Dave Brooks

I'm gonna try to get up there on Friday sometime.

Sure thing Bro!

LOL... I'll put the thong away then

Heh, you want a 44 year old bald guy pole dancer? Dood... you got serious issues! I ain't "crackin" that code!! LOL Yeah Elite is wicked cool Bro. It deserves giddiness. I'm nervous as heck... IASCA - just like normal MECA - just like normal Top 30? All bets are off man. The judges run what they want and I think it's awesome, awesom, awesome. I don't think they pull out all the stops and play any brutal music, but nonetheless you don't know what they are going to play so you just gotta go with the tune you brought and hope it plays any genre well. Truth be told, top 30 style judging was my weakest link last year. I ran my infinite baffle IDQ 12's with no crossover on the low end and when the top 30 judges had freedom with the volume knob, the subs bottomed out on the super low notes. Totally my bad for not anticipating the tune properly. I knew the IDQ's weren't designed for true infinite baffle and normally ran them with the bottom end tempered so they wouldn't bottom out. For that show though, I had them bumped so they complemented the L8 on that super low note on the IASCA track. The combo sounded fantastic in the controlled environment of the SQ lanes, but definitely suffered on anything else. Ain't happenin' this year though... I learn from my mistakes! Something else may be off, but it won't be in the sub department.

For some reason, I thought we met at Deep South Nationals last year Dave... LOL Dayum I'm gettin' old. Can't keep track of names anymore! <reaches for Geritol/Ginkgo Biloba cocktail> heh, I'm kinda partial to Toyotas... I'd love to listen! Oh, I gotta "warn" you guys though. Most of the time at the comps, I'm pretty intensely focused on my rig. I tune out the entire world when I'm like that, so you gotta know how to crack the code. My Wife tells me its both a gift and a curse. A gift, because I can tune everything out and focus without getting distracted... a curse because she says I appear unapproachable when I'm "in the zone". Here's how you crack the code: Call me "Brooksie" on approach and smile like we've known each other all our lives. I don't know why, but it works every time. Except with my Wife... she's got a different way of cracking the code... has to do with exposed flesh and the like... you guys pull that stunt and you'll probably get EVERYONEs attention! LOL Any code cracking I need to know about you guys when I come looking for you?

thanks fellas! I think I'm on for Elite... The driver side door is the one I'm most worried about. It's the one that gets opened and closed the most. BUT! Don't underestimate the F-250 door hinges. That picture was taken several months ago... so far so good. Mwahahaaaa!

Tell you what, the doors are definitely heavy. I don't know how long the hinges will last, but I'm fixin' to find out. The cool thing is though, you guys benefit! I like to post the lessons I learn from the school of hard knocks, so if the hinges blow out in less than a year... I'll let you know, and then I'll tell you how I fixed the situation as well, if it occurs. Thankfully, the F-250 hinges are pretty heavy-duty to begin with. As for wiring. The top speaker is wired alone like a normal setup (it's my SQ speaker). He'll get a single channel on the Genesis dual-mono extreme. The bottom four are wired in pairs. Each pair will get a bridged Genesis dual mono extreme. gotta run out to the shop now... this is the weekend for music in the rig... gotta stay focused!

My opinion only, for what it's worth. For the L8, I wouldn't go less than a three inch. For the L6, you can get by with a two inch. Again, that is only my opinion from my experience and the sound I like from them. Others may have ideas that work equally well. Truth be told, I use the magnet as my guide (I know... scientific ain't it? ). I use the diameter of the magnet as my minimum starting point. I'll have to figure something else out if neo magnets become mainstream...

It's a little louder, depending on the size of the hole. Most of the time though, it's muffled/diffused before the sound gets completely outside the vehicle. Unless, of course, you have a whopper hole that blows right out the side... LOL I had a pair of 6 inch vented into the wheelwell of my Toyota Prerunner a few years ago. It was quite a bit louder outside because it was very open... half of the magnet actually was outside of the truck. I built a cover to deflect the sound to the ground and keep moisture off of it. It worked very well. Probably hard to visualize, but if you have ever seen a clothes-dryer vent on the side of a house, you get the idea. It was larger than that, but open only on the bottom.

Sorry for the late post... I've been outta town for a while. Catching up! Last year I used combinations of 4-channels and 2-channels for the front stage. Left side was: 4-channel bridged to 2 -> L1 and L3. IIRC that gave me 125 each 2-channel bridged to 1 -> L8... something like 500 watts there Same setup on the right side. This year it is all two channel amps on the front stage - 300 each on the L1 & L4, then bridged for 1000 on each L8. Mostly just looking for headroom with the big wattage. Edit - just realized I didn't help you much there... Tell you what I look for in a nutshell though. In my opinion, irrespective of brand name: 50 to 100 watts on the L1 100 to 150 on the L4 250 + on the L8 However you can get there is entirely up to your budget and installation space. You can get by with less wattage on the Legatias, but for competition the headroom is a significant plus.

Nope. Makes tuning a little easier, but it isn't a must.

Sure thing... :-)

Heh... you're making me salivate to get my truck finished even faster now... I've been five months without my Legatia L841 fix... grrr.... LOL

Sure thing, I'll PM you so I don't jack the thread...

M5... Good point. In my humble opinion, cone area is king. An 18 on a buttload of power wins over anything with less cone area and power. Especially if it is enhanced with a port. Horns would be the exception to the rule... since a proper midrange horn "in effect" acts much like a port does, with respect to it's ability to spank the wax out of your ears... LOL

Dayum Bro... an 18" BTL on a sundown 3000... that's some serious bass, especially if you are ported. In my opinion, here's the gig: it's all about the crossover point if you are trying to keep up with a sub (especially a beast setup like you have). Think in terms of the raw physics: you are asking a 5 or 6 inch speaker to have the same, or similar output, as an 18... and to top it off, an 18 with a lot of excursion and way more power... tough stuff, you know? So back to the point of the crossover... if you cross the clarus midbass high (say around 60-80 hz), it'll take a ton more power (as with any midbass). This would allow you to take it to a higher power level without bottoming out and perhaps keep up with the 18 to some degree. However, if you are looking for the "perfect" SQ blend? You'll have to turn the sub down... no getting around that. That said, I'm guessing you want the best of both worlds... good SQ with some stout sub-lovin', yeah? If that's the case, then the C5 setup is gonna do the trick just fine. You will have to play with the active crossover to find the sweet spot though. I had a long listen to the C51-2 and decided to buy a set on Hybrids group buy on this forum... I'm not running the power you are, and I'm a pure SQ guy, but they were very impressive in terms of the clarity at high volume. I'm like you... active all the way. I'm running them with four 10's and a ported 15, so I'll be tweaking the snot out of the Clarus before I hit the competition lanes. If you are interested, I'll let you know my crossover points after the next show (the ones that blend with the subs the best...)

I've used the L3's since they first came out. No complaints at all from me, especially in the frequency range you describe as the bottom end (250hz). The only time I've had any trouble with the L3 is when I dropped it down to 63 Hz and hammered it to see what it would do... it tried, that's for sure. Stout little drivers. If install is an issue at all, then go L3. It'll pay more dividends to be able to get them where you want them vice not having any room to play with on the L4. Comparing the two at the 250 hz range, you'll get more "SPL" out of the L4 vice the L3. Also the L4 top end almost makes tweeters obsolete. Before the rebuild for this season, I had the L4 crossed at 8K on top and the tweeter took it from there. Sounded incredible. I'll do it much the same way when the build is finished again. Personally, I have taken a liking to the L4 over the L3 now. Mostly because I like how low it plays, particularly in a pillar position... Hope that helps some.

Well, I exaggerated a bit there... I went back and looked at the scoresheet for that show... 129.9 Sounds more realistic now, eh? /end threadjack

Welcome to the forum zucc Perhaps what you are asking is... are those particular subs tonally accurate? What ///M5 means is that SQ is a highly subjective term. In other words, what I think is SQ may not be what you think is SQ (in fact, I can almost guarantee it isn't). I've had folks sit in my truck and go "dood, there's no bass... that sounds pretty good and all, but dayum... it needs bass". Then at the same show, I've had other folks get in and say "WHOA man... you gotta turn down the subs or you'll never win..." That's with two 12's quietly putting out 130 decibels. Again, welcome to the forum

Not sure how Jorge sets his up, but there are 8 outputs on the 701 and the way I did it last year: Front1 (left and right) = Tweeters Front2 (left and right) = Midrange Rear (left and right) = Midbass Sub = Sub Center = Sub (there is an option in the menu to use the center channel as a sub) Does that help?

1. How old are you? 44 2. When did you get into car audio? 16 3. How did you first get into car audio? My first car was hurtin

Very nice Jorge I like what you've done to the rear area... very unassuming and clean

A long time ago, I had something like that happen too. I redid the grounding point and it went away. I have no idea why, or if it'll work in your case. Nice isolation techniques, by the way...

I thought it was interesting too. I've seen threads out there on the same topic in the past, but I've never gotten up the gumption to interrupt whatever the project of the day is to try it. One of these days though... 'cause I'm curious like that.

Shucks, nothing to really be concerned about as long as you don't get carried away with the crossover points. More specifically, the high pass. Probably the tweeter is the one you need to be most careful with. They don't like lower frequencies and when they can't handle it, they tend to give up the ghost rather than complain. General rule of thumb if you can't afford to wreck speakers is to take it easy as you increase volume when you are testing and keep them well within their specified frequencies at first. In other words... no tweeter burping LOL Heck, if you know the crossover frequencies of the passives just set the head unit there as a starting point. Speaking of tweeter burping... Funny story (for me at least). I was in a hurry for a comp last year and accidentally got the midrange and tweeter RCA's backwards on a last minute rebuild. At the time, my midrange crossover was set from 140-8k; tweeter was from 8k-up. Well you can imagine how that might sound if you crossed the RCA's... Rolled out to the freeway and slapped in my favorite "goin' to the show" tune (Fergalicious) and thought... "hmmm, sure sounds crisp..." Cracked the volume wide open and the tweeter made it less than five seconds. All done. Thank goodness for three way. When I got to the show and figured out what was wrong, I just ran the midrange from 140 to the top. edit - I know, I know... I'm 45 years old and I like Fergie songs. I'm a hopeless case.