Car Audio Competition Tomorrow. Any Advice?

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

You beat the national record in your class with your setup?

I don't know. The USACi guy was pretty impressed. I only tried a 32 hz. tone. Maybe I should've done a sweep or at least tried a 33 hz. and 34 hz. tone. Everybody else was metering at high frequencies like in the 45 hz. to 60 hz. range. I'm pretty sure that a guy did a 152 in my class. I think he had 2 - 15's though.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

How did you place? What were the competitor's builds like? Did you learn any tricks for next time?

It's a two day competition. The highest score that I saw was a 178.9. There was five different car audio organizations there.

 

[SlugButter]

I don't know. The USACi guy was pretty impressed. I only tried a 32 hz. tone. Maybe I should've done a sweep or at least tried a 33 hz. and 34 hz. tone. Everybody else was metering at high frequencies like in the 45 hz. to 60 hz. range. I'm pretty sure that a guy did a 152 in my class. I think he had 2 - 15's though.

My type R metered high in a 2.25 cube box tuned to 44 HZ but sounded terrible on music in that box.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

My type R metered high in a 2.25 cube box tuned to 44 HZ but sounded terrible on music in that box.

Everybody was telling me that the high hz. guys systems probably sound like crap on music and that my box was very musical. Whatever that means.

 

[SlugButter]

Everybody was telling me that the high hz. guys systems probably sound like crap on music and that my box was very musical. Whatever that means.

They probably found their cabin gain frequency and built a box around that. High port tunings in the high 40s and low 50s. Horrible for music.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

They probably found their cabin gain frequency and built a box around that. High port tunings in the high 40s and low 50s. Horrible for music.

I would probably run a sweep the next time that I do it. I shouldn't have limited myself to 32 hz. only. We got two 30 second runs for $35.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

You beat the national record in your class with your setup?

If those records are for real then a lot of them were broken today.

 

[SlugButter]

I would probably run a sweep the next time that I do it. I shouldn't have limited myself to 32 hz. only. We got two 30 second runs for $35.

Build a sealed box for 1 of your 8s and meter your truck and test which frequency your cabin peaks at. Build a box around that and test some tones. Swap the subs into your SPL box for competition. You’ll get a higher score.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Build a sealed box for 1 of your 8s and meter your truck and test which frequency your cabin peaks at. Build a box around that and test some tones. Swap the subs into your SPL box for competition. You’ll get a higher score.

I think that I did that. The low peak was 28 and the high peak was 40. I don't think that I have an SPL box. I only have one box.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Was that rated 590 watts? Or were cheater amps involved.

Probably a clamped power class, and any way you slice it that'll be a tough score to beat.

Cheater amps are not really a thing anymore I don’t think.

No, because most orgs are doing clamped power classes outright or just have something written in the rules that they can reclassify amps as needed if the issue arises.

I was in the USACi novice class 751-3,000 watts. I did a 147.8 @ 32 hz. (Outlaw) clamped 2,505 watts. I was the only one that metered running 8's.

Cool. Hope you had fun.

Maybe I should've done a sweep or at least tried a 33 hz. and 34 hz. tone. Everybody else was metering at high frequencies like in the 45 hz. to 60 hz. range.

I would not rely on sweeps. Really you can't even be certain about low power testing, but test every tone up to about 65hz and see what happens (disable your subsonic filter or turn it all the way up first). You may see more than one peak, for example, wherever your box is tuned and wherever your vehicle wants to peak. You may have several tones around one of these peaks that meter very close to the same. IF you wanted to really optimize you would do best to try to get your box to peak wherever the vehicle peaks but that will probably not do so hot for music.

If you have mutltiple close peaks test again at full power (giving ample time to recharge battery and cool down coils and amp(s). You may also notice that the peak frequency if it's unclear will be a little better up or down one cycle depending on the weather/day. Pay attention to things like temperature and humidity and see if you can determine a pattern here.

My peak is 42-44 depending on the day and has been with every box and wall variation I've done in my Jeep. Definitely no rule that only high frequencies will get loud, though I don't think 30hz range is going to really do you any favors with cabin gain in any vehicle. If you cared you might could try to rig up some swappable ports for competing or even add a second identical port to the one you have now and plug that at shows.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Probably a clamped power class, and any way you slice it that'll be a tough score to beat.

No, because most orgs are doing clamped power classes outright or just have something written in the rules that they can reclassify amps as needed if the issue arises.

Cool. Hope you had fun.


I would not rely on sweeps. Really you can't even be certain about low power testing, but test every tone up to about 65hz and see what happens (disable your subsonic filter or turn it all the way up first). You may see more than one peak, for example, wherever your box is tuned and wherever your vehicle wants to peak. You may have several tones around one of these peaks that meter very close to the same. IF you wanted to really optimize you would do best to try to get your box to peak wherever the vehicle peaks but that will probably not do so hot for music.

If you have mutltiple close peaks test again at full power (giving ample time to recharge battery and cool down coils and amp(s). You may also notice that the peak frequency if it's unclear will be a little better up or down one cycle depending on the weather/day. Pay attention to things like temperature and humidity and see if you can determine a pattern here.

My peak is 42-44 depending on the day and has been with every box and wall variation I've done in my Jeep. Definitely no rule that only high frequencies will get loud, though I don't think 30hz range is going to really do you any favors with cabin gain in any vehicle. If you cared you might could try to rig up some swappable ports for competing or even add a second identical port to the one you have now and plug that at shows.

It was fun but I'm not into chasing numbers. Single cabs are pretty limited in things that you can do because of space limitations. I saw how people skirt the rules to get their max score possible in clamped classes. They run 17K amps in 7K classes. Then they slowly turn up their volume while watching the watts climb on the monitor. As soon as they are above 6,900 then they quit turning up their volume. Perfectly within the rules but I thought that it was kind of a loophole in the system. Some people in the 3K clamped classes were competing against guys with 17K amps. I thought that it was just kind of weird.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

It was fun but I'm not into chasing numbers. Single cabs are pretty limited in things that you can do because of space limitations. I saw how people skirt the rules to get their max score possible in clamped classes. They run 17K amps in 7K classes. Then they slowly turn up their volume while watching the watts climb on the monitor. As soon as they are above 6,900 then they quit turning up their volume. Perfectly within the rules but I thought that it was kind of a loophole in the system. Some people in the 3K clamped classes were competing against guys with 17K amps. I thought that it was just kind of weird.

Well, I'm happy that you paid your 35$ or whatever to do a run. The people who run those shows put a lot of money out and spend long hours working. It is very important to support them financially if you like to have shows to attend.

Our clamped class here is limited by rated power AND clamped. I saw a gal doing this recently and her amp was an old sundown SAZ2K in the 2000W class and she had to watch the power number and roll up into it since it could well make more power at whatever crazy low impedance load they were using.

I had also suspected that one could get an edge in those clamped classes with some testing, using a shitload more rated power, and picking a tone where you have higher impedance. Still though it's a lot better way to do apples to apples and allows folks to compete on an even playing field even if they don't want to play the 18V 1/4 ohm game. It also would be a decent way to compete in a class where you can predict a budget. After a point you start spending more money on electrical upgrades than on amps and such.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Well, I'm happy that you paid your 35$ or whatever to do a run. The people who run those shows put a lot of money out and spend long hours working. It is very important to support them financially if you like to have shows to attend.

Our clamped class here is limited by rated power AND clamped. I saw a gal doing this recently and her amp was an old sundown SAZ2K in the 2000W class and she had to watch the power number and roll up into it since it could well make more power at whatever crazy low impedance load they were using.

I had also suspected that one could get an edge in those clamped classes with some testing, using a shitload more rated power, and picking a tone where you have higher impedance. Still though it's a lot better way to do apples to apples and allows folks to compete on an even playing field even if they don't want to play the 18V 1/4 ohm game. It also would be a decent way to compete in a class where you can predict a budget. After a point you start spending more money on electrical upgrades than on amps and such.

People would stage in the staging lanes with their 15-20K amp and compete in multiple classes. 3K, 7K, 10K, and unlimited. They would just run their volume up to the max wattage of each particular class and post a score. I guess that is all part of the Car Audio game.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

A little flex!

A little Flex

youtube.com

 

[SlugButter]

A little flex!

A little Flex

youtube.com

Impressive flexing there