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Sexy as hell eyes. J

So your saying take my Pioneer TSD's, cut the tweeter wire, and re install them? :/ . btw The door speakers you see in the photo is only a mid, the tweet is the black circle by the handle. btw I faded all the music to the fronts to test the concept of only front speakers, and lost about 40% of my musics volume and impact. I'm so confused as to how 2 speakers can sound better than 4 properly set up. I'm about ready to give up on SQ, everyone seems to think my setup is terribly broken, but it sounds great . After we get around the concept of rear speakers, in what way could i make my system sound balanced and loud with that "handicap"? 2 speakers will never be louder than 4 and i'm not about to rip my doors apart trying to fit 2 speakers into one door, so i just replaced the stock speakers with new top-line speakers. Would time-adjustment on a prs-80 help create a "surround sound " effect or am i dreaming and should scrap my truck now? Just kidding i guess i'm a little disappointed on the bashing of my perfectly good system, i have a lot of time and money in it. I'm not looking to win a national championship, i'm just looking for great sound. "Surround sound effect" is NOT the point of DTA. DTA is used to time the sound waves from each individual speaker to your ears so that the interaction of the sound waves happens as its intended in the recording. Basically it makes the speakers play as though they're the same DISTANCE away from you on each side. The difference in distance to your ears from one speaker to the other jacks with the stage and imaging. The point behind running just front speakers and front/rears together along with the real concept of SQ is just outside your realm of experience, and that's just fine. Most of the people in the hobby consider SQ to simply mean it's clear with little or no distortion at high volume levels but unfortunately its FAR more complicated than that. I agree with Sean that something is probably not setup right in your current installation if running the fader to the front speakers has that much of an impact on how it sounds. I would also like to point out that simply screwing the new speakers into the factory locations is not properly installing them either. At a MINIMUM the installation should include a regiment of sound deadening and a solid baffle to mount the speaker to instead of the flimsy plastic the factory speaker is in. Something seldom done by anyone and most definitely rarely done by most shops UNLESS specifically asked for by the customer in which they will pay at least double the price to have it done. Please don't be offended or discouraged by the diagnosis, suggestions and recommendations offered up by everyone. There is such a great deal to learn about the HOW, WHY and WHAT of car audio that it simply overwhelms most people, including me, when trying to take it all in at one time. Experience installing, listening and doing it all over again several times over with the guidance of others who have already learned is the only way to learn what really works and the right from the wrong. Even then we'll never know/learn it all.

So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, looking for one thousand brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night. So, Jeff Beck pops his head 'round the door, and mentions there's a little sweets shop on the edge of town. So - we go. And - it's closed. So there's me, and Keith Moon, and David Crosby, breaking into that little sweets shop, eh. Well, instead of a guard dog, they've got this bloody great big Bengal tiger. I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shop owner and his son... that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business, really. But, sure enough, I got the M&Ms, and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.

Set the gain by ear. Ditch the cap.

So it finally got delivered last night at around 1030 pm from Rutland VT. I have always dreamed of owning a muscle era car, and decided that this year instead of building a computer or blowing my money elsewhere, that I would look for a project car with my tax return. After several weeks of looking, this is what I have found. The car is home, and after adding some gas it started right up. The stainless steel brake lines I ordered for the car have arrived, and after a short test drive today, I found out that it has either an oil or cooling system problem, and an evident misfire. That being said, this is a long term project that I hope to keep you guys in the loop with. As far as my plans for the car: I wan't to make a driver. I will freshen up the body work, and replace damaged panels (interior and exterior) with original parts whenever possible. I plan on using modern bushings and updating the suspension minimally to make the car handle effectively. I have already visited my long time friend to address the audio issues I have with the car ( as in there is no radio or speakers). As it stands we have plans of doing a stealth install with modern sq oriented products (morel speakers, a single 5 channel amp, and a jvc headunit that can be controlled by my phone so that it can be mounted in a stealth location.) The primary use for the car will be for local cruises, drive ins and some car shows. I am not building a trailer queen, but rather a nearly 50 year old car that can be driven at any time, reliably.

Congrats!

I got a call from a manager in Germany, they offered me nearly double my current pay. This is WAY over what I expected, so it looks like my daily commute will go up from 10-15 minutes to 35-40 20 people total, 7 in this location, vacation skiing in Austria. I damn nearly fell of my chair when I heard the number.

I would take the addition of the word "professional" with a grain of salt and a lot of caution if I were you. I've met "professionals" in shops who were doing installation related NO NO's that I knew were no no's when I was still in High School (almost 16 years ago) and that wasn't but a year or two ago. There are a lot of common practices that are done by many people, even in shops, that are just plain wrong. Just as many of those folks who are doing that wouldn't know distortion from a panel rattle, active from passive processing, or how to properly spec an enclosure for a given subwoofer AND the application it's going to be used for. Just because they work in a shop don't assume they know their shit beyond any doubt. Ask them to explain exactly what clipping is and if it's not at least remotely close to what I described then they don't know what it is much less what to listen for to identify it. A proper box will always yield better results than a wrong one. If you want a good enclosure designed for that SA 12 then we can probably help with that, true enough. Who would be building it?

Japanese ingenuity

I'm wondering what you think clipping is? Clipping IS distortion (one of many forms) and is caused when the input signal attempts to drive the output signal above the voltage it has available. The gain is ONLY there to match the amplifier's input to the output voltage of the HU. When you turn the volume up and exceed the level the amp has been adjusted to, or simply have it adjusted too high it will clip the signal. For simplicity lets say the amplifier is like a transformer, but unlike a transformer the voltage can only go as high as the power supply voltage is. So say it's a 4x transformer (much like a reversed 480 to 120 control transformer), if you put 5v into it you'll get 20v out, pretty simple right. Now, let's say the the power supply limit is 20v and you put a 6v input signal into it, (6 x 4 = 24v) that 4v that it's trying to output gets clipped off at 20v because that is all that's available to it. While it's a much more technical and sophisticated difference than what I just explained that is essentially what you're running into with clipping. If the amplifier's power supply converts the 12v voltage in your vehicle to 70v, that's a 35v positive and 35 negative limit for the signal, which for a sine wave (what all sounds are) is just how it works and is why it's measured in AC voltage even when everything in your car is DC. When the gains are adjusted the idea is to match the output voltage from the HU at that volume level to get that 70v from the amp. Differences in the recording levels of the material you play, the point where you turn the volume to, etc. all play a part in whether or not you exceed that or not. If you turned your volume up to 30 to set the gain with a -6db tone, when you play music that has peaks that reach -3db in their recorded level those peaks are clipping the amp even with the volume set to the same 30 level. That is the way of it. I'm not sure how to explain it any simpler, but if you're constantly pushing the sub into distortion, barring any issues with the sub, enclosure or amp themselves then you simply need to identify the limiting factor(s) and upgrade them accordingly. You very well may be expecting more from the SA than it can possibly give.

Please share so others can see this!!

{<~~~post Evil demo emoticon}

It may. If it hides a problem from you and you ignore your ears which it sounds like you are prone to then yes. Remove it fast.

We'll give you two weeks.

No need for tweeters in the rear, actually no need for ANY speakers in the rear.

Why spend for a DP? You could always run a Death Row. 1000RMS.

I'd say he should get an icon just so he has that little bit of overhead, then basically all he has to do is not clip the amp. I'm sure the icon would get loud on 1000w. Probably sound nicer then the sundown 12 too..

heres a indepth read if your into it http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_5_2/cmilleressayporting.html

Wow I have been in the hobby since 87 and played every sub I ever owned the same way. If you blow a sub it is your own fault and not because it was not broken in.

The best way to break in a sub woofer is to simply play music on it. If you try by other methods, open air for x amount of time, or, x amount of time on x Frequency, it only breaks in at that application. Playing music, you will break in across the sub woofers playing frequency. Which is the best way to do so.

Just play it. If you blow it then it is getting too much power and has nothing to do with "break in". Be careful running that much power.

these posts are terrible. without understanding his goals you cannot possibly begin to make suggestion. you're just looking for the quickest way to waste his money..