What do you guys think of my system?

[budgetkiller 10+ year member]

I saw a couple "critique my build" threads and liked them so much, I decided to do one of my own.

I like to think I have a good system for an 18 year old college kid, but I know there's much better. Here's what I have.

Kenwood KDC-X994 HU (not hooked up to any speakers)

Oldschool Phonix Gold Saphire 4 channel (30 RMS a channel @ 4 Ohm I believe) running:

-kenwood performance series 6.5" components in the front

-old pair of Pioneer 6x9"s 2-way coaxials box mounted in the trunk, used to be decent but one has a bad tweeter now)

RF T500-1BD running:

-1 SA-12 D2 @ 1 Ohm in a 3/4" slot ported birch box tuned 30-35hz approximately 1.75cu.ft. w/polyfil

4 ga. RF wiring to a Scoshe .5 farad cap followed by a distribution block and 3-4 ft. of 8 ga. to each amp.

Oh yeah, it's a hatchback.

I know it's not competition grade, but for an 18 year old college student in his first car tell me your honest opinion. Thanks guys.

Click to read more...

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

I saw a couple "critique my build" threads and liked them so much, I decided to do one of my own.
I like to think I have a good system for an 18 year old college kid, but I know there's much better. Here's what I have.

Kenwood KDC-X994 HU (not hooked up to any speakers)

Oldschool Phonix Gold Saphire 4 channel (30 RMS a channel @ 4 Ohm I believe) running:

-kenwood performance series 6.5" components in the front

-old pair of Pioneer 6x9"s 2-way coaxials box mounted in the trunk, used to be decent but one has a bad tweeter now)

RF T500-1BD running:

-1 SA-12 D2 @ 1 Ohm in a 3/4" slot ported birch box tuned 30-35hz approximately 1.75cu.ft. w/polyfil

4 ga. RF wiring to a Scoshe .5 farad cap followed by a distribution block and 3-4 ft. of 8 ga. to each amp.

Oh yeah, it's a hatchback.

I know it's not competition grade, but for an 18 year old college student in his first car tell me your honest opinion. Thanks guys.

Decent but ditch that cap

 

[budgetkiller 10+ year member]

Also, the boxes the pioneers are in are wrecked because I thought I could drill a few holes in the sides of them and port them for more bass. I should really cauk those up now that I'm a little more educated. Anyways, the rear stage is only filler so I honestly don't think you can hear that mess up front much if at all.

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

Also, the boxes the pioneers are in are wrecked because I thought I could drill a few holes in the sides of them and port them for more bass. I should really cauk those up now that I'm a little more educated. Anyways, the rear stage is only filler so I honestly don't think you can hear that mess up front much if at all.

Ehhhh either way they should be fine

 

[budgetkiller 10+ year member]

haha. Ditch everything? Even the Sa-12, fosgate amp and phoenix gold amp? I mean, I know it's not top of the line but I'm going for SQL on a budget.lol

 

[RangerDangerV2 5,000+ posts]

meh... not that good for being 18.

 

[Flex68 10+ year member]

He meant to ditch the capacitor....worfless junk

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

haha. Ditch everything? Even the Sa-12, fosgate amp and phoenix gold amp? I mean, I know it's not top of the line but I'm going for SQL on a budget.lol

Just work one thing at a time... Its a good start so youll get better the more you read and build...

 

---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 AM ----------

 

He meant to ditch the capacitor....worfless junk

And yes thats what I meant

 

[JoiNt- 10+ year member]

my first system when i was 16 like 6 years ago was two 12" alpine type S ina sealed box ona alpine mrp-m500 amp with JL 8 gauge.....lmao

 

[budgetkiller 10+ year member]

Ahhhh. Makes much more sense now. I was going to say, I knew that some of it was crap but not all of it. Yeah, the more I read the more I learn as you say. I think as far as this vehicle goes I'm done now. Once I'm older and have more of a budget I'll either grow out of this hobby or throw some serious cash into my next car and put in a competition grade system.

Also, I bought the cap a while back for a decent price and really only leave it in there because it looks cool, can't hurt anything, and it does seem to help keep my headlights from suddenly dimming. Generally speaking I don't have voltage drop issues, it just seems to have fixed the sudden dimming I used to get.

Great feedback though guys. I'm really enjoying this.

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

Ahhhh. Makes much more sense now. I was going to say, I knew that some of it was crap but not all of it. Yeah, the more I read the more I learn as you say. I think as far as this vehicle goes I'm done now. Once I'm older and have more of a budget I'll either grow out of this hobby or throw some serious cash into my next car and put in a competition grade system.
Also, I bought the cap a while back for a decent price and really only leave it in there because it looks cool, can't hurt anything, and it does seem to help keep my headlights from suddenly dimming. Generally speaking I don't have voltage drop issues, it just seems to have fixed the sudden dimming I used to get.

Great feedback though guys. I'm really enjoying this.

Whp says you have to grow out of it? If you had headlight dimming you had voltage drop lol

 

[budgetkiller 10+ year member]

my first system when i was 16 like 6 years ago was two 12" alpine type S ina sealed box ona alpine mrp-m500 amp with JL 8 gauge.....lmao

Lol! My first system was the phonix gold amp on 8 ga. (hey that's not bad), a pioneer HU AM/FM/CD (a little outdated but certainly usuable), those same pioneers in the trunk (before they got wrecked), and to top it all off, old school kenwood 5.25"s in the doors not even sealed with the speaker grill. (just went real down hill). My brother gave me everything in his old car which was awesome (still using most of it) and like $50 for supplies a couple boxes i used for the 6x9"s and the kenwood 5.25"s. Not bad for $50 bucks

...Then comes my "second system" those same two outdated kenwood Coaxials in the doors and an MTX thunder 4000 sub in a drum. Yes, you heard right, it didn't have a box so my friend put it in a drum and took the skins off. It was amazing how good it sounded too. lol. let's just say, this system has come a long way.

 

[RangerDangerV2 5,000+ posts]

yeah.... my first system....

 

[budgetkiller 10+ year member]

Whp says you have to grow out of it? If you had headlight dimming you had voltage drop lol

lol Wow, I'm an idiot. What I meant by voltage drop was where it drops to 12 and sits there till the bass stops. Usually It would just dim for a split second and jump back up before the gauge moved much if any.

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

lol Wow, I'm an idiot. What I meant by voltage drop was where it drops to 12 and sits there till the bass stops. Usually It would just dim for a split second and jump back up before the gauge moved much if any.

12 is pretty low still though...