Crazy 8s Drums

I have dropped in to read and experience some of the members super awesome builds. I've also been staying tuned to SMD's youtube vids. From a philosophical aspect, what Meade and other US makers, as well as the enthusiasts that are still hookin' up their whips with the beat down, it is really important. The United States created all of this big bass. We made it a 'thing'. It is a distinct culture that exists almost no where else, but so much of the actual gear is now made elsewhere. How meaningful is it when one waves a US flag on the 4th of July when that flag is made in China? Not very. The bass-head phenomena is a unique US culture and all of you are part of that. Just something to think about for the OGs and also the newer enthusiasts.

Check to see if it the hiss is out of the coaxials or the components or both...fade back and front. I might blame the amp, but you said you are on the second one and both had the hiss. Perhaps the x-over for the components is having troubles? It is hard to know without the car being in front of us.

Just reducing the variables here. BCBrassard asked the next logical step, your amp gains being set. You stated that you had check RCAs, did you do this by switching to a different set? Are your RCA cables shielded? If a power cable is run through your car alongside unshielded RCAs the power cable can induce noise into the RCAs. This would most likely show up with the hiss changing with volume changes but could perhaps not. The next step would be the amp grounds...make sure they are clean...and at least as girthy as the positive going in the amp. 4g in should have atleast 4 ga out, for example. The connection needs to be tight and corrosion-free. I am guessing you have done 'the big three' too, check those connections for corrosion...just to eliminate potentials. With the HU at 0 volume, check again to hear if amplifier gain change alters the hiss volume. Eliminating variables...

You suggested that the hiss was not volume dependent. Does that mean that when the HU volume is at 0 the hiss is fully audible?

If you are using the ground in the Scion's harness, you shouldn't. Ground it to the chassis. I can't say that it is the problem but it sure could be... https://www.scionlife.com/forums/general-tech-diy-1821/noise-free-audio-tips-47336/

Does the hiss get louder with HU volume? If so, look to the ground from the HU, maybe add another one or improve where it is grounded. The car's wiring harness may not be sufficient ground so you should ground the HU to the chassis and as near to the HU as you can.

I got a XS battery from Showtime and it got sent in the XS single box with a shipping label stuck on it. It was in good shape when I got it but I remember scoffing at it's chintzy packaging considering how volatile a battery can be.

Looks like Kenwood Excelon's are calibrated to not exceed 1% thd at full volume....at the RCAs. The internal amp, not so much... 5 stars suggestion it is the cleanest radio so far is a false claim though. It only suggests that Kenwood calibrated it properly to be at 1% thd at full volume. I am certain that the Pioneer PRS80 and the Sony RSX-GS9 are cleaner overall.

you cant post anymore bmwking..you just hit 666 posts and now you are fully evil. lol

You play the HU at max clean volume, playing track 4 on the disc the DD-1 came with, then adjust gain on the amp up until the distortion light comes on..then back it down just a tad. Then do it with track 6.

Something that may help you tune your sub xovers is knowing that CD, .wav, and mpeg (and most other compressed media formats) have everything below 20 hz already filtered out...and also everything above 20khz. Setting the infrasonic filter to off will likely be the best setting for most music. FLAC, and some other lossless formats, can have lower and higher frequencies in them so if you plan to regularly use lossless media types you may try to dial them in.

Start with frequency all the way up, and with gains all the way down.

You should set HU eq to flat. I know that on most Pioneer HUs, the factory volume max is set very close to where it distorts. Your HU may be like that too.

Dayum!!! Her parents must have hated her!

OpenOffice is free and works very well. Not buggy or prone to viruses etc... https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html

If you need to finance your soundproofing material you are doing it wrong. Just saying...

Indeed!

It is possible...but might make your space look really steampunk... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

Having read through this thread, I have even more appreciation for what Snafu is trying to do. I will add that the idea of linear electromagnetic motors has not been fully explored and there are some very useful machines that can be made from the concept. Some of those ideas will change our entire world for the better. An area of expertise that I have focused on in my professional past has been aerospace, and I have been working on a concept based on linear electromagnetic motors that can ultimately get humanity into space much more affordably and safely. Replacing the heavy and complicated hydraulic systems by using linear EM actuators will save an enormous amount of weight. This idea will also find a great home in cybernetics, allowing for 'servo' control to be much lighter, flexible, simpler, and affordable. This will help afford the crippled better motivation as well as bolster the strength of those who have full facility. The physics of the conventional speaker has many secrets hiding within!

That drum will always be in tune, and you can change the pitch with one hand while playing the drum. It is the most 'perfect' drum in the world. My inventions have not been limited to drums, but I can't tell you all too much about my other creations because the world simply is not ready for the other stuff yet. (Don't confuse this with narcissism or insanity. I am flexing like so many of you guys do, just in my own way.)

Having read the first post in this thread and the last post just now from Snafu, I'd like to contribute. As this is ultimately a discussion on ingenuity and human evolution, I should talk a little about human history so that y'all may better understand what I have done. This has everything to do with music and time. Two things that are uniquely human and are a major part of civilization, and something y'all like to do in your whips....BOOM goes the beat...time and music! Many aeons ago, in simpler days, animal evolution had branched off in many directions and resulted in an amazing variety of life all over the globe. Somewhere along that timeline is where humanity started, but nobody has been able to pinpoint exactly when that was or exactly how that came to be. Only approximations are what we have to work with. This topic has long intrigued me and I have thought about it much. We have opposable thumbs, better to grip tools with, yielding a distinct advantage and superiority over lesser animals...as we can fashion and grip weapons to defend ourselves with and conquer new turf to live upon. We can also create and use tools to cultivate and harvest crops to feed ourselves with. Our ability to hold and use tools has been very important in our evolution. Some time during those many aeons ago, there were less evolved primates that scavenged their food however they could. One of those ways that some primates scavenged food was in felled trees, inside of which termites thrived. They ate those termites as they are a great source of protein and perhaps tasted good. (I don't know if they taste good, having never tried them...or even wanted to try them...but hey...what is a monkey to do?) At first, the primates could get the termites to come out by banging on the log, termites come out, termites get eaten..yum! Well, it takes a whole lot of termites to fill a stomach so what were those primates to do about getting at the termites that didn't come out? Eventually they figured out how to put a stick in the hole and fish the termites out with the stick. The first primitive use of tools! Voila! Well, that's fine and dandy, right? Indeed! One stick and a felled tree. How to make that more efficient as to get more food in a shorter period of time? It didn't take long for those primates to realize that two sticks are twice as many as one stick...and they could put one stick in the hole while eating the termites off of the other. Production doubling! Efficiency! Great right? Great, indeed! It gets better though... After pigging out on termites with a stick in each hand, what is that monkey going to do when it has emptied the tree, hollowed out from termites having chewed through it? A monkey with two sticks in it's hands and a hollowed out log in front of it. That little guy would beat on that log with those two sticks, trying to get more termites out of it! It didn't take long for it to figure out how to play a rhythm on it...and humanity was borne out of this. Humanity was borne out of the ability to hold two sticks in their hands and beat upon a drum (hollowed out log). The first tools we invented were levers (drumsticks) and musical instruments, specifically drums. From those primordial rhythms we played upon hollowed out logs eventually formed out understanding of time...and nowadays, thousands of years later, we have mastered time down to the smallest unit of time possible, Planck time. (a constant in quantum mechanics that is a fundamental constant found all throughout modern physics). Our understanding of time has allowed us to peer through our telescopes far enough back in time to see almost to the very beginning of time, supposedly 13.7 Billion years ago. Time. All of our understanding of the Universe was started with primitive human beings beating on hollowed out logs, playing drums. You guys put massive audio systems in your cars so that the time can be blasted into your skulls at great volume. (Me too! I love this shit! lol!) Well, we have gone through many innovations in drums...from simple hollowed out logs, to upgrading the playing surface with animal skins, gaining the ability to tension the heads to produce specific notes (enter melody and musical scales), all the way up to today's drums with fancy high-precision screws tightening heads on pristine cylinders of the finest materials. We are at a very high level of invention when it comes to drums..after all, we have been working on making better drums for many thousands of years. It is hard to improve upon what so many brilliant minds have produced over so many thousands of years. Our modern drums sound awesome and they are hard to beat. One must be an absolute genius to create something better. I invented and fabricated this...

When working for MTX, I scored an awesome deal on a scratch & dent Xtant x603. It sounded so awesome and Xtant deserves to be on that list. https://www.mtx.com/x603-car-audio-amplifier

That is a beautiful install and very creative. I absolutely love it! OG at it's finest!

If this car doesn't get driven anywhere except to the comp, then so be it. If you drive it anywhere else, consider showing the other speakers some love, homey! Speakers are intended to play music. Every competitor on this forum has a capable system that sounds great for music AND pounds out the big bass.

Are you seriously using your head unit for mids and highs? Damn.... You been chasing that 150 for all these years and in all those years you didnt think to make your gear do anything more than shake your car to pieces? Damn... You need to start paying attention and stop fighting those who are trying to help you.