Arthur79

Like a boss!

You might want to move this topic to the "Junk Drawer" not sure if the moderators will close it down for being in the DD-1 area. What router table do you have? The fence on my Rockler table goes on using T bolts, I use a speed square to get it square to the table when I need. A lot of people use T-track as well. Here are a couple of pictures of my router table setup, you can see the slots in the top for the t-bolts the fence uses:

For sure! Had the + been available when I picked up my DD-1 I would have gone that route 😎

They are both great tools. I have the original DD-1, have been thinking about getting the +, but I've never had to tune a system that required the extra wattage capability that the + offers. The thing that's going to drive you insane is how sensitive the crossover pots are on some amplifiers. I've started tuning amp crossovers on the bench before installing them so I can fiddle with the settings until they are finally dialed in LoL

I haven't seen that behavior out of my AMM-1 and I use it to measure both music and sign waves for real-time power and peak. Maybe reach out to D'Amore Engineering for support: [email protected] I know Steve Mead is pretty customer obsessed and I expect Tony and Juan are just as customer obsessed as Steve. Hopefully they can get you sorted out.

I think SnowDrifter was saying that Jims doesn't have a presence here on the forum, so there is no way for any forum members to help out in that way. That's a bummer that it didn't work out. FWIW, have you looked at the SMD fused distro blocks on on WC Car Audio's website? https://www.wccaraudio.com/smd-products/smd-anl-fuse-blocks.html It looks like most of the distro blocks are in stock, and the SMD blocks are quality. Good luck with the install!

Make sure the gauge of your ground wire matches your power lead. You mention 1/0 coming from the engine bay and 4 gauge for the ground. Probably not an issue with your current amp as it's power requirements are lower, but if you move to something like the Taramps 3k, you will want at least 1/0 for power and ground, and you many want to consider a double run for both power and ground. As for clip mentioned previously in the post, low/sagging voltage can drive an amplifier into clipping, especially when the system voltage drops significantly lower than the voltage it was tuned at. As an example, if you tuned your amp with the electrical system managing to maintain 13.8-14.1ish volts, but while playing the system your voltage drops to 12.4 or lower, the amp will almost certainly be driven into clipping. It has to do with the power supply voltage (a square wave supply in a class D amplifier for example) sagging lower than what the output side (an analog signal) of the amp is trying to deliver causing the peaks and valleys of the audio signal to "clip" looking like the tops and bottoms of the square wave rather than clean analog peaks and valleys. So like Dafaseles and Anthony mentioned, moving to something like the Taramps (or any other 2500-3k RMS amplifier) you will want to prioritize a high output alternator as soon as your budget permits. Just try and remember - batteries and caps store power, your alternator is what actually generates power. You may be able to store up some power in the batteries, but your voltage will sag and you will exhaust them and have to turn everything down while they recover/recharge until you have the alternator(s) that can keep up.

If you have more 1/0 I would add 2 more runs back (and make sure you double up on ground leads as well). Running dual 160a alternators, even assuming both of them are putting out the full 160 and it's getting to the back for the amps, you are still pretty shy of what a pair of 3500.1s are wanting. That's why you are seeing your voltage dip down as low as 12.4. That voltage drop means you're not getting near the rated output of the amps and worse, when the voltage dips into the 12 volt range, you are likely driving the amps into clip (which is why it might seem like they are pushing the subs too hard despite their RMS rating, driving subs with a clipped signal will toast the subs, even if it's significantly lower power than they are rated for). A lot of guys here are converting over to Lithium batteries. The Lithiums can maintain a higher voltage and consistent amperage draw for many minutes before having to turn down the system and allowing the alternator(s) to recharge them. They recharge faster than wet cell/AGM batteries as well. The drawback of course being that they are expensive. Being only a week and a half out to your competition, unless you've got a bunch of money burning a whole in your pocket, you are probably stuck adding additional runs and making sure you've done your big 3/big six runs under the hood. Past that, definitely look into some bigger alternators, those 3500.1s are going to need 350 amps each to reach their full potential. Even a pair of 300/320 amp alternators and plenty of OFC runs from the engine bay to the battery bank next to the amps will stiffen up your power and more than likely get you a few/several more dBs without changing anything else. Hope this helps!

Always redefining what "Next Level" means!

Hey everybody, My name is Arthur. I joined earlier today and looking forward to getting to know the community. I have been hopelessly addicted to car/mobile audio since before I had a drivers license. I'm almost positive that every thing I've owned that had wheels has had some sort of aftermarket audio upgrade done. I've always been big into DYI and the "maker" scene (even before it was called the maker scene) and have even had a few gigs working for a shop when I was younger. I've been watching Steve as far back as when he was doing stuff in his back yard under a canopy (along with other channels like CAF, Soundman and EXO) and wish I had joined the forum here sooner. I also just figured out that I can subscribe for a few $$/year and get unlimited space for photos and videos, so I'm going to set that up (I spent way too long resizing pics to get under the limit for my first build log post).