from all PC users), use crappy media, make packaging the cheapest difficult junk they can find, market only to 13yr old girls, market less and less, bitch and complain that they are dying because of all those things, and then expect you to pay more for a 10yr old CD than you do for a $100,000,000 movie that is 1 yr old on a slightly better media. I vote with money, f them. I'll play my old stuff if I can't get it elsewhere, I'll play PC games or do near anything but support those pure idiots. There is no way to find the music I would want to buy anyway, plus most CDs today have a good tune or two and the rest is crap. I have no interest in download quality of mp3 or similiar. It is funny to see the thousands and thousands of garbage speaker sets for ipods on ebay for near nothing. Heck I had a pocket AM radio when I was a kid, why would I go back to it? Quality seems to be going downhill. Why on earth would I pay that kind of cash for an ipod anyway? I don't get it. I ran out of stuff to buy on BMG too, they just don't have much.

Only way I know with IB is when yout hit xmax you are done and can cause damage after that. So you have to observe them at wot. Different amps have different amounts of control.

Lol, tell me about it. Soon as I ever get to it I will report on the difference they make as I have the same issue.

I did have to tear the car up a bit to get to the metal, but it was not that bad. Had to look under the car and make sure I didn't screw into anything important you know, like the gas tank under the seat....but the baffle is over the rear suspension so it is all open. As far as sealing it, I put weather strip on the wood and laid peel and stick all the way around it and over the deck. Part of the deck is sealed with the baffle frame. Cutting the angles was a little work, would have been easy to go two 15s to start with and put them right in the seat not a larger baffle like that.....but I thought four 12s would be sweet, and they are. See if I put different 12s in, I can still mount amps in the center. If I go 15s I have to find a new place. As far as tuning, I have a g190 alpine and the parametric has really made it so much more tunable. Now have it so the bass is punchy and it thunders at 30Hz too....hard to do without that control but possible if you keep swapping components. My HU is older and does not have any processing....yet. They move a ton of air, but your power on them is limited to around half of rms rating....but they will near xmax at that point. I'm sure a subsonic would help some too, I have one at 15Hz but it does not make much difference at this power level as I'm not punishing them. If you have room for a box and like boxes, go for it. I like IB when I have a vehicle I can use it in, the boxes I like are huge is seems and right now I don't have room for little boxes I had to keep taking it out.

I'd say start with the front stage; drivers and placement. That would be a good start, that is what you hear the most and thus very important.

Both channels? Then I would look at front RCA really close I've had that happen, could also be RCA connector on board of amp. Unless the amp has a problem and is muting or something in input section has poor connection. Most all the time I have seen that it is a bad connection in the low level input signal someplace. If the ground goes you often get noise or hum, but not always. Also check the controls on the amp, cycle all the switches/dials and give them a wiggle while it is playing...not supposed to switch things while on with some amps. Could also have a short someplace that puts it into protect, but then it comes back out...if you can't see the lights on the amp while driving....but usually low level signal if volume makes it come back on. I had that on a little PPI I was running a 12 with. One of the RCA was loose in the center and whatever RCA cable I used it did not connect that well. When moisture went up it would cut back to like half volume like one channel went out. I play with RCA and it gets louder again. However, when I tool the amp apart it also had some output transistors that the solders were coming off the board! I don't know if it was that too. But the RCA was loose in center, I bent it a little in there so it touches the center pin harder and then it tested good to a cable. I fixed it all but have not used it yet.