altoncustomtech

That's pretty interesting man. I'm gonna inquire about it to XS Power and see what they would have to say about it. Thanks for the info. You're welcome. Just to explain it, the chargers that are in place are 6amp chargers which are generally plenty. Since the batteries are wired directly to the equipment the charger usually shows a 1.5amp rate where it's running the equipment, much like an alternator does for a car. However, when the batteries get pretty discharged you'll see the amp meter pegged out at 6 amps and it takes it a great deal of time to recharge them. Sometimes it can't even keep up with running the equipment and the charge. That's when we bring in a couple of regular 10amp automotive chargers and connect them as well. When we have done that we've seen all three chargers pegged for a period of time and as the batteries recover the amp meters go down as less and less current is required to replenish the charge. Once that happens we pull the automotive chargers and let the 6amp charger take care of business. Most of these locations have four to six 100 or 110aH batteries that have to be maintained.

I wouldn't see the need to split the battery bank. The chargers are each going to charge to their capabilities whether another is present or not, unless the "intelligent" circuitry causes some sort of issue. Otherwise, we've used multiple chargers on the gel cell's at our meter locations on the pipeline, when the power has gone out and the batteries have been fairly deeply discharged, for the same reason that it was going to take forever with just the one that was in place.

In the chat, for anyone who's interested...

Hey Chop, you still doing this?? If so I'm gonna make some plans to bring the kids up!!!

I agree with everything Jon said above. "Low sound" has more to do with the box than the sub that's inside it. You should really have a professionally built enclosure done for those Nightshade's if you're serious about using them. Along with at LEAST a few good batteries, HO alternator (or two), tons of 1/0 gauge wire and some serious sound deadening to run what you've listed, and YES, all that is necessary so you dont' wind up with blown equipment. However, if you do as he suggested and go with the SA series, or some Fi SSD's, or anything that's a little more middle of the road you'll save yourself a great deal of money, headaches, and other problems. If you're moving up from the garbage that's found at flea markets you'll be amazed at what a modest installation with decent equipment can do.

Unless someone put the keys in it after it was jacked, he's got the proof to prove their negligence in the pics he posted. The keys are in the ignition, so from what I saw they left the keys in it with the doors unlocked in an obviously unsecured building. If that's not negligence I don't know what would be.

^^^This exactly!!

MAX power is nothing but marketing hype, the RMS rating is the power rating to go by. ^^ I agree with this. Get a pair of Dual 1's and call it a day on one of those Brutus's...

I agree with these guys, it could cause a resonance issue being that they're only 16/18 gauge (or thinner) thick. Besides the fact that the only reason I would use round port tubes is in the application where a slot port enclosure is getting too large for the space available I wouldn't mess with them. I saw a guy who had done a fantastic job of painting the Aeroports he used with some aluminum/silver paint that looked very much like metal. If it was purely for aesthetics that would be the route to take IMHO.

Are you absolutely sure it's tuned to 32hz? Although 99% of the time tuning is usually off on the high side, it's not impossible that it could be tuned much lower causing response problems up higher. Although I'm with edub on playing with placement and orientation and triple checking all the settings.

^^^ This exactly. I've played with it many times and can do some work in it, but nothing like that or that fast. Damnit, I just need more spare time in my life.

Those are my answers and the best practices I know of for the adjustments. I also agree with Stefan on the gain, just adjusting it by ear is about as good a practice as any. Most people just aren't satisfied with the output they get when they set by a DMM or scope. EDIT: Here's the topic Nick posted that information in, POST # 6.

I agree with M5 here. There's no need to bust your budget on a sub that's not going to really shine for what you want. I would like to throw out a recommendation on either a pair of 10" SSA DCON's or the Fi X series subs. A pair of 10's should really help your appetite for more output over the single, not take up a great deal more room and they are well known for being very impressive for both output and their ability to sound good. My sister's single 12" DCON surpassed my expectations to the point that if I had to trade my pair of 12" Q's for her single DCON I would not be afraid to do so. I would take a little hit in output but not enough to bother me any at all and it sounds every bit as good as the Q's. Just my .02 for a seemingly budget, space, and sound fitting solution.

It's amazing what acoustics can do to help and hurt either the quality of the sound you hear or the loudness of it. With the sub facing up, your port facing to the side and your back seat out you were very likely getting a fair amount of cancellation as the wave passed back and forth through the opening. Glad to see it done and hear that you're enjoying it, I told you those 10's weren't even going to compare in output.

^^^ This, he speaks the truth. Any good contact cement like this stuff will more or less permanently bond it. While you want the application light enough it doesn't seep through, it needs to still be enough to get a good bond. I've used it many times over the years and never had a problem, unless I tried to remove the carpet, fabric, or whatever I had glued. Then there was an issue, lol.

I have read negative reviews on full range class D amps and thought them a little one sided. Then I got a chance to listen to an Alpine PDX2.150 driving a set of components on a sound board at a shop. The salesman was pointing out some "graininess" in the upper octaves that I "think" I might have heard. It could easily have been some induced background noise from the power supply or switchboard, the acoustics or background noise of the room and the rest of the crap in it, or just in my imagination since someone claimed to hear it. I have pretty much discounted any old issues with FR class D amps now. That being said, I can't imagine JL would have any quality of signal reproduction issues with the HD series amps for the price they cost. If they do then JL is starting down a bad path. I'm no nuthugger fan of JL, I'm just saying those amps are too expensive to allow the quality to slip. So what is it about the quality of sound reproduction, or lack thereof, did you have and that you blamed on the amplifiers? Especially to get rid of them in what seems like such a hasty fashion. Any amplifier worth it's price will do its job, which is the increase the amplitude of the incoming signal without modifying it in any other way. The topology will not (or should not) have anything to do with the end result as far as that's concerned and selling your good amps for new ones just seems a little rash to me, I'm only trying to understand. Saying you're "not sold on full range class D yet" doesn't really explain much and to me really begs some better detail in what you seemed to have been missing in the sound that could be the amps fault.

It definitely sounds like you're looking for someone experienced to take you under their wing and show you some of the finer points of installation. I sure don't know anyone in your area either, but I'm sure once someone reads the thread who's in your area they'll let you know. It's great to hear that you're interested in learning more of the fit and finish aspect, it's left out so often today. Also, ya might watch the sarcasm when posting online, it's not always conveyed as such, lol. Good luck dude, looking forward to a build log to see how it comes out.

So what did you pick out for the covering? Have you had a chance to give it a test listen yet?

It's right, except for the DC volts part. Audio signals are AC.

lol..... no, not really.... but the hood release is pretty important, lol..... I get what you're saying and it could be an option..... we'll see..

In the chat room....

I've got some ID CTX's sitting around intended for a Blazer I'm in the middle of rebuilding the engine on, but I REALLY want to play with the 3 ways, lol. I'll keep it in mind, especially since I would prefer to have the best I can get out of them no matter what vehicle they're in. You don't have to worry about me separating the mid and tweet, me and Impious went over that in some depth. Yeah I keep complaining about the kicks cuz of their size and the placement of items near the driver's side. You'll see what I'm talking about when I get back home (I hate travelling for work sometimes) and get some pics taken with the mid and tweet in the locations to help give some scale to what is seen. The passenger side wouldn't be impossible, in fact it's quite doable with just the mid and tweet. However the drivers side with the parking brake pedal and the hood release is the possible deal breaker on the location. I'm definitely not ruling it out, but only some testing and measuring will tell for sure. I figured that if worse comes to worse reinforcing the door panel from the back side and installing them right above the midbass could possibly work out well, or at least get them well into the ball park. I'm pouring back over Impious's install thread on his to get some more inspiration and information too.

No, it's not the best for 3-way at all. However, I had the opportunity to get those Bravox's for a once in a lifetime low price and I didn't want to pass it up. I also figure that if I take care of them they'll last what life the van has left in it at 175,xxx miles and hopefully be better suited in the vehicle that replaces it. I talked with Impious about the set when I first purchased them to get some insight on the pros and cons of the set and such since he had some good experience with them so I've got down some of the tricks it will take to get the set working right and I sure as hell intend on playing with placement A LOT to be sure I get them in the right location. His recommendation was keeping the mid and tweet close to the midbass as well, tho on my current component set it never sounded right with the tweeter anywhere but where its at up high, so we'll just have to see. The midrange shouldn't need any airspace to speak of, it has a sealed back. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that assumption tho. The biggest problem with the kicks is the damned parking brake pedal. I had thought of trying that placement but I'm pretty sure I'll have the pedal in the way or would have to figure out some way of moving it. I'll just have to recheck that though to be sure, I'll snap pics of the process as well so you guys can see how much of a pain this thing is, lol. Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm hoping everything works out well. At least what I see in my head should be pretty nice. As always the trick is getting the picture in my head fabbed out to real world existence and be the same.

This is the only way I do double baffles. I hate the way slot enclosures look with a 1.5" thick top at the port opening with a 3/4" side and bottom, call me crazy. Good job!!! It looks great dude, can't wait to hear your first thoughts on how it sounds and how loud it can play over your old 10's!!

It's not as much overkill as you think. The dynamics of music make having the extra power, or overhead, a very good thing. Impious has a thread on here that explains in great detail the how and why of it. As long as a person is responsible with the gain and volume and listen for stress from the speakers then it will be fine. Here's the topic on Amplifier Headroom.