My old school Soundstream Reference 700 blew! time for upgrades!

[tuomas 10+ year member]

So unfortunately my Soundstream Reference 700 (1 x 700 @ 2 ohms bridged) took a dump on me. Not sure what happened but I have a feeling it was from playing it too loud for too long and some bass wave that hit on a low quality song made something horrible happen. The inside of the ground terminal port is completely black... checked ground and its fine.

Nonetheless! I ordered an MTX TA7801 (1 x 1200W @ 1 ohm) and I plan on using that with two Pioneer Premier 12's (forget the model number but, 400W RMS, 1200peak, 4ohm DVC). I figure I would wire them at 1 ohm and have them adjusted to a reasonable volume, since I don't need them to blow any time soon.

However, I also had 4 rockford fosgate 6.5" 2 way's and one of them blew so now I have the rear two bridged on my old alpine V12 MRF-V405. I plan on eventually getting 2 component seats of 6.5s for the front and rear and am considering this MTX AUDIO TA7804 Thunder 7804 4-Channel Amplifier ( 100 watts x 4 chan @ 4 ohms, 200 watts x 4 @ 2 ohms). If I got the Infinity reference 6.5" components, they run at 2 ohms.

Does this sound like a reasonable set up? I have a 99 Dodge Dakota and I'm not looking to modify the original interior thats why im sticking with 6.5s. But my only concern is, if I have those 2 amps hooked up, what am I looking at in terms of what wiring I should use, what fuses, should I do the big three?? I know these are all recommended but I am trying to do the minimum in terms of cash to avoid any future complications with amps and speakers blowing, however am not trying to be cheap and take shortcuts.

I'd really appreciate some input, I know there's a lot of smart people on this forum and I look forward to meeting them! thank you

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[casper97ta 10+ year member]

I have a 97 dakota and I can say dont even bother amping the rear speakers. Invest in a nice component set for the front and bi-amp those or at best go active. Also, find some decent sound deadener like Raammat or secondskin and deaden the doors.

P.S- I'd be glad to take the blown soundstream off you if you're willing to dump it off.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[tuomas 10+ year member]

I'm sure you would. Think you'd probably get it back to working order? I'm hanging on to it... it's like a family heirloom hahaha. I haven't really had any problems with the doors rattling if thats what you meant... what do you mean dont power the rears? Have them run off the deck or just get a good component set in the front and not have anything in the rear?

 

[ryan8551226 10+ year member]

i may be wrong but i am thinking he is saying forget about your rear stage since the front stage is more important.

 

[casper97ta 10+ year member]

I'm sure you would. Think you'd probably get it back to working order? I'm hanging on to it... it's like a family heirloom hahaha. I haven't really had any problems with the doors rattling if thats what you meant... what do you mean dont power the rears? Have them run off the deck or just get a good component set in the front and not have anything in the rear?

You can leave them off of the deck power and just amp a nice set of comp. for the front. With a proper front stage you shouldnt need to hear the rear speakers at all. I have a ex. cab so with my box in the back it blocks the rear speakers anyway. I run a set of MB quart seperates up front and its d@mn loud and clear. No need for rear fill.

You could even go with a 3-way setup and throw a set of kick panels in it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[tuomas 10+ year member]

I appreciate the advice... it's very valuable and something to think about. I'm just not sure I'm happy with the way the alpine sounds... maybe I just need a nice set of components for that 160w RMS x 2... The rockford 6.5 I have in the back don't sound very good once I start getting close to that 75w rms max on em.

What about the TA7801 in the car though? Am I looking at upgrading my wire or should i be okay with 4 gauge from the front to a distro-block splittin to 2 - 4 gauges? Big three? I have a 1 farat monster cap, I was told they are bad but this really reduces my lights dimming. Any recommendations in terms of installation, more concerned of the power and wires than my speakers.

 

[GMCJimmyslt2000 10+ year member]

theres a reason why the amp blew and also the speaker. Its usually an owners error, not the actual equimpent. We should find out some things b4 u put a new one in and do it again. Where did u have the gain set and how were the subs wired?

 

[tuomas 10+ year member]

Well I'll be honest, the gain was set pretty high... and the subs were wired up at 8 ohms. Maybe the subs were wired wrong... but they were wired in serial with 2 dual voicecoils which would result in 8 ohms from my understanding, I just tested the subs with a 70$ volt meter, one of them puts out about 7-8 ohms, the other was putting out 10ohms???

 

[casper97ta 10+ year member]

You never said what kind of subs you are running. Also if they are dual 2 or dual 4. I would ditch the cap and do the big 3 and I bet your lights still wont dim. 4g should be fine for wiring but do be on the safe side you should do a run of 1/0 then split that into 4g for the amps.

Edit: about the sound deadener, if you deaden the doors on all the layers it will really make your speakers come alive. Deadening makes a huge difference in the way the door speakers will sound and your midbass should sound a lot better too.

 

[tuomas 10+ year member]

First off, I'd like to say thank you again for the feedback I really appreciate it, it means a lot *sniffle*. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif

Sorry, I failed to mention my old subwoofers were Audiobahn 12" (RMS 400W, 4OHM DVC). I decided to try the old audiobahn, one of my new pioneers, and one of my friend's MTX 12's.

All received the same symptom from the amplifier : Whenever amplifier receives power, subwoofer will "fill up like a balloon" to full excursion, as if there were a polarity issue. However, even with the subwoofer wired up at 2ohms, such as the amp should be able to carry, properly, it does this with all three different subwoofers. Would it be an incorrect assumption to assume this may have something to do with the ground terminal port being completely black on the inside. Seems like the woofers are getting + but no -. The woofer is wired correctly though, so I have no where to go except to assume the amp is blown. Thus I ordered a new one...

What is the difference between 0 gauge and 1 gauge? I plan on doing the big three and ditching the cap, it does sound much more convinient after hearing of horrible discharges. Also, if I run 0 or 1 gauge to my distribution block for the amplifiers, that should correspond with the wire I use to replace my Big three, correct? Also, my concern is that my amplifier will not fit a 4 gauge (the alpine MRF-V405 has a port that seems to only fit an 8 gauge) How do I go about this?

As for the sound deadening, great advice... however I am wondering on the install? Should I take the door panel off and add the sound deadener to the inside of the door panel and then reinstall the panel? Any recommendations on where to purchase sound deadener?

 

[casper97ta 10+ year member]

Yeah that black spot on the inside of the amp means its toast and thats why the subs are acting that way. when someone says 1/0g its just 0g wire and You should use 1/0 for the big 3 so you dont have to redo it with bigger wire later on if you upgrade.

If 4g wont fit in the amp you should be fine with 8g. That amp doesnt draw that much current. And for the sound deadener, Ideally you want to deaden the door panel, as well as inside and the outside of the door frame. here's a good link to go by: http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95925.

 

[tuomas 10+ year member]

Thanks a lot casper, very helpful... my amp should get here next wednesday... I still need to buy some subwoofer grills for my 12"s for the pioneers so no one accidentally elbows the **** out of my sub. Not to mention new battery terminal connectors... lots of 0 gauge... and a new distro block that takes a 0 gauge that holds a 60 amp that splits to a 4 gauge and holds something like a 20amp for hte 8 gauge... any recommendations?

 

[casper97ta 10+ year member]

Thanks a lot casper, very helpful... my amp should get here next wednesday... I still need to buy some subwoofer grills for my 12"s for the pioneers so no one accidentally elbows the **** out of my sub. Not to mention new battery terminal connectors... lots of 0 gauge... and a new distro block that takes a 0 gauge that holds a 60 amp that splits to a 4 gauge and holds something like a 20amp for hte 8 gauge... any recommendations?

if you use 1/0g for the main power wire back to the distro block, Make sure the inline fuse you put under the hood is fused for the wire size and for 1/0 that's 250 or 300amp.

 

[tuomas 10+ year member]

After long deliberation, I just put my truck for sale... so I think I'm gonna hold off on the BIG 3. The worst that happens is that my amps arent getting all their power... this cant cause anything to break can it?

 

[doncmleon 10+ year member]

For the OP....I actually had that same amp back in the day (F***ing BEAST!!)

Soundstream actually is pretty cool and could "repair" that amp back to new specs. I know you're looking at that new amp, but if it were me, I would have sent it to Soundstream and for about $150, they don't repair the amp, they would most likely replace the entire board (aka new amp!)

Teary eyed....i miss that Soundstream!!!! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif