Went to Car audio shop today

[DaRevrin 10+ year member]

I went to a car audio shop today to look at some rca cables and they were overly expensive, so i just ordered some on knuconceptz website instead.

Well anyways the guy asks me what subs i have and i tell him fi ssds, he has no clue what these are and says hes never heard of fi. He said he does not deal with unknown brands because he had some RE and one fell off the wall in the store or something and never wanted to deal with them again.

he asked me how much power i was going to be running and i said 1500 watts and he tells me ill need a bigger alternater because mine will die in a couple months with that much power... is this true??? I think the guy is clueless but this I was not sure about this.

He also said that running a ported box in my truck is a bad idea because ill just hear port noise.

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[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

depending on the size of your stock alternator, you could very well cook it on 1500rms.

As for the port noise comment, if the box is done right, you wont have any.

 

[Johnny Law.Lulz 5,000+ posts]

What size is your stock alt and whats your box specs and all.

 

[GetLikeMe 10+ year member]

i got kicker zx 1500.1 and zx 350.4 in my girls little toyota yaris pounding a 15 and alternator is fine haha //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif i do got a kinetik hc 800 in rear tho and big 3 done.

 

[wone 10+ year member]

you good with stock alt.

in my civic i had 3 batteries, i did the big 3, 2 t1000's pushing 2 DD9512's and a 4 channel on stock 75amp alt, and its been like that for months, my lights dont dim or anything, if you know what your doing and you have a good *** connection your be good especially for just 1500 watts.

you good just do the big3 and have a second battery.

 

[supermaxx123 10+ year member]

your alternator will die eventually, faster pulling big loads from it but i wouldn't worry too much. putting in a bigger battery or 2 only makes your alternator work harder since it is wahts charging everything, the batteries keep your voltage high but stress the alt more. even with 2 batts your alt won't die in a month unless your car is never off and always pulling max amps.

big 3 help by keeping your precious volts/amps on a bigger path, not as much loss at high currents.

 

[DaRevrin 10+ year member]

Yea, i will do the big three. How much does it cost to do that?? I know a new alternater is not cheap so hopefully mine wont die, im not sure how big it is though.. its a 2000 dodge dakota.

I have the box dimensions saved on my comp ill have to pull them up but it was designed by someone on here who is pretty good so im sure it wont.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

your alternator will die eventually, faster pulling big loads from it but i wouldn't worry too much. putting in a bigger battery or 2 only makes your alternator work harder since it is wahts charging everything, the batteries keep your voltage high but stress the alt more. even with 2 batts your alt won't die in a month unless your car is never off and always pulling max amps.big 3 help by keeping your precious volts/amps on a bigger path, not as much loss at high currents.

This guy pretty much hit it right on the money.

My first system was running off a stock alt and I thought "Oh yeah it'll be fine", then a few months later when I upgraded my alt, I decided to take apart my old one and it was just burnt to hell inside. That thing probably didn't have another month of life left in it...

 

[on1wheel01 10+ year member]

U gotta remember most guys at audio shops are morons. Most just because they have never heard of high end audio. Also many build shitty boxes and give shitty advice. I think like said you would be fine. Do the big 3, then like also said maybe get a small extra batt in the trunk. And yea if a box is designed shitty you will hear the port noise. I just built a box in a reg cab s10 for 2 re 8's port to the passenger side(thats what the guy wanted) no port noise and it slams.

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

of course he giong to tell you to buy the brand that he sells. so he dont like anything they cant make money on.

 

[DaRevrin 10+ year member]

Well just incase he is somehow right, what sites are best to buy alternators from??

And also how much does it cost to run the big three? Is it just running bigger wires

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

mechman good HO alts. i had one from him but sold it when i got a new car.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

Well just incase he is somehow right, what sites are best to buy alternators from??
And also how much does it cost to run the big three? Is it just running bigger wires

I like DC Power but they can be kinda slow. And no one can really tell you how much it's going to cost to do the big 3, just grab a tape measure and go out there and figure out how much 1/0 you need. Then you'll have a ballpark on how much it's going to cost. Remember to buy a few extra feet (it's better to have extra than to come up short) and don't forget about ring terminals or new battery terminals depending on how your going to run it.

 

[DaRevrin 10+ year member]

Yea i saw that thread on the dc alternators, even though most said business was fine it seems like there were a couple that had problems, id rather try some different brands if i can.

 

[death metal]

U gotta remember most guys at audio shops are morons. Most just because they have never heard of high end audio. Also many build shitty boxes and give shitty advice. I think like said you would be fine. Do the big 3, then like also said maybe get a small extra batt in the trunk. And yea if a box is designed shitty you will hear the port noise. I just built a box in a reg cab s10 for 2 re 8's port to the passenger side(thats what the guy wanted) no port noise and it slams.

port noise my asss... that port is square and not rounded off. i highly doubt you'll not hear any port noise with that box. especially a regular cab s-10. why didn't you build him a sealed down-fire box? that to me would've been a lot better