altoncustomtech

if you're careful that coat hanger will work just fine.... trust us, it's been a car audio installers trusty tool for fishing wires for many a year... I just used one yesterday to run some wire in my sister's Durango, worked like a charm.

Welcome to the forum, there's a lot of knowledgeable people here who can help with your questions as they arrive. Remember that "search" is your friend, almost any question you can think of has been asked before and your answers may be just a search away. Looking at Sundown for your first setup is definitely a good move, wish I knew what I know now when I started in audio years ago, you're already ahead of the game!

Another good note, be sure to PRE-DRILL the holes and PRE-RUN the screws into the wood before you install the sub so that it doesn't take so much force to put them in. Ideally it shouldn't take any more force than it takes to hold the driver on the screw to run them down when you're installing the sub that way if it does manage to slip it won't be so damaging because you're not pushing down so hard. Don't feel bad just about EVERYBODY does this at least once when they're starting out. Silicone will be okay for the repair, I've also had some luck repairing surrounds with finger nail polish believe it or not. I have a friend who is using some REALLY old school subs (late 80's, early 90's era MTX Blue Thunders). He's had to repair the surrounds on them several times due to them getting brittle from old age. He used his girlfriends black nail polish on all the repairs so far and they're still thundering away oddly enough, though they're not on near the power you have.

I would recommend the SSD in your case. The Q is built for SQ and while it does do really good on output the SSD is geared more toward what you're wanting to acheive. Otherwise you should just save up a few more $$$ and go to the BL series, designed to give much more output over the Q or SSD series. If you go with the SSD series be sure to get the BP option to handle that amp. Although a pair of dual 1 ohm 12"BL's would really be at home on that amp @ 1 ohm.

you can find out if it's the fuse or not very quickly by touching a wire or something like that from the outside of the RCA connector to the case of the HU. If it stops then the fuse is blown and it's VERY easy to blow. It's called a PICO fuse because the fuse is rated for PICOAMPS, like .000000001 of an amp. (.001=milli, .000001=micro) At any rate, I'd bet it's the fuse. If it's still making noise after you ground the RCA shell to the case then you've got a ground loop that has occured due to a problem with the HU not being grounded properly or perhaps the RCA's are bad.

After checking the coils it would be good to get to the root of the problem. What size and tuning was the enclosure in which it was installed? Were you using any bass boost? What were the levels set to on your HU? It's important to figure out what happened to it so it won't happen again to the repaired/new one.

Denim, is there an ETA for lauch on these yet? I'm interested in these for the Jimmy...

I agree 100% with M5.... ditch the rear speakers, they're not helping anything.... with the rears gone you can bridge the channels and run your components better.... and to get more bass, build a new enclosure that is the correct size.... and upgrade your power and ground wires to a good 4 AWG.... those things will help more than you can imagine and if you're truly looking for SQ, will get you closer to your goal...

clipped is most likely, and I didn't mean the cold could hurt the VC like burning them up, I meant it could damage the suspension of the sub....

I have to admit I'm a little biased. I would recommend the Fi SSD. Fi builds a very stout high quality woofer that is very hard to beat for the price paid. My little brother has an 18" SSD and it is positively amazing. The SSD is shallower by a tenth of an inch, so their depth differences are almost mute.

I bet your nightshade wants way more power than that. If your on a budget then you can go with them but I wouldnt, I would look at Audioque or Audiopipe over Hifonics. Just my .02 I agree 110% with this remark, at best I would call Hifonics "Tight" budget equipment. I've learned over the years that a person is better off learning some patience and saving a few more dollars and buying the better equipment rather than just buying what they can afford at the time. It almost always saves time, trouble and MONEY in the long run.

LOL thats funny.... two opposite replys.... sorry about that, It would probably be better to say its just best practice not to play them HARD below freezing temperatures.

Playing it full blast when it's cold wouldn't be good for any sub, they should always be played at low volumes for awhile until everything warms up a little. You really need to check the other coil while moving the cone and see if you can get a reading AND you need to send an email to Fi (Nick directly would probably be best) and tell them what's going on. If you bough this new 6 months ago its still under warranty, and the guys are right about figuring out what the cause is, be it a blown coil or a messed up tinsel lead. If you discover its a tinsel lead problem, playing it hard in the cold could have helped cause the failure. If you can't get a reading while moving the cone then the coil is blown and it would most likely be due to driving the amp to clipping. There's some more checking to do on your end to be more sure what's going on with it. On a side note, before you had problems with it, how did it sound? I love my Q's!

The DMM is fine... The "right" coil appears to have a lead messed up somewhere, push or pull the cone a little and see if you can get it to read. If it does then that almost certainly means there is a connection problem with the tinsel leads on that coil. The thing to do is Email Nick about the problem, if you bought it new and it's only 6 months old it's under warranty and will be repaired no problem I'm sure. If you didn't buy it new he would probably still give you a break on repair as this is not a normal problem with these subs. Best thing to do is get a hold of Nick about it. Fi is renowned for their excellent customer service, I don't believe you'll be disappointed.

Lithium..... Years of experience told me this, the sub working when you push on it is a VERY common sign that there's tinsel lead problems. A DMM won't tell you anything about a problem such as that except that when you push the sub in, or pull it out to a certain point that it gets a connection and therefore a reading at that moment.

i have a 2006D and I can tell you that, while it is fairly powerful and does a good job, I'm sure it doesn't do rated power and it's DEFINITELY NOT the cleanest sounding amp either.... I can hear distorion in it before it's up to full volume and I've had two fairly cheap 300wrms speakers hooked up to it at 2 ohms, which is supposed to be delivering 1300wrms to them and it never even seemed to stress them.... so... yes you get what you pay for, okay place to start for a first system but there's definitely better to be had out there for only a little more money.....

sounds like there's a failure somewhere in regards to the tinsel leads.... hard to believe considering the # of them in these things... I'd email Nick and let him know what's up, could be a cold solder joint, shit happens sometimes...

when is the sale over? I'd love to order my 2000D finally, and I don't wanna miss that price for a new one!!!! but I'm limited on funds atm because of Christmas, tell me the sale runs to the new year?!?!?!!

I've got to get the pics from my lil bro.... My lil bro put an 18 SSD into the trunk of his 08 Grand Prix.... we built the front of the enclosure like you were mentioning but build the rest of the enclosure into the trunk of the car, it will be a ROYAL PITA to ever get out and he only had enough trunk space left to mount the amp..... but it wurkz GREAT!! Takes alot of work and some enginuity to pull it off, but it's doable.... I would imagine the trunk of that Grand Am isn't that much smaller than his..... it should be doable.....

Thanks Denim for explaining.... I love this site and when it slowed down on me I was affraid the Spammers/Viri or something else bad may have affected it like the problems CA is having so bad anymore... I was just fretting at the very thought of even attempting to find another site comparable to this one...

the auto loading feature was working fine for me before it started running slow......

The Phoenix Gold's can be had for ~$80 a set and the PPI's can be hard for ~$140 a set so both will be under $300 for two sets.... The ID's are about $180 a set, but well worth it....

One set of components would most likely not be able to keep up with a 15 BTL if it's being run even close to it's full potential...... but, to answer your question, there's alot of sets available that could do well, if you're budget limited, Image Dynamics CTX65CS components are really nice, Phoenix Gold RSD6.5CS, PPI 365CS to name just a few.... all with pretty good SQ and get fairly loud too... it would be best if you could listen to some before you buy to see if you can find the ones that sound best to you.... also, make sure that you read up on proper installation practices, just sticking them in the factory hole and calling it a day IS NOT proper installation.... Sound deadening, acoustic damping, MDF baffles and more make up the recipe for a proper installation....

may be a repost.... but I still think it's funny... **** COMMON SENSE DIED TODAY **** Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it really was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (such as adults, not children, should be in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their ill-behaved children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student, but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense took a beating when it was decided you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense began to lose the will to live as organized religions became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason. He is survived only by his 4 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized Common Sense was gone If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing

by yourself it's not easy to do, need a DC clamp on meter and a way to load the alternator to its full output..... if you know your system can pull more amps than the alternator is rated for then put the clamp meter on, turn on everything you can (i.e. headlights, AC, etc.) and crank it to see what it will do..... without the proper test equipment I'm not sure how else you'd do it....