altoncustomtech

Happy Birthday!

Back in there....

Happy New Year to everyone.

Awesome man, I'm tuned in to see the build and how it scores!

I'm going to be putting 8's in the doors of my Jimmy VERY soon, however you're probably going to have a hard time finding a good 8 that's going to play nicely up to the point a tweeter can take over or a tweeter that can play low enough to keep the 8 out of trouble. You might want to look into doing a full range/dedicated midbass setup. I'm REALLY liking what I'm getting from my testing with such a setup and it's going to take 8's or larger for the midbass to even begin to keep up with that 18. No matter what you do you're going to need something with some processing prowess to get it all to work and play together nicely. So let's start there as Lithium asked, what kind of processing do you have, if any? If none, how much can you put toward some processing? The Clarion CZ702 HU can be picked up for about $150 most places and has enough processing prowess to give even a 3 way setup a go, it's been doing great for me. If you can spend more then there are a number of ways to go, such as the miniDSP. You're also going to need at least 4 channels of amplification for the highs as well to power everything so if you don't already have a pair of 2 channels, or a 4 channel amp you'll have to keep that in mind as well. I'm going to have a few full ranges and an amp or two for sale here before too long and some of that stuff might do you well for where you're trying to go. You're up in Indy, not too horribly far away. I can't drive the Jimmy to you (bad trans at the moment) but if you ever wanted to come down to hear it for yourself you're more than welcome to.

Lowering the internal volume of the enclosure changes the alignment and therefore the response of the enclosure. Coupled with slightly raising the tuning it could help bump up the response near tuning and help some with output. Smaller enclosures tend to be peaky in response, which we don't necessarily want, but just a few tenths of a cu.ft. won't make that big of a difference and will show you with ease whether or not the enclosure alignment is at fault or if they're just not up to snuff. Leaks can be a pain to find if you suspect having them. If you sealed it up real good then I wouldn't worry quite so much about that particular issue yet. The double baffle does make a difference, about .15cu.ft. actually so the NET volume is closer to 2.6cu.ft. but I would still try taking out a little box volume with the 2x4's and see where it gets you. Again it's much cheaper and simpler than a new enclosure or sub(s). If you're looking for more output than the 15" with about the same size enclosure you might look into a pair of 12's. They'll have a bit more cone area than the single 15 and all things being equal have the potential to give just a tad more output.

In there if anyone's interested...

I looked at the numbers a little closer. Assuming 3/4" construction and no bracing the internal volume is more like 2.75cu.ft. NET and the tuning is pretty much right at 32hz. If you want to know if the enclosure is causing a problem cut four pieces of 2x4 about 21" long, screw them together, wrap them with a little cloth so they don't make any noise from rattling inside the enclosure and place them inside somewhere out of the way of the port. That will lower the internal volume down to 2.5cu.ft. NET and the tuning will only raise to about 34hz. That will be a quick, cheap and easy way to see if the enclosure design itself is causing you an issue. If it sounds more like what you're looking for then you can play around with more 2x4 or build another enclosure. If it doesn't get you any closer to what you're looking for then you'll likely be needing to look into a pair of twelve's or going back to a 15 to get the output you're looking for, if the issue is indeed just the output.

One thing that is contributing to the difference is that even two of those 10's doesn't equal the cone area of the 15" SSD. Then consider that the xmax is nearly the same between the SA's and the SSD and the SSD could plain and simply move more air with each stroke than the 10's can. Since it can move more air it's going to be louder in general. According to a few quick checks your box is pretty well spot on according to the dimensions you gave. My question is whether or not it's a problem with HOW they sound or how LOUD they get because you go back and forth between those two words in your post. Are you certain you don't have any air leaks in the box? Around the subs, all the seams, etc., if it's not pretty much a perfect seal it will affect the sound and output you're going to get from the subs. I've asked this question a million times and the first thing people tell me is that they don't have any leaks. You'd be surprised what and where leaks can happen, around mounting screws, under the rubber gasket on the sub, seams that looked perfect. Are you able to move the box around? See if maybe the placement is a problem. If that's not the problem or a possibility then depending on your real issue with the sound or output kind of depends on the next steps to take.

Try one more time before going to bed.... damn I hate having to go back to work tomorrow, lol...

A few hours later, maybe more folks are interested now....

I just went through the entire thread. Coming along beautifully dude! Even on low power I'm sure the enclosures do greatly improve the sound of those mids.

Smells like trolling to me.

Still in there...

Hell yeah, always good to see the good reviews, not enough of them get put up. It's sad when people won't hesitate a second to bash when things don't go their way but when things go good they don't say a word.

Let's try this again....

In the chat room if interested....

In the chat if anyone's bored with nothing better to do...

to the forum!

to the forum!

In there....

Email Fi, they may make recones for that motor.

to the forum!

This is awesome news Quentin. When it comes time to buy/try something new it will make it much easier to give the Ethos or Primos a shot. I'm glad this has been working out for you and your customers!

You've already identified the problem with using capacitors and why they don't work for a high current drain system with inconsistent voltage levels. Even ten .5 farad caps hold a very limited supply of current compared to a battery. Sure if you charge those capacitors and short them out with a wire you'll get a hell of an arc, but that's a direct short that is draining all the current out of them at one time and it still happens super fast. In a car audio electrical system the voltage will be dropping .5 volt, 1 volt, and even with a 2 or 3 volt drop the amount of current the capacitors can supply to stiffen the voltage and prevent it from drastically dropping is minimal and then as the rest of the system is recovering the capacitor is a kind of a drain on it as it charges back up as well. When you read about capacitors and using them as a voltage stiffening device all that information is in reference to DC motor drive systems and things of that nature. It's one quick hard pull on the system and then constant from that point on. The capacitor helps there because you're not constantly cycling through the charge/discharge time constants like we do with car audio drains. The theory and practice works for the industrial world but not for the car audio hobby. Forget the capacitor(s) it/they will be a worthless waste of money. The voltage will never fluctuate enough to cause any issues for the amps and if it did you would know it from the many other problems with the vehicle with lights, it running, etc. You're thinking WAY WAY too much into it, or at least into the wrong aspects. Concentrate on the rest of the installation.