Upgrading my buddies system! Suggestions!

[scottyk 10+ year member]

Well, I sold a kid from my school 2 12" MTX Thunder 8000 Series woofers, a Visonik PB702 amp and a prefab sealed box about a year and a half ago. He drives an '04 Pontiac Grand am

Ok...so the set-up was pretty much just something that gets you by. It was one of my first systems when I knew barely anything about car audio. I sold it to him as a package and now, a year later had a nice ported custom box that I needed to get rid of. He was in the market for a bigger system so I offered it to him and he was more than eager. Just cause he's someone I know, I offered to switch his subs and amp out of his old sealed box and put them in the new one and wire everything up for free just to seal the deal for the box (Besides that subs make noise and amps deliver power to subs, the guy knows nothing about car audio). After taking the woofers out, I found that one voice coil had died on one of them (DVC subs, btw).

Well, he naturally wasn't too happy about that but I said that eventually all equipment does get old and used (especially because all he does is slam the bass for his rap needs) and that now that he has a better box that is ported, his next step may be to invest in some better woofers and a more powerful amp. He said he was willing to spend about $150 a piece for each woofer and I'm not sure on his price about an amp. I'm looking for some suggestions. He doesn't want to do any electrical upgrades besides running bigger power wire (running 10 gauge now haha) so I'm thinking something in the range of 600-800 watts per woofer. Browsing sonic electronix, I didn't find anything too promising or that I was terribly familiar with. I hoped on AQ and noticed their SDC2.5 12's are right within his price range (shipping obviously added in but for that kinda quality, it would be worth it). How do you guys think two of those would sound with an AQ 1200D?

Also, the box is sold him is right around 2 cubes each after displacement, the box was initially built for two 12 HDC3's. Think it would still be good to throw in two SDC2.5's if he wanted to go that route?

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[scottyk 10+ year member]

Anyone? Ill almosy certainly recommend the aq setup to him, just wondering if a stock battery up front will be sufficient electrical wise

 

[hockeytoker 10+ year member]

ya sounds like a decent lil set up. an idk bout electrical. just install it an see if his voltage drops a lot. whats his voltage at wit those mtx's? how bigs his alt?it should be fine just do a big 3 upgrade. but if its not just tell him to spend a lil more an get another batt. if u got any other questions just pm me. ill get back to u right away

 

[scottyk 10+ year member]

anyone else? i have no idea of the size of his alternator or his voltage drop with the mtx's, never got that far into it.

 

[bborey 10+ year member]

the AQs sound like a good idea, my boy has one in his carolla. you can look into the FI ssd's(800rms). if you're running 1200w you'll need at least 4gauge power&ground also.

and i cant imagin the alternator to be any bigger than 100amps, probably around 80amps or so.. may have some issues with this down the road from stress on the alt though. dont believe much in caps but a larger one around at least 2farad could help out some.. (id only try it if you find one layin around, or someone sellin one for cheap)

 

[TurdFergueson2 5,000+ posts]

the AQs sound like a good idea, my boy has one in his carolla. you can look into the FI ssd's(800rms). if you're running 1200w you'll need at least 4gauge power&ground also.and i cant imagin the alternator to be any bigger than 100amps, probably around 80amps or so.. may have some issues with this down the road from stress on the alt though. dont believe much in caps but a larger one around at least 2farad could help out some.. (id only try it if you find one layin around, or someone sellin one for cheap)

Put your flame suit on Brah

 

[TurdFergueson2 5,000+ posts]

what is the ported box tuned to?

 

[jshak07 10+ year member]

lets not turn this into a thread about caps

 

[john denver 10+ year member]

im running two sdc2.5 on a aq1200d with stock batt and stock alt and have no problems

Explorer with 130 amp alt

 

[scottyk 10+ year member]

box is tuned to 38 hertz. And I'm aware he will need bigger gauge wire. As far as electrical upgrades I'm talking things like an extra battery, HO alt, etc. He liked the idea of the SDC2.5's when I told him they were a step below my HDC3's which he saw and was thoroughly impressed by. He also told me his budget is $600, so I'm gonna look on here for some used stuff to get the price down so he can afford some new wire

 

[bborey 10+ year member]

using a cap was just a suggestion. i only used one bc a friend handed it to me for free. but thats enough of that shit.

im running two sdc2.5 on a aq1200d with stock batt and stock alt and have no problems

Explorer with 130 amp alt

i ran a RF t1000-1bd in an s10 and had no problems, but a car also has a smaller alt, also had a camry with a soundstream trx1000.1d and my lights dimmed some when bass hit(only had this setup for a month or two).

battery: you can do a optima yellow top instead of runnin another battery.

alt: can look into a 140amp, thhink hey run around $190 or so on db electrical

that should be enough when it comes up upgrading electrical.

 

[hockeytoker 10+ year member]

lets not turn this into a thread about caps

no cap please just another strain on ur alt. if he's got a lil extra cash after he gets all of his stuff then buy a batt for the back an do big 3. if he doesn't just tell him to run it with just the big three an see how low his voltage drops then if its gettin low tell him he needs to get another batt.