Check out my system. Opinions and suggestions welcome.

[Unregistered]

How does this system for my Dodge Ram pickup sound?

Head Unit: Alpine CDA-7878 CD player with mp3 capability and satellite radio ready. 7 band equalizer, Bass engine and Ai-Shuttle controller.

Equalizer: Help me out here. Leaning toward Alpine, Audiocontrol, or PPI.

Amp: Precision Power Powerclass PCX-480 80watts x 4 channels.

Speakers: JL Audio Evolution XR653 3-way components. 6.5" midbass driver installed in factory door location, 4" midrange and 1" aluminum dome tweeter installed in Q-logic custom kick panels. Speakers rated at 75watts RMS, powered by front channels of PCX 480 amp 80watts RMS per channel (5 extra watts won't hurt)

I'm not going to use any rear speakers because I'm one of those purists who believes in a front stage and imaging.

Subwoofer: JL Audio Stealthbox with one 12W3 subwoofer that goes under the front center seat. Powered by bridging 2 rear channels of the PCX-480 amp for 320watts RMS. JL Audio says the 12W3 takes 250watts RMS but I heard they underrate their subs and 320 probably won't hurt it.

Power: Lightning Audio 1 Farad Cap, appropriate gauge power and ground wire, and 12 gauge speaker wire. Total system wattage is 480watts RMS so stock alternator should be ok.

So what does everyone think? Any opinions, suggestions, or criticisms are welcome.

Also, should I sound deaden the car or will it not matter with a relatively low wattage system such as this? Not like I have 1200watt Orion HCCAs or anything.

Thanks,

Mike

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[01price 10+ year member]

Bridge the amp's channels together and send thoose JLs 160 wRMS, set the frequency at around 160hz, and they should eat it all up. The reason they say to only put 75 wRMS is cause if you give them 100 wRMS and play them at around 50hz or so they will blow, but setting the frequency up higher, you can slap on the power no problem, they might even take more.

 

[Unregistered]

"Bridge the amp's channels together and send thoose JLs 160 wRMS, set the frequency at around 160hz, and they should eat it all up. The reason they say to only put 75 wRMS is cause if you give them 100 wRMS and play them at around 50hz or so they will blow, but setting the frequency up higher, you can slap on the power no problem, they might even take more."

What exactly do you mean here? Are you suggesting that I should bridge the front and rear right channels and the front and rear left channels of the amp and use it to power the front speakers and then buy another amp for the sub?

If this is the case, each of the JLs will be getting 320wRMS, not 160, since 80x4 = 320. Obviously, way too much power.

Or do you mean that I should bridge the two front channels and power the front JL speakers off that and let the two bridged rear channels power the sub? This comes with it's own set of problems. The most obvious is that I will not be getting stereo out of the front speakers since bridging two channels results in a mono signal. Secondly, each of those JL components are 4ohms. This means I can wire them in parallel and get a 2ohm load or wire them in series and get an 8ohm load. Now, let's look at what happens when I bridge the channels in each of these situations. First, the amp is not stable at 2ohms bridged so that rules that out. Second, if I bridge the channels and send the power into an 8ohm load, I will only be getting 160wRMS total since doubling the impedence cuts power output in half. That means each speaker will get 80wRMS, the same as it would if I just ran the channels to each speaker individually. So there's no point in doing that. Plus it would be a mono signal.

Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[rebar703]

About the alpine

A friend of mine had a flex 4 amp that for what ever reason wouldnt come on so he let me take it home and take a look "under the hood" and see what i could see (too many sees). When i opened it up and and removed god knows how many screws, i came to find the sh1ttiest soulder job i have ever seen. there were blobs of it all over the the da^^n thing. then there was this crusty,,,,,, what ever it was.( i think it was ressin from the soulder) but it should have been cleaned off the board before it passed some kind of inspection (if alpine had one ). i scrapped it off as best i could and put it back together and gave it back to my friend and told him i didnt see anything blown, or any internal breaker tripped (he11, there wasnt one. alpine told him there was one and they would fix it for around $60) any who. we rewired it but left one of the two wires going to the remote, (anyone know what the other one was, over never seen two?) but the amp did come on, and did play.

i dont know what the prob was but the experiance made me turn away from alpine. you prob. think i am an alpine "haiter"but that isnt so, i was dead set on an alpine up untill that day then i went back to my true love, the kenwood excelon a head i would say is one of the very best units on the market. all i ask is you go to crutchfield.com and read up on the details and compair the two. i wish i had a pic of the alpine i took apart so you dont think im full of it, but i would like to see a any proof that the alpine i had was a dud send me a pic of your amps gutts.

if you have any ??? email me @ rebar703@hotmail.com

post what you say on the fourm to

good luck with what you end up with alpine or not

 

[allenjanthony 10+ year member]

I just want to know how that PCX-480 is performing for you. I am planning on purchasing one but would like a few reviews on it before I make my final decision.