neo_styles

Awesome work as always, Mark

That's a good turnaround. I know right now he's got the Mykro I and IV, Levi, Minotaur, Draconia, and Ra he has to juggle with for even flow ON TOP OF all the other amps that have been sent to him for repair and protos for various companies. Steve is a BUSY man.

1. How old are you? 27 2. When did you get into car audio? At 19 years old 3. How did you first get into car audio? Thanks to the paycheck-busting employees at Tweeter and hype over JL Audio 4. Whats your favorite color Burgundy. What is the land speed of an unladen swallow? 5. Male or female? Male 6. Your first Car? 1999 Ford Probe SE 8. How did you find out about this site? I'm one of the few people who actually use Google 9. What was your first system? Aiwa MP3 deck, Bazooka coaxial speakers 11. Were do you live? Los Angeles 12. Whats you favorite car audio brand? Ooooh tough. I'm going to have to go with Zed right now just because of how awesome Steve has been post-sales. 15. Who is our hero in the car audio industry? Should that be your hero? I don't have one. Everybody is a mentor to me. 16. Whats your dream system? Hertz Mille or Scanspeak Revelator 3-way front stage, 2 Morel Ultimo subs in the back, McIntosh 5000 series proc, Panny Bottlehead deck 17. Whats your dream car? Jaguar XJL 18. Whats the fastest car you have driven/ridden in? Lamborgini Murcielago 19. Were do you buy most of your car audio products? Vertex Audio (dons flame shield). Really, I try to get as much used product in sales or trades as I can 20. What is your job? Navy Nuclear Electronics Technician 21. Whats your favorite saying? Better to let the world think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt 24. Whats your favorite brand of cars? Audi 25. What do you like better, cars, vans, trucks, or suv's? Each for its own merits. I won't pick a favorite 29. Whats is the most recent thing you have purchased? SSA ICON 10" D1. Currently in the build process 31. Who do you think is the most knowledgeable person on SSA? Too new to say 32. What is your personal best on the TL? and with what equipment? Never been metered, but I will someday 33. SQ or SPL? why? SQL. I like clean, loud, and as close to live as I can reasonably get

Zed takes a while to build since he has to make each order as they come in. I paid a visit to the Zed factory and, believe me, he's got a lot he's working on right now. Personally, I would much rather handle the wait knowing that the build doesn't get rushed. The Minotaur I have now proved that it's well worth it. You will be VERY happy with the Levi.

Joining the family soon with a D1 10" ICON. Should do well in 1.3 cubes ported being fed by a Minotaur.

I also find it quite admirable of you to...declutter your threads when the subject matter doesn't appeal to you. You were called out on this the last two times it happened. Time to man up, quit hiding behind excuses of "I didn't get your email," "I just had to fire another guy," or whatever it is you'd like to say and just get the job done. At least Rick is being respectful about it. If it were me or most other people I've run into in my forum time, you'd get far less. 60 days' wait is egregious.

Go for it. I've noticed the entire IA line can do a good deal more than rated power without issues. Leads me to believe one of two things: 1. A conservative rating makes the fact you can play it well over rated power seem like you're getting more bang for your buck 2. To make sure that inexperienced bassheads stick to RMS ratings and, even with a signal full of hard clipping, still won't be able to break the damn thing You should enjoy that DR, though. I would love to own one myself. That OR the XCON. What're your plans for her, anyway?

That's something I'm hoping to remedy with the new enclosure coming in. Going from a 1.3cu@32Hz enclosure to a 1.0cu@29Hz enclosure. Also correcting some key deficiencies with the enclosure design, such as the front baffle being barely large enough to house the sub itself. Going from 10x12x37 to 12x12x35. Build log for the new enclosure: http://mobileaudioforum.com/forum/showthread.php?4056-New-Build-for-neo_styles-10-quot-DC-Level-2

Figure this is as good a time as any to beseech some of you for your opinions on the matter of trying to match a few different subwoofer choices with a couple different amplifier configurations... I just recently got a Zed Minotaur III (not II, not a typo) and am so far loving what it has done for my DC Audio Level 2 10". Even after a couple days of use, I know this is an amp I can keep in my lineup for quite some time and I've definitely been bit by the Zed bug as a result of it. Seriously the cleanest, easiest-blending bass I've come across on a modestly-powered setup. There will be plans in the future to add a Leviathan III (or IV if one is released by the time I order) to the lineup. Anyone who knows me either on CA or MAF knows I have a pipe dream cooking up in my head of doing a build next year for a Gen I/Gen II Tahoe/Suburban and will be budgeting $10K to cover all aspects of the build including the truck purchase itself. That being said, here's what I have available now for any aspects of the build: Boston Acoustics GT-2125 (may trade with a friend for either an Orion 2350GX or 225 HCCA) Zed Audio Minotaur III Sony Mobile ES XM-2100G Sony Mobile ES XM-5026 HAT Legatia L8, L3, and L1v2 PHD FB 6.1 mids JBL MS-62C Component set Eclipse 8701 Component set (sort of...missing the ribbon midranges and crossover blocks) JVC KD-A95BT (seriously a sweet deck, cannot believe the SQ I'm getting out of a deck that can be had for $200 new) Now, here's where the build questions come in handy. Assuming $5k for purchasing all the new equipment I'll need, here's some sub configurations I'm playing around with in my head: Pair of IA Flatlyne 15s or 18s Pair of Sundown X-15 Pair of SSA GCON Pair of 15" AA Chaos/Avalanche Single 18" AA Havoc Single 18" SSA ICON Single 18" IA Death Row Obviously some of these choices will require getting a second Minotaur and strapping the pair together. My question for you guys is whether or not stepping up to a pair of higher-powered subs warrants the purchase of another Minotaur and, remember, they don't come too cheap. A pair of Minotaur strapped is good for 2.5KW@4ohms for reference's sake. Overall sound goal is clean, solid output with a focus on SQ. The Legatias are phenomenal drivers and I don't want them being overwhelmed by the sub stage. It is not of any interest to me what I meter or whether I can perform hair tricks. Please help me put my pipe dream to rest by offering pros and cons of each selection, especially regarding whether box rise will kill my usable power for the large, high-power single-sub setups. Also keep in mind I have two kids, one almost 6 years old and the other almost a month old, so I will need space in the back to carry the precious cargo's cargo. NOTE - I didn't write this with the intention of it being a versus thread. I really do want to know the pros and cons of each setup.

This is the Blockburner story all over again.

Haha, I just replied on CA.com saying: If sealed is the direction you want to go and that is the power you plan to run, I would suggest checking out the Xcon if you are leaning SSA. Not that the Icon is bad sealed, far from it, just that the Xcon is a little stronger sealed. Yep. Caught the response lol. I'm not set on sealed or ported. Lol hispls and I were talking about a crazy aperiodic enclosure with two vents tuned to different frequencies, but I don't want to make my box builder have an aneurism trying to figure it out. Both the XCON and ICON look like extremely fast subs from what I could pull up on YT. I suppose I'm just a little overwhelmed by their ratings seeing as how the ICON sits right at what my amp is capable of doing and the XCON exceeds it. Just want to make sure that they won't be begging for more power if I give them less than rated, that's all. What do you mean by fast? Like Zoom Zoom? I am not the best resource on ABC boxes. As for power rating, don't sweat it too much as it is not at all a requirement to match rating of subwoofer to output wattage of amplifier. The Xcon does not need gobs of power to sound quite good sealed. I was referring to transient response. Caught some videos with pretty technical sweeps and jumps in freq and each time the ICON/XCON seemed to attack/release flawlessly. That's one thing this Level 2 does NOT do so well.

Haha, I just replied on CA.com saying: If sealed is the direction you want to go and that is the power you plan to run, I would suggest checking out the Xcon if you are leaning SSA. Not that the Icon is bad sealed, far from it, just that the Xcon is a little stronger sealed. Yep. Caught the response lol. I'm not set on sealed or ported. Lol hispls and I were talking about a crazy aperiodic enclosure with two vents tuned to different frequencies, but I don't want to make my box builder have an aneurism trying to figure it out. Both the XCON and ICON look like extremely fast subs from what I could pull up on YT. I suppose I'm just a little overwhelmed by their ratings seeing as how the ICON sits right at what my amp is capable of doing and the XCON exceeds it. Just want to make sure that they won't be begging for more power if I give them less than rated, that's all. A xcon will sound great on icon power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a bit of a relief, then. I've always been curious about SSA's subs. You just don't see them run an awful lot. There are a lot more out there then you think. Lol ok...I just don't see them run an awful lot. I was recently adopted to be on Team Vertex (as in Vertex Audio). Just about the only things I'll have that aren't coming through them are the enclosure, front stage, and subs (if I don't go Incriminator). Just want to make sure that if I go out there representing him that my setup can be impressive enough to direct him some traffic.

Haha, I just replied on CA.com saying: If sealed is the direction you want to go and that is the power you plan to run, I would suggest checking out the Xcon if you are leaning SSA. Not that the Icon is bad sealed, far from it, just that the Xcon is a little stronger sealed. Yep. Caught the response lol. I'm not set on sealed or ported. Lol hispls and I were talking about a crazy aperiodic enclosure with two vents tuned to different frequencies, but I don't want to make my box builder have an aneurism trying to figure it out. Both the XCON and ICON look like extremely fast subs from what I could pull up on YT. I suppose I'm just a little overwhelmed by their ratings seeing as how the ICON sits right at what my amp is capable of doing and the XCON exceeds it. Just want to make sure that they won't be begging for more power if I give them less than rated, that's all. A xcon will sound great on icon power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a bit of a relief, then. I've always been curious about SSA's subs. You just don't see them run an awful lot.

Haha, I just replied on CA.com saying: If sealed is the direction you want to go and that is the power you plan to run, I would suggest checking out the Xcon if you are leaning SSA. Not that the Icon is bad sealed, far from it, just that the Xcon is a little stronger sealed. Yep. Caught the response lol. I'm not set on sealed or ported. Lol hispls and I were talking about a crazy aperiodic enclosure with two vents tuned to different frequencies, but I don't want to make my box builder have an aneurism trying to figure it out. Both the XCON and ICON look like extremely fast subs from what I could pull up on YT. I suppose I'm just a little overwhelmed by their ratings seeing as how the ICON sits right at what my amp is capable of doing and the XCON exceeds it. Just want to make sure that they won't be begging for more power if I give them less than rated, that's all.

It has to be the DCON or GCON because the ICON and XCON have a second gen, and clearly it isn't a ZCON or an EVIL. At least that is my take on it And that's my cue to research the hell out of SSA since I'm apparently way behind the times.

I'll be tuned in for this. Especially if it's a second-gen GCON/ICON.

@Aaron Clinton ; care to rap to me about the SSA line? I'd like to hear it from the man who makes the magic, you know?

I'm aware I'd have to find the Avalanche on the used market. As for space available for subs, it really depends on which vehicle I end up with. I'll have to pay more mind with the Tahoe since it doesn't extend as far back as the 'Burban, but I'm trying to keep enough storage space for daily use and carrying around a stroller. If the difference will be drastic enough, I'm not against the thought of adding in more power, but want to see if it's avoidable first.

A bump for your thoughts, good sirs.

^^^This. I'd love the see the remainder of the T/S published on the 18. Want to see how well it models sealed so I can justify a pair of these in a future build.

Hi all, member on CA.com and admin for Mobileaudioforum.com. Always looking for more places to hang out and don't mind being put in my place from time to time. I'm also an active-duty sailor and more what you would consider a "SQeer" as we've coined it on MAF, but I don't mind getting loud from time to time.

MMATS for me. Zed is monstrously efficent, but you need three Minotaurs strapped to come close to that power. That's a hefty premium in terms of price. Obviously dealers won't have to pay so much. Still, 120A of fusing for over 3k at 4ohms is pretty impressive and gentle on your electrical system.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but just wanted to add something based on experience. I would not personally go with Audio Technix/CT Sounds/whatever it's called this week. I had received a 10sqft sample in one of their giveaways and used most of it on my front doors as well as what was left over for the area under my rear seats where the fuel pump is located. After about six months, I went back into the doors to do some CCF rings around my mids and noticed everything transformed to a sticky butyl mess. I had to pull strings on strings of butyl out just to keep it from falling onto my mids. Additionally, there's a round indentation on the rear bench where the butyl had actually sagged and separated from the top layer, exposing plastic and apparently NO foil. That left me with the conclusion that this 60mil material was nothing but butyl and plastic. Any foil that resides in there was not bonded well enough to the top layer to effect any change. Swapping to SecondSkin Damp Pro was a night and day difference. The sheets are thick, relatively easy to apply even without a roller, and the foil layer on top is substantial. There is not a hint of plastic in the material and its effects were instantly tangible and noticeable in reducing panel resonance. I can easily see a single layer of this well-applied to resonant areas would mitigate the need to have 100% coverage for the whole panel and none of the layers I've applied have shown signs of sagging or separating, even after 110-degree summer heat and completely upside-down mounting. When I swap vehicles to an early-2ks Tahoe, I fully intend on biting the bullet and ordering about 80sqft of Damp Pro to cover all essential areas of the vehicle, supplementing with some LuxuryLiner Pro on the floorboards for decoupling. The old adage of "you get what you pay for" does apply here. Don at SDS has run extensive tests of his own and will more than help you out without making you feel like his product is the be-all-end-all. Rick from Raamat will do the same, but is a little harder to get a hold of. Last I talked to him, he was going cross-country with his wife and toys.

Also looking forward to the new Flatlyne here. Have tossed around the idea of that or the new Death Row, but would need another Zed Minotaur to strap and give them enough juice while being able to combat any effects of box rise. 1500W just doesn't seem like enough to even tickle the DRs, but will be more than enough for the FL. Very excited that so much of the T/S have been posted for the FL as I know that's what another forum got so bent out of shape over. That 25Hz Fs just sounds like it'll be a dream for building a nice enclosure with even nicer flat response. These dustcaps leave me a bit polarized, though. Do the stock ones look better in person because this new logo makes me think of VVME a bit too much :/

The resin is more of a quick fix for any gaps in the box material. MDF by nature is porous and that coat of resin can be used to mitigate that effect for those who are...anal retentive. Really, it won't matter much so long as you seal all your gaps well. It's completely unnecessary when using materials like multi-ply birch and solid woods, though. As for the 45s, it depends on where they're placed. The intent should be maximum laminar flow (aka not turbulent) as that's when it starts to impact you on the meter. I've seen some box designs that have a small strip of material that is 45ed on each side that caused the enclosure to lose 2dB on the meter due to introducing turbulent flow. Now if someone designed a software to simulate "wind tunnel" response for enclosure building, nobody would be safe in the lanes.