hdrox88

I am currently running active with a set of ID XS65 in the stock door location of my '02 Tahoe on a Zapco ST-4X. While it sounds ok, it is not loud enough for me. I have done zero deadening to the doors thus far, though I did that on purpose so I could hear the difference for myself when I follow the recommendations of Don(SDS) for doing up the doors. I find myself having to dial back the mids to balance things out anyway, which seems odd to me considering the tweeters have a higher sensitivity and are receiving the same power. When I set the gains I had the tweeters crossed at 2.5k with a 24db slope. I played some music and went up til I had a nasty irritation/screech in my ears and backed off a little bit. I am wondering if raising the xover point to 4k and retuning would get louder before distortion. Also, these particular tweeters have removable grills and I was wondering if it would make an audible difference taking them off since they a also behind the factory door grill as well. Just don't want to take the doors apart more than needed if it's not going to make a difference as I'm looking for a pretty significant volume increase over what I have going on right now. From the reading I have been doing lately, I am wondering if horns are in my near future.

Oops, fail on my part. Too many + and - gotta get my eyes checked.

Gotta love it. Was kinda wondering if it was an April fools joke.

Just hook them up and play at low volume, just loud enough to get them moving a little bit. Watch and listen, take note of sound level and do they appear to be moving in unison? Then swap the wires on one of the subs and do the exact same thing, should be a night and day difference. As long as you keep it down you shouldn't cause any mechanical damage when they are wired out of phase.

Eh...? http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/ele/4366612410.html

My amp has remote level control so I'm good there, though those pics would be cool just to see what was done. Who doesn't love pics?

I was actually looking to purchase some Damplifier Pro, but the coupon code said it expired 03/19/2014 when I tried to use it today.

Yea, I figured it was just a "look what I did" feeling that was driving that one. Just needed the second opinions to help steer me away, lol.

Ever since I popped my xcon I have been running a pair of JL 10W3 sealed. It's no flexing setup, but I have gotten them to blend pretty well with my front stage and it is highly enjoyable. I am contemplating replacing the useless tape deck/cd storage center console on my '02 tahoe with a SD-2 8 to take over for the JLs so I have the room in the rear for something bigger to shake things up when I want to. I'd have a switch to either sub amp to turn them on independently. I'm pretty eclectic in my music and bass level choices from day to day. Part of me thinks this is just a silly daydream as a bass knob would fill this roll, and the other part thinks it would be a fun project. Is this a terrible idea? Just curious if anyone has done something like this and how they felt about it afterwards.

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it looks like he stayed with a 2 ohm load, just turned the gain up? D2 coils in series make 4 ohm, those wired in parallel make 2 ohm, correct?

I lost an xcon due to trusting the dd1. I never smelled the coils in distress as I was running sealed so at least you had a chance to save yours when they got too hot.

I'm sooo tempted. I'm considering a xcon 18 as it is. I'd hate to be the noob that swipes this away from a more experienced/deserving member though.

Something to play around with til I get my install how I want it. This thing is the same size as a standard licence plate, kinda surprised me when it arrived today.

You are welcome to pm me an offer. Haven't really decided what I'll be doing with it yet.

After sleeping on it and reading again, it makes sense. Thanks again all who replied, there is definitely a wealth of knowledge on this forum.

I understand what you are saying. I wasn't necessarily concerned about more db output, I was curious if there was any benefit to the noise floor by using a higher hu volume if available. After thinking about it while writing this, the result is probably negligible until you switch to a much higher voltage signal via a different hu or processor, etc. Am I correct in my thinking? Just trying to be sure, not make assumptions.

Thanks for all the insight guys, definitely learned a thing or three in the past few days. Something I was curious about that I have yet to see anyone else mention or question has to do with setting amp gains. Everyone always says to set the hu to 75% volume and set gains from there by ear. My question is, if you are using your ear to set the gain, could you not use your ear to find the sweet spot on the hu volume first with gain zeroed? Then you have the potential for a lower noise floor by getting the most out of the hu before adjusting the input sensitivity? That's actually how I set mine up in the past and never broke anything.

My virgin ears need some training. Lol just trying to get a good start I suppose. I don't want anymore failed equipment!

I've read lots of stuff today and lots of controversy on blowing stuff up. Power kills speakers, not clipping. Low power can kill just as easy if set up improperly. Clipping kills things way before power will, etc, etc, etc. What I'm taking away from it all is that power isn't so much a factor as install and setup. Of course doubling something's rated power isn't a great idea if it is expected to last.

Well that blows, where was RF r&d on that one? Kinda turns me off to them altogether now. I always wondered why something just never sounded right in the years I've run this amp. I just chalked it up to poor install procedure, now I know why. Of course install is still important.

I have a 2002 tahoe with stock alt and dual battery setup and I never drop below 13.8v when warm. Cold start is somewhere around 14.6v. I'm not sure if yours has e-fans, but I had a 2005 Sierra that had e-fans(they started that year) and when they kicked on at op temp they would draw a lot of power, enough that the idle would actually hesitate for a split second.

I was trying to use it for a two way active setup, so 2ch mode would be no good for me. Is that true of all rockford amps? Sounds pretty shifty to me for their top line of amps to have that kind of issue. One thing I didn't check is L to R cross talk, that would not be fixed by a 2ch switch and would not be very good for the clarity of the sound either.

Is that with all heavy electrical draw off, limited to just necessary stuff for driving? Or is that with gear at full output?

Running active simply removes passive crossovers from the equation. You manipulate the signal before it gets amplified. Time alignment and other adjustments together will set the stage for driver or passenger. Going active just opens up the available adjustability. Of course, this is my understanding of it, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm working on my first active setup myself right now.

I too, typically run by this philosophy. The Draconia looks very nice, just don't want to push the tweeters too far. I know you can adjust gains to suit, but being my first active install, I am slightly nervous about tweeters. They seem so fragile, haha.