shizzzon

a good tip is to never let your setup dip below 12.0v At the amp's terminal at full tilt. If it is, you need an extra battery in the back minimum. You also need to ensure that your starting battery is still in proper working order. 12.6 with car off, or if it states it's maintenance free on top, 12.8v-13.0v. If your reading is a hair lower, drive around a while without the stereo on then let the car rest for 1 hr then retest voltage. If it didnt meet the numbers above, take it to auto zone, pull the battery out of the car and have them diagnose it on their Cranking Amp machine to determine it's capability of being discharged at maximum rated CA.

where u from, i dont know about everybody here but i like to know where people are from so if necessary can meetup for help, etc...

I got the perfect name, lol - Little Nicky, hehhehehheheheheheheheh

hey, u took my Armorwall! I already posted that on the first page. I'm tellin the Deadener Police on you!

Also, here is my response graph with the door OPEN- And here it is again with everything sealed up - This is how my car reacts to different frequencies sealed and then open.

It is a very good idea to build a sealed box or go buy a sealed box with a sub inside of it, i'd prefer a minimum of a 10" sub for your in-car response graphs. You need a sealed box because a sealed box doesn't naturally peak at any one note so you would want that in your car to find what note your car peaks at. Vehicles have all kinds of corners, edges, contours, etc... and creates havoc for natural sound. Therefore, at some point in the car, it will have a frequency that will just cause chaos in your ride, this is what you need to find. So, for those NOT building walls, position your sealed box and face the sub in the direction the PORT would be facing. Now, you will need a notebook already ready for this test. Right down notes 20-100hz individually because u will be writing down Db numbers next to each one! Now, turn up volume half way, do NOT rev the engine but leave car on. Start with 20hz and work your way all the way to 100hz regardless of how quiet it is. Once you have this, this is your official in-car response graph for your vehicle for the desired box position. If you do not know which way the port will be facing yet, turn your box around but every time you turn it or flip it, redo the entire test over because the graph will change. ALSO- opening opposite door and\or rolling that window down will almost always result in a louder score. Because of this, you MUST also test 20-100hz with this door and\or window open as the response graph will be VERY different. The peak note in your car will\should remain the same but other notes will change. This is useful info for building a daily driver port or a port for bassrace.

ONE VERY LARGE UPDATE! As you can see i posted my response curve of my car up top so i can go by that to see what frequencies my car likes... Well, it paid off! I finally was able to put a port in the box today. This will be the test of a VERY LONG port testing process. This port is 157sqin and tuned to 28.5hz! I just hit the highest number yet! Db meter was placed in the kick and in front of the steering wheel to simulate MECA style reading. Peak note in this port - 50hz, my car's peak - 50hz Again, i'm only tuned to 28.5hz and burping at 50hz... MECA Headrest measurement- 152.55 Db In the Kick - 155.76db And this port is Duct taped in place and is no where near where it needs to be tuned too! I still gotta find the right port length and area, angle port, seal the outside of the car, etc... This was a MAJOR upgrade, nothing i was expecting! I had to stop measuring the Db reading for both levels due to excessive pressure.. From now on, i will be wearing hearing protection due to the extreme pressures that was experienced when doing these 2 tests. Yes, both test were clipped but were not fully ran to the max like my previous ones due to pressure. If i had cranked it up though, it would have only gained, if any, 0.1 db at the most. Voltage level - 13.3v at the batteries, current draw is unknown.

I'm gonna be trying a lot of things and reporting what does and doesnt work. Unfortunately, i can't post back everything as the wall and corners have already been made. What i will be focusing on is head unit settings, amp settings, port area, port length, port angle, car seal jobs, car bracing, car mods, internal box coating, etc... As of right now, i did discover something rather interesting- The difference between playing a sine wave vs a square wave on the meter using a TLab. At low volume, a got a reading of 140.2 using a sine wave. At the same volume, i got a reading of 142.1 using a square wave. Now, when ran full tilt and clipped- SQUARE wave- 147.2 SINE wave - 147.6 So.. if you plan on using a square wave, do not clip it or your score will drop. Square wave may be useful for those who have TONS of power and are limited on fusing due to competition requirements. Square waves have a higher amplitude so u can get more dbs out of the sound track. (i serve square waves in my test tones, )

whenever i drive to kings island from here, it takes me 2hr 7min on the dot every time.

it's fairly easy, just time consuming. You would need to setup your vehicle the way it will be when your finished sub box is actually installed. What i mean by that is, if u plan on running a wall, don't try to find your peak note before building the wall... Now, if you are not building a wall, then you can test anytime practically. All you need to do is get a sealed box with any size sub will do really. Maintain the same volume level throughout the frequency range to be tested. I tested each note between 20-100 so i can see how my car reacts to different notes. I run it at a low volume level so the voltage to the amps wont change during the test. Once you find your peak note, sometimes your note may differ +/- 1hz from your peak note you just found when you BLAST it at a comp. This is normal if this were to happen but at least this test saves you all the time recharging your batts, etc.

oh i'm gonna be doin port area tests. That's what is gonna take me forever in terms of testing. I completely forgot about modifying the internal air space... I know many competitors use small boxes with humongous external vented aero ports to achieve high pressure levels in street. I know a local guy that keeps his name under the Ky state record year after year. hmm... Port wars just got as complicated as SPL, hehe.

You are right to a certain point. When i was doing testing earlier, it would be better if i made a graph to show you so bare with me, the car's peak note DOES effect the reading inside the box because it gradually got louder in the box until it reached my car's peak note then started to roll off them BAM, it started going back up FAST til it finally peaked. And this test was done with the port sealed up! I believe what is going on is the car's acoustics is effecting the way the subs produce pressure in the car and what effects the front wave must effect the back wave since the subs are the only thing that remain the same in the cabin and in the box. So with that theory laid out, i believe that if the box's peak note AND the car's peak note were to be the same... then that person would be in for a helluva surprise when it gets metered. I'm still trying to understand something though- No matter what port you use in port wars... whatever it peaks at in the car, it ALWAYS peaks 1-3hz lower in the port... Why is this? I don't know where to look to understand this reason. Is it because when we say stuff like, " i'm tuned to 35hz but it peaks at 38hz..." means that what the port is TUNED too is what it'll peak at in the port?

they dont meter port wars at the windshield, they meter it literally IN the PORT. At the entrance point in the box is where the meter is placed. i just came back from doin the box testing. the box does peak differently than the car AND the car's peak note does play a partial role in finding the box's peak as well. So, it's not as easy as just tune to 100hz and hope for the best, hehe, because that won't help. My car's peak is exactly 50hz and the metering slope inside the box gradually got louder to 50hz then started to get quieter but only until it got to 53hz, just 3 above 50. Once it hit 53hz, the pressure started going back up again, up so much that 53hz is actually louder than 50hz! It kept going up until it peaked at frequencies 55, 56 and 57hz exactly at the same level then it started to slope back down all the way to 100hz with minor small peaks on the way. So.. apparently, i must build a port to peak at 50hz for SPL, a port in the 30s for daily driving, a port in the 50hz range for bassrace(optional at the moment) and a port to peak in the range of 55-57hz for port wars. Lots of testing to do...

hehe, i dont think you understand the post, let me start over. I currently have a wall with no port in it right now, after doing testing the other day, i need to build a port that peaks at 50hz as that's my car's peak. Port wars is completely different from just burping 20" from the windshield... Port wars is measuring the back pressure from inside the box and the start of the port. (slot porters will have an advantage here) Now, i know how to find peak frequencies in cars, but have never tried to find peak frequency for port wars because i do not know if the front wave of the subs has an effect on the back wave which is inside the box. I would assume it would but also, i'm sure the Wall itself has it's own peak and differs from the car's and i'm pretty sure i'm right about that. It's my understanding that if that's right that tuning to peak at the box's peak would not be the loudest in the car due to the car's acoustical design. This is why i am wondering if sealing up the box with the meter inside will tell me the peak of the box. I'm about to go try this method shortly. I'm assuming that the box's peak note will effect the port's entrance reading a LOT more than the car's peak note. I am currently gearing up to compete in multiple divisions, one being port wars so it's essential to know how this works before i start guessing.

so.. r u trying to say that port wars peak frequency can change by the type of sub i'm using? Meaning, peak frequency wont change in car by me swapping out subs but if i were to be swapping out subs for port wars, subs effect port war peaks?

Ok, well i got my response curve of my car a while ago. This is SEALED at the Driver Side of the car at the windshield. I'm about to go do testing with the car open and see what the response is then. So... if u are lookin to wall a Scion tC, this is how my graph looks Sealed-

how exactly do u go about finding peak note to use in port wars? i know what to modify AFTER the port is made but how do u know which note to use? i was thinkin about throwin the meter in the box and sealing it up.. but... if i do this, will the car's peak note effect the peak note for port wars? or IS the proper tuning for port wars equal to SPL tuning?

double post...

your alt is to keep them charged, not actually to charge them like a charger does. an alternator sends massive amounts of current to batts and can't top them off as well as a charger can.

Have a few questions bout charging batts on an actual battery charger. I have a D3100 and a D5100 in the car. Let's say i purchase a Schumacher AGM charger. Since the rear batts have always been connected in parallel their whole time, is it ok if i charge them paralleled together? I don't really see how 1 batt could charge better than the other but i dont know for sure. Second, since i have a solenoid which isolates my rear batts from the rest of the car, is it ok if i charge the rear batts with everything still connected including all the ground cables ran to my chassis? I know not to charge while car running, that's obvious, just check the two things above.

yea, makes for a good CT(car theater) project, hehe

OK, just got back from some more testing. I got done testing SPL, daily and Bassrace. I still have to test driveby and port wars but that's later. I am peaking at 58hz right now with no port in the wall. My actual peak is 50hz even and by the looks of it, it should gain me 0.7 db theoretically so we'll see... After i build a port to peak at that, then i gotta modify port area to see if i can gain anymore. Also, now that i've tested bassrace, i know what sets of frequencies are loudest in my car now... Can you believe that 23hz is a peak in my car? it doesn't get as loud as 23hz does again til 35hz!

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Well, SSA is in Arizona so if u decide to purchase some products from them, expect record shipping times!