dharris2488

Quentin, do you have any decals that I can buy to put on my enclosure? I would like a big DSS or something like that so I can poly over it. Let me know if you do please...

Thank you for the enclosure design. I do have one and I will post it in a second. Basically, its 32.5hz, Vb=3 34.5W 16.5H 23.375D with 5 1/8" port width. Leaves me 3.75 before displacement/bracing. Let me see if I can post the pic. I can't take credit for the box design, as Joe X over at SMD designed it for me. I doubt it sounds bad, but you never know. Joe X designs some decent enclosures and I haven't heard to many bad complaints, if any at all. Now I have a proven back up... Thanks By the way, this is for everyone, this site has been much friendlier and straight forward in regard to responses, over SMD. Thanks for all the welcomes and valuable information everyone has shared with me so far.

How you liking the 12's? I got a pair on order. getting anxious... Building enclosure as we speak. I'm having a hell of a time getting my tuning down to 32, so I settled at 33hz. Hope it doesn't affect the sound too much... I'd imagine these subs will still shine...I'm amazed at every video i've seen with these subs. Quentin has something good going on with this line. I'm sure it won't be too long before Ethos is a very common name... I'm also sure I just bought a set of "pure pleasure!" drivers. My Camry is going to BANG! What's nice is they seem fairly musical as well. Come on and get here... I've got 4K waiting for them! I absolutely love them! I went from a single fi bl 12 to these ( just an upgrade, loved the bl too ) and have beating them for a few months now, they surprise me all the time. I've got 5k+ songs on my iPhone and stuff that I didn't play on the Fi have become regulars on my playlist. They play EVERYTHING amazingly well. My demos start with some kind of everyday music just to show how musical they are. Then I play something to show how brutal they can be. They are on a Taramps 3k and could easily do more. To put it another way, I need to upgrade the front stage again, because I can completely drown it out. I could go on forever about them and Q himself, but ultimately the Ethos speak for themselves! Where is the build log? I've got some pictures ready to upload. I pretty much finished my enclosure today. Tonight, I've been laying down QMat to cover every single tiny hole I can find to seal the trunk properly. I will post them tomorrow and show my progress. I have plenty of goodies to still install, show I will lay them out and take a pic of what's to come. One of my Kappa 6.5's fried today. I have a no questions asked warranty on them, so I guess I will continue to run them. I really like how clear and loud they are, but I have NO punchy mid bass. Any suggestions? Something I can do before next weekend? I have an extra Q4-120 still new in box just laying around. I think I have plenty of highs, but the Ethos I'm sure will give them a real test. My major need right now is some kind of "kick" to my midbass section...

Oh ok... Well then, I guess I will rock what I have for now until it's time to recoil the subs. I'm sure it will still be a marked improvement over my current setup. I'm excited for them to get here, I'll tell you that...

Well this sucks, my left front 6.5 Kappa just shorted out on me. I took the speaker out of the door and water poured out of it. Looks like I'm going to be looking for some front stage much sooner than I thought. I need to find those dense foam acoustic rings that go around my speakers to protect them. This really sucks! I liked the Kappa's... Oh well, time to move on to bigger an better, whatever that may be!

Definitely checking that out... Hey Quentin, you offer recones for the Ethos right? I think in maybe 6 months to a year, I will order D1 coils so I can wire to 1ohm. Didn't want to do it right now, as my amps still have that new car smell to them I know rise varies with every tone, but I think I'm seeing close to 3.5ohms of rise on average. I'm assuming it will probably be somewhat safe to wire the Q2200's at 1ohm strapped... I know you can't "tell" me to do it, but are the SoundQubed amps typically ok to wire to .5ohm single or 1ohm strapped? This will be a daily driver as well...

Tell Paul at DipTex I said hello. Those guys know how to get loud for sure. Will do....

Sounds good. I'd like to meet some new people, that actually know what they're doing... Should be a good show for me.

I can't wait to hear something like that... I was told by the guy that did 155, that anything over 160 starts to actually get painful/uncomfortable. I will definitely be going to this show for multiple reasons. SHould be a great time. Now, to get my car in good enough condition to meter it... Enclosure should be finished tomorrow and my bus bars arrived tonight. Hoping to have everything wired by this weekend, so I can focus on making sure everything is sealed off properly.

Yeah, I've really never heard anything louder than 155. That's what the guy told me he metered. I believed him, as it was the loudest thing i've ever heard. 4 HDC4 15's walled on Audison amps.... Many XS batteries!

Thats awesome... I would love to do that. Hopefully my build we be mostly completed by then, at least to get some numbers put up. It may not look pretty by then, but it will probably be functional. Look forward to meeting some of you there.

Hopefully I will have my Ethos on Saturday! Got my shipping notice today... Damn i'm anxious!

Gotcha... Yeah, they have a weird impedance to them as well, 5 I think. Figured it was normal. I've never run them, so I didn't know any difference. Do you happen to know if those foam rings work fairly well that you wrap around the 6.5 driver's themselves? The one's that butt up to the actual plastic of door? I guess they keep the waves moving forward, instead of bouncing around all throughout the door panel. I think with some MLV added on top of my deadener (as recommended above), then maybe those acoustic foam rings, I should be good to go. Maybe add some more power to them as well. Thinking about just yanking the Kenwood amp and replacing it with the SoundQubed, just for power reasons (easy swap)... It may sound better as well, with it being a Class AB and the Kenwood being a Class D, even though I may not be able to tell the difference.

Why don't you like super tweeters? Just curious? Not upset about not using them. I think they were only like 25 dollars or something. I can sell them...

Just got confirmation my Ethos are on the way! Hell yeah! Can't wait. My enclosure should be built by tomorrow and then I can figure out how to frame it out to fire subs/port forward into the cabin. I'm doing everything I can to find every single hole in my trunk and rear deck to seal the trunk off completely. Very tedious work, but will be worth all the time put in once the Ethos get wired up.

your whole plan with the 8s, components, super tweeters together is terrible to be honest. you already have speakers that you seem to be happy with. it would be best to get them installed optimally which would included deadening the doors, sealing access holes in the door (separate the front and rear sound waves produced by the woofer), mlv, and so forth. You could also bridge the 4 channel to the front components and run the rears off something else or disable them. Set the gain and xover correctly and you shouldn't kill any speaker, unless you do so purposefully by ignoring the signs. If that's not enough output then come back with a new thread and discuss new gear. Ok. The Kappa's can handle 150RMS, I believe. So far, I believe I'm only putting about 100 to them. I like your idea of losing the rears, therefore adding more power to the components. I have another amp that I was planning on installing to run some rear fill (I know most of you guys don't like the idea of rear fill, but I like the surround I get from it), off one of the channels. I guess I will keep the super tweeters for a "fun" build and do something for the beach. Something like a ice chest build. Anyway, getting off track. I've already deadened the doors, so I guess if I do the rest as you recommended, I can get more of the punchiness that I'm looking for. Thanks for the advise... It's nice to bounce ideas around and get honest, straightforward answers.

Well, I will do some research and see what I can come up with. Right now the Kappa's can handle some pretty decent wattage and stay clear and loud. I may put the Q4-120 on them at 2ohm and give them 170 each. Play them until they blow or just get ragged. Then I will see what my options are. Maybe the sound from the Ethos will overpower my mids/highs so much that it drives me nutz and I pull the trigger on something immediately? I don't know yet... Wait and see. I'm going to need to do some research on how to add an 8" driver to the stock door opening, with fabrication of course, yet still make it look stock. I think with 2 8" drivers, and the 6.5 components, with super tweets up front, I should be all good. At least for now... I'm really missing a lot of that serious punch mid bass. That will be next. Soooo, no Crescendo. Recommendation?

Will I be able to meter my car at this show? I would really like to know what kind of numbers I'm doing...

Looks like I will be coming to the DipTex show... I'm not going to lie, this will be my first show. I've never been to one, so I am very excited to attend. Like I said, I'm just now getting back into car audio after a break of over 10 years, so it will be cool to see what all is out there. Basically, when I got out of car audio, JL's W6 line was the beez neez, especially if you had a Phoenix Gold amp to push them... Yeah, it's been a while...

I thought about that, but didn't know how effective it would be. Second Skin MLV be good? Just cut it into workable strips and place over any metal? Never worked with the stuff... Also, if I built little boxes to surround my rear 6x9's, do you guys think I would get a little more "punchiness" out of them? Secure the boxes to the underside of the deck using liquid nails or something? I'm looking to get more punchiness from my mids... I thought about the foam rings for the door panels, but I have to come up with something for the rear...THanks for the tip on the MLV... I will go ahead and place an order for some today. I put some closed cell foam on the perimeter of my headliner and it made a world of difference. I can't imagine what MLV will do... may even help the 6x9's play a little cleaner, since hardly an vibrations... it would be best if you read sounddeadenershowdown.com concerning mlv. MLV acts as a barrier, cld tiles dampen resonant, ccf decouples.i would suggest removing the mids, selling them, and improving the front stage. ^^ this. The Ethos will overpower your front stage. With my current setup 2 12" ethos, I have the sub stage set pretty conservatively as that is my very same issue. 6 1/2 crescendo cz with full sound deadening treatment. So yeah I will say a beefy, well executed front stage is very very necessary. Well, looks like I've got some work to do... I've got to keep it as is for now, as I'm dumping all my money into the subs, enclosure, and sealing of trunk. My car is loud, as the Kappa's do get loud and clear, so it will have to work for now. I have the extra 4 channel SoundQubed amp that I can install instead of the Kenwood. It will give me another 70 watts per channel and I should be able to buy and handle a more competition driven mid range component set/s. How do you like the Crescendo's? Also, I will be installing the SuperTweets up front to give me more highs. I would love to learn how to install a set of 8" mid range drivers in the door. Looks like I will be researching that next... Always something!

Glad I ordered mine last week! Wow, that was close!!!

Well, I have my port pieces cut and the top and bottom of my enclosure. Gonna have to take a break, as I live in Houston, TX and it's a hot biotch outside right now... I LOVE TEXAS, but I hate Texas summers. At least I get 9 months of amazing weather though...

I thought about that, but didn't know how effective it would be. Second Skin MLV be good? Just cut it into workable strips and place over any metal? Never worked with the stuff... Also, if I built little boxes to surround my rear 6x9's, do you guys think I would get a little more "punchiness" out of them? Secure the boxes to the underside of the deck using liquid nails or something? I'm looking to get more punchiness from my mids... I thought about the foam rings for the door panels, but I have to come up with something for the rear... THanks for the tip on the MLV... I will go ahead and place an order for some today. I put some closed cell foam on the perimeter of my headliner and it made a world of difference. I can't imagine what MLV will do... may even help the 6x9's play a little cleaner, since hardly an vibrations...

Thanks. I will definitely read up. The way I see it is, I can't be TOO informed...

Thanks for the link... Going to read it this afternoon. Working on enclosure as I type... Enclosure is only 34.5" wide and 16.5"H, 23.375"D. 5 1/8" opening on the port, tuned to 32.5-33hz at Vb=3. I'm going for it... I figure I can use the jigsaw and start cutting pieces of 1/2" ply and covering up big gaps and use spray/expanding foam to fill. I will tape off ALL metal, so hopefully if and when I need to remove the frame, It will peel right off. I'm going to come up with a setup where I can bolt the enclosure to the wooden frame. I need this to be modular, as I'm a travelling salesman. Normally it doesn't matter, but when my boss comes into town, I can't have this in my trunk. I will carpet a piece of ply and bolt it over the opening and he won't know any difference... Thats the plan at least. I hope firing the subs/port into the cabin makes a noticeable enough difference to justify all the work i'm putting into this. And by the way, for those who care, I am taking pictures of everything I can so I can post a build log. Maybe it will help someone like me in the future. Share the love...