altoncustomtech

Alright, I gotta admit I've always been a computer geek, always. I got started learning and playing on them when I was fairly young and haven't stopped. Back in 1992 there was a computer graphics competition started in Finland called Assembly. It's been going on now for 21 years and is one of the biggest such competitions and shows in the world requiring the use of the largest sports arena in the small country to contain the event. Anyway, for those who love computers, gaming and awesome graphics its about the coolest damn thing to watch and see the entries every year. In years past a person could download the entries and play them on their own computer. That is IF your computer was powerful enough to play them and you were running the same platform the demo's were written for. You can still download most of the stuff on ftp.scene.org, but the people who organize and run Assembly has been putting all the demos into videos and posting them on YouTube with a list of each entry, in each category, for every year going all the way back to 1992. They've posted embedded links and information to all of them on the Assembly Archive. So if you're into this kinda stuff or are just curious as to what I'm even talking about I would suggest checking it out. Of course a bit of the fun has been taken out of it since now a person doesn't need to worry about the speed of his/her machine to be able to run the demo at an optimum frame rate but they're still amazing to watch. I used to download them all the time years ago to show off my computers and benchmark them. Even with the power of my current computer there's a few from the 2004, 2005, 2006 era even that can drop the frame rate pretty good. The last time I was able to download any of the demos (2010ish) my machine at that time couldn't even run them without issues which goes to show just how powerful and advanced these can be. Of course the big demo's are the best to watch. They last the longest and have some of the best graphics but don't count out the 1k, 4k, and 64k intro demos. Those are some of the most amazing since they are required to be no larger than that category in size with no supporting files (entire executable can't be larger than 1kb, 4kb, or 64kb). The ability to have such amazing graphics in such a small file size complete with music and last up to 4 minutes long is unbelievable. So, anyway, if you want to see some amazing stuff go check it out. They also have a game development competition as well and the game entries ARE still downloadable and playable on the Assembly.org website. I ran across some of the old files I had while messing around and waiting for someone to come into the chat room and talk. So I thought I'd post up some information for those who've never messed with it and see what kind of discussions come from it. The FTP.SCENE.ORG site still has pretty much everything available to download if you want to try running some of them! Not just from Assembly either, but from gatherings, and competitions all over the world.

I recently did a comparison of sets of Faital Pro 3FE25's, Aura NS3's and a Fountek FE85's for pretty much the same purpose. You can read my thoughts and miniature reviews on the third page HERE. It's all a matter of personal preference but I don't see how a pair of full range speakers can be easily beat. The FE85's provide quite good response all the way up high enough to catch enough of the sparkle to make me more than happy with them. So much so I ordered a pair of the even better FR89EX's last night to use permanently in my install. I've not lost any noticeable output at all going from the components to the full ranges and as a matter of fact, due to the proximity of the speakers to the listening position and the direct on axis aiming it's probably louder in all reality. The difference in response, stage and imaging are well worth losing a little output.

Beautiful....

Well, all that work to mount the Solid 2 is for nothing. On the path to sonic perfection I'm now going straight to using Peerless SLS 8's for the midbass duty and in doing so am now going to have to change out the 125.2 for one of the JBL GTO1004's I have on hand. That means a bunch more work and all the work thus far to use the Solid 2 is pointless as I've also ordered a set of the Fountek FR89EX's and will probably just use the 125.2 to power them. I'll have to figure out how to bracket up the GTO above the 1500 then do it again to get the 125.2 above that. I have a friend of mine who told me about some easy set fiberglass that comes with the resin, hardener, etc. already in the fabric, basically. All you have to do is mold it around whatever it is you're doing and wait for it to set up. I'm gonna get all the information on it and if it's reasonably affordable and available and will do the job exactly as he's described then I'll likely give that a shot to try on the sail panels for the full ranges. I'm thinking if I go the same route on the 8's as I did the 6.5's, for now, that I can get them in with minimal hassle and just build new baffles and trim a little plastic. I've got a lot of work ahead of me, again, but I'm really looking forward to what it does for the SQ in the truck. It went from "eh, this'll work fine for what I need" to "I'd like to play around and see what I can do to make it a little better" to "Shit's getting real now!" LOL..... If I don't watch it I'm going to be a great deal more money and work into this than I had ever originally planned........ LMAO!!

Still surprised there's been no comments at all on this.... I guess not everyone finds it as cool as I do...

I should probably elaborate, I ordered the Peerless 830667 which was the only one I could find in an 8" size that touted the SLS designation. If there's another one I should have ordered or be looking at then let me know what the model/part number is so I can find where they're sold and order them.

Now in my true fashion I've just pulled the trigger on a pair of the FR89EX's and a pair of the Peerless SLS 8's. The only problem is the SLS 8's only seem to come in 8 ohm so now it looks like I'll eventually have to rework the amp rack, again, to accommodate one of the GTO1004's to run bridged on the SLS 8's. Yay, more work for me!!! LOL....

Well I wasn't going to build any enclosures for the 6.5's, only the 8's. I was just going to use the 6.5's until I had more done to other things, but yeah, I may as well just skip to the end and go with what I know I'm looking to do in the long run.

I kinda figured the door wouldn't hold up to the abuse and IB in the door wouldn't be the best way to run them. I suppose it would be the best way to start out though. I guess it doesn't make much sense to just beat around the bush with 6.5's that will likely never live up to what is needed.

I didn't think the Anarchy's were available anymore. When you pull up the product page on DIYCable's website it shows as no product found. Unless you already have some it kind of makes it a one sided choice.

Try this again this morning...

to the forum! The Sundown and Fi combination is going to perform really well for you. Make sure you build, or have it built, the box to spec and that BL will amaze you.

Do your RCA's run under/through where your seat is opening at? The way the noise is changing when you open/close the seat or move the amp sounds to me like the RCA's are bad. Try temporarily running another set of RCA's back to your amp to verify it's not an issue. Otherwise as stated above you're probably looking at a pico fuse issue although I've never seen the whine change or go away with that issue from moving the amp, RCA's, etc. so you might get real lucky this time around.

I got to show off the temporary test setup to the only member who's even remotely "local" to me. Even though I still don't have any dedicated midbass going, just the XCON and Fountek's, I think he was impressed. I think what really impressed him was the $13.25 price tag on the Fountek's and the performance they can give for that price. From the passenger seat I detected some slight distortion from the FE85's at high listening levels from the 160hz crossover point. With their super small XMAX I'm positive they were simply being driven beyond their linear limits but for a 12 watt RMS rated speaker they're taking some incredible abuse. I've never touched the gain on the 125.2 and even though all these little full ranges are 8 ohm I'm still giving them a crap load of power relative to their ratings. They've all held up really well but the FE85's have the lowest power rating and are still taking the same abuse the other two were. I think that says a lot for the quality of the brand as a whole. As a matter of fact if the FW168 looked like a good candidate for a dedicated midbass (it doesn't seem to) I would try them out just for the sake of trying more products from the brand. I'm thinking about going ahead and ordering the FR89EX's and the Peerless 6.5" SLS woofers to use until I get the door hinges repaired in the truck to support the added weight of the enclosures for the 8" SLS woofers. It's not that much money and I can turn around and use the 6.5's on another project or sell them.

anyone on?

Thanks. It came out okay. I can't hardly weld for shit, just not enough experience, but I can do good enough for little stuff like this. I was fortunate enough to have gotten all the math right on the lengths and things, plus getting it square to get the holes to line up. All in all I couldn't have asked for it to work out any better. Thanks. Not too shabby for a dumb redneck I suppose.

Here's a decent little update. Got the speaker and RCA wires for the Solid 2 ran back to the amp rack. While I was at it I trimmed some more on the interior panel that hides the wires in hopes that it fits in place a little better than after the last time. I built a small frame for the Solid 2 to mount to and adapt it to the mounting pattern of the 125.2 while still allowing plenty of ventilation for it. Then I used the same standoffs to lift the 125.2 up to hold up the frame and got all that mounted. Now I just need to find some 1/4-20 screws and cut them to the right length to screw into the tapped holes in the frame and mount the Solid 2 down. Then it's gravy from there hooking up the amp and working on getting it tuned in. I designed the amp rack to be secure yet easy to remove in the event I needed to move or remove it for some reason. That, thankfully, worked like a charm to get this little project underway. Here's the beginnings of the frame for the Solid 2. I found some 3/16" x 3/4" flat stock in a junk pile here at work. I cut it to the lengths I needed for the frame and welded them together. I suck at welding but it should be plenty strong enough for this little job. Working to make sure it's square and true. All finished welding it up and cleaning up the welds. Here's the frame with the holes drilled that will mount it to the stand offs above the 125.2 Shot it with some primer. Here's the additional speaker wires and RCA's ran for the Solid 2. The first of the stand offs for the frame attached to the 125.2 I got these great and awesome bits that drill, tap and bevel the hole all in one great little bit from GreenLee. Used the 1/4-20 to drill and tap these all at once. Here's the frame ready to be tightened down onto the standoffs. Finally, this is basically what it will look like when the Solid 2 is mounted down and into place on the frame. All I lack now is the bolts to mount the Solid 2 down to the frame, hooking it up and putting the truck back together, lol. I can't wait to get to tuning everything.

Yep, I was already on that track which is the premise behind my last post. The RS180's I've bought from a forum member when I was looking at doing a new tweeter and mid active. Since I'm moving past that point I thought I might try out the 180's for the hell of it and then sell them on here again. I look at is as just adding more experience with different drivers, sound and tuning.

That's understandable. Of course I will be running them active so there's no problems with worrying about anything passive. I will admit the RS180 and 225 were early considerations but I've recently began to look at a more subwoofer oriented driver for the midbass duty. Kind of like the way Jared used the Aura NS 10" and then 12" for the midbasses in his Honda the RSS210HO subwoofer, I thought, looked like a decent fit for what I'm gearing up for. I've devised a way (in theory and on paper) to build ported enclosure inside the doors of my Jimmy. As it looks now I won't likely get more than .75cuft of space out of them but for midbass duty I see that as about right for most 8" drivers. I'll know with more certainty whether it will work and exactly what kind of space I'll get when I get to that step but die grinder wheels be damned I'm going to make an attempt at making enough space in the sheet metal to stuff some kind of enclosure in there even if it only ends up being sealed.

I'll have to figure out a good way to do that test through the speakers. I tried it through a crappy set of headphones and except for the lower frequencies got the results I expected to see from the results I've seen from my annual hearing test at work. That's a great website though because I can see a person using that to get a reference for where the peaks and valleys are in the response of their entire system and using that information to tailor the EQ to their ears in that fashion. Nice. Looks like I need to find my 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable and give this a try in the truck, full ranges first. The Dayton's you have on order are better than any mid I've ever seen in a comp set under $2k. Still not my favorite driver, but nonetheless that holds true. Once you have your ears trained though you will better be able to determine what you like and what is lacking and then either adjust drivers or settings accordingly. One key is to separate everything out and listen. I'm glad to hear they're a decent driver. You say they're not your favorite driver, out of idle curiosity what is? Also, for the end goal of using a pair of 8" drivers for dedicated midbass I have been looking, reading, and trying to learn what would be a good fit for it. The one driver that keeps popping up as a decent candidate is the Dayton RSS210HO. With it's "low distortion" motor, fair XMAX and other such considerations it seems like a fair candidate to me. I was wondering what your thoughts on that are. Great midbass is really nice and I know it's not terribly easy to achieve but I feel that by the time I'm through with all the changes with the full ranges and the output the XCON is capable of that it's going to take more than the 6.5's I have now, or even the Dayton RS180's to keep up. I thought maybe the RSS210's or something like them would fit the bill.

Awesome. I feel much better about the paradigm now, lol. I would have done all this listening and stuff after getting the amp in and the component set active but I'm pretty well convinced I'll never get the response I want from the components. After connecting the mids directly to the amp and tuning them like I would if everything was active and still not being able to get the response I'm looking for I just can't imagine any other conclusion to come to about them. It kinda felt like cheating just going straight to the full ranges and stuff, lol.

Wow, that wasn't what I was expecting at all, lol. I was expecting a more of a "you're wasting your time", "you're not doing it right, spend more time listening" post or something of the like. I probably am wasting a little time but I still can't drive the damn thing so I may as well make the most of the audio, lol. I've actually gone through and set the EQ to my liking on each set of drivers. I wrote my notes and did the comparison that way specifically as a drop in comparison. I figured that was more fair because anyone else who's reading this and tries them out may not have the processing power, experience to use it (not that I really do), same application in mind, or whatever the difference may be. Maybe I was thinking wrong but that's why I figured it would be a little more fair as it was written. However, I was able to get the Faital's tamed down to where they sounded quite beautiful but never could get them on the "warmer" side. They remained very sterile or cold sounding. They remind me of a Katana sword, cold like the steel, accurate and deadly, lol. It's a little surprising how much they remind me of a horn driver though. For you, me, Brad, and others here the Aura's would need a tweeter but a little work on the EQ and they weren't that bad and they sure would make the majority of people very happy with their response. Not nearly as bad as I thought they would be with a flat EQ though and much better than when I tested them on my desk. Yes the Fountek's were definitely the winners in that little group but I still can't imagine the FR89. The FE85 is so detailed, crisp and neutral sounding I still find myself wanting to be trying song after song after song to listen to them more and more. I understood from reading other's comments and reviews on the Fountek 3" full range drivers that they were great little drivers. After playing with them and having the processing to make adjustments for TA, crossovers, and EQ all right at my fingertips and experiencing it for myself I just can't imagine it getting better. I am in the process now of running the RCA's and speaker wire for the Solid 2 and getting the material I need to get it mounted above the 125.2 because now I HAVE to see what the addition of a dedicated midbass driver will do for it. I'm really excited to see where it can go from here and while I know the mids from the components aren't the best option their best response was their midbass response. I've got some Dayton RS180-4's coming (still no hurry at all) and while I'm working on dialing in the system I'll also be working on a permanent installation for the full ranges. My plans there are to mount them to the sail panel at the front of the door panels but I'm going to build them so the baffles are removable that way I can change drivers (like going from the FE85 to the FR89) without having to do major work to the pods that will be built there. Then eventually I will build an enclosure that will fit in the doors and go to an 8" midbass. That's likely a good ways off before I get anywhere near that point though.

Happy Birthday!!!

Most all HU's have a standard wire color code. Typically the RED wire on the HU harness is the key switched/accessory 12v power wire, the YELLOW wire is the constant/battery 12v wire. The Yellow wire is the main power wire for the HU and must be connected to a wire that provides 12v at all times to prevent the HU from losing settings. Think of it like an amplifier, the BLACK and YELLOW wires are the negative and positive power terminals and the RED wire is the remote turn on wire. Make sure your wires are connected to the vehicle wiring accordingly and you should be golden. I hate it when people cut those factory harness connectors off. Dumb bastards.

Well, I've put several hours of listening time on each of the three full rangers to get a feel for them in the truck. I'm glad I did too as the difference it made in the way the Faital's sounded just going from that little amp on the desk to sitting on the dash in the truck powered by the 125.2 with the processing of the Clarion completely changed the way they sounded and for the good. Since it made that big of a difference on them I spent several hours listening to them each individually on the same tracks with the same EQ, gain and crossover settings (after playing around a little) and placement for as fair a direct swap comparison as possible and took notes. Here's a compilation of those notes. Faital Pro 3FE25: These things are unrealistically loud for their size. The little bastards made my ears ring severely after a few bouts of high volume listening. They are however SUPER detailed, actually to the point of making it a little bit of a problem because I could barely listen to some of the digital music on my iPhone. The little problems that arise from compression are heard with as much detail as the music. On songs that are compressed with a high quality compression tool it wasn't really noticeable at all, however on songs that are poorly done it's hard to even listen to them. Aside from that they are a very sterile and dry sounding set of speakers that like digital technology in general have no warmth. They do absolutely rock on output and while I kept finding myself wishing to hell I had the Solid 2 installed so I could have the 6.5's running midbass with them to help warm up the lower end of the spectrum their detail/accuracy, high end extension and overall sound make them a good choice for someone looking to do a full range/dedicated midbass setup to keep up with a big sub stage. They're the first full range speakers I've listened to that have "shimmer" on the top end like a decent tweeter does. I could EQ out the few problems I heard and have with their response except for that digital noise on badly compressed recordings. Aura NS3: These had the warmer sound I wished the Faital's would have had but at the cost of the loss of detail and the high end response. As a matter of fact I was able to take the crossover down to 80hz while I was testing them without them sounding too horribly stressed on most of the music which was kind of shocking. They did so well on the lower end they almost didn't need a larger midbass to help out but didn't blend well with the XCON trying to pick up the midbass. Everything I played on them sounded pretty damn good with the only real complaint seeming to be the missing detail and open airy/sterile sound the Faital's had provided. A good mix of the two would be ideal and little did I know they were waiting to get played with next. Fountek FE85: I'm still trying to wrap my head around the comments I've read several times about the FR89EX's being better than these. The FE85's have a warm and inviting sound with great detail and upper end response. I found myself listening to the same list of tracks over and over again and not really being able to find anything they didn't do very well. They have a measly 1.5mm XMAX and 12w RMS power handling and I know they had to be getting pushed to the limit but never showed any sign of it except on the busiest and hardest tracks. If I had the Solid 2 hooked up and the dedicated midbass of my 6.5's to help in that realm along with the time to tune it all in that it would easily sound better than the van. Just my opinions, thoughts and findings on three great little full range speakers. Each has definite merit to use in different applications and with a better enclosure, or overall better installation than what I gave them they could do much better I'm sure. I could see the Faital's being a good choice for guys who would like to go the route of a full range/dedicated midbass setup who are worried about it keeping up with a big, loud substage. Horns come to my mind when trying to think of something to compare them to. Loud and detailed to the point that it can be excruciating are traits they both seem to share, or at least in my limited experience with horns. The Aura's would just about need to be paired with a tweeter to get the best response in a system but they were no slouches. Lots of people could listen to them with little to no issues with the response. The Fountek's are winners though. I had never imagined something so simple could sound so good. Even without the 6.5's to supply the missing midbass punch the XCON and the FE85's still put on a very convincing performance and on a few acoustic and accapella tracks I would have sworn I was sitting in the room with the performers. If the FR89's really are "better" than the FE85's I can't wait to get a pair ordered, lol.