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helotaxi

SSA Tech Team
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Everything posted by helotaxi

  1. I'm not sure what your goal is with the EQ. It sounds like you have the wrong idea about what it will and won't do for you. The DQS and the DQXS have the same number of bands, the DQXS just has a crossover built in and allows for equalization of each set of outputs independently. Since you have a crossover active on the outputs eliminating some of the frequencies, a lot of the bands per output will be wasted. Both of them are graphic. You can't adjust frequency of the bands or the Q of the boost or cut.
  2. If it doesn't have and RMS setting, that is your problem. You're measuring whatever the voltage happens to be at the sampling time, or the peak voltage, depending on the meter. If you plan on being even somewhat serious about car audio, go ahead and invest in a "True RMS" multimeter.
  3. Do you have the DMM set to RMS or peak? If it's set to peak, you're right about where you want to be. Multiply peak voltage on a sive wave by 0.707 to get RMS. Don't be afrad to turn it up. That will speed up the break-in. All the break in is is getting the spider and suspension loosened to their designed final state. From the factory they will be a little stiff. It will sound better and get louder with less power after break in. You won't hurt it by turning it up now.
  4. Neil- What enclosure did you keep for continued use?
  5. Kevlar won't add anything over using woven FG other than significant cost. You don't need the tensile strength of the Kevlar or the light weight. The resin is what is going to provide the stiffness to the form, not the material.
  6. Dire Straits-Brothers in Arms (the whole album) AC/DC-Back in Black (Remastered)-Back in Black Bering Strait-Bering Strait-What is it About You Garth Brooks-In Pieces-Standing Outside the Fire
  7. Capacitance is measured in Farads. Current storage capacity is usually expressed in Amps times a unit of time. Car batteries and the like have their capacity expressed in amp*hours. Total capacity of a cap is one thing, but the usable charge is only that stored between the alt voltage (usually between 14.4V and 13.8V) and the battery voltage (about 12.6V). If you do the math, the usable capacity of a capacitor is on the order of 0.5 amp*seconds per Farad. That's also assuming a perfect world. Let's say that we're in a perfect world. Alternators transition between current demands instantly and caps have no ESR. We have an alternator dedicated to the stereo that is 150A. We also have a 2.5kw amp and a 5F cap. The music that we have cued up has a decent bassline around 50hz. The cap will make up the difference (with a steady voltage drop) between the demand of the amp and the max capacity of the alt for a whole two cycles of that 50hz bassline, or 0.04 seconds, assuming 14.4V from the alt and 85% efficiency from the amp (both of those are pretty darn generous). A huge cap and a small system might see stable voltage. However with a system that small, the need for any help with voltage stabilization is tiny and for the cost of a huge cap, you could get a good battery that will do the same thing for voltage and allow you to play the system with the car off and make the car eaiser to start.
  8. Figure how much power you're going to run. Figure what tuning you want and the boxvolume that you need. From there you actually base your port area on the velocity and length based on that port area. WinISD is pretty darn good for this, especially for the price (free). You can then account for the difference made by the flare manually. I'm not sure at what point the flare fails to make a difference in port noise, but at some point, the velocity in the throat of the port will be high enough that the air in the port begins to compress and the flare is useless. The flare reduces the velocity at the exit point proportionally to the ratio of the areas of the outer flare diameter and the throat of the port.
  9. The older JL subs were fairly easy to reach the mechanical limits of with rated power in the recommended box. As were the older Kickers (comps and the first couple series of Solobarics especially). Subs are usually rated for thermal power handling, not mechanical. There have been a few companies that do provide rated power based on the spec box that the sub is in but those are the exception not the rule.
  10. Nothing works with Christmas lights. They are a tangled mess, deal with it.
  11. You can use the gain control to limit power. Because of the higher current involved with 600@2 vs. 600@4 on the outputs, the amp will be less efficient at 2 ohms. The difference probably won't be huge but there will be a difference.
  12. Subtle the subs are not...
  13. The material of her clothing and the seats cause the problem.
  14. You can use TA to correct for left-right path-length differences or for mid-tweet differences or for both. If you use it to correct for left-right, front seat occupant or the other is going to get the short end of the deal.
  15. Plenty of us can. Question is would it be more economical for you to have someone on here build it and ship it ($$$) or find someone local to you to build it or figure out how to build it yourself/
  16. As long as the HU output is unclipped and undistorted at a voltage level that will allow you to get full power from the amp (like I said earlier most decent amps only need 0.2 v to make full power and pretty much any HU can do at least 1v cleanly) then the max preout voltage is not important at all. The biggest difference in noise rejection in modern systems have come as a result of a change in amp input design, not anything to do with the HU at all. Good power input filtering to get rid of power line ripple coupled with differential inputs make for a pretty well noise proof system.
  17. Zero audible noise induction is normal. There is thermal noise, it will be far below audible even with 1v preouts. Try this: once you have everything installed again, turn the HU volume almost all the way down (2-3 on the volume control) and turn the gain all the way up. If you can't hear noise then you don't have anything to worry about. I've got a 2V Alpine and my system was dead silent as far as noise goes. More HU voltage would have been totally pointless.
  18. helotaxi replied to jonbearsmt's topic in General Audio
    Daily setup? You don't care then. It does some of what you think, but there's really nothing you can do about it and it doesn't really affect anything other than costing you tiny amount of output that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference on anyway. Actually it's quite likely that at certain freqs the amp is "seeing" 8 or more ohms. Of course the box is efficient at those freqs to compensate and level the response.
  19. helotaxi replied to jonbearsmt's topic in General Audio
    It's a rise in impedance above the nominal value based on the interaction between the sub and its enclosure. Since I have no idea what you do audio wise I can't tell you if it affects you at all. 99% of the people out there don't need to concern themselves with it at all.
  20. If you set the amps correctly there is not going to be an issue with the HU clipping. You figure out where the HU starts to distort and back it off a bit from there. That is your max volume setting and you use that to set your gain knowing that you can't turn it up past that point without both the preouts and the amp clipping. With most amps, you'll have the gain set around 50% with the 4V using a -6dB tone and only slightly less than that with an 8V deck. There is not going to be a difference that you can hear or even measure with normal equipment between the two. Truth is that with modern audio gear worth owning, any noise that you have is related to ground or other install issues, not induced noise or thermal hiss.
  21. You'd not be able to use the majority of the volume range with most any amp. Most can only handle 5v. Most only need 0.2v to make full power. Higher preout voltage is only higher with the volume up higher. At higher volume s/n is at its highest anyway and noise isn't audible. High volt preouts are really nothing more than a marketing gimmick assuming that your amps don't have super noisy preamp stages, higher gain settings aren't a big deal.
  22. Why? Seriously, why?
  23. I have the pair of Jasper jigs. And yes, that is the bit. Word of caution: check collet tightness regularly like before each cut. The cutting force is up which pulls the bit into the work. If the collet isn't tight or is worn, the bit will be pulled from the collet and through the work and backing board into the table. Don't ask me how I know...
  24. Subs are going to be a tight fit for depth reasons. Gotta figure mounting depth, material thickness, space behind the motor for the pole vent to breathe and clearance for excursion. Not saying it is impossible but it will be tight. 2.7 cf tuned around 27hz should do OK. Problem with that is that you will need a large port to keep port noise at bay with that amount of power. Not sure how you could get it all to fit.

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