sq_mgb

Thanks for the info, I did not know those units were that good. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for one.

I've been told that several times, but I have an addiction...if you saw my closet and storage unit you would understand. John can tell you how hard it is for me to sell ANYTHING that has Linear Power on it. One of these days I'll pony up and get a kick butt head unit for the truck, but for now it does just fine for me.

If I could find a working 7909 or Denon top shelf unit for the plus or minus $200 price I paid for my Kenwood, I'd be all over it. If you find one in good shape that works for that price, PLEASE let me know. My choice of headunit was purely economic and time related. I had a show that weekend, my sony unit died. I had two days to get it installed. That's why the Kenwood is in my dash pure and simple. I have come to appreciate the bluetooth waaaay more than I thought I would, so it has stayed put. If I can answer anything else, please feel free to ask.

I had a Sony CDX-C910 I was going to use in this install. Unfortunately it died when I installed it. I heard it power up, but had no display and the face would not go up or down. I used an Alpine CDA-7894, but it never sounded quite right, plus I got a good price on the Kenwood (thanks Carmil and Car-Fi!) and since I wanted Bluetooth I went with it. The truck was a learning tool. I'll go all out on the Altima when I do it, but right now funds are tight and I just don't have the money to do another one right now. I would like to find a Pioneer 880, Alpine 7909, Clarion DRZ-9255 or something similar in quality, but it would have to be in a price range I can afford. I still look on feesbay and maybe one day I'll get lucky and find something in the range I'm looking for. For now, this one does everything I want and more. I don't use any time alignment, DSP, or anything like that. I use the front outputs only and run them into the PA-II and from there to the XO-3 and then to the amps. Pretty simple setup. A 7909 or similar would fit the bill nicely, but I haven't had much luck locating one in a price that's not going to get me killed by my girlfriend. I've been informed her car is next since I've done two of mine AND her son's, and her's is still stock! Keep momma happy and she keeps me happy! Jimmy, are you going to finals? I would love to show you the truck and why I did things the way I did. I find it difficult to explain over a forum the "why" part of why I do things, it's just easier for me to show someone and let them decide for themselves if it worked or not. There is no trickery involved with any of our (mine, John's, Randle's, TJ's, Herman's or Ray's) installs, just solid equipment, maximization of the environment (ie, sound damping / proofing), good speaker aiming and lots of listening and experimenting to see what works in each of our vehicles. Unfortunately, (or fortunately in my case, thanks John!!) most of us have trucks except for Ray, which is why we are trying to get Kim's HHR and my Altima going for next year. I look forward to seeing you at a show someday, as I would like to listen to your vehicle as well. I know you like Linear Power, or at least you seemed to on DIYMA. I can't remember what you ran in your personal vehicle, but I'm sure it sounds great.

When I built this truck I was in the learning stage. I knew NOTHING about making a competition vehicle or the little things that count. I'm not a pro installer, I'm just a guy who likes good sound and decided to try his hand at going to shows. On the first wall I built, I was trying for something that looked good that I was capable of building. I think I achieved that goal. At the time, I knew nothing of seat position or why it mattered. When I built the second wall, I took what I had learned from the scoresheets and applied it to the rebuild. I moved the amps down as far as I could, but there is a hump that runs across the back of the truck, and a ridge that runs across the truck about 14" or so above that. When your amp is 12" long and you are trying to squeeze it in a 14" space, you're kinda limited in placement. I put in the DPS500 simply because I could move the amp farther down without having to rebuild the back wall AGAIN. If I put the 2.2HV on it's side, it's still 1/2" taller than the DPS500, AND I would have to put it into an enclosure and fan cool it because the heatsinks would be horizontal instead of vertical and wouldn't be as effective at cooling. By the time I add the enclosure (hmmm, let's see....9.5" for amp, 1" on each side for air flow, another 1" for mdf box, that's 11.5") I only gain 1/2" over what I had. Not really worth it in my opinion, not to mention the extra height for the enclosure over the heatsink. By contrast, the DPS500 is 9" long, fits in the same space, fins are still vertical for cooling, I don't have to build another rear wall....do I really have to qualify my decision any more?? There is NOTHING extraordinary about it....John runs the DPS500 simply because he has them and doesn't have a matching pair of 2.2HV's as far as I know. I run them because they allow me to put the amps into a position that allows me to better position the listener into the sweet spot and to be quite honest, I don't want to rebuild the whole freaking truck again. I'm not sure why this has all of a sudden become an issue?? I understand that for years the 2.2HV has been touted as the SQ amp in the line. In our opinion, the DPS500 sounds as good and fits the space we have better. Randle (Cableguy) still runs the 2.2HV in his truck and for his install it works, and works well. In Biloxi at Scrapin' the Coast, he beat me by one point in SQ. I guess we'll find out at finals if changing the amps really made any difference. He and I won't be in the same class, but we can still compare sheets to see how we score. I attribute the better scoring in my truck to being able to get the seat in a better position, NOT the amplifier. Sorry if it sounded like the amp made the difference in sound all by itself. I guess I should have been more clear and apologize if my previous post was misleading in any way.

As was stated before, both amps are great and will do well for getting good sound from your system. The preamp section in the DPS500 is a little better than the 2.2HV. It has slightly better channel seperation and slightly better S/N ratio. I believe this is why my soundstage got a little wider and deeper, or at least I assume so. That and also being able to push the seat farther back helped as well. When my seat contacts the amp, that's as far as I can go in my cab. With the 2.2HV, my seat would stop waaaay before it does now. By getting another 1/4" of room because of the shorter height, AND with the different profile of the heatsink AND with the amp being shorter in length, I was able to mount the amp lower on the amp rack which allowed me to push the seat farther back. All of that COMBINED allowed me to make a better soundstage and get the listener in the "sweet spot" so to speak. I believe those COMBINED things is what the judge heard and commented on. The 2.2HV is still one of the best amps out there in my opinion for driving a front stage or subwoofers cleanly. Is it the "best" amp there is? Who knows? Depends on who you ask. I like it and I like my DPS500 the same. The DPS amp allows me to put the seat in a better listening position so I can be more in the sweet spot and have better imaging and staging. John has never had the 2.2HV in his system so he can't compare the amps directly. When he and Ray got to talking about the amps, I think one of them made comment on the profile of the amp being shorter and we decided to try it to see what would happen. That's why they were changed. Nothing more to read into it than that. If you have any more questions about the amps, I am more than happy to try to answer them for you.

PS.... The majority of shows I have won, including the regional event at NW Audio in Platte City, MO were won with the 2.2HV's in the truck. I have only been to three shows with the DPS500's, the other FOURTEEN shows were done with the 2.2HV's. So I wouldn't call them substandard by any stretch. The 2.2HV is a darn good amplifier, I just need every little bit of room behind my seat I can get. The sound of the amps is so close you're splitting hairs comparing them, in my opinion you won't go wrong with EITHER amp. You can see from my signature that I'm going to use one in my Nissan on the front stage, and I wouldn't run it if I didn't believe in it.

This is why I switched.... Reason 1. I first ran the 2.2HV's because I didn't have a second DPS500 that matched. When I found that the DPS500and the DPSQ50 heatsinks were interchangable, I had Ray swap heatsinks for me to make them match since I had a Q50 that matched my first DPS500. Reason 2. The DPS500 "sound" is just ever so slightly better because of the preamp section in the amp. Reason 3. There was just a little less current draw from the DPS500 as opposed to the 2.2HV. Not much, but every little bit helps. Reason 4. The heatsink was a little shorter in height (2.75" instead of 3") and it gave me another 1/4" of space behind the seat to get the seat position better for judging. That's why I switched mine out. If I had another vehicle to build that had more room AND had the alternator to keep up with current demand from the amps, I would use them in a heartbeat. I have a pair of 3.2HV's that sit in my closet because I don't want to have to make the modifications to run them in any of the vehicles I drive on a daily basis. Hope that explanation helps....if you want to know more, just ask.

Thank you Richard. Think Kim would still want to hear it now? lol She would still like to hear it.....just from across the street! You've done an amazing job. After finals I'm going to have to make a trip to hear this thing...but I'm going to bring earplugs!! Keep up the good work, can't wait to see (and hear) it in person. Thanks Rich. You finish kicking ass and win that trophy. Damn happy for you bro. Good luck the rest of the way. If you bring earplugs, I am going to have to ask you return your man card. lol Kim get a free pass. Just talked to Kim and she said, and I quote, "she doesn't need any damn earplugs, just make sure he plays a 31Hz test tone!" I can't wait to see pics of the box being built, because those pods turned out really good. Keep up the great work! And as always....MORE PICS!!!!

Thank you Richard. Think Kim would still want to hear it now? lol She would still like to hear it.....just from across the street! You've done an amazing job. After finals I'm going to have to make a trip to hear this thing...but I'm going to bring earplugs!! Keep up the good work, can't wait to see (and hear) it in person.

Good work as always.....keep the pics coming!

I would have to go look to be sure, but I think it's 15 & 2...the only one that really counts is finals when I go up against all the other cars that I haven't seen this year. I'm hopeful I'll do well, but I'm not going to count chickens until they hatch! I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing and show the truck as best I can, make the install look as good as possible, detail the crap outta the truck and hope for the best! No matter what happens at finals I've had a great time at all the shows this year and look forward to competing next year with my Altima. (it's waaay more comfortable on a long trip) Whodat, are you going to be at finals?

Thanks for the well wishes everyone! I have made a change in the truck which according to the judge made a difference in the sound in Tulsa. I swapped the amps from 2.2HV's to DPS500's, and the stage was "wider and deeper" and the midrange was improved. I didn't even have the amps matched to the PA-II!They were just set by ear for the show. I'll try to gain match them before the show in Jackson and hopefully that will improve it some more. Now I have to get my behind outside and remake the amp panels so the wires match up with the holes! The 2.2HV wires come out in a different spot than the DPS500 so the wiring looked like spaghetti this weekend at the show. I'll have that fixed before finals. Also got my invite yesterday so I'll see everyone in Shreveport! Thanks again everyone for all the support, it makes all the work worth it! And just so everyone knows, I couldn't have gotten here without all the help from my friends and especially the help of my girlfirend Kim! She stood by me and helped me through everything and I couldn't have done this without her! Thank you for being there and I love you!

Tuned in for the build! If you need a hand, I could be persuaded to pop up to KC for a weekend to help out as long as you take me for a ride in the car first!

You know I'll be there......

Is it just me or does it sound like it's going to come apart at 19 seconds in the second video????

Can't wait to see the finished product. I'm sure it will look incredible going off the last build you did for your doors. I can only imagine how loud it's going to be in your Yukon! Good luck with your build and be sure to post pics!!!!!

Thanks guys....I'm just doing what I can to help get the products out there and to try and show the younger guys who are just starting out that there's more to audio than just burping a number on a meter. I had several people sit in the truck over the weekend and all liked what they heard. I'll be in Tulsa this weekend (9/19/10) at Import Face Off and hopefully I'll do well down there. (Steve you have dibs on listening time!) After that, I'll be in Jackson, MS for Chilaxin' in Jackson on 9/25/10 and if possible in KCMO on 9/26/10 for the KCIR High School Drags where they have some AWESOME cars show up for the racing. Hopefully I'll get to meet some of the people from the forum at the shows or at finals, just look for the black truck with the old guy next to it. Till then....happy listening!

Just saw this....and holy crap! This is going to be one fantastic build. I'm definitely tuned in for this one!

I run my sub ported, but it's tuned waaaaay low and acts similar to a sealed box until about 28Hz and down. I agree on the IDQ, if you have a trunk, IB is the way to go with that driver, just watch your power levels. I can't speak to the other drivers mentioned although I hear great things about the SA-12. Hope that helps and be sure to do a build log with lots of pics!

I appreciate the well wishes everyone.....just to make sure the record is straight, by my count I only have 462 points but I hope to add to that total this weekend. There are some other competitors who are close and could pass me still, but I'm going to do my best and hopefully I can stay in the top three by finals. I have been busy the past few days building a new car to take to shows....the car belongs to Logan Surratt, he's my girlfriend's son. It's a 1990 Ford Probe with a pair of Linear Power amplifiers, a 952 on a pair of coaxials I had stashed in a closet and a 1502iq on a pair of original Blues 8's in the hatch. I'm going to enter him in Intro SQ+ this weekend and hopefully he'll do well. There will also be a new SQ car at the show this weekend and I'm anxious to hear it. It's a Trailblazer SS, but that's all I know at this point. I hope to meet the person who owns it and welcome them to SQ comps and encourage them to support the sport as much as they can. Thanks again for all the well wishes....it makes all the hard work worth it.

Did you by any chance make it to the show in Cape Girardeau last weekend? I was there in the black truck that was parked under the pavillion at the end of the row. Be sure to post pics of your build and welcome to SSA!

X eleventymillion I would vote for Impious as well. Barring that, would you be willing to listen to them in one of our vehicles or would that skew the results?

Does anyone have any info on IASCA events near Missouri / Arkansas / Tennessee? I have been searching for hours and the IASCA website appears to be down. I would like to try one of their shows to see how it compares to USACi. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Yup! My truck is set up for SQ, not SPL. Sorry for not being clear in the original post.