sundownz

I picked it out A-B without knowing which was which... and I'm a huge skeptic of these sorts of things.

A friend of mine ran two of the 12-spoke old Mag 15s in an explorer. About 6 cubes tuned to ~30Hz or so... it pounded. Stupid loud setup. He initially had only 350 watts each and it was loud and upping the power only made it even more ridiculous. We pretty much matched a local shops wall setup with 24 10" subs on their meter, it was less than 1 dB difference. His rear view mirror ended up falling off and a small crack in his windshield expanded to the entire width of the glass. It was pretty much all I could do to ride with him... I bought ear plugs to do so. Nick has also been in this car, he can vouch for it

Nick does have some mad sexy legs... I give him that!

I would take the HiFonics over the Rockford. Although I am confused on the power ratings for the XX Hercules. The site lists 650-watts at 4 ohms whereas the auction I was browsing lists 800-watts -- but in any event you could technically run the Hercules at 1 ohm on the D2 if you kept the gains way down (as it does produce 2000 watts into 1 ohm). Of course I would start it off at 4 ohms to be certain, ~600 watts on a D2 is pretty darn loud and you could very well be satisfied at that level -- especially if you are using a relatively big box. As for my DLS comps... they are still in the box. My install is nowhere near finished and it's going along slowly. Based on reviews I've heard they are awesome. I will warn you, though, that the Iridium 6.3 set that I have is over $600 on ebay. If you do decide to go for the Rockford it should do fine, although it's really not the most for your money by any means.

Now imagine when he actually deadens the doors and does some real EQ work with it Should be significantly better!

FYI, Zed Audio has fessed up to an overheating issue with the Minilith at 1 ohm when pushed hard. I would highly recommend a class A/B Hifonics 2-channel bridged for your Magnum. This is what I'm doing based on how well a ZX600 ran our first gen Mag in Nick's sister's car for quite some time. I've picked up a ZX1000 for this purpose and that is well within your budget. If you are worried about your electrical system you could take a look at a Hifonics XX Hercules Class-D and run it at 4 ohms. This gives you 800 watts and it fits in your budget quite nicely. Plus the 4 ohm load won't stress the amp AT ALL so it should last pretty much forever.

Keep in mind the old one is a Class A/B and the new one is a Class D so the internals aren't directly comparable

Tara Labs did an exceptional job on the RCAs. Nick and I even unscrewed the end caps to peek inside and the craftsmanship was excellent. I'm excited to see what Nick brews up by the weekend

I guess you could say it sounds like a W7 without the wooshing and without the tubbyness But really, it doesn't sound like any of the drivers mentioned that I've heard. There really isn't any way to be dissapointed. It has big low end and the extension to the crosover frequency isn't sacrificed at all. It will keep up with anything you can throw at it. The old Magnum was an accurate speaker, but this one takes it another step or two further.

It is a monster! I think I'm in love It's one of the heavier amps I've had in my hands, nearly as heavy as the old MA Audio MA5082HX I had a long time ago (36" long) to power the trio of Magnums in my old Firebird.

Man that made things worse, seems contradictory to me. Maybe you guys can start a demo ring with long enough cables that they would work in a few guys systems. I wish I had a system that was so good I could hear what the cable has to offer. If you have any specific confusions about the PDF let me know and I'll see what I can do. In the case of this wire... you would probably hear it on even a moderatly good system. The difference I heard with Nick's A/B demo was not subtle at all.

http://www.taralabs.com/images/proprietarytech.pdf This PDF should help immensely... it makes good sense, actually.

Awesome... maybe this weekend I won't end up getting sick like last weekend so I can actually come by and check out all this new gear you have laying around!

Nothing about speakers... thats for sure!

Most 'run of the mill' speaker wire is pretty much all the same as long as it's oxygen free copper. The wire Nick is using at $1.75 a foot is pretty much the first step up from the regular stuff that actually makes a difference at all. As for RCAs... just look for twisted pair with good shielding and sturdy/snug fitting connectors. Thick insulation doesn't hurt either, if not just to prevent physical damage to the wires. My verdict is still out on RCAs until I hear Nick's new stuff, I wasn't sold on his wire until he did an A/B for me either

Are you looking for interconnects or simply speaker wire? The speaker wire Nick is using isn't all that esoteric in price -- just $1.75 a foot. While thats far from cheap it's not exactly a few grand like some of the "big boy" hi-fi wires. As for fancy RCAs... I don't have an answer. I haven't had a chance to check out Nick's new RCAs and do an A/B comparison. I would assume similar issues would be importat such as the process through which the copper is constructed and it's geometry. If you are looking at something under $200 I would wager most of the interconnects are roughly equivalent.

You got me... I suspect they use fibutron (where is Hollis?!). Don't ask me what they did to the wire, but I will tell you with 100% certainty that Nick's fancy speaker wire sounded audibly different than his standard speaker wire. I didn't want to admit it since I haven't been able to find any reason why the wire should sound any different. But it's to the point where I may end up buying some for myself.

Uh oh, I need to have a look at those! You gonna be around Friday night?

I will vouch for that... sounds amazing in there with low power.

Ah yes, they look so nice don't they

I'll vouch for that... it really did stomp the Aura! I'm playing around with fiberglass trying to get my 12" installed. Could be a while since I'm starting from ground zero with this car... but I'm extremely excited. These new drivers really are amazing.

Lets just say we thought about putting a picture of them on the dust cap... but we decided that we would sell too many drivers and would never be able to keep them in stock

You do realize he has a 36" long class A/B amplifier? Hehe, the vehicle certainly wouldn't enjoy a burp with the engine shut off On another note, when he was still in NC we took it down to a local shop and ran head to head with their van with a wall of 24 10s... I believe the difference was very small, something like 1.4 dB.

- Motor tolerances are tighter (should help power handling) - The glue joints are stronger - The cone is stronger - The surround is a higher quality material - More low-end extension Some of the basics right there... Nick may have some more for you. In my listening with the new 15" driver I am certain that it sounds even better than the previous incarnation. And I was very impressed with the old 15" D2.

I will tell you now... this guy could break an anvil with a sponge. Good to see you on here Brandon.