altoncustomtech

It looks like Jon recommended 110in^2 of port area. If you divide the port height (20.5") by 110 it will give you the port width, approximately 5.365" or 5 3/8". Unless Jon had something else in mind.

If you notice, they're exactly 1.5" longer. That takes in account of the 3/4" on each end overlap you have to have to attach the sides to the top and bottom, that's to keep the air space inside the exact dimensions.

I have to agree with Brandon. While both will give you insane amounts of output, in a properly built enclosure the 18 will be louder than the 15 due to the extra cone area. Like he said, if down the road you get rid of that truck and get something smaller and have to go down to a 15, you won't have any problems selling the 18.

If you're looking for low lows the BL's can perform the way you want. The response is all in the installation and enclosure.

The first recommendation is for you to build your own box. Prefabbed boxes aren't worth a crap for good subs like the BL's, unless of course you have a custom box built for you by companies like AMI Creations and Pound That Sound, or there's plenty of guys on here that are good at building enlcosures, one of them may be local to you and be able to help. As for the VC configuration, those subs are conservatively rated at 1000wrms. The 3500 delivers 3500+ into 1 ohm and 1750+ into 2 ohms. If this is your first real system I might recommend getting Dual 1's to run at 1 ohm and changing to a 2000D. The reason being that the 3500 can deliver nearly 4kw into a 1 ohm load with GOOD electrical. That's around twice as much as the BL's can handle. If you absolutely must have the 3500 then I'd order the Dual 2's and run the amp at a 2ohm load so you don't send the subs to hell the first week you're using the system. The amount of electrical you'd need to properly run the 3500 is also VERY substantial, expensive, and not for beginners. That's another reason I'll recommend the Dual 1's and a 2000D.

You're quite welcome. In a world full of foreign based customer service centers its nice to have people that you can talk to (though I've not called yet, LOL) and speedy response has been replaced with computer based menu help. It really is refreshing to get good customer service these days.

If this is in the wrong section, mods please move it. Otherwise, I wanted to comment on the customer service at SSA. I recently ordered a Sundown SAX-100.4 and a Sundown SAZ-2000D. I was quickly notified that there will be a wait on the 100.4 Then a couple days later I asked about the SAZ as I figured I should have had a tracking # by now and was affraid it was going to be backordered as well (such is my luck) and I got an immdediate response back that they'd check on it. To top it all off I got the response from the check practically seconds later that I should have the tracking # tonight. WOW!! is all I can say, that is some quick service. I wish customer service centers everywhere were as quick and reliable as you folks! Thanks again Aaron, y'all have yourselves a great weekend!

As M5 stated, when any frequency from two sources aren't 100% in phase it can cause some amount of cancellation. What plays into the equation then is the distance the waves travel and the reflections they encounter. This effect can be done in a room with a stereo set of speakers. By simply moving them and yourself around the room and listening to them in different positions you'll find that the sound can/will change depending on listening position and speaker position, and that's with everything the same! When putting a pair of speakers in two different boxes the anomalies are impossible to predict and would far outway any benefit of trying different tuning. As M5 and I said, there are better ways to go about getting the results that you're theorizing could be gained from doing this, all without the horrible results of this particular design.

The reason it won't work is because in a ported enclosure the subs have a "group delay" which is kind of like the idea behind time alignment (VERY LOOSELY BASED COMPARISON). The sound wave from the speaker is slightly out of sync with the wave of the input signal. The group delay changes with the diffrent design parameters of the enclosure, one of them being the enclosure tuning. If you were to build a box with seperate chambers tuned to different frequencies it could and most likely would cause cancellations (it would be like when two speakers playing the same frequency are wired out of phase, they move but you hear little to nothing) at frequencies that no one could possibly guess. That is a bad thing for MANY MANY reasons. Like it was stated, if you had a goal behind trying that kind of design, we could help you find another more productive way to achieve that goal. Otherwise that is about the simplest way I could think of to explain one of the main reasons it won't work.

Wow, I had considered at one time to look into buying an AQ2200 for my Fi Q's. Looks like I may have made the right choice going ahead and spending the money with Sundown.

I've ordered lots of stuff from them. Plenty reliable, fairly quick shipping and offer the installation gear free for most HU's when you order.

I know what I'll be ordering very soon!!

I work for a Natural Gas Pipeline company. I take care of the measurement, controls and engines in our area of the 380+ mile pipe (The part that runs through Indiana) that runs from Portland, TN to Joliet, IL. I take care of three Clark TLA-8 2,700HP Turbocharged 8-Cylinder 2-cycle engines, a 4,000HP Solar Centaur Turbine engine, and a 10,000HP Solar MARRS Turbine.

if you're careful that coat hanger will work just fine.... trust us, it's been a car audio installers trusty tool for fishing wires for many a year... I just used one yesterday to run some wire in my sister's Durango, worked like a charm.

Welcome to the forum, there's a lot of knowledgeable people here who can help with your questions as they arrive. Remember that "search" is your friend, almost any question you can think of has been asked before and your answers may be just a search away. Looking at Sundown for your first setup is definitely a good move, wish I knew what I know now when I started in audio years ago, you're already ahead of the game!

Another good note, be sure to PRE-DRILL the holes and PRE-RUN the screws into the wood before you install the sub so that it doesn't take so much force to put them in. Ideally it shouldn't take any more force than it takes to hold the driver on the screw to run them down when you're installing the sub that way if it does manage to slip it won't be so damaging because you're not pushing down so hard. Don't feel bad just about EVERYBODY does this at least once when they're starting out. Silicone will be okay for the repair, I've also had some luck repairing surrounds with finger nail polish believe it or not. I have a friend who is using some REALLY old school subs (late 80's, early 90's era MTX Blue Thunders). He's had to repair the surrounds on them several times due to them getting brittle from old age. He used his girlfriends black nail polish on all the repairs so far and they're still thundering away oddly enough, though they're not on near the power you have.

I would recommend the SSD in your case. The Q is built for SQ and while it does do really good on output the SSD is geared more toward what you're wanting to acheive. Otherwise you should just save up a few more $$$ and go to the BL series, designed to give much more output over the Q or SSD series. If you go with the SSD series be sure to get the BP option to handle that amp. Although a pair of dual 1 ohm 12"BL's would really be at home on that amp @ 1 ohm.

you can find out if it's the fuse or not very quickly by touching a wire or something like that from the outside of the RCA connector to the case of the HU. If it stops then the fuse is blown and it's VERY easy to blow. It's called a PICO fuse because the fuse is rated for PICOAMPS, like .000000001 of an amp. (.001=milli, .000001=micro) At any rate, I'd bet it's the fuse. If it's still making noise after you ground the RCA shell to the case then you've got a ground loop that has occured due to a problem with the HU not being grounded properly or perhaps the RCA's are bad.

After checking the coils it would be good to get to the root of the problem. What size and tuning was the enclosure in which it was installed? Were you using any bass boost? What were the levels set to on your HU? It's important to figure out what happened to it so it won't happen again to the repaired/new one.

Denim, is there an ETA for lauch on these yet? I'm interested in these for the Jimmy...

I agree 100% with M5.... ditch the rear speakers, they're not helping anything.... with the rears gone you can bridge the channels and run your components better.... and to get more bass, build a new enclosure that is the correct size.... and upgrade your power and ground wires to a good 4 AWG.... those things will help more than you can imagine and if you're truly looking for SQ, will get you closer to your goal...

clipped is most likely, and I didn't mean the cold could hurt the VC like burning them up, I meant it could damage the suspension of the sub....

I have to admit I'm a little biased. I would recommend the Fi SSD. Fi builds a very stout high quality woofer that is very hard to beat for the price paid. My little brother has an 18" SSD and it is positively amazing. The SSD is shallower by a tenth of an inch, so their depth differences are almost mute.

I bet your nightshade wants way more power than that. If your on a budget then you can go with them but I wouldnt, I would look at Audioque or Audiopipe over Hifonics. Just my .02 I agree 110% with this remark, at best I would call Hifonics "Tight" budget equipment. I've learned over the years that a person is better off learning some patience and saving a few more dollars and buying the better equipment rather than just buying what they can afford at the time. It almost always saves time, trouble and MONEY in the long run.

LOL thats funny.... two opposite replys.... sorry about that, It would probably be better to say its just best practice not to play them HARD below freezing temperatures.