Audioholic, you said it and I wanna know more

[psycho72 10+ year member]

First off....whats up Audioholic and anyone else who cares to comment....my name is Jerry and yes although I have done a few stereo installs I am a novice, newb, amateur, whatever you want to call it.

I was reading someone elses post and Audioholic, you said "If you want the loudest setup you can, you should be learning how to maximize your install, not on the net asking people which sub gets the loudest." Now from some of the stickies and this comment and I few others I get the feeling that there are a lot of one time posters who come in and ask "what's the best woofer/amp/hu/etc.".

I have to admit with my level of knowledge (not much) I would ask the same. And seeing some of the comments that I have over the last couple of days lurking I need to ask, if there is no "which is the best" then "how" can I maximize my install to acheive the best performance?

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[brandontw 10+ year member]

planning planning planning...just make sure you decide what your going to use your setup for first, then go from there, there are alot of recourses on here about box building, woofer placement, ect. read around, and plan your box with care...and no prefabs.

 

[psycho72 10+ year member]

Okay then, what is the game plan. My first consideration is what? Then what? And next? You asked what I want to use it for, what does that mean exactly as in what are my choices?

I want to correct imaging as the sweet spot is currently in the dash. I want to be able to adjust my bass levels independant from the fronts. I want to be able to connect my ipod to the stereo. I want my bass to be strong without that struggling, I'm at the limit sound. I want my system to be invisable. I want to keep my trunk. I want to be able to take the system from my 95 Acura Integra that I have now and move it to the 96 Impala that I want to get. I want clean sound, no farting but I want it so the bass shakes my chest without exploding my eardrums.

 

[Acidburn 5,000+ posts]

you have lots of questions lol

when you get the 96 Impala, let me know, i can probably help out with a few things

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

How much modification to your car do you want to do? If I were you, as in if I were to start all over again (I want about what you do), I would do this...

Image Dynamics IDMax 10" (maybe 2 10s if I could fit them) in a fiberglassed rear deck in an infinite baffle install (trunk acts as the box, allowing you to keep your trunk space), for this to work, you just need to make sure the trunk is sealed off completely form the cabin, some cars are easier for this than others. For fronts, I'd probably pick up a set of Adire Audio Kodas and make fiberglass door pods instead of the kickpods I have now (more footroom). Then I'd just mount the amps anywhere out of the way, probably to the back of the seats in the trunk.

Then for a deck, if I had an iPod, I would pick up Alpine's new one that interfaces with iPods (not sure if they are out yet or when they come out though)

This is obviously a pretty specific setup and may not be to your liking or skill (fiberglassing takes some learning), but I bet it would satisfy your needs well //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

Don't forget about testing, testing, testing ...

of course

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

planning planning planning...

I second that

 

[psycho72 10+ year member]

How much modification to your car do you want to do?.....in a fiberglassed rear deck in an infinite baffle install (trunk acts as the box, allowing you to keep your trunk space)....Then for a deck, if I had an iPod, I would pick up Alpine's new one that interfaces with iPods....specific setup and may not be to your liking or skill (fiberglassing takes some learning), but I bet it would satisfy your needs well //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I will do most anything that does not involve cutting metal. I don't care if I leave a little mess behind in the car but I don't like cutting out metal. As for infinite baffle, I would love to do that but I don't have any faith in how it performs. Are they really a viable solution? I am fine with two tiny 1 cubic foot sealed enclosures custom fit to the corners or rear deck.

As for the ipod thing I was thinking about one of those new head units but that is more then I want to spend right now. I was thinking of getting an Audio Control HPX, that would boost the signal, give me an aux input for the pod and seperate volume control for the fronts and the bass.

I am not scared to get my hands dirty or to take on big projects that are beyond my experience, how else will I get the experience. I am really thinking about that infinite baffle thing but again I am just wondering how well it will work because there is no way I will be able to completely seal off my acura. It may be something I will have to save for the impala so then to further complicate things I needs woofs that can go from sealed to infinite baffle. For that reason I may just stick with small sealed enclosures.

 

[Mark_ab 5,000+ posts]

This is one of the better threads I've seen in a while. Asking the right questions.

I'm sure some of the more knowledgable members will be more than willing to help you out via AIM/Yahoo/MSN etc, as it's more convenient to have actual conversations regarding the subject, which is quite broad.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

Yea, I don't really know what to reply. Usually it's like "How good is sub X?" "Do I need an EQ?" "Big 3, what's that?".

I guess start off by considering what you want. IE, if you have poor mids / highs, and you want to feel bass but not at the expense of losing vocals, pointing the subs at you will give you that kick in your chest a little better than backfiring (IMO), but the cancellation will make the bass softer to the ears.

Then decide what you want to hear, like, if you're huge on guitars, and you love bands like In Flames and Immortal Souls, but don't like the vocals, ask around and see if you can find speakers that cater to that.

Then check placing. How well will these speakers work if I put them here? There? How about there? Depending on how big your front staging mids are, just pull the speakers out and play them IB in where you'd normally have kickpanels, in the stock location, or anywhere that mounting them would be feasable. A *lot* of duct tape on the magnet will help with testing if gravity is against you. Velcro works nice for the tweeters.

Yeah, a self proclaimed expert strikes again.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

First off....whats up Audioholic and anyone else who cares to comment....my name is Jerry and yes although I have done a few stereo installs I am a novice, newb, amateur, whatever you want to call it.
I was reading someone elses post and Audioholic, you said "If you want the loudest setup you can, you should be learning how to maximize your install, not on the net asking people which sub gets the loudest." Now from some of the stickies and this comment and I few others I get the feeling that there are a lot of one time posters who come in and ask "what's the best woofer/amp/hu/etc.".

I have to admit with my level of knowledge (not much) I would ask the same. And seeing some of the comments that I have over the last couple of days lurking I need to ask, if there is no "which is the best" then "how" can I maximize my install to acheive the best performance?

When I said to study up on maximizing install for the loudest setup, I was referring to the fact that install will dictate your overall output much more than the driver you pick, assuming you pick one of the many capable drivers out there.

For example, a DD 9510 in a poor install could yield you maybe 135db's (for example). In the right hands, it could be much more, as Nate Munsun showed by hitting a 169.7 with a single 9510. Sure that's a nice commercial for DD 9500 series drivers, but clearly the install is the key element in getting loud.

Things an SPL competitor would key in on would be the vehicle's resonant frequency, found by measuring with an rta or simple db level meter, and tune accordingly. They would try to maximize speaker displacement, while minimizing air to displace (small cabin). They would brace the crap out of everything to keep the subs compressing air, not popping out glass and body panels. And of course there are a thousand other tricks the SPL guys know and do to gain those fractions of a db.

Asking people on the net which sub gets the loudest isn't going to get you much more than bickering and some one time situations like Nate Munsun hitting almost 170 with a single DD sub, doesn't mean you or I can do it, or that its a function of the subwoofer, mainly the install. But if you have decided your intent is to 'be loud', then asking questions like 'how do you SPL guys do it' or digging into some of the install topics will yield much better results.

edit: I forgot to mention, there are always give and takes. You asked how to maximize your install to acheive best performance. As others have said here, you have to decide what 'best performance' means. If it meant loudest, things as I said above would be the direction you would head. If it were accurate sound reproduction, another route (and subwoofer) would be chosen. In my example with Nate Munsun, most SPL nuts would consider that like the ultimate setup. But while that setup got very very loud, it sounded very very bad. Decide your goals for the system, then chose the components and design the install accordingly.

I hope this answers your question about what I meant.

 

[guitarslanger 10+ year member]

you can purchase a aux input adapter for most alpine models im not sure on yours but i know its an option on mine and im getting one to go with my ipod you sould check be4 u get a new deck there like 24 bux of the net or 50and up if you want aux and cd changer controls

 

[pacho 10+ year member]

"Things an SPL competitor would key in on would be the vehicle's resonant frequency, found by measuring with an rta or simple db level meter, and tune accordingly"

I'm a newb at this, but after you find the vehicle's resonant freq., what would you change? (What does the resonant freq help you with)?

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

You would want to tune your box so that it peaks near the resonant frequency of the vehicle. Only something that needs done if you are an SPL competitor

 

[cobra65427289 10+ year member]

if you really want to get loud. invest in a termlab for yourself.

al