stratusrt01

I was sent a Mach 5 SPL 12 to test. I recieved it today and checked it out really well as far as build quality and design. My 1st impression when I opened the cardboard box was hmmmmmm, a crate. I didn't know they came in crates, which caught me off guard at first. While I like the way the crate looks, it really didn't protect the subwoofer any better than a box with foam padding. Upon opening the crate, the foam was in tact, but the wood was busted up pretty badly, however, the subwoofer sustained no damage as far as I can tell, so it did it's job. Now for the good things I noticed upon initial inspection: o Glue joints are flawless, there's no excess glue anywhere on the subwoofer. A+ for attention to details. o The subwoofer is much nicer in person than in pictures, the pictures don't do it any justice. o I love the way the dustcap is built, it would make centering the dustcap during recones a no-brainer. It has to go on centered, it has no choice. o The subwoofer uses sewn on tensiles which I've always liked more than standard, or woven in. o The gasket is probably the best fitting gasket I've seen on an SPL oriented subwoofer in quite some time. It fits the woofer perfectly with no gaps around the surround, all the holes line up perfectly, and it fits flat on the woofer, so sealing the sub with the supplied gasket shouldn't be an issue at all. Now for the things I didn't care for very much: o A picky thing, but there's some misalignment of the magnets in the motor structure. At first I thought it may be damage from shipping, but upon closer inspection, it seems that they just used one magnet that was about 1/16th of an inch larger in diameter in the stack. I know, I know, 1/16th is nothing, but it's perfect on one side, and sticks out on the other. I told you it was a nit-picking thing. Doesn't affect the sub at all, just a visual thing. Here's a picture of the side where it's not perfect: And here's the side 180 degrees around: Now, my biggest complaint about the Mach 5 Audio SPL 12................. The speaker wire connectors.... At first glance, they seem like a good idea, thumb screw connectors, but upon playing with them, they are a little hard to turn, and if you've got fat fingers like I do, getting in there to turn them is a problem. If you've got little girly hands, you'll be fine though... Once the speaker wire goes in them, it gets even a bit tougher. That would be my only suggestion on what to change so far on the sub build-wise. So my 1st impression is that build quality is as good or better than other subs in the same class so far. I plan on hooking it up this weekend to a Sundown SAZ-3000d and riding around for about a week to do my subjective listening. I know it's an SPL sub, but most people who buy them want to listen to music, not just burp them, so I'm going to compare them to my DD 9512 and IA DP as far as musical ability. After I feel comfortable that I can give a good, unbiased review on the musical abilities, the fun starts. We're going to hook it up in the truck, and just keep feeding it power and do some SPL testing vs. the DD 9512. We'll push it as far as I feel comfortable with. I don't want to purposely blow up either sub, but have been given the green light to see exactly what she'll take, so I'll do that.

box in the car is tuned to 33hz, box in the truck is somewhere in the mid 60's

It's not as easy as it seems. Figure a 300amp alternator will sustain 14.4v until that 300 amps is exceeded. Then you switch to battery power, which will be around 12.8 volts. So in order to keep 14.1 steady volts, you would have to have enough alternator to power your system, plus anything else in the car without going over it's amperage. Sounds easy, until you try it. But the easiest way to stay above 14.1v is to do a 16V setup.

I can test them for abuse, I seem to be able to tear up everything else I get my hands on lately........

It pretty much is Japanese. The only thing left that says Dodge is the steering wheel. Even the stickers under the hood and in the door jambs says Mitsubishi.

You're looking at the old model, the new model is beefier, and comes in dual 4 ohm.

yeah, one of these days, I'll have Stereo Integrity subs back in the car...............................(getting impatient.......lol) I miss my Mags, what can I say?

Thanks for the compliments guys.

I did a 144.8 sealed on the dash with a single Mag 15 on a SAZ-1500d out of a trunk car, and it sounded awesome while doing it.

They are tinted with Nightshades, just the way the sun hits them makes them look red in that picture. Here's a pic, I got it home and cleaned it up. Just need to find a set of factory Stratus R/T foglights to fill the holes.

I am going to sell it soon, probably. But I wanted it to be actually done so that whoever bought it didn't have to do anything. I'm even putting a small audio setup in it that will go with it once it's put up For Sale.

Finally took the time to get the bumpers on the old girl painted. It was supposed to be painted about 4 months ago, but the guy flaked out on me, and never finished it, and didn't seem to have any interest in finishing it. So I got tired of looking at primered bumpers, and a buddy and I did some repairs and shot the bumpers black. Here's a pic of before: And here's some teaser pics, I've got to go put all the lights back in today, and I'll clean it up and take some better pics:

Well, the Shelby does the standing 1/4 mile in 9.9 seconds at 144 mph, so it'll get there quickly

10. Pagani Zonda C12 - Italy - 216mph 9. Jaguar XJ220 - Britain - 218mph 8. Ferrari Enzo - Italy - 218mph 7. Gumpert Apolo - Germany - 224mph 6. Bristol Fighter T - Britain - 225mph 5. McLaren F1 - Britain - 240mph 4. Saleen S7 TT - USA - 248mph 3. Koenigsegg CCX - Swiss?? - 250mph 2. Bugatti Vexron - France - 254mph 1. Shelby Supercars Ultimate Aero TT - 257mph The Barabus TKR was up there, but the speed was not official, so it didn't make the list. And here's the fastest production car on the planet for the year 2008. From Carroll Shelby himself.

heh, beat you to it Jacob.......

Weak Sauce, you had the "special" BMs with the non-production voice coil rub, so it doesn't count..............lol

My van is 8000lbs of concrete. It doesn't drive all too well. Here is the result of testing today. Well that's no fun........... I actually drove the truck 4 hours yesterday, I'm alway surprised how well it drives with the ton of concrete in the back. I do want to weigh it and see what it actually weighs though.

I think the SAE-1000d would be a much better match up on the Q

Tow the van? Be a true StreetMax competitor and drive it!!!!!!!!!

Maybe one day I can get a set of custom 18" Nightshades with an Fs of like 60hz..........lol

that was a pair of DD 9510F's on 4 Sundown SAZ-1500's, .75 cubic ft chamber, folded horn style box.

10's can't get low? That's a new one to me. Mine seemed to do pretty well in .75 cubes.......lol

I hope so!!!!! The truck has done 158's to date, with a single Stinger 2150 and 4 Crunch GP3000d's. With the new battery, Sundown 3000d's, some TSNS, and a lot of love to the little things, I'm shooting for a 160 flat the 1st time out. Not an easy task by any means, but I think with what we've got planned, it's a very reachable goal, given the truck's origins and the numbers that it has done to date. StreetMax guys here in the south probably never wanted to see this truck down here. Guys in Indiana and Ohio are very familiar with it though, and I'm getting a lot of support on the rebuild from them.

it's especially nice, since everyone's predicting the Death of StreetMax since the rules changes. But to be honest, I don't see any of the old SM 1-2 guys complaining, it's all the 3-4 guys that have to lose half their amps and a battery. The rules changing didn't affect my build one bit, and going against people with 3-4 woofers doesn't bother me at all, since they are limited to the same amount of amps I have now. We'll see, it should be an interesting season. I'm looking forward to this one a lot. This is pretty much my first SPL only build, and I'm having fun with it. At least until I have to order 300ft of 1/0 wire.........

here's a little preview of what I've got going this weekend on it for you guys. Sanding and body filler FTL!!!!! I'm so sick of sanding already.