altoncustomtech

Reminds me of a kid who brought a car to me with amp overheat problems. His (actually quite good) 4 gauge wire was too short for both the power and the ground so he used some 18 gauge speaker wire to finish the run from each to the terminals on the amp, at least 3 feet for each. Oh, why is it some people can only learn the hard way.

Here goes... Website name/link: http://forum.mwcaraudio.net/ Your likes: New & uncluttered, regulars seem like good people, decent diversity of interests Your dislikes: A little slow on traffic. What keeps you coming back: I was here when it started, I like the people who run it, it's uncluttered and easy to navigate. What does the site offer you the user: It's good place to talk to and help others. How can the site improve: We just need to figure out a way to increase traffic some. Website name/link: http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/ Your likes: Lots of knowledgable people, some of the best I've run across. Is the official forum for several brands I purchase. One of the best forum interfaces I've used. Your dislikes: Due to the high volume of users, there are a few people who regularly post who cannot keep their bad opinions to themselves instead of helping the person who made the post. What keeps you coming back: Been there quite awhile and have made many good friends there and have helped many people. What does the site offer you the user: Direct communicability to owners/staff of several companies I purchase from. Lots of opportunity to help others. How can the site improve: Would be nice if the mods were to go after more of the useless commented posts so they wouldn't clutter up some good discussion topics. Website name/link: http://www.blazerforum.com/forum/ Your likes: Chock full of information specifically regarding 1st and 2nd generation Blazers/Jimmys/Bravadas. Was able to help me fix or identify several issues I had with my Jimmy. Your dislikes: Has those "hover over" word AD links all over the page, very annoying. Seems like it uses a very old version of VBullietin. What keeps you coming back: The vast amount of collected knowledge on these trucks. Enjoying helping people out with questions and problems in the audio section. What does the site offer you the user: Endless support of problems with my specific vehicle. How can the site improve: Would be great if they upgraded the VBulletin software. The site has plenty of advertisement banners and such, it would be great if they would get rid of the "hover over" word ads.

They make harness adapters now to connect the aftermarket HU RCA's to the factory amp inputs.

Right, so it's not being double amped, it's working the same way as it would with any external amplifier. Which also unfortunately rules out some problems I've seen where the HU's internal amp was driving the inputs of a stock amp, can cause problems like these. Have you measured the voltage behind the HU? I could see where constantly running on a low voltage could cause problems with the HU after a period of time. Or, perhaps the stock amp is on the same fuse and it's just starting to fail?

The HU's internal amp isn't even hooked up to the harness? If so it's not being double amped, the stock amp is powering the speakers by itself.

Are you POSITIVE it's built to specs? I agree with cobra, it sounds as though you're playing well below tuning with an undersized port. We'll need dimensions to know for certain. Another possibility is some bad air leaks, maybe.

This is one I don't think I can turn down. Put me down for a set!!

If you're suddenly blowing fuses it's not a problem to take lightly. I would disconnect the sub from the amp and check the voice coils on the sub. The reading on the DMM will usually be slightly less than the nominal value. Example, you have a dual 2 ohm sub wired in parallel for a 1ohm load on your 1200, the DMM will likely show ~.8 or something to that effect. If it's much higher, or lower than that you may have been clipping the sub and starting to damage the voice coil. Be sure to post up in here what it measures at and the type of sub(s) you have to be sure whether the value you measure is a good one or not. Otherwise, if the sub checks out I would imagine there may be something wrong with the amp, fuses don't suddenly start to blow after 5 months for no reason. Just my .02

That's pretty much exactly how I wanted it to sound because that's exactly how I feel. I was honestly expecting much worse from it. What I thought was funny was how the guy was just so blown away by the sound of my Q's he did literally start cussin' the guys who talked him into buying the AQ and the sub itself. He said he never thought bass could sound so good, LOL. Really wish I had the video camera out to record it all.

Just figured I would add this. I got to listen to an HDC3 15 last night and from everything I've read I expected crap but was surprised it wasn't too bad. It was in a 3.35cuft box tuned to 33hz sub up, port to drivers side, in a '98 S10 extended cab running off an older Hifonics Brutus 1600. The guy who owned it had built everything the way he wanted instead of what AQ recommended which is probably why it didn't sound like a fart cannon to me. It would drop nice and low and had more than enough output. However, it did sound VERY sterile with almost no warmth to it at all and it seemed to "ring" at certain frequencies maybe in the 55-60ish hz area. Another definite drawback was that I could hear mechanical noise from it at medium volumes which would get annoying to me after awhile. I would never buy one for many obvious reasons but after having a chance to listen to one I can say I was surprised as it didn't sound like I was expecting it to. Heads up to Nick and Scott, you'll likely have another sale on a 4" BL or a BTL real soon. The guy listened to the van and started cussing his AQ, LOL. Said he was gonna hit up the site first thing after getting home last night!!

Foam is used to soak up, get rid of, dampen (pick the terminology that works best for you) standing waves in an enclosure. However, as Impious has stated in post # 10, the waves produced by sub bass frequencies are too long in length to be a problem inside the enclosure. If it was a woofer instead of a sub woofer, it would play into higher frequencies where standing waves could become a problem. Now, putting foam or fiber insulation inside an enclosure certainly isn't going to hurt a damn thing and could possibly reduce some unwanted noises such as mechanical noises from the sub's suspension movement, possibly some port noise and other things like that. (though most decent subs shouldn't have much if any mechanical noise in the first place) If you feel so inclined to use foam, fiber insulation, polyfil, acoustastuf or what have you, feel free as it won't hurt anything at all, but any real benefit in our cases will be minimal.

The idea that a capacitor can help anything at all is that it holds a fair amount of current that can be utilized faster than a battery can. However, there's some time constants involved in the amount of current that the cap charges and discharges in any given scenario. The idea is that in a sudden demand for current draw the cap can help "stiffen" the voltage in the circuit and prevent the voltage from dropping, and it can, but only to a point. As far as what you're asking for you particular application it will not help at all, even by the theory that involved the use of caps in the first place. For burping scenarios you're playing a tone for a few seconds, right? There's no dynamics, no fluctuations, just constant demand for whatever the time period is and anything the cap could do to help would have been used up in the first few milliseconds and could/would actually become a drain on the rest of the electrical system as it would continue to attempt to charge back up. This is a VERY basic description of why it does nothing to help, especially in high current demand situations they simply don't work. Now, if a persons headlights are dimming and flashing like a light show at a concert one can put a cap on the headlights and get stability in the voltage for them, as has been suggested before, BUT it does nothing to solve their real problem. It's just a real world example of them working, but that is also not a high current circuit. As M5 said, the only benefit is to the companies that make them. Marketing hype and unknowing users who swear they have helped happening for years has people believing there's any real benefit.

It's not a true horn in the sense of what a horn really is and does. Nowhere near big enough to function as a horn is intended. There's nothing wrong at all with the output and response you can get from a good standard ported enclosure.

Given the folded horn was properly tuned and built, yes, I would imagine it would be louder than an L configured slot ported enclosure. I've never had a chance to play with one, so I'm not sure exactly what the differences are, but from what I understand that is the preface and reasoning behind the horn loading design. Really need some input from some of the more seasoned members at this point.

From all I've read and heard about them they're great little subs. Hopefully someone with some personal experience can chime in some more info.

Here's a horn loaded enclosure.... notice how the port opening behind the sub is very small and as it travels around though the length it widens.... same idea as the traffic cone.... Folded horn enclosure Another plan for one.... Autotuba Here's a kinda horn.... Hybrid horn

Actually it is very different. When port area is increased (i.e. using a large port) the port length must increase as well. They're only doing what they have to in order to get the tuning they want with the port size they're using. An actual horn loaded enclosure can vary in design greatly, but will at some point have some part of the enclosure passing through what looks like a small narrowing hallway in order to produce the horn loading effect. I'll see if I can find an example or two.

For all intensive basic purposes, yes, there is an audible and easily measurable difference.

I cannot imagine a single possible reason why you could not do this. Hell, I've done it many times, as I'm sure many others have. If there's a no no reason for doing so I'd like to have it explained in excruciating detail, lol. It's not going to hurt any equipment, nor should there be any effect on charging the batteries together.

You can't push the sound waves, but you can "concentrate" (for lack of a better word at the moment, M5 I know you have a better term for it) them. Think of yelling through a traffic cone for example, there are horn loaded enclosures than can do the kind of thing your idea was moving toward. However, if you remember Impious's post on the length of the waves, it takes a VERY large and long horn to effect the sound waves in that manner and are not really ideal for car audio use due to the size. People have done them, don't get me wrong. I just have never seen one in person to give you any idea of how it worked out. I would still stick with the idea that a properly built, braced and tuned ported enclosure will out perform any other wild idea, like a transmission line or horn, that was done wrong just to fit in the car. Just my .02

I agree.... I use that gasket tape on EVERYTHING I build. Seal subs, ports, removable ports/panels just about anything. Look at the bottom of the rubber gasket, you'll see the foam tape.

Welcome to the forum!!! Time for ????

Sooooo.... How long 'til they're up on the site? I'm planning on making another decent purchase on some apparel (wife wants shirts too) and would love to toss a belt or two on with the order!!

If you own a DMM it is possible to use one amp on each coil of the sub, HOWEVER, you have to be certain the output of each of the amps is very close or it can cause damage eventually. You'll want to use RCA splitters to get both amps the left and right channels. Second, find a CD or an MP3 of a test tone to play on loop so it's the same tone over and over again. Now, at this point you'll want to set the gains on the amps as you normally would except for one big detail, don't turn one up and then the other any significant amount. Tweak one up a few volts on the DMM, then the other to match the first one. Get the gains set where you want just make sure they're as close to the same output as possible. Do that, and you should be alright until you can save up the money to buy a good 1 ohm stable monoblock amp. I wouldn't wait any longer than absolutely necessary to make the purchase either since if one amp decides to take a crap on you, you may not notice much of a change until it's too late and the sub is damaged. I've seen people screw up and run a sub on a single coil for months not realizing how it was supposed to be hooked up and I've also seen one get destroyed moments after getting power applied without one coil connected on accident. Every piece of equipment and situation is different. Running two amps, one to each coil isn't a dangerous practice in and of itself. Competitors have done it for years, especially back in the olden days of yore. They did it back then because the drivers could handle the power but the choices of high powered amps were limited and quite expensive. A person could theoretically put more power to a driver with less money in two smaller or cheaper amps, then with the one bigger one. Ultimately I wouldn't do it myself, but I'm just saying, it's not impossible nor completely impractical to do so.

i believe he meant negotiable...