TechSys

PorkChop, you're fixing to have a PM. You want test tones, you'll have them when you check the link I send you.

The smog controller, on my '89, is on the bottom front passenger side of the engine. I'm not sure on the newer models though. I figured that there was a lot of bullcrap being spread about why you ripped out the tunnel. You know how things go on the internet. Now I know I have to remove the slider and track. Good tip about the cable and hook to hold the door. Learn something new every day. I need to go back through this whole topic and study things a bit more. You have, again, given me inspiration.

I think I asked this before, just not sure. Did you remove the top slider bar and track from the sliding door? I keep going back and forth on doing this to get that little bit of extra room. The new build looks awesome so far. Can't wait to see more. Hopefully it will perform better than the tunnel did so you won't have to rip all that work out again. Kind of sad to see that tunnel go though. It inspired me to think and rethink my van. More pics. Forgot this also. Noticed on page 10 that you were wanting another place to install an alternator. Does that van have the smog control crap? If not, that bracket, with very little modification, can hold an alternator. On my van the smog control stuff was never installed, but still had the bracket.

I'd have to say yes I am happy with my scores, however, I know I can get better. Every time I get in the lanes, it's not to win against the other guy, it's to beat my best score. I am my only opponent

This looks real good. Gonna be one helluva force to reckon with.

I know about the group buy, but other financial responsibilities come first. I don't want to join a group buy type thing unless I know for a 100% fact that I'll have the money. Makes me feel as if I'd look bad if I joined it and wasn't able to meet my end of the deal. I will get one though, just not sure if it'll be next pay day or at a later date. I am impressed by the review and videos. I do wonder if the sensor was place exactly where the TL meter was, would that .1dB be taken care of. I mean that isn't a big deal, even though, to most competitors, that .1db mean a win or lose. If it can be easily calibrated to match the TL precisely, then that is all the better. Not saying I would have to do that, I don't really care about .1dB unless I am in the lanes. If I'm in the lanes, well, then it probably won't be my meter doing the testing, so I can pretty much know what my score will be.

TL single sensor = 649 +s/h dual sensor = 849 +s/h USB interface

I think Im gonna try to order one next payday

Waiting for the rest of the review. This will determine if I want to invest in one or not. So far, it's a yes I will.

Nirvalica, you have a PM

Doesn't matter where it's made. EVERY thing electronic or electronic controlled has SOMEthing in it from overseas.

I currently run a 200amp alternator from motorcityreman. It's in my '89 Astro. Is it a good brand? If you are pretty much strapped on money to buy from iraggi, mechman, DC, powermaster, or any of the others, then the answer is yes. You have to know to not expect much from it though. When cold my alternator charges at 14.8/9 volts. After it warms up it drops down to 14.2volts. Sometimes when I drive a little while and stop at a store (turning the van off) then leaving the store (starting the van), I see voltages of 14.0 for a while. The voltage does get back to 14.2/3volts, but it takes a bit. Now, bumping the system. 2 batteries (I know, I know, I need more batteries), one in front and one in back. A SoundStream xxx-4000d amplifier @1ohm. This is sitting in the driveway idling. When cold voltage does not drop no matter the volume system is played at. When alternator is warmed up, well, let's just say I have seen 10volts. If I raise the idle, I'll get back to the normal 14.2/3volts where it will stay. I've been running my alternator for right around 3 years, IIRC. It is no where near the best, but does serve it's purpose. For a comparison.... My powermaster alternator with external variable voltage regulator never dropped voltage no matter what. I had it set for 14.5volt, when I ran it as a replacement for my stock alternator. When I ran it at 19.5 volts for my 16volt setup, it still didn't drop any. Of course, on the 16volt setup I had 14 batteries which helped out quite a bit.

I got the following from a PDF I found: Medium Density Fibreboard: is an engineered wood product formed by breaking down softwood into wood fibres, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming panels by applying high temperature and pressure. The majority of wood mills reuse the saw dust created during the manufuring of lumber to make MDF. This process insures a minimum of lumber waste. High Density Fibreboard: is similar to MDF and particleboard, but is much more dense, strong and hard because it is made from exploded wood fibres that have been highly compressed using a similar binding process to MDF. Property / MDF / HDF Density per kg/m3 / 600-900 / 900-950 Moisture Content % / 5-10 / 5-10 Expansion in Water after 24 hrs. by % / 7-9 / 5 Resistant to Fungus/Termites / Moderate / High While more properties exist, this comparison shows that (depending on the manufacturer) that HDF can be almost three quarters more dense than MDF, that MDF will swell in moisture almost twice the amount as HDF (which can cause board expansion, and breakage), and that, due to the density of the product, it is highly resistant to parasites. Another item to note is that HDF also increases the strength of the locking system, thereby increasing the ease of installation and a higher resistance to board separation. From what I have heard, HDF is a lot more in price. Right around the price of Birch. Not sure if the price would be worth it, if birch can be had.

I would say Kinetik over Optima anyday, however, you may want to check to see if Kinetik is still doing business. I got word last week through the grapevine that they are no more. Haven't found any info on that yet, just word of mouth from here, a couple local audio shops, and various other forums.

x2 on that. I bump in my neighborhood usually whne testing or coming home from work. Nobody has messed with the system. Let's see what all I have done. I installed 2 M3 door mirrors with LEDs in them. These LEDs were originally white in color, I swapped them with blue ones. Each mirror has 6 LEDs. Both mirrors are wired to my alarm indicator wire (the little light that blinks). I then installed piezos inside the van. These cost right around $5 I think, from Radio Shack. They are 102dB each. They are hidden but still hurt when the go off. I then got a 60watt LEDGlow strobelight kit for $89.95. This strobe kit has a wire that connects to the positive wire of the siren. The strobes light when the alarm is set off. I also have some lights inside the van that do the same thing. The next upgrades is going to be a Lund moonvisor with a 60watts strobe kit installed in it. 4 out of 5 of the lights will be the strobes. The center one will be Blue LEDs (3 or 4) also wired to the alarm indicator. After that is done, I'll be looking into an underbody kit to wire to one of the light output wires on my alarm (Cheapo Freedom 550). I will then start shaving the locks and installing remote door poppers. Now my van sits at night right next to the window of the room I sleep in so I can hear just about every thing that goes on. There is also a webcam aimed at both vehicles in the driveway. When I have to leave the van for long periods of time (family outing), I put the van in the garage, which also has a webcam installed. Both webcams use Gotcha! to record the videos if any movement is captured. I don't have to worry about the van at work due to the facilities being pretty well secured. Oh, and I "test" my alarm system on a weekly basis. Usually on a Friday or Saturday night. Just to let people see what happens if the alarm goes off. There are some things you can do with the alarm brain, siren, and wiring, during install that will protect the alarm. One is hide the wiring, make them look like part of the vehicle factory wiring. Two, don't install the brain in a normal place (under the dash on the driver side. Third, hide that siren somewhere where people can't really get to it or the wires. Also make sure your alarm has a battery backup in case they disconnect the main battery. And above all else. Think outside the box. An alarm is like a lock, only made for honest people.

I know for a fact the xxx-4000d does 3k+ at 14.4volts @1ohm. Just shy of the rated. The xxx-6500d at 16volts @1ohm did (for me) just under 6k. The 15000d has been tested to do more than rated. These also, in my opinion, depend on install. I can put my 4k in another vehicle with same setup and it won't do the same output for some reason. I believe the D-Tower are rated closer to actual, but then again I'm not sure as I haven't used them yet. Been thinking about tossing 4 of the dtr1.3400 amps in the van to see, just haven't got around to it financially.

Proper ported enclosure for the 2 12s you currently have (2.50 to 3.0 FT^3 per sub ported to 24-26Hz is proper). Upgrade to the PCA-2000d (which is a VERY good amp btw). Wire the subs in parallel to get a 1ohm load. Those subs "should" hit pretty darn hard. And djphilly is correct. Epsilon owns all of them, even Kole. I believe they have PPI also, but not honestly sure on that one. Would have to look at my info to be 100% sure.

Welcome Bobby. You've come to the right place to get any help needed. Good to see somebody else from Jax is here. If you see the black SoundStream van, stop it and introduce yourself.

Thanks. I am going to just run 2 sets per door (2 midwoofers, 2 tweeters and 2 crossovers) wired in parallel. That'll get them going. Will plug the other holes until I get the crossovers back from being fixed and a better amp for them. Not the best thing to do, especially when SBN is coming up. guess I won't be competing. Oh well, no problem. And yea, I think I misunderstood.

O.k. here is the deal. I have 8 sets of SoundStream RF-60C component speakers (6" midwoofer, 25mm tweeter, and crossover). I just found out that I have 2 blown crossovers (so far). Being that each set has a rms power rating of 180watts, I thought I could get away with running 1 crossover per 4 midwoofers and 4 tweeters. This gives me a 1.7Ohm load. I was just told not to do that as the crossover will not handle the power. O.k. then, my next question goes here. Since the amplifier that I will be using has a built in crossover, do I really need to use the crossovers that come with the components? I am pretty sure this can be done without a problem, but want to be sure. I know the crossover will give me more flexibility on fine tuning the sound, but will that be the only drawback? As far as the amplifier I'll be using, I won't mention any brand, but.... it's overrated as hell. It IS .5ohm stable in stereo, which I have ran for quite some time (couple years) without a problem. The tweeters seem to have their own crossover in them also, but not sure. And just to let you know, I will be sending the crossovers back to Soundstream for repair. This is no problem, but I know that might take a while. I've had these new door panels for about a month now and want to get them in the van now.

No I'm not high.. hehe I guess I'll just run 2 per door and send the other 2 to SS for repair. Thanks

O.k. Here is the amplifier specs. Like I say, over rated as hell. RMS watts per channel @ 4ohm: 200x2 (probably 100x2) RMS watts per channel @ 2ohm: 400x2 (might be 200x2) RMS watts per channel @ 1ohm: 700x2 (maybe 350x2) MAX watts per channel @ .5ohm: 1000x2 (hope it's 500x2) Bridged power @ 4ohm: 2000x1 (more like 800x1) Low Pass Crossover: 50-120Hz High Pass Crossover: 120-720Hz Freq. Response: 9Hz - 50Khz (+/- 3dB) Ahh, hell. It's a Boss PD-2000. I only use it for mids and highs. Currently have it running 2 PowerBass L-6502x coaxials per channel, wired in parallel. I would never put this amp on subs of any type and kind of ashamed that I'm even running it anyway. I just can't justify (to my wife) getting another amp right now. This one was given to me a few years ago. I've been running it like it is since 2005 without any problems. The current speakers are rated at 60wrms each. they are 3ohm each. I have them wired in parallel per channel to give a 1.5ohm load per channel. The RF-60C specs. I was wrong on the impedance, they are 4ohm. Power Handling (watts) 180 Magnet Weight 20oz High Pass Filter 3.5kHz Low Pass Filter 2.5kHz or 2.8kHz Filter Slope 12dB LPF, 18dB HPF Efficiency 90dB Frequency Response 50-20kHz Voice Coil Size 3" Woofer Depth 2.625" The crossovers are: Crossover (Tweeter/Woofer) 2 Way Passive Network 18dB per Octave Crossover Output 4 Different Attenuation Points Built In DC/Clip Protection Selectable 6 or 12dB per Octave Crossover Output

I was taught to tune 10hz lower than the car's res. freq.. However, every car is going to be different. Even if your friend has the same car, same year, same everything, it will still be a little different than his. Could be lower or higher a couple hz. Now, since your box is tuned to 50hz, did you actually use a 50hz tone? Did you try any higher frequencies? Get somebody with a termlab, set the system up the exact way you had it when you hit your highest number, and put the system on a sweep. When the sweep is done look at the termlab screen to see what frequency it peaks at. You can go from there. 145 is not a bad score actually.

hmmm... Astro = automatically loud. Can't wait to see this build. Now get to work.

Just checking to see if any update on this or not? Not trying to rush you, just want to get started on the redesign of my wall.