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I learn something new everyday. Thanks for the topic Billy, and thanks for the knowledge Aaron.

The Brazilian amps use a different tech where the voltage is jumped way up, meaning the current goes down. Brazilian amps (on average) are more efficient this way and they need much less heat sink and internal parts (capacitance) making them much cheaper to build and smaller in size. On the other side of things, they are very sensitive to voltage fluctuation, tend to be noisy, usually run fans, and seem to have a little lower reliability record as they are usually not at all abuse tolerant. Korean/Chinese amps tend to be over built, very durable, usually don't need to run fans, more abuse tolerant, and are not very voltage sensitive. As on the other side of things, they are less efficient by the design, much more expensive due to far more heat sink and caps needed, and much larger in foot print. In the mass market here in the USA, customers are getting younger on average as the watts per dollar gets less. So that means there are more people who are much less experiences who are now able to buy larger/more powerful amplifiers. That lack of experience (and probably electrical system back bone to support said big power amps), leads to much more abuse on the amplifiers and voltage fluctuation. Adding up to a market that is best served by Korean/Chinese style amplifiers, which kind of points the Brazilian style amplifiers to the more experienced people who have stronger electrical systems. Shout out to Mike Dioguardo for the refresher on Brazilian amps.

Sorry. NYC has more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_large_Polish-American_populations I knew Sloan NY had a big population by volume, and the Southtowns of Buffalo had a big population too. The Broadway Market is awesome for Polish food. Everyone in the Southtowns seemed to be a "SKI". You should see me old yearbook.

The initial question was very generalized and got great generalized answers imo. Was like who makes better cars, Japan, Germany or the US? What is the difference between high voltage brand Y design and normal voltage brand X and Z, Is more akin to whats the diff between a Porsche spider, Nissan Titan and Ford F-150. Depending on perspective all are great answers, and contained good knowledge. Thus the fun of great debates!! If I just want to argue, I would go hang out with my wife. We are all here to learn, and help others learn. More imopantly is we are grow men and enjoy being such here on SSA. I personally show great respect to the people on this site and the SSA site regardless whether I agree with others perspectives and opinions. Is the least I can do to contribute, and show graditude for things I have learned audio and non audio related here on SSA. Everyone here has great knowledge in something and has knowledge to contribute. If there is a misunderstanding I can humbly move on. if someone corrects me(which happens a lot) I am grateful and am humble enough to show gratitude. Let's keep things cool! Please and thank you my friends.

Ok, I am not sure where this topic got so far off track or why. But please keep in mind that I was roughly explaining on the very basics of general design methodology of most amplifiers from those respective countries as that is what I was figuring was the over riding question. There is no one best type of country of origin for a specific need. As the market has really shifted away from just pure SPL burps to more sustained high output on music (read: I only demo bro). I have seen a number of competitors or demo trucks stick with or move back to Korean style amplifiers due to the voltage drops from these long demos, and due to the extreme heat levels with cooling aided by the much larger heat sinks. More research and info is needed past my post, before making an amplifier selection for a certain install need. Two little side notes: 1. My name has two A's 2. Don't ever take anything Meade says seriously, I'll leave it at that. Sean, though he may come across a little harsh to some, is an engineer with a physics background and is always dealing with highly advanced testing equipment. So even if you don't like how he answers your question, he is a valuable resource when it comes to the knowledge base here. Which is saying a lot as SSA and DIYma are the two remaining active forums that are really worth it when it comes to correct and well backed up information in terms of high end audio.

Sealed will be easier and smaller but ported can be made to sound just as good if done correctly.

Welcome to SSA! If the sub enclosure is build to correct specs, you honestly can't go wrong with either set up. Mr. Alton is the man when comes to designing enclosures, so your in good hands there too.

Having some fun and making some grins with these! Still tweaking and tuning.

Wow! That got out of hand fast!

Nope, I got a loaner ECU, SKIM and key. I'm drying mine off before the trip and bringing it as a spare. Haha, I'll check Vlad's amps today Just poking around with the DMM I measured 3.5v between the ground wire of the starter relay signal (which comes off the ECU, just like the positive signal) and the battery negative and there was no continuity between that and the body or battery negative. ECU was reporting correct battery voltage on the dash and I could read codes. Only possible plug where that ground signal wire goes is in an area coated in oily residue (power steering fluid I guess). Unless the crank sensor failed internally and connected the 5v line to the ECU ground. Typically on these commonrail engines the cam sensor fails first because of the heat but the engine will still crank. Inside the ECU I saw corrosion on the corner which sits the lowest. Three people in Australia replaced their ECU, one after a heavy rain after he found water inside it. A guy here which does remaps told me he had two cases of wet Bosch ECUs, one worked after being dried off, the other never worked again. At one point I saw continuity between the starter relay signal ground and the battery negative with the original ECU and the car started. Drove it 10 miles and nothing happened. After that I switched out the ECU and, knock on wood, I drove 120 miles since.

Everybody hear answered your questions and we all do as long as they are able to be answered. You just cant stop with the pettiness, even when a thread is on the right track you always find a way to derail it with nonsense. Why keep asking questions if nobody anwers them?

The truth to the rumors are, they are subjective opinion. Take them with a grain of salt as they are someone else's opinion, not the gospel. The fact is there is no magic components that make one amp better than another, or one magical source where the best are made. The quality and performance of an amp, are a product of using higher end components in the internal of the amp. To answer your next question, yes they send high end components to all build houses. No it does not matter where the components are built, as long as they used adequate material and are built to specs. It is the customer that chooses the inside components of the amp, not the build house. A hypothetical example would be sundown having to switch to a build house in Brazil (hypothetically all the Korean factories are shut down lol). Sundown would send them the same blueprint the othe factory used, and the amp would perform the same. Why you may ask. Because it is the level of components used to build the amp, not a magical location. So reality is whichever amp has the better components and design, will perform better. Period.

Definitely no relation to the location, but to the ones who specify the amps. Tons of great amps made everywhere and tons of crap.

There is no better. Every install is different. Plain and simple. Now for high voltage, Brazillian will be better as I dont think the other companies make them.

Aside from just preventing panel vibration, This will also focus all the sound into the cabin. Which will help improve the frequency response by stopping destructive wave interference, by stopping any sound from going between the door and door panel. I will add even with a full door treatment, the foam ring is still needed. so is a great place to start, and you can improve as need from there. You will learn the most seeing the effects of each adjustment individually. Will also keep things cost effective by only doing what is needed in YOUR particular car, to your satisfactory!

No need for expensive foam, if all you are stopping is a single rattle. This product can be had at the hardware store for a few bucks. It has glue already on one side. Most ppl install around the speaker like the second pic. There is usually some factory foam already there, thats sub-par. remove the factory stuff and replace with with the denser, taller foam. Stack a few pieces if needed. (like the second pic) I would suggest the 1/2" tall, as thats usually the tallest available. Make sure it says "HIGH DENSITY", for the closed cell kind.

I had a set of Focal 165KP, on a powerful amp (2 x 225 w rms @ 4 OHms). I loved it for (8) years. The I finally blew a mid : I think a lead went bad and I tried to fix it. Impossible. M5 told me about the SEAS Prestige and I bought them. I was afraid to run those because of the 8 Ohms impedance, instead of 4. I hooked them on the inputs of the Focal passive filters, and kept the tweeters on those filters. First listening session put a big smile on my face. It really was not a downgrade from the Focal. No tuning, no eq, nothing, and I loved it ! Then I bought a mini dsp to set my x-overs and adjust everything. I'm still playing with the dsp, but not so much (I need time). I must say those speakers sound VERY good. I hate those PA style speakers that screams, like Barry White sings like Celine Dion ! Those Seas are "warm", accurate. Not Cheap too ! They do get loud ! In that active way, the mids are on 2 channels of my amp, and the tweeters are on the last 2. This amp is rated at 4 x 65 w rms @ 4 Ohms. So I don't know how many watts at 8 Ohms ! Not much, but they're loud enough for me. I did not loose anything from the Focal to this set of Seas Prestige. (They're a little bigger than the KP, 6.5" to 7"). I am very very happy with this purchase. Good luck. BTW this forum is amazing, you'll get the best advices available.

Welcome to the forum bro!! I'm echoing M5 on this, once you get the front stage mastered the substage becomes minuscule in comparison. Look ok at it like this, if you agree the average human can hear frequencies from 20hz to 20,000hz and let's say your sub can play from 20hz up to a crossover set and very popular frequency of 80hz, the sub is only playing about .3% (yes you read that right, point three percent) of the entire spectrum of frequencies you hear. In the grand scheme of things that just doesn't sound very important anymore does it? Now there's nothing wrong with having enough bass to get down, dirty and loud with when the mood strikes but it still doesn't change the fact that the sub's importance to overall response just doesn't measure up in comparison to the rest of the response from the system. I mentioned on the phone that the Zapco DSP is just the MiniDSP in a pretty case with Zapco logos in the software but I would still recommend just using the miniDSP. You'll save money and have more expandability. Check out Madisound as well, they offer brands Parts Express doesn't. The quality of the installation of the speakers will make or break the sound in the end. If you ever make it down to my neck of the woods I'll demo the Jimmy and the Traverse for you. It would make what we mean by this a little easier to understand. Be be sure to check out all the previous posts on this and similar subjects, the search function is your best friend when researching this kind of information. As always we're here to help with any questions you have along your journey. Also so everyone understands how serious he is about this being an SQ build, when I talked to him earlier today he was talking about dropping a huge needless coin on Focal components and Audison or Mosconi amps. I suggested he hit up the forum to read, learn and see what really makes a quality sounding system. It's not name brands and money, its good design with attention to detail and quality of the installation. Of course there's nothing wrong with name brands but you can buy expensive equipment and if it's poorly installed it can be outperformed by inexpensive equipment with a great installation.

The one that integrates better with your front stage....for sq the bass part is uber easy

Orange county is probably the biggest American abomination...but I leave a lot of the south out of my equation since it is so ridiilculously bad.

If there was a city in MN it may compete but our rural ass isn't a city

Greatest American city by far

I've been shot at in minneapolis, never seen a weapon pulled in chicago

Ok. 2 are natural

Reservoir city

Half? I would bet all is closer, lol.

It is where I bought mine lol. Test drive it there too

Per capita boat ownership is highest in az out of all states

Thank you Arron you answered all my questions, and what you said is exactly what I have read, and seen with everything but the Brazilian amps. I have never used them myself but have read exactly what you explained. Why can't the rest of these guys be as helpful and polite as you? They seem to dance around the questions and never really answer anything for anybody.

A couple months to buy a house? Lord, I'd want at least a year. Maybe 2.

That is natural for me, but sometimes I prefer solitude. Depends on my mood. I am too aware though and find it easy to engineer my surroundings so that I can get done what I want.

It's okay. Terrible time of year to get them. You want cold water

Once it is installed

Finally some eye candy in the Olympics. Been slim picking so far.

Your poor Chinese mom