creyc

Basically what I did except instead of going all the way up the battery, it only supported the bottom inch of the battery. I used bungees across the top to keep it in place.

First guy had the basics right. I wouldn't expect everyone to know about 18" subs, Im guessing he was thinking of the Jackhammer when he said "$4000"... But he wasn't too far off with the rest of the information. And seriously, calling walmart with car audio questions? That's beyond me. Stupid video if you ask me. Whoever made it has wayy too much time on their hands.

To handle 12kW on music you'll need a few beastly subs. You said Fi interests you, so assuming you ran BTLs you would want between 4 and 6 woofers to take the power. Even if you ran 12's you'll want at least 2 cubes per sub, plus port, giving you a box around 10 cubes plus port. I'm not sure if you can fit this in an extended cab wall or not. If it's a show truck you may want to consider a simple sealed box, which should save you some airspace but might rule out the BTLs and require more lower power handling subs.

In my old truck I fabbed up a simple mounting bracket the size of the battery base by welding a few pieces of angle iron together and bolting it into the stock location. Then with the battery supported I just used a few bungee ties to keep it down. I got in front end collision with that truck and the battery survived, so I think my method worked alright.

If you're on a Mac, get amadeus and use the sonogram feature. That's what I use and it's pretty easy!

I don't get it...

Because the port ends so close to the back wall of the box, it acts like a slot port (instead of a rectangular tube) and increases the length of your port, dropping your tuning frequency. What is your box volume with port displacement subtracted?

Possibly the only good thing about getting an install done by bestbuy. The warranty.

Yep you need a larger alternator if you've got the big 3 done and all the wiring in 1/0 and still having steady voltage drop.

I accidentally jump started someone the other day with my car OFF

That will do it, especially of your gains are set to -3 or even -6dB for music, then on comes a 0dB sine wave...OUCH!

but kool aid sucks?

Exactly, some of that 600 is for equipment sure, but a lot goes towards the install. If you don't want to do the work yourself, be prepared to dish out big bucks to have someone else do it. Of course you could have gotten better stuff for that price, but you live you learn..

Mechman + no need for MLA module = cheaper

Mechman + adjustable voltage regulation ftw! Plus it does great power at idle, and comes with a dyno chart proving it does rated+. I'm a fan..

More than you wanted to know about class BD amplifiers.

How do you determine output of a box with a horn opening like that? Does that calculate as a tapped horn, series tuned 6th order, or ported?

qft! darvex is in my favorites for sure

Resin will add NO strength to a flat panel of MDF. That is what proper bracing is for. The reason to use fiberglass in a box is to reinforce glue joints. Technically all that holds a box together is the glue, the screws do just about nothing. But if you've ever broken an old box apart you'll notice a proper glue joint will actually usually remain somewhat intact, but the MDF itself around the joint will be cracked and broken. The glue is actually stronger than the MDF itself. As a result, too much force on any joint can cause the little 3/4" MDF joint itself to fracture and deteriorate. This necessitates the use of something to spread the force out beyond the 3/4" joint of MDF in order to achieve a stronger bond between two panels, which is where fiberglass mat comes in. Resin itself is also of very little structural use, it's the fiberglass matt layed down which provides the structural strength. Resin merely acts as a catch-all sealant, in case your cuts aren't too straight and you may have an air leak Proper, ample bracing is the first course of action to strengthening any enclosure. Fiberglass does have its uses, but in 90% of the applications I see it used, a few simple, well placed (and cheap) braces would have been the better solution.

We use those same terminals at work (for a commercial electrical contractor) and the manufacturer supplies crimping specifications in a datasheet. Sure there's a very slight chance his crimp terminals may be different, but because he got them from a welding supply store it's a pretty safe bet they're crimp-on. Secondly, crimping is better on large gauge wire for a multitude of reasons. It's somewhat well known but I'll gladly point out the reasons to the best of my memory. Electrical solder should not be solely relied upon to make a mechanical connection on large parts. (such as these cables) Use it to make electrical connections if you wish, but these connections must then also be mechanically supported as well. Also, solder will flow upwards slightly into the cable during the heating process as it is sucked into the wire. This can cause the cable to become stiff and prone to failure over time at the site of the connection due to long term vibration without any sort of strain relief. Again, don't use solder as a SOLE mechanical connection. Finally lets not forget the electrical aspect of it. Most solder is made of a mixture of tin and lead. (ROHS not including lead) Both tin and lead are far inferior conductors of electricity than copper. The BEST electrical connection would be a pure copper weld (cadweld), or a direct copper-on-copper connection, via a wire nut, crimp, or otherwise. When you start enveloping these conductors in a less electrically conductive substance, such as solder, you are only increasing resistance, decreasing long term reliability and reducing the amount of power you can flow through the connection. Granted, it doesn't make a HUGE difference, but every little bit adds up. Hope you learned something. P.S. it seems audioque gets it, read this: http://www.audioque.com/aq/leadwire.htm

RTV works well, but will be hard to peel off later should you need to. I would use a strip of rope caulk around the perimeter of the enclosure which the subwoofer mates up with. This should seal well and will remain pliable and easy to remove later if you need to take the sub out. You can get it at any hardware store, look in the weather stripping area.

I hate to say it but you likely made a pretty poor electrical (and possibly mechanical) connection by doing that. As soon as you stick the 70º F wire into the pool of molten solder, it immediately begins cooling and isn't properly sucked into the wire. The result is a "cold joint", a brittle and unreliable connection caused by heating the solder itself, instead of the parts to be soldered. That said, your one saving grace was that you crimped them afterwards, which should make them reliable from a mechanical standpoint. Unfortunately there's a whole mess of garbage solder inside there too, just adding resistance and reducing the amount of power that will flow through the connection. Now you know, eh? In the future, and for best performance, when making these don't bother adding solder to the joint. The ring terminals you bought are designed to be crimped, a superior connection technique to soldering anyways! If you don't have the proper tools to perform a good crimp THEN I would consider soldering as an alternative, but don't use both.

Sounds like a pretty easy test to me. Keep rolling the window down/up till you achieve best hair trick, and that's your position? It's not like you're retuning your box, just experiment! And generally it seems to get a hairtrick you need a mixture of high air pressure and high air volume. If your system doesn't move tons of air, putting the window down halfway can increase the pressure by decreasing the size of the aperture the air must flow through, in some cases resulting in a better hairtrick. The position of the window also affects the tuning of your car, which will of course affect its output. I don't know of any way to calculate at what position the window must be to achieve the perfect "hair trick", but if you're moving TONS of air you should be able to do it with both windows down, doors open, etc...like Neil Barber

Odd. I had my buddies SAZ-3000D in here running at 0.5 ohms and voltage was in the 13's. You sure that EA 300 puts out rated?

Don't give the cop suspicion to look for anything in the first place. As long as it's not in your system, you smell like alcohol or you're acting weird, he has no probable cause and thus when he asks to pop your trunk or open the doors politely tell him he does not have consent to search your car. Read this: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2..._to_search.html