altoncustomtech

You're welcome man, and that sounds awesome! Thanks Brother!! I really appreciate the help with those tweeter cups, that made it so much easier than the route I was gonna go with my router. The amp rack(s) and enclosure are gonna be a bit more plain than originally planned. Due to space issues causing problems with fitment I'll be doing something much simpler for the amp rack(s). I also decided not to go with plexi on the enclosure. It just started to seem a little too corny to do again after building the box for the van with it's window. I'm simply planning on a bedliner lined box with something of the SSA logo on it. As far as you seeing them in person, is that a hint to a future trip sometime?? If so let me know ahead of time and I'll be sure to have the fridge stocked!! Thank You Brother!!

Happy Birthday dude!

those are my thoughts.... You'll have to decide what you want on your own if you really want it to be original tho.

Typically people will use more power than they're rated for the overhead. Due to the dynamics of music even though the amp is capable of much more power output than the speakers are rated they rarely ever see it and when they do it's for such a short amount of time that the heat is dissipated quickly and nothing gets hurt at all. As long as a person is sane and careful with the gain volume knobs everything is generally pretty peachy. The speakers usually get a little louder and sound much cleaner than with rated or less power, usually. As for an upgrade in speakers, that's a completely subjective subject. In other words, what sounds good to you may not sound good to me, or anyone else. You'll really need to try to have a good listen at the sets you're interested in to have a good feeling on what sounds GOOD to YOU. Online reviews and recommendations are always far too biased, tainted, or misrepresented to be blindly trustworthy. That being said, I've gone out on a limb many times and bought something that reviewed well, or was highly recommended, but I knew what I was getting myself into, knew the risks and costs involved and made that decision accordingly. If you can't listen to them before you buy them be prepared to take a hit and sell them for different ones.

And I can't wait to listen to it to get it reviewed, lol! :D :D :D Thank you! Thanx man! BTW, need to get info from you on the IAK T's..... They're alot like ported, shouldn't be much of a difference. Can't wait myself to see how the XCON performs! Will be starting on the box ASAP, or as soon as work quits kickin my ass. And don't worry, I always post the pics as I take them. If work doesn't have me tied up AGAIN this year you can count on it!

Well, kinda. The PR does the job of a port, but without the problems of port velocity and added enclosure volume. They're also much easier than a port to tune and re-tune. The biggest downside I'm aware of is increased roll-off below tuning frequency. So, it's kind of like tuning a sealed enclosure due to the absence of a port of any kind, but not really as the PR's are equivalent to a port. Same here, it was a single early 90's Orion 12 with an 18" PR. Probably only one of my favorites only due to how different it was as I was too young then to really understand it, how it worked and why it was being done that way. I do know how to tune them, in theory, as they are my first real world use of PR's. It will be easy enough in practice though, using the weight of the air in the equivalent size port area in reference to the cone area of the PR's to rough them in. Then adjust in small amounts for perfecting the tuning frequency. At least that's my understanding of the process.

Alright, not much going on here. Having to completely rethink the amp rack, looks like I'll have to build two, one on each side of the rear. Good news tho, got the PR's yesterday!!! I want to give a BIG thank you to Aaron and Mark for allowing me to have PR's made with the XCON dustcaps and logos on them, a BIG BIG Thank You to you both. With the PR's in hand I can start on the enclosure building and now for a few quick pics of the PR's.

to the forum!! Glad to hear you're loving your XCON's. I can't wait to try my one 10" XCON with a pair of 10" PR's out and see how it does.

I don't believe anyone would consider the Q to be weak by any stretch of the imagination. It's a well proven quality performing driver. I have a pair on a Sundown 2k and they're absolutely amazing. Sure, others can get louder, but louder isn't always better. 80 to 100hz is typical. It's all dependent upon your installation, enclosure, vehicle, music and listening preferences. Just try it out and adjust until it sounds right to you. BTW if your HU has subwoofer preouts and it's own LPF then simply adjust the amp's LPF all the way up so it's out of the way and let the HU control it.

to the forum!

The difference was described above, but also shows you stand to gain potentially from some good tuning work. Hard to make up for pathlength, azmiuth, AND reflections but there are ways to address each. It does not take ANY distance for a wave to "develop". It is what it is a sound wave. If it needed to develop then you would be seeing phase and/or amplitude changes which aren't possible without something acting on the wave. As for the how, you get to address each concern independently and sometimes at the compromise of disturbing another. Exactly why you never see me carte blanche recommend a speaker, mounting location, processing or any of the above. These are all trade-offs that you get to balance in your own ride. To the bold answers, when you refer to the tuning part, are you referring to tuning with a processor, physically or am I likely missing the real point? I would be more than willing to install and go through the trouble to tune to get the results I heard. To the underlined answers, I've always understood why you don't just drop recommendations. Not saying I've always agreed with it, but I do understand it. I don't have any qualms about addressing the problems in my own rides, however I do lack the advanced experience and knowledge it takes to address them head on. Would you happen to have some resources (books, websites, etc) where a person could go and perhaps begin to gain an understanding on how to address the problems?

Not a noise, simply harshness in the sound. Haven't tried moving to being on axis with the mids. It easily EQ'd out with a simple -1 at 2khz on the parametric EQ in the HU.

Transfer function? Great. Makes sense, but i would figure there's not a way to utilize it on a scale of even moderately difficult in a vehicle.

Brad and Sean, I imagine you guys will be the most help here but I'm looking for anyone's input with insight here. I have noticed a bit of an acoustic phenomenon in both my vehicles that I'm sure exists in others but I'd love to figure out how to adapt or harness it to be put to real use. I'm also looking for the exact reason the acoustics work this way. In my Jimmy, for example, I have the doors deadened with CLD and CCF (MLV is in the works) and the Bravox components are mounted in good heavy MDF baffles. They sound great with good strong midbass and can even extend fairly low for their small size and low HU power. My only complaint is that they're a bit "forward" or "in your face" and there was a little beaming or resonance in the 2k-3k range which I was able to EQ out with the HU's EQ and it was only noticeable on certain music anyway. Otherwise they're some of the best components I've owned to date. Now to the point of this post. If I sit in the back seat, or get in the back of the truck like I was the other day taking measurements for the complete redesign on the amp racks they sound COMPLETELY different. They're smoother, more subdued, less "forward" or "in your face" sounding and the midbass and bass are much more pronounced, fuller and warmer sounding. It was like listening to a really good set of house speakers. I started playing with different songs and some settings on the HU and simply couldn't believe the difference. My questions are pretty basic unlike the answers. Why is there such a dramatic difference? What, if anything, can be done to achieve that same result while sitting in the front of the vehicle? I know it takes some distance for the frequency waves for bass to fully develop and the seats are likely helping with the midrange and highs smoothing, so I'm sure that has some play in this. I also know that acoustics are just tricky, results are always going to be different when listener and speaker positions change, changes in the environment, placement of objects, and the materials of everything all play a role in the outcome. Vehicles only make all these acoustic effects harder to predict and work with, so I guess I'm just looking for a better understanding of WHY the dramatic difference exists. That will likely tell me if there is even a HOW to create the same effect/result from a front listening position.

No fuse is a bad idea. In all my limited experience, when I've seen this it was solely due to a bad connection. If it's an overcurrent issue or a short the fuse will blow, but current flowing through resistance creates heat and that heat is what's melted it.

Happy Birthday brother!

I started learning about audio when I was 13. Had stereo equipment in my first vehicle before I was legally able to drive it, and now at nearly 33yo I don't see myself EVER settling with a stock stereo system, no way. I too will likely always be installing aftermarket audio for as long as I am able to do so.

Works great for setting SSF too.

If you want to verify for certain what the enclosure is tuned to simply get some test tones that range from at least 50hz to 20hz in 1hz increments. Start playing at the 50hz tone at a moderate enough volume that the subs can noticeably move, but not really moving far. Then click through the tracks one at a time while watching cone movement. When you see the cones moving the LEAST amount, that is the tuning frequency.

Happy Birthday!

Awesome! to the forum!

Well, nevermind on the link to the article. It seems that the Car Audio & Electronics magazine website is gone and the article is no more. It basically said that due to beaming, odd order distortions, harmonics and resonances which all vary from cone material, driver parameters, and size the harshness some people hear and blame on their tweeters actually comes from their mids at frequencies ranging roughly from 2khz to 6khz. Brad and Sean would be better suited to explain this in detail and solutions to it than I as I have only a firm enough grasp on the subject to understand it.

Seriously harsh rattling like you're trying to remedy is caused by these panels and parts vibrating against each other. The CLD tiles, CCF and MLV will be necessary to get it as quiet as it can be. However the quickest way to start the process is by identifying each place there's point of impact and insert something (like CCF or weatherstripping) between them to cushion it or in the case of the trunk lid tighten it up so that it can't move so much in the first place. The bumper cover and quarter panels will be tougher as they're not easily accessed, but they are doable for sure. The amount of work it takes to find and fix every rattle is truly a pain but very much worth it in the end. I haven't quite got the picture in my head of exactly what is being referred to doing on that shaped MDF panel and foam but with I do not see that being a good or permanent solution.

I agree with Brad 100% about the dome material. I've also found that what some people think is harshness from their tweeters is actually the mids beaming at or above the passive crossover point. I used to have a good article that explained it in great and wonderful detail. Hopefully I can find and link it again. Otherwise, I would just forget the rears and use the entire budget on a great set of components for the front plus deadening and installation correction. You'll be much more pleased with the outcome this way. So many people dwell on the fact that they think passengers won't be able to hear the music in the rear without speakers which couldn't be farther from the truth. Take a long vehicle like my Chevy Venture mini van. Passengers in the rear row of seats can hear the music just fine and only slightly lower than sitting in the middle row. When sitting in the middle row there's almost no audible difference in output from the front seats. Besides, who cares the most about how good the music sounds? You, the driver, who sits in the front at all times, or the passengers who are only occasionally in the car?

Looks damn good there... Nice of her to give it an artistic touch. BTW, PIC of said girlfriend!