Ready To Learn
- Thread starter Sweet'n Low
- Live activity
- Replies 16
- Views 2K
Sweet'n Low
ahole-ic
Banned
Uhh, you just read. What exactly do you not understand?
fasfocus00
5,000+ posts
doITdaWHITEwayORdoITtwice
book I read:
Amazon.com: How to Design and Install High-Performance Car Stereo
the rest is just trial and error. there is no better teacher than Mr.Mistake.
Amazon.com: How to Design and Install High-Performance Car Stereo
the rest is just trial and error. there is no better teacher than Mr.Mistake.
OP
Sweet'n Low
10+ year member
Harshaw
- Thread Starter
- #4
i get the impression that you have to learn this stuff in levels, like before you could can understand cabin transfer function you've got to know a little about subs in general. most sites i go to i feel like i'm learning long division before i learn addition. hard to be specific to say what i don't understand, got a lot to learn really but i do know a little bit. ff00 thanks for the feedback, i'll have to look into that book.
just stick around dude, ul pick up on it... when I first got here all I new were brand names and the series/lines of their products... I wasn't familiar with their freggin starwars android codename or w/e the ****. I had no idea what the terms/abreviations DSC or 4kw meant/stood for. I never heard someone refer to a thousand watts as a kilowatt before cept maybe in science classes. It just take a little getting use to. I get on the threads as much as I can cuz I just enjoy reading and learning about audio. This is an amazing hobby... u just gotta hang around for a bit and school urself
Suicide Bobb
5,000+ posts
SPLC Fails
Here's a few terms to get you started...
RMS watts: The power rating you look for when considering the power rating you are looking for. Peak Power is irrelevant.
Efficiency: How loud, in decibels, a speaker is from a set distance given a set amount of power. Usually expressed in decibels per watt per meter, or db/w/m. The two standards used by the majority of manufacturers today is db/1w/1m and db/2.83w/1m. Obviously then, the decibel level will differ between the two; a measurement of db/2.83w/1m is going to have a higher decibel result than a measurement of db/1m/1m.
SQ: Sound Quality
SPL: Sound Pressure Level
SQL: A mix of SQ and SPL
These terms relate to what you can expect the output to be of a given audio component. If someone says its a SQ woofer, then you can expect it to have superior sound quality compared to an SPL woofer.
Motor: The magnet of a speaker.
Basket: The frame of a speaker.
Soft Parts: The other components of the speaker, that include...
Tinsel Leads: The internal positive and negative wires of a speaker.
Spider: A part of the suspension of the speaker. It looks like a wave, or ripples.
Voice Coil: The coil of wires that react with the motor according to the signal sent to them. Usually, you will have to disassemble the speaker in order to see the voice coil. The average size voice coil for an average subwoofer is 3" in diameter. I have seen subwoofers with voice coils ranging in sizes from 2" to 5".
Surround: Another part of the suspension of the speaker. Usually a composite of foam or rubber, the surround lines the edge of the speaker and is attached to the "lip" of the basket.
Cone: The surround and voice coil are attached to the cone. They come in a large variety of materials, such as paper, plastic, aluminum, tin, and carbon fiber.
Dust Cap: An almost useless part of the speaker. Not all speakers have dust caps, as some just have one solid cone (see: Apline Type-R subwoofers). On speakers that do have them, they protect dust from infiltrating the gap between the coil and magnet, and help dissipate heat in some cases.
Clipping: I will let a better educated individual discuss this. Sometimes, discussions of it can get pretty heated //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
Gain/Input Sensitivity: Allows you to match the signal from an amplifier to the signal sent to it from a head unit. You should never turn this all the way up, or you will likely clip the speakers. A trained ear car roughly match the gain properly, but an Oscilloscope and Digital Multimeter are the best ways to set it (in that order).
Low-Pass Crossover: Eliminates most of the frequencies above the frequency selected from reaching the speaker
High-Pass Crossover: Opposite of a Low-Pass Crossover.
Subsonic Filter: Similar to a High-Pass Crossover. It lessens the impact of notes below the selected frequencies. Given the fact that most of the power from an amp is apportioned to the low notes, it saves a lot of power. Either through a set or manually adjustable frequency, and with the use of a set or manually adjustable boost, it gives the power that would have normally been wasted on the low notes to the specified frequency. It is practical in use with subwoofers in ported boxes, for reasons that you would be better of exploring than me explaining.
Driver: Speaker
Component Speakers: Packages that consist of a midrange and tweeter drivers, and occasionally mid-bass drivers. The usually come with external crossovers.
Coaxial Speakers: Speakers that contain all the necessary drivers to cover the required frequency ranges.
The "Big 3" Mod: Increases the operating voltage of your electrical system. What you do is increase the size of the wire sections that are most vital to the flow of energy. You will want to use 1/0ga wire for this, in as short of lengths as possible. I HIGHLY suggest that anyone who is going to get at least mildly serious with car audio does this, as it will stiffen up the electrical system, and prevent things from blowing because of too low of voltage. Here are the 3 sections to run wire to...
1. Battery (+) to Alternator (+)...You can fuse this wire if you want, but it isn't necessary.
2. Battery (-) to Chassis Ground
3. Chassis Ground to Engine Block Ground
Those are all the terms I can come up with at the moment...
As far as brand names go, it is mostly up to experience for you to decide what is best and what is worst. In order to truly deliberate how well a speaker performs, you must eliminate a couple variables...The forumula goes as follows - 90% installation, 5% speaker, 5% beer. A top of the line speaker can sound like shit if it is put in an improper enclosure, and an amp can perform poorly if the wires going to it are shit or are not installed well. There are so many variables out there, most of which you should probably learn yourself.
As a generalization, I will give you a list of a few brand names and what category they are in. NOTE TO MEMBERS: THIS IS A VERY VERY ROUGH GENERALIZATION, NO FLAMING PLEASE!
"Forum Boner" brands/lines: DC Audio, MB Quart Discus. These change quickly, so be informed.
High Quality: Digital Designs (DD), Incriminator Audio (IA), Atomic Audio, Stetsom, MMats, TC Sounds, Focal, JL Audio, Critical Mass, and many more. The most controversial of these would be JL. JL Audio makes some pretty dern good stuff, but their prices are waaaay too expensive.
Average Quality: Kenwood, Rockford Fosgate (besides power series amps), Pioneer, Alpine, and the rest of your mainstream products. In other words, most of the brands you see at Best Buy and Car Toys.
Low Quality: Pyle, Rockwood, DHD, Diesel, Volfenhag, MD Sound, Nitro, NT Power...after a while, it gets pretty obvious what brands are shit and which ones aren't.
As far as tools go...I use a tackle-box to carry all the tools and accessories I need to get whatever electrical job done. The best tackle-boxes would be ones with one latch to keep it sealed, compartments on the exterior for quick access, various size compartment on the interior (and multiple "levels" of compartments), and a large open space on the bottom. The sorting is all up to you.
Here are some pictures of what my tackle-box looks like (note - some of my tools were not in the toobox while the picture was taken):
Tools that are helpful include:
*Various sizes of Phillips and Flat-Head Screwdrivers
*Various kinds of pliers and clippers
*Flashlight
*Exact-o-Knife
*Digital Multimeter
*Allen Wrenches
*Pinch-grip Wire Strippers (Pictured in the second post, stupid 10 picture limit!)
This set of wire strippers was the absolute best $10 I have ever spent. It has made my work immeasurably quicker, easier, and better. By just squeezing it, it automatically strips wires as if it already knew what size it was. It allows you to manually adjust the tension, so you can even splice those wires with really tough rubber surrounds. My pair works on wire as big as 6ga! The crimping section is also much better than the average wire strippers. I wouldn't trade this tool for anything in the world.
I highly suggest you stock up like crazy on every kind of splice connector you can imagine. Those red tube connectors are the ones I use the most, followed by spade and "O" connectors for attaching the Power and Ground wires to things, and then the slide-on and slide-in connectors (pictured in the exterior compartment, right under the screws). It would be in your best interest to save every bolt, screw, nut, washer, etc. that you find, because when it comes to car audio, you never know when and where it may come in handy. You should buy a high quality roll of electrical tape; yes, the one that costs more. Trust me, the higher quality electrical tape is worth every single penny spent. Multicolored tape may come in handy when identifying what things go to what. Ties and rubberbands can be helpful in difficult situations, or with hiding wiring. For clean installations, I suggest you get bolt-in wire guides/tunnels. Buy the biggest pack of various zipties you can find, because you will go through them very quickly. Always have every amperage of the "normal" ATC fuses as you can get, and multiples of them. You can find them at U-Pull-Its' for the price of admission (usually $1). Heatshrink may come in handy in some cases, as well as that black wire tube loom stuff.
RMS watts: The power rating you look for when considering the power rating you are looking for. Peak Power is irrelevant.
Efficiency: How loud, in decibels, a speaker is from a set distance given a set amount of power. Usually expressed in decibels per watt per meter, or db/w/m. The two standards used by the majority of manufacturers today is db/1w/1m and db/2.83w/1m. Obviously then, the decibel level will differ between the two; a measurement of db/2.83w/1m is going to have a higher decibel result than a measurement of db/1m/1m.
SQ: Sound Quality
SPL: Sound Pressure Level
SQL: A mix of SQ and SPL
These terms relate to what you can expect the output to be of a given audio component. If someone says its a SQ woofer, then you can expect it to have superior sound quality compared to an SPL woofer.
Motor: The magnet of a speaker.
Basket: The frame of a speaker.
Soft Parts: The other components of the speaker, that include...
Tinsel Leads: The internal positive and negative wires of a speaker.
Spider: A part of the suspension of the speaker. It looks like a wave, or ripples.
Voice Coil: The coil of wires that react with the motor according to the signal sent to them. Usually, you will have to disassemble the speaker in order to see the voice coil. The average size voice coil for an average subwoofer is 3" in diameter. I have seen subwoofers with voice coils ranging in sizes from 2" to 5".
Surround: Another part of the suspension of the speaker. Usually a composite of foam or rubber, the surround lines the edge of the speaker and is attached to the "lip" of the basket.
Cone: The surround and voice coil are attached to the cone. They come in a large variety of materials, such as paper, plastic, aluminum, tin, and carbon fiber.
Dust Cap: An almost useless part of the speaker. Not all speakers have dust caps, as some just have one solid cone (see: Apline Type-R subwoofers). On speakers that do have them, they protect dust from infiltrating the gap between the coil and magnet, and help dissipate heat in some cases.
Clipping: I will let a better educated individual discuss this. Sometimes, discussions of it can get pretty heated //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
Gain/Input Sensitivity: Allows you to match the signal from an amplifier to the signal sent to it from a head unit. You should never turn this all the way up, or you will likely clip the speakers. A trained ear car roughly match the gain properly, but an Oscilloscope and Digital Multimeter are the best ways to set it (in that order).
Low-Pass Crossover: Eliminates most of the frequencies above the frequency selected from reaching the speaker
High-Pass Crossover: Opposite of a Low-Pass Crossover.
Subsonic Filter: Similar to a High-Pass Crossover. It lessens the impact of notes below the selected frequencies. Given the fact that most of the power from an amp is apportioned to the low notes, it saves a lot of power. Either through a set or manually adjustable frequency, and with the use of a set or manually adjustable boost, it gives the power that would have normally been wasted on the low notes to the specified frequency. It is practical in use with subwoofers in ported boxes, for reasons that you would be better of exploring than me explaining.
Driver: Speaker
Component Speakers: Packages that consist of a midrange and tweeter drivers, and occasionally mid-bass drivers. The usually come with external crossovers.
Coaxial Speakers: Speakers that contain all the necessary drivers to cover the required frequency ranges.
The "Big 3" Mod: Increases the operating voltage of your electrical system. What you do is increase the size of the wire sections that are most vital to the flow of energy. You will want to use 1/0ga wire for this, in as short of lengths as possible. I HIGHLY suggest that anyone who is going to get at least mildly serious with car audio does this, as it will stiffen up the electrical system, and prevent things from blowing because of too low of voltage. Here are the 3 sections to run wire to...
1. Battery (+) to Alternator (+)...You can fuse this wire if you want, but it isn't necessary.
2. Battery (-) to Chassis Ground
3. Chassis Ground to Engine Block Ground
Those are all the terms I can come up with at the moment...
As far as brand names go, it is mostly up to experience for you to decide what is best and what is worst. In order to truly deliberate how well a speaker performs, you must eliminate a couple variables...The forumula goes as follows - 90% installation, 5% speaker, 5% beer. A top of the line speaker can sound like shit if it is put in an improper enclosure, and an amp can perform poorly if the wires going to it are shit or are not installed well. There are so many variables out there, most of which you should probably learn yourself.
As a generalization, I will give you a list of a few brand names and what category they are in. NOTE TO MEMBERS: THIS IS A VERY VERY ROUGH GENERALIZATION, NO FLAMING PLEASE!
"Forum Boner" brands/lines: DC Audio, MB Quart Discus. These change quickly, so be informed.
High Quality: Digital Designs (DD), Incriminator Audio (IA), Atomic Audio, Stetsom, MMats, TC Sounds, Focal, JL Audio, Critical Mass, and many more. The most controversial of these would be JL. JL Audio makes some pretty dern good stuff, but their prices are waaaay too expensive.
Average Quality: Kenwood, Rockford Fosgate (besides power series amps), Pioneer, Alpine, and the rest of your mainstream products. In other words, most of the brands you see at Best Buy and Car Toys.
Low Quality: Pyle, Rockwood, DHD, Diesel, Volfenhag, MD Sound, Nitro, NT Power...after a while, it gets pretty obvious what brands are shit and which ones aren't.
As far as tools go...I use a tackle-box to carry all the tools and accessories I need to get whatever electrical job done. The best tackle-boxes would be ones with one latch to keep it sealed, compartments on the exterior for quick access, various size compartment on the interior (and multiple "levels" of compartments), and a large open space on the bottom. The sorting is all up to you.
Here are some pictures of what my tackle-box looks like (note - some of my tools were not in the toobox while the picture was taken):
Tools that are helpful include:
*Various sizes of Phillips and Flat-Head Screwdrivers
*Various kinds of pliers and clippers
*Flashlight
*Exact-o-Knife
*Digital Multimeter
*Allen Wrenches
*Pinch-grip Wire Strippers (Pictured in the second post, stupid 10 picture limit!)
This set of wire strippers was the absolute best $10 I have ever spent. It has made my work immeasurably quicker, easier, and better. By just squeezing it, it automatically strips wires as if it already knew what size it was. It allows you to manually adjust the tension, so you can even splice those wires with really tough rubber surrounds. My pair works on wire as big as 6ga! The crimping section is also much better than the average wire strippers. I wouldn't trade this tool for anything in the world.
I highly suggest you stock up like crazy on every kind of splice connector you can imagine. Those red tube connectors are the ones I use the most, followed by spade and "O" connectors for attaching the Power and Ground wires to things, and then the slide-on and slide-in connectors (pictured in the exterior compartment, right under the screws). It would be in your best interest to save every bolt, screw, nut, washer, etc. that you find, because when it comes to car audio, you never know when and where it may come in handy. You should buy a high quality roll of electrical tape; yes, the one that costs more. Trust me, the higher quality electrical tape is worth every single penny spent. Multicolored tape may come in handy when identifying what things go to what. Ties and rubberbands can be helpful in difficult situations, or with hiding wiring. For clean installations, I suggest you get bolt-in wire guides/tunnels. Buy the biggest pack of various zipties you can find, because you will go through them very quickly. Always have every amperage of the "normal" ATC fuses as you can get, and multiples of them. You can find them at U-Pull-Its' for the price of admission (usually $1). Heatshrink may come in handy in some cases, as well as that black wire tube loom stuff.
Suicide Bobb
5,000+ posts
SPLC Fails
The main thing is that you make sure you are always over-prepared for whatever task is ahead of you. One of the worst things you can do is come to a job under-prepared, because you will end up getting stressed out, you won't want to go to the store/inside your house to get the necessary product, and you will end up doing something super-ghetto. While ghetto installs may work, chances are they will lead to things blowing up, which is much more costly than being prepared with the right equipment.
A few more things...You usually get what you pay for. A $13 Pyle 6x9 coaxial speaker pair is going to yield $13 results, and a $700 Atomic APX-18 subwoofer is going to yield $700 results. That's not to say their aren't good deals out there. I suggest you skip the crap and the average stuff, and step right into the higher quality, underground (not mainstream) products. AudioQue has some good starter subs that will get you going in the right direction.
I hope this helps you become acquainted with the world of car audio. Understand that everything I have told you is from my experiences, in other words I didn't look any of this up. For that reason, don't believe that everything I said is an absolute fact. Don't get overwhelmed, just take things in as they come. I have only been into car audio for one year, and I already know this much, so don't be afraid that it is too difficult. As one poster said, Mr. Mistake is your best mentor. My hope is that what I have told you will jump start you past most of the stupid mistakes. This forum is an AWESOME tool for your knowledge, as there will always be at least one person here that can correctly answer whatever question is trifling you. It is up to you to read a variety of posts and learn yourself.
Good luck!
-Dylan
*To the rest of you better educated members...feel free to let me know what things may be inaccurate with my post, just please be respectful //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
Picture of wire strippers:
A few more things...You usually get what you pay for. A $13 Pyle 6x9 coaxial speaker pair is going to yield $13 results, and a $700 Atomic APX-18 subwoofer is going to yield $700 results. That's not to say their aren't good deals out there. I suggest you skip the crap and the average stuff, and step right into the higher quality, underground (not mainstream) products. AudioQue has some good starter subs that will get you going in the right direction.
I hope this helps you become acquainted with the world of car audio. Understand that everything I have told you is from my experiences, in other words I didn't look any of this up. For that reason, don't believe that everything I said is an absolute fact. Don't get overwhelmed, just take things in as they come. I have only been into car audio for one year, and I already know this much, so don't be afraid that it is too difficult. As one poster said, Mr. Mistake is your best mentor. My hope is that what I have told you will jump start you past most of the stupid mistakes. This forum is an AWESOME tool for your knowledge, as there will always be at least one person here that can correctly answer whatever question is trifling you. It is up to you to read a variety of posts and learn yourself.
Good luck!
-Dylan
*To the rest of you better educated members...feel free to let me know what things may be inaccurate with my post, just please be respectful //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
Picture of wire strippers:
Suicide Bobb
5,000+ posts
SPLC Fails
Come on now, don't tell me I wrote all that for nothing!
good post except for the idea the JL is overpriced and TC sounds and DD isn't made me lol. Alpine is also High end when it comes to Hu's, or their F1 line in general as well as pioneer. Honestly the only advice I can give is read, here and other forums as well. I consider myself very knowledgable when it comes to stereos and all my info is from online. I started on this forum and slowly worked my way around up to more knowledgable forums as I learned and felt I could add to the conversation. If you ever arent sure about something just remember to use the search tool. Alot of times google is your friend as well.
Suicide Bobb
5,000+ posts
SPLC Fails
I think it is quite obvious that there are much better things for the money than what you spend on JL products. DD and TC make much better products for the money than JL. You get what you pay for with DD and TC, and not necessarily with JL. The DD 9515 can be had for the same price as a W7, but is hand built, not assembled in china, and...well, the list goes on //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif That's just an example, I think you get my point //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
Correct, Alpine HU's are very nice, and their F1 line is top notch. Pioneer makes a few really good HU's as well. That is why I said that the brands list is a total generalization //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
audioholic
5,000+ posts
not a moderator
I love how people cut on JL due to their perceived reputation-based price scheme, but then turn around and recommend DD.
Safe_Cracker
10+ year member
CarAudio.com Elite
It is all in the install.... I have seen crap subs sound good from a better than average install. BTW who still uses splices anymore, never used them never will I solder everything and they never come loose like splices do escpecially above 148db levels. JMHO...
Polo.
Polo.
Suicide Bobb
5,000+ posts
SPLC Fails
Yeah, I take things out all the time, soldering just makes them want to stay in longer. Plus, soldering takes longer, and is more "messy". It does hold better, though.
Suicide Bobb
5,000+ posts
SPLC Fails
It's only because DD's price/awesomeness issue isn't as bad as JL's //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Still definitely not near as good of a ratio as, say, an MB Discus series amp, but good nonetheless.
audioholic
5,000+ posts
not a moderator
A price/awesomeness ratio is subjective, at least JL offers specs for their speakers. They both have good products, but they both rely upon, and receive extra profit from, simple reputation. This isn't so awful though, that is what most companies strive for.
Activity
No one is currently typing a reply...
Similar threads
- Started by Steven Lature
- General Car Audio
About this thread
- Start date
- Participants
- Who Replied
- Replies
- 16
- Views
- 1,595
- Last reply date
- Last reply from
- Suicide Bobb
