jlw*22

Wassup all. I was thinking about revamping my car audio and one thing I would love to change is the driver in my sub stage. I have limited access to very few mainstream drivers like Kicker and RF. Both of them have some decent stuff but way overpriced and I have noticed most of them are pretty boomy and lack definition. My goal is to be able to tell the different notes apart and have the ability for multiple simultaneous bass lines to be distinguished so you know they are playing. I am looking at the Fi Q15 but am willing to look elsewhere in the 250-350 price range. My current amp is a Memphis MCD-1000. It is rated to put out 1100 watts at 1-ohm ( I know it can but it does distort a bit more than I like). In any event the Sundown SAE-1000 might be in the future plans. My second goal is to have some pretty nice levels of output. Ported options are ok. I would like to stay below 3.5 cubes of enclosure space as this is going in a '98 Malibu. Thanks for replies

I believe all the power that is useable on a 4400hp engine is around 3 Megawatt. Not very good for any spl I suppose.

I have been learning of some new brands as I have been on here. Let me rephrase, I have learned of brands I have never even heard of before. So in this light I thought maybe peps would give a shout out to all the quality brands they have ever had or heard of because I fell so left out, here in the sticks.

Can't expect me to get em too fast cause I have not been to work since right after Thanksgiving. Railroad is slow and I may never get back until everyone starts buying new cars. None of ya have ever had more power at your fingertips than me I bet heh. 4400hp generators on wheels. I wish they'd let me load up a system on it. Imagine the real problem would be utilitizing the 77 volt electrical system properly. P.S. How's that Core i7 running for you? Quad core not as pretty as an Octy but hey thats what they gave me.

SSA Xcon 15 looks to be the one. That will be what I go for when the $ is all rdy.

Thanks to all who posted. Great info. This thread has run its course. If a Moderator would please remove it, it served me well. PS. sorry for breaking the rule about SQ and L being together. More proper would be a term: Wanted: a Driver that can have realitively good quality at higher spl's.

You might be the only one to see that beautiful A1200.2 shining in the sun. It is sitting on a piece of petrified wood that was calculated to be 10 million years old. Beauty with beauty. Actually my interest here is just reliability. I like to seek the overall brand quality. This way I know what the companies are doing with the money I give 'em at the cash register. I hate getting defective equipment as surely all do. Its when a whole slew of people are dealing with the same problem that makes me cringe. Its one thing to make mistakes. Its not ok for those mistakes to be the common place of a company though. You wouldn't dare buy a speaker that was made by some company that just had their 6th recall on their equipment in the last decade would you? I wouldn't. Not saying anyone is that bad. But if I can find many here without just bashing the brand (meaning "Blah Audio Sucks" without giving me a reason), I can take the good and bad experiences with me to the audio planning platform. This place can be an excellent source for this info. Broad spectrum of installers and other various professionals. Thanks for your post and all others.

Wow! Lucky you. One time you know that all that hard work and luck has truly paid off.

I had one question and maybe a manufacturer can answer this, why is it that eq's have boost circuits instead of just reducing the overpowering frequencies? If your boost the frequency voltage, doesn't that create an undesireable risk of clipping in the system?

I might have to call you during your business hours Quentin. You might be able to help me decide on some of the SSA equipment for my ride. And ohh yeah some of them oldies are still the best looking out there. I loved the old griddle look of both the RF and Kicker amps. Have a couple of them stashed for my retro build that I have planned on my 83 Z28.

Thats so sick it might be stopped by the CDC.

I don't think so on the cars you listed. They called him doc roc or something. I never knew Fakuda did such a thing. I would say 96-99 timeline. Off the top of my head I can't recall the car but it was a luxury car and it was JL subs.

The title says it all. What are the risks running in Iso-Baric with these large excursion drivers?

I'm not going to dig through all my magazines but I know I have one with an article just for you. It was about a doctor right here in the state of Missery : ) He wanted a sq system put together for comps but was worried about the SPL part of the competion (scoring for this division included db dragging I guess). The installers were creative with the port of this sub and using some worm drives (I think thats what they called them, maybe misspelled) to move doors attached to the inside opening of the port and that created the different settings for the box. Doors closed SQ, doors opened spl. I can't remember right off but I believe the port had enough surface area to eat up the excess area in the box to make the sealed box the right size for sq. It was truly a different idea and I don't think I have ever seen it in any other install. You said this was a daily driver so I assume this gives you some new ways at looking at this project.

Then we decided to get rid of all the gimmicks I hated

I was the one talking about Bl. I wasn't saying they would be slower. I mean that because they lose control and get sloppy people believe they are not "tight". I can't speak for all sub series because I personally have seen less than 0.1% of the market. In general they are one motor on many sizes and hence forth horrible for the larger subs. Just look at some of the photos of many subs out there and see how generic they can be in the design process. The worst thing is people don't remember that the cone must move further to produce low frequencies than it does to produce higher frequencies of the same output level (db). If you have access to some of the more detailed enclosure design programs you can see simulated cone movement charts and see what I mean. Now that being said, all these one motor for all designs kill the large cone drivers by boxing in the frequency response on the top by the inductance and on the bottom by excursion limits. They do matter on both. Inductance is not your friend. You don't want to store power in a driver. That is heat and that is burn. (Distortion is different of course, but the same thing is being done as far as heat buildup.) Excursion is self explanatory. If it ain't got the guts it ain't got the move. Bottom the sub out and you again start having problems. Engineers have for years compensated these issues with longer coils, backplates, shorting ring (good one for the whole lot I think), venting, cone mass, and sinking. Most of these have helped properly designed subs as well so don't get your feathers ruffled over that. The cheap ones are noticeable. You can tell by the phony power ratings. I have seen many 1000 watt subs with small print stating 200 watts. Its really important to know also that using the same motor can be good to some uses. If you can make a well designed motor that can fit the needs of multiple driver sizes, I would say great. They are out there. The one thing you will know is that the magnet is only part of this. The pole and plates are an evenly important design feature. Coils in some series of woofers vary by size. This is not a coincidence. This is the tailoring that I refer too. Any rate I am babbling by the finger so I will rest my fingers and wish all well as I seek new topics.

This changes things a bit. Had no idea so just toss my last reply.

I am guessing you tested the amp. It is possible for you to have over driven the subs design and pulled the tinsel lead as it has been said. Shizzon is sooo right though. If you set your sytem right, No Music will hurt your sub. So to set your gains what did you do? If you set your gains proper you will accomadate the speaker or speakers you are using them on. It is feasible to overpower in some instances but not by a huge amount and in your case around 800 watts to a 400 is just nutz. I am running two HPO 10's rated at 250 watts per driver and using an 1100 watt MCD-1000 and set the voltage with a tone cd (set with 50hz and checked 30 to 80 hz). I have it running 33 volts and at 1 ohm thats 33*33=1089 watts. Way over and still no failure in 6 years. I will say I beat the ever living s*** out of them and often. I also know that this amp distorts a bit more than the higher quality amps. Distortion equal destroyer in car audio. If you don't have a tone cd get one or have someone who does loan or setup for you. You can't go wrong when you do things right the first time. If it fails then, you have bad parts. That can and does happen.

Thanks and I will. This is the most enlightening forum I have ever seen.

Of course I forgot something. If you must do this remember that you must power according to the weaker of the two subs. The whole impedance thing only hurts the amp if it even does cause this. Not sure though so I would call Fi.

I don't think that it matters. The only problem you will have is getting 'em tuned together. Not sure as I haven't seen the specs on them but think about how multiple speakers work in general. They see x voltage and respond accordingly. The only real threat would be impedance curve. It might cause some sever drops at certain frequencies in theory. Check with them Fi fella's

What vehicle are you working in?

I was just thinking that this all has really gotten off base. The real point seems to be whether you will find more 10's in comparison to any other sub in a car. I don't see that the truth will show this anymore. We used to have to use em cause the enclosures were feasible but now days you can fit even 15's in mid and compact cars. I would venture that a majority of sells of the 10's is pushed by dealers, the old way works mentality, and cheap prices on that work kinda mentality. Most of the buyers I know buy a brand name as well. Around here Rockford Fosgate could nearly make the biggest P O S sub or amp and it would still sell. I would say in the end, you are the final and only vote as a consumer and should never rush into buying anything in this nature without shopping the market for the real deal. I spent over 6 hours at Gamestop pondering the Wii, 360, or PS3. They thought I was nuts. You know what, I am! I am the only person with these next gen consoles I know that has no regrets. The same for my car audio purchases. I have a cheesy pair of Memphis HPO 10's ported at 45 hz and they suck. But they served the purpose of what I was looking for. Boom Boom! No SQ and all rattles. They may sound better sealed up but IDC. They won't step to a good LOUD SOUND QUALITY 15 and I have no want for them now that I've grown out of my all boom stage. If you like the boom and no SQ thats great. Enjoy it. Its getting cheaper everyday. SQ is still usually more $$$$$. As I have learned all speakers can sound good. Its usually the output that limits them. Box may fix some of it but the limit will likely end in the drivers ability to move air under control and thermal limits. This is when you use your head and your ear to get what you want. I have had some broad range of equipment over the years and I have yet to find the perfect sub. They just can't make 'em that way. You always sacrifice something when you gain something. Just ask an engineer. Hell even the pros who compete on here say it. They typically say they have 2 different size drivers for them bottom octaves to keep things on a level sound stage. 10's, tweets, and 5.5's or how about a 15, 8, 5.5's and tweets. I will search for it again but years ago they had a story on one of them HT forums about the perfect speaker. This guy built these monster towers and they both house like 12 - 16 4 inch drivers. He had made custom crossovers and put partitions in the tower for each set of octaves. (1 driver for 2.5k-22k hz and 4 drivers for the bottom octave you get the idea.) The man was considered nuts by some and praised by others. They had tested it and found that it was about as flat on response as anything ever tested at the time. No subs no tweets. I try to remember this every time I am purchasing as it reminds me of how customizable audio can really be.

Anybody for cheese pizza?

Sometimes I think that television could stand to have a new drama about subwoofers.