audio-neon

I remember when I built my sq car, the tweeters were both aimed off axis in the a-pillars to help with the smearing issue. (basically they were pointed at each other). I don't remember all of the details of the build, It was nearly a decade ago. But I do remember sitting in my car, using a sticky tack (dum dum glue? iirc) and moving the tweeters around to determine the placement.

Even though you are giving up that efficiency bump, you are gaining a speaker (more cone area) and more power.

Well that is very debatable, you did pick a speaker notorious for strong treble response (iirc type r components/coaxials come with metal tweeters which can be harsh). But I would steer clear of the foam baffle, although it does dampen some of the back wave resonance; I have never had good luck with them. The pockets are flexible, and in turn move with the speaker. I would focus on adding weight (sound deadening) the inner door panel, or using a mdf mounting ring between the speaker and the metal door panel, at the very least. The weak midbass your are referring to, immediately makes me think of the fact that the type-r's don't have a particularly efficient midbass, every experience I have ever had with them has involved some sense of lacking. You could possibly cross the subwoofer over slightly higher, to help reinforce that ~80-150 hz range. Also your tweeters could be crossed over at too high of a frequency or too steep of a curve. This could be solved by going active and removing the type-r crossovers. There is plenty of information here on going active. It is another option that will give you so much more flexibility and control over your speakers.

The everstart brand actually recieves high ratings consistently and is often found to be the best bang for the buck for starting batteries.

Distortion is perceived as more volume because it is in essence more noise, just not the noise that you are trying to reproduce. If you have ever had a set of noise cancelling headphones ( the ones that use white noise to cancel out sounds), that is what I think of when I am thinking of distortion. So because we are hearing more noise, it is perceived as more volume because we are focusing on the sound we want to hear. I generally listen for "static" or crackling. If your gains are too high, you will hear this noise at minimal volumes. Eventually when you turn your volume up enough on your head unit, you will again hear clipping, this is in the actual source of the audio. This is because of (atleast my opinion) wattage ratings and marketing gimmicks. Manufacturers sell head units knowing that at approximately 3/4 volume (different for each headunit/manufacturer) is the true "clean signal". As for the tuner comment earlier in the thread. It is true that most am/fm tuners suck on aftermarket radios. They aren't much worse than the factory components, its the added amplification, which in turn amplifies the short-comings of the source. Bridging the components could give you more headroom, but why not just run 1 channel per speaker ( 1 per mid range and 1 per tweeter per side)? m5 will have more information when it comes to "active" set ups, but I am curious if it would allow you more potential clean output.

craigslist, kayak (if you travel a lot), a good QR scanner Ebay Newegg

Haha Caught on fire!? yeah just a little overpowered ;)The gain on the head unit can do just as much damage as the one on the amp. usually it is advisable not to mess with the sub boost on the head unitClassic case again of exactly why you should use your ears. If they are trained to listen for stress and you teach them what it sounds like it doesn't matter what you do setting wise as you will know when you go too far.Damage doesn't come from either gain knob, it comes from a careless user. First step is always to train your ears. Until then you shouldn't even have a stereo. Obviously learning steps are great, you've both had them, hopefully they sink in.I shouldn't even have a sound system? I'm careless because I explained my situation and wanted constructive criticisim to help me out? I consider careless as encountering an issue and not wanting to find a solution to fix it. There are a lot of issues here. M5 is a good guy, and his knowledge of car audio (hell any audio among other things) is far superior to my own. I can tell you that overpowering a type r shouldn't catch it on fire, I have tested a type-r on a pair of saz-1500d's strapped. I have intentionally blown subs (and intentionally abused them). Improper enclosure seems to be much more likely for your subwoofer woes. Anyways, a jl1000/1 should be incapable of blowing any decent subwoofer. For information, I suggest you look for topics on setting gains properly. If you fear overpowering a subwoofer (in a sealed enclosure) build the enclosure on the smaller side of the recommended enclosure. Subwoofer failure comes from several reasons (generally) over-extension (caused by playing a subwoofer below a boxes tuning frequency, air leaks in a sealed enclosure or grossly overpowering a subwoofer). poor manufacturing (rare if bought from a reputable company) clipping ( excessive volume, gain) Bass boost should never be used, loud mode etc... Lastly low voltage and improper impedance can cause issues, but more than likely would result in a blown/damaged amplifier.

No audible difference would be achieved by sealing it off. If it's for aesthetics, I would just make a "trim ring" out of mdf and carpet or paint it to match, but honestly it would serve as nothing more than being more aesthetically pleasing.. Maybe a slight placebo effect

You can definitely run any sub over power daily, just don't turn up the volume knob that much, lol... I used to drive around with two saz-1500d's strapped on a pair of 600w rms tc sound subs dual 1 vc, wired to 1 ohm (~.7 ohms per amp before impedance rise) and never had an issue besides the initial smell of glue.

I have had great luck with knukonceptz... http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=KRD14BL-100 It might be a little more expensive, but it is super flexible, which I have always found to be a benefit in car audio environments.

I'm going to try and make this as simple as possible. If you are trying to compete, you will want a completely different box tuned much higher, closer to 50hz for competitions (assuming you are doing burps). (Which won't give you the loud lows because frankly competitors don't use low frequency burps to compete because they aren't as loud). As far as speaker wire from the amp to the sub, nothing larger than 12 ga. is necessary, and will not yield any discernible improvement. As far as an improvement in the amplifier department, what is your budget? Lastly a properly built box is the single greatest improvement you can make in any system.

Sundown SAZ-1500d, headroom never hurt anyone.

it does, but stock appearance outweighs audiophile quality in this case. I will figure out more when I get to the audio stage of the game... Body and drive-ability are my top priorities.

Last Final was this morning, I've been around just haven't posted... I did post ~ a month ago about the deck and speakers I put in my DD.

Hence why I bought old luxury, lol... Still has a legendary engine (401 cubic inch Nailhead) and bench seats front and rear. I am definitely thinking of a single SSA 10" sub in the future, I just priced out morel hybrid integra speakers for the front... Just looking for a solid sound stage for drive ins and cruises (although I love hearing that engine purr).

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.

Just a tip, the less drivers you can use to achieve your goal, the better the system will sound. You will want a dedicated mid-bass (6.5" at the smallest) in your doors. Something that is designed to be a midbass in infinite baffle/free air (car audio type of speaker). Midbass and tweeters should be on the same vertical axis to make tuning easier, so make sure your kicks and pillars are on the same vertical axis. If you have midbass in your doors, you will not need another 8" midbass anywhere else, so instead of replacing the factory 8" with a midbass, your best bet is to find a quality subwoofer ( or pair) and have them put into a lowish tuned ported box (or sealed). And remember, keep it simple, simple sounds good.

Normal wood glue is so insanely strong, I would suggest using nothing but it for adhesive (the mdf breaks before the glue will separate). I would use an rtv/silicone bead on the inside of the box.. and I would add some wood glue to the crack and than clamp or force the joint shut and let sit for 24 hours. (PS before you even came back to add that you found an air leak, I was going to suggest that you had developed one).

How something sounds is subjective to you. How much power do you have, in what type of car?

Well, I am speaking mainly for Chrysler as that is where I have most of my knowledge... And I know that NVH has been a main priority of theirs.

They have been doing this for 10 years... What it really comes down to is the amount of money they are spending on NVH, the quieter an interior is, the easier it is to make sound nice.

Absolutely loved the stock radio (Not the option, but base radio) in my 2008 Jeep Patriot... My 1998 dodge neon on the other hand... forget about it

M5 is referring to mounting the speaker lower, where the storage pocket is... The further you get the speaker from your ears, the better the stage will localize towards the center. Soundwaves travel at a set speed, and because you sit closer to one speaker than the other, it has a tendency to pull the soundstage to the side you are sitting on because your brain processes it before the sound on the opposite side. In other words, if the drivers speaker was 2 feet away and the passengers was 6 feet away, you would hear the left side 3 x faster than the passenger.. but if you were able to move the speaker down another foot, than it would only change the location on the passenger side by a couple inches. This would normalize the ratio and move the sound stage towards the middle. Time alignment is the only help you will get electronically, otherwise it all has to be done in the install.