altoncustomtech

Works great for setting SSF too.

If you want to verify for certain what the enclosure is tuned to simply get some test tones that range from at least 50hz to 20hz in 1hz increments. Start playing at the 50hz tone at a moderate enough volume that the subs can noticeably move, but not really moving far. Then click through the tracks one at a time while watching cone movement. When you see the cones moving the LEAST amount, that is the tuning frequency.

Happy Birthday!

Awesome! to the forum!

Well, nevermind on the link to the article. It seems that the Car Audio & Electronics magazine website is gone and the article is no more. It basically said that due to beaming, odd order distortions, harmonics and resonances which all vary from cone material, driver parameters, and size the harshness some people hear and blame on their tweeters actually comes from their mids at frequencies ranging roughly from 2khz to 6khz. Brad and Sean would be better suited to explain this in detail and solutions to it than I as I have only a firm enough grasp on the subject to understand it.

Seriously harsh rattling like you're trying to remedy is caused by these panels and parts vibrating against each other. The CLD tiles, CCF and MLV will be necessary to get it as quiet as it can be. However the quickest way to start the process is by identifying each place there's point of impact and insert something (like CCF or weatherstripping) between them to cushion it or in the case of the trunk lid tighten it up so that it can't move so much in the first place. The bumper cover and quarter panels will be tougher as they're not easily accessed, but they are doable for sure. The amount of work it takes to find and fix every rattle is truly a pain but very much worth it in the end. I haven't quite got the picture in my head of exactly what is being referred to doing on that shaped MDF panel and foam but with I do not see that being a good or permanent solution.

I agree with Brad 100% about the dome material. I've also found that what some people think is harshness from their tweeters is actually the mids beaming at or above the passive crossover point. I used to have a good article that explained it in great and wonderful detail. Hopefully I can find and link it again. Otherwise, I would just forget the rears and use the entire budget on a great set of components for the front plus deadening and installation correction. You'll be much more pleased with the outcome this way. So many people dwell on the fact that they think passengers won't be able to hear the music in the rear without speakers which couldn't be farther from the truth. Take a long vehicle like my Chevy Venture mini van. Passengers in the rear row of seats can hear the music just fine and only slightly lower than sitting in the middle row. When sitting in the middle row there's almost no audible difference in output from the front seats. Besides, who cares the most about how good the music sounds? You, the driver, who sits in the front at all times, or the passengers who are only occasionally in the car?

Looks damn good there... Nice of her to give it an artistic touch. BTW, PIC of said girlfriend!

I believe I have a legitimate question. I order a pair of 10" passive radiators with XCON dustcaps on Feb. 27th. Confirmed the order with Nicole through email on Mar. 5th. Since then I've sent a few emails regarding status with no replies. Any chance I could get an update here? I know you all are very busy, just looking for an update.

Happy Birthday Brother!!

Some of you may remember the build I did for my sister in her 2002 Durango and the resulting review I wrote for her 12" DCON afterward, may not. It currently consists of a Kenwood KDC-X493 HU, Phoenix Gold RSD 6.5 components in the front, JBL GTO 6.5" coax's in the rear doors, the DCON all powered by a Hifonics ZXi8010 five channel amp. Now, I mentioned in the review that it was easy to reach the limitations of the amp and hear it through either the highs or the sub. We did a little playing around recently and connected that DCON to my Sundown in the van and there was a night and day difference. I would attribute most of that to the MAJOR headroom the SAZ2K has at 2 ohms over the rating for the sub, but even at lower volume levels it showed the amp seemed as though it was pretty limited on clean power. So that sparked a month long search for a suitable replacement five channel amp that would give better performance without breaking the bank. I ran across an amp that I thought would be a very suitable replacement, was at a fantastic price BNIB on EBay compared to the same amp at other online retailers, and was a brand that I've been wanting to try out for awhile so she ordered it. I thought I'd share the pictures of the new arrival, a Cadence F100-5. I am really surprised by how heavy it is. Shipping weight was 22.8lbs and it feels it too. Should be a great amp for her if Cadence's reputation follows this line like it does some of the others. This thing is rated 100wrms x 4 @ 4 plus 300wrms x 1 @ 4 or 500wrms x 1 @ 2 for the sub. Not a bad pick up for $170 IMHO and that even includes a 4AWG wiring kit that hasn't shipped yet.

They're worth every penny too. Like anything else, cheaper would be cool, but it's really hard to find a driver that gives the results the DCON does for it's price + shipping. When I changed my sister's amp I once again found myself not wanting to stop listening to her 12" DCON. Quite honestly I've even told myself I should have researched more and harder when I was looking for equipment to replace my old setup in the van. I believe I could have been more than pleased with DCON's and saved a considerable amount of money over the Q's and Sundown 2k that ended up in it. Don't get me wrong the Q's are AMAZING and will likely be the best money I'll ever spend on subs, but I think I could have gotten very close on output, had the same quality in sound and spent less than half as much on the entire setup with a pair of 12" DCON's.

I believe he's asking about the length of the flared ends connected together only without any of the tube in between, which I believe is about 6" or maybe a tad less.

Damn good job on it. I've dabbled around with it myself but looks nowhere near as good at that one.

If you're looking at sealed and if you have more than 300 watts on tap to run it with a GCON could be a better solution. I love the performance of the DCON's, but with the output difference that's inherent between sealed and ported enclosures, using something with a bit more power would likely be needed if you're looking to increase the output over the 10" DCON ported. If you're not that worried about having any more output then it should be just fine and I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions on the DCON in a sealed enclosure. Aaron beat me to the GCON recommendation....

Well, the schedules finally worked out. Got her amp installed Tuesday. She took off with my cordless drill, screwdriver and digital camera in the back of her truck so I'll have to post pictures up when she brings my trailer that she borrowed back and I get my stuff back from her. The Cadence is a great improvement over the Hifonics. The small amount of extra power and seemingly higher quality built unit worked out exactly as I had hoped it would. I spent a good 30 minutes listening to everything from country to metal before swapping the amps so I could make a fresh comparison. When listening to music the Hifonics amp would have issues across the board on the highs. It varied but the most noticeable issue was in the midbass region and lower. I think the bass boost circuit on the Hifonics amp was always giving a little bit of boost even when turned all the way down and with the onboard HPF on. Regardless the power limits of that amp could easily be reached. With the Cadence the speakers played with no audible distortion or stress up to and slightly above the levels that could be listened to with the Hifonics. As expected with almost double the rated power the DCON was easily able to keep up with everything that was thrown at it with no audible stress or distortion on the Cadence. From bass guitar plucks and drums in a host of Led Zeppelin songs, to the harder faster paced sound of Alice in Chains, to the dash rattling bass lines from Nappy Roots and Lil Wayne the DCON was flawless on the new amp. Even my wife was commenting on it which is always a surprise. Overall the improvements were exactly what we were hoping for. Everything is cleaner and sounds of stress from power limitations are gone. It is definitely $170 well spent.

I can't recall what the prices have been in the past, but they're definitely worth what is asked for them. My sister has a single 12" DCON in her Durango and it's totally amazing for it's price and power rating. SSA FTW!

Holy crap, you're only a little over a year older than me? It's always surprising how many people on the forum are about my age or even older. Then I compare that to the fact I'm the oldest person I know around here who's still playing with car audio and it just feels weird. No wonder I like calling the forum HOME. Enough of that madness: Happy Birthday!!!

Port area is completely driver and tuning dependent. The more stroke a driver has and/or the lower the tuning the more port area that is needed to keep from having port noise. IMHO I think with the xmax that is listed for that driver a single 4" port would be okay with a single driver, especially if it's in the trunk.

Happy Birthday!!!

OP, I gotta say you've got to be one of the most thorough posters I've seen in awhile. The amount of detail and information just isn't seen as often as it should be on here, you should be proud. I don't know what Sean's feelings are on the subject but it's been my experience that building small sealed enclosures for midbass speakers can really help the output in the midbass range. Car Audio & Electronics had an article (both in the magazine and on their website at one time) about it too. I tried it right after reading about it in the magazine years ago with fantastic results. Just mentioning it as another possible solution to try to help get the midbass you're looking for. Although everything in audio is about compromise, so you'll loose lower end response pretty quickly from the mid's and there's probably some other trade offs. Sean would know best, he's got a lot more knowledge about this hobby than I do. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on the difference the sound deadening and ported enclosures make as well. With all the detail you tend to include it should definitely help us all understand what you're lacking and where in the sound you're looking for. BTW Sean = ///M5 just in case you were wondering.

Where are your gains, filters and bass boost settings on the amp set to? Verify something there hasn't happened. You could also pick up a 3.5mm headphone plug to RCA adapter cable and use an Ipod or MP3 player if you have one too. Something is definitely fishy tho for that to happen that fast on the volume. If you're worried about a bad ground check the voltage at the amp's power terminals while it's playing.

This I'm interested to hear. My thoughts exactly.

The one's I owned were only the MA series, an MA100XE and a pair of MA150XE's. They did fine on output, just weren't the least bit impressive on the quality of sound. Between a little mechanical noise and a lackluster response they just didn't impress me. As for the 3-3.5cuft per sub, well, it's in the range for the drivers as given by the manufacturers. The port area and tuning will have an affect as well as the vehicle environment. Believe me, I understand that it's frustrating that no one is giving real straight answers. You have to understand that absolutely NO ONE can predict exactly what the results are going to be from each product and tell you with certainty which one will suit you better. The recommendations given so far are from those peoples personal experiences and have to be weighed as such. I believe that either choice will give good results as both are proven performing drivers.

Are you saying 2 15in Xcons will hit 150db at 29hz? I find that hard to believe. Notice the bold/underlined word. I had to read it two or three times the first time too, lol. On another note, at least from the experience I've had with MA subs, he'll be leaps and bounds ahead of where he was just having a quality sub such as either of these. I've never owned either so I'll leave recommendations up to those who have.