knowledgestick

February 24, 2010

Hey everybody, I have gotten back to thease forums after loosing my password, and dealing with some serious real life issues that ended up taking me away from most forum communitys i was involved with.

My grandfather has been fighting lung cancer for the last two years and is at the end of his ropes, He has decided to stop taking his medication and for the first while this was hard for us all to accept in the family but we are all dealing with it and comming to terms with it at our own pace. So here i am back !

For those who dont remember im running :

1997 crystler LHS

- 1x iraggi 390 amp alternator

- 2x kinetik 2000 batterys

- stinger 0 gauge ground/power (complete big three upgrade)

- 4x DC audio lvl 4 10''

- 1x crunch gp3000d1

- JVC arsenel head unit

- 7.7 cubic foot enclosure ported to 33hz

I will be upgrading to 4x 15'' XL here come march on my birthday, Building a new enclosure for those and eventually getting a stetsom 14k 2d to power those woofers, after upgrading to atleast 1 more alternator and removing the spare tire well to have a battery rack made down there to hold atleast another 6-8 batterys.

Anyways good to be back, And hope you all enjoy my build ! i will be posting it in the appropriate section when i get some new videos up once all the snow goes away, I live in kelowna B.C canada.

For now here is a link to my youtube page - http://www.youtube.com/user/knowledgestick

( yea i know one of my woofers had a tear in it my ex put a hole in it with a drill, she did buy me another though and it is replaced now and that damaged one is re-conned )

Please make sure to subscribe so you can stay tunned to my builds ! i need the viewers to make my channel bigger

Quick shout-outs to

Rusty

dominick

mike from maxxsonics

all who i have to thank a ton for helping me out with my builds with team pricing !

- Peace bassheads

:hairtrick:

May 13, 2009

I have 2 18" DC LVL5's for daily and i love them.
The owner of DC, Rusty, is really easy to get ahold of and is a really nice guy. He has a user account here on the forum.

I wanted BTL's but Scott was very hard to get ahold of in my case too... I'm glad I went with DC, perfect customer service with a great product too.

I am currently in contact with him arranging the sale and possible place in team DC audio great response time, and great buisness so far in my eyes.

availability makes a company in my opinion, customers feel safe when they can get in touch with the product reps or owners easily.

May 13, 2009

if it is truly a good deal on the MTs then go that route, they will still beat like hell, but if money isnt that much difference then there are better daily suited subwoofers
if your having probelms with the SX overheating with 2600 for the pair you might need to rethink running 3000+per sub

3000 per sub WILL NOT be applyed to the SX's only the upgrade subwoofers i purchase.

what other daily suited subwoofers do you think that could handle that power ?

also the Sx's are only reciving 1300 RMS each and they DO NOT over heat anymore,i had a myraid of problems from when future shop did my install that was leading to the exessive thermal build-up, once i replaced all the wires/grounds, a new head unit and got into tuning the amplifier propperly they didnt heat up no more, also the new ported baffle. (hope thats the right word)

Anyways, i know the BTL's have all the cooling options, but it is so hard to get in touch with them to begin any dialouge and lead toa sale. They dont even have a phone number and that kinda bothers me if somthing goes wrong with them

I have seen alot of people who used to use them switch over to BTL, i am curious if it is because heat was an issue for all thease people who played them continiously or if it was just because FI offered them better sponsorship who knows,

It is great to have you guys to be able to talk about this with and make sure i make the best choice possible. I will be deffinatly using them for more than burps so the MT's would need to be able to hold up to 3000 RMS atleast daily each, does anybody know why RE audio doesnt list there RMS really of any of their woofers ? please list some other brands so i can look into them that would be able to handle the power i am looking to feed them, BTW wasnt the new subwoofer steve meade was designing rated at 3600 RMS ?

Perhaps more woofers to break up the power would be the better route, like 4 15''s or somthing, any ideas would be great but i would much rather stick with the 2 18''s if people could list brands/models that would handle the RMS i am looking to put at them that would be great.

thanks guys !

-andrew

May 13, 2009

alot of people ran MTs before some of the new companies came out with super subs like the BTL and such, not so much anymore with RE's price hike
i had 2 15s and a 18, both were awesome subs, my BTL was better for daily like stated, but MTs still did fine

how cheap is he getting them to you for? back when they were selling direct the prices on 18s were mid-high $400's IIRC

can i be put in touch with scott through thease forums to obtain 2 FI Audio BTL's with all the options, he has been very hard to get ahold of ive only been able too once, and i am worried about customer service because of that.

I dont want heat to be an issue, but i also want thease things to handle alot of RMS, can the MT's take more than the BTL's ?

heat seems to be an issue with my SX's that took a very long time to get under control. The price he is offering me is confidential sorry, i cannot give it out. But it is a good deal, this is why i created this thread. I Am sorry if some of yout hink iam trolling, but i am not.

I want to make sure i get the best possible woofers for this installation upgrade to give me the best preformance in competitions.

So are the BTL's better than MT's for SPL & power handling ability ? RE audio doesnt really list there RMS on their woofers.

But yeah, main reason i went back to take a look at the MT's was because i simply couldnt get ahold of anybody at FI audio to get the communication going and the sale lined up.

I dont want to pop a pair of MT's feeding them 3000-4500rms each, using them daily oviously i will probably have to tune it down a bit and use it in reserve when it comes to that much power. But if heat is being an issue for other people with RE audio products it could be worth a second guess.

Although like i said, my SX's havent over-heated in along time although it took ALOT of babying to get them to that point.

So yeah, if i could get in more stable contact with scott, i might go with the BTL's as they seem to be just pure beasts.

Thanks guys for generating some debate on this its very helpfull for me !

May 12, 2009

hey steve, love what you do man,i got 2 18'' sx's right now from RE Audio. 2600 rms currently, ill be going to 6k rms at 12v, and running mla module to raise voltage. with the amps im using they will be on 3000-4500 rms each.

im looking at MT'S and mark from RE has offered me a good price, but i cant find out enough from people who own them as to how they preform, can they be used as daily drivers ? what pair of 18's would you recomend for the amount of rms i will be throwing there way if not the mt's ?

thanks for your time steve, and everybody else who owns mt's and chimes in, if by not meant for daily driving just means lower sq that is ok. I am sorry i started this thread in the wrong area, just would like some disscussion regarding them, as would anybody with thier peers b4 making a large purchase.

i want to make sure i get all the facts before making up my mind a mistake i have made before, and wont make again. i hope u all can appreciate that.

there doesnt seem to be to many other 18''s for the price i can get the mt's for, i need a pair that can handle 3-4k rms each daily. thanks for all of your time hopefully somebody who is closeto steve and knows why he made the switch would help alot possibly.

whats this about his smd aa woofer ?

-andrew leckie

May 12, 2009

just saw that vid of your hoe with RE MT'S

i am looking to upgrade to a pair of them but getting some feedback from people who use them that would be great.

basicly if they can be used for daily driving. Mark at RE says people do with no probems, but they were designed as burp drivers he said.

let me know what the story is with thease things and how they preform, in a daily application & for competition. Do they heat up if you use them for daily driving ?

looking to run 3k rms per sub at 12v, with a mla module my amps will produce over 4k rms, opinins please asap !

- andrew leckie

May 2, 2009

install is done, re-wired with 8 gauge aswell WOW what a differance, video and journal starting now in the correct section mods feel free to close this.

thanks for your help guys and quick response today aswell as understanding.

i am never going back to caraudio.com forums they hate everybody tha belongs to thease forums for some reason and call steve and his crew retards and shit its weird. I think that place has alot of keyboard warriors with jelousy issues.

Especially when you consider some slime ball stole his Civic and i wouldnt doubt it was some punk from youtube that threatened to jack it but who knows. I feel for ya steve hope that never happens to me!

one day i hope you see one of my posts and respond and give some feedback on my setup it would be an honor hehe.

-andrew

* hosting videos up now will be up first thing in the morning in the build-journal thread. *

May 1, 2009

There are a lot of variables, but anything is possible!

hey kyle ! let me know what you can make happen for me, getting my head-unit upgraded today, then the next thing in line is the alternator situation so hit me back with a pm man !

also if you could get me back with that link for mla modules that would be great, i am going to be using one of thease too, not sure what type iwll have to see what the end result of the alternator we come up with is.

May 1, 2009

Yes, you can get better RCA cables.

could you elaborate a little bit please ? and also 1 more thing, how could i tell if my hifonics amp had faulty RCA outputs ive heard of this being an issue b4 on some forums, just want to make sure none of the gear got messed up from future shop, what would be some tell-tale signs of that problem ?

also please elaborate on what you mean by "better rca cables"

note how this amplifier lights up fully in the center and is alot more vibrant : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb0yzyFxyp4...feature=related

here is mine ( NOTE WATCH AT 5:46 to see what i am speaking about ) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfwbMNgASgU

could this be anything serious or related to the amplifier not reciving a strong-enough signal ?

May 1, 2009

well, you seem to be making good progress. Makes sure you talk to Rob @ DC Power, and tell him seth says hi!

Will do ! i pm'd the guy on thease boards who helps them aswell and when he gets back to me i will be contacting rob i am sure i am glad you guys think that i am making progress it helps my confidence. Also we will be doing our first install on my girlfriends, friends car in 1 months time around and i am VERY EXITED for that

:D expect a full build log for that aswell, but not to distract from the point of this post/topic so if anybody has anymore opinions and facts for anything i have asked please do present them !

-andrew

May 1, 2009

your RCA's will have nothing to do with the way your amp lights up, good RCA's are important for sound quaility
I use 8awg power wire for speaker wire on my bigger installs, may be overkill but it works great for me and it looks good too

well i want the 8 gauge because of the fact it is simply less resistance with thicker wire, PLEASE LET ME BE RIGHT THERE god if i am that dumb i should just quit now ! lol

i want to eliminate every possibility for thease things to build up any extra thermal heat so that they can be played to their full potential for long periods of time.

And like you said, it looks sexy hehe.

thanks guys for all answering and not hating on me needing help quickly today, i am going to begin a build-log after this thread today once i get home with the new head-unit in, and i already have a before video, so i just need to make an after one. and then continue the log from there and all my posts will be nice and orgonized in 1 topic again sorry for the dash for a answer but i wanted to make sure i had everything covered before i left, and made sure the head unit infact would be worth having installed. Witch i do belive it is, as it will likely make a nice diferance in terms of reducing clipping because at high volume level's head units clip , and that is what mine does its fine until it gets past a certain point, Also i dont have a ipod plugin so i have to use the headphone jack on my ipod that also creates clipping so there will be a few things we should notice after the new head unit is in and running it should be louder at lower volume, and also should sound more clear and not that we can notice it with our ears, but reduce clipping from the ipod by using the USB connection port that doesnt create clipping and the less clipping and the less things to create added thermal build up the better !

i think i am on the right track in that area

*gets in sponge mode*

May 1, 2009

2600RMS watts is no joke on a stock electrical system. I see that you added a rear batt, but what else? BigIII done? What is the car/truck your working with? Keep in mind that a "typical" car/truck needs anywhere from ~90-100a JUST FOR THE ON BOARD ELECTRICAL, so add a voltage hungry amp, and say for example your vehicles stock alt is only 105A (typical) your leaving hardly anything in reserve for the amp, and you are STRESSING that 1 alt, and inturn making in run VERY HOT, and inefficient. Making sense? I just upgraded to a dual alt setup, and wow, my MD3D amp is loving it. Think about it..... G/L

The big 3 are the grounds, battery, alternator, and what else ? sorry im still trying to learn all this.

and by grounds i mean all of it done in the propper gauge. Also i know i need a new alt thats a no brainer, im working on getting that 2nd right after my new h-u today the DC power alt is 2nd on my list, so i better start contacting the guy in this thread that was kind enough to offer me help obtianing the best one possible

May 1, 2009

RCA cables, the ones that are in now, where installed when i had a 600 RMS amplifier, i am now running a 2600 RMS amplifier, can you get better RCA cables is there such a thing ?

when i look at my amplifier, it doesnt light up nearly as bright as most peoples other hifonics amps of the same model i have seen, so i think it is not reciving a strong enough signal or somthing perhaps ?

i should probably get mine replaced and upgraded with the new 5v head unit or would it matter ?

i thought adding the 2nd battery replacing my 1 farad capacitor that was beside the amp would fix the issue but it still doesnt light up as bright, So are there such things as differant quality RCA cables ?

or ones meant for differant RMS ? like for instance with your speaker cable gauge, is it somewhat the same with RCA cables and should i look at upgrading mine when i go to do the install of my new head unit today ?

also one last thing, 12 gauge wire is being used on my 18''s would it be wiser to switch to 8 gauge ? thanks guys ! i just want to make sure i cover EVERYTHING today and dont forget or miss somthing.

April 30, 2009

i see, well keep all of your receipts stating they charged you for the power up grade get everything you can on video now before they say well its been a long time how do we know its the same install and he didnt try to hack into his system..bla bla bla. good luck though. and on removal tools for factory units there are places that make kits look here.there is a lot of helpful stuff http://www.theinstallbay.com/

awsome man thanks alot, and like i said in my above post they fired the installer because they were not keeping reciepts and doing it for cash, so they have no real record of them doing it but they know they did and we have the hole thing on audio/video from the very start ever since they said they would fix it because we wanted proof incase they went back on their words.

im going to get some basic tools for installing right now when i go to pickup my gf peace everybody

April 30, 2009

i doubt your going to win anything. a lot of shops wire rcas with power, i know a couple people that work at shops and do the same thing. what did you pay to have it installed?(most shops only charge $75) you do know it takes money to get a claim started right?it might be worth it to take the loss and stop crying about it and fix it your self. it takes maybe 10 minutes to do.

well they did alot of things wrong, i asked them to do the big 3 upgrades in terms of grounds and everything, they did not. All our grounds where tiny little wires and people where getting huge shocks from the car, it seemed to stop suddenly and mysteriously as soon as the new shop we took our car to to get it fixed, did all the 0 gauge upgrades to our wires. I feel we where in atleast some level of danger driving that car if it was not grounded propperly with that much RMS flowing through it.

i am going to fix the RCA's my self hehe funny you mentioned that, going to be the first bit of work we do before we do our friends install in 1 months time. We are also going to build the new top section of our box and re-port it

please guys check the post above and answer ! gotta make sure i have all the propper equipment come install time P.S where can i get those things you need to remove a head-unit with ?

i am so exited to get started, this hole mess-up with futureshop has really motivated me.

BTW we spent 1300 dollars in total on the entire install, they messed our amp wrack up bad and our amp came unplugged partially and was sparking and cutting in and out, i didnt notice this because i didnt turnit on theni took it to them they said they couldnt find any problems with it i brought it home looked over it and noticed that and was like holy fuck im lucky that didnt touch the other wire or i might be needing a new amplifier.

that 1300 dollars paid for alot of very sloppy custom work and they made alot of very immature rookie mistakes.

yup crash all our grounds are in the same place, but we do not have our rear battery grounded up front, i think this is normal though.

April 30, 2009

Make sure to take lots of detailed photos of everything.

we have video of it all, and are going to complie it into a short-film thing of evidence, i dont know really know how else to present it.

Also guys, what should be a beginners tool-kit for installing a basic system & building box's ?

thanks guys i appreciate your kindness alot i feel very welcome hear ! i cant wait to do our first install.

I have done some b4 in the past along time ago but forgot most of it alon the way but i was able to install the amp just wasnt good at hiding things but im alot older now and more mature and i will deffinatly take my time and make a build journal of this one since it will be my very first !

April 30, 2009

i made one in the wrong section it was for wanted to sell, the alternator thread in the other area is not related to buying an alternator, a member directed me to ask in this section to see a guy still had 3 of the dc power alts for sale 300 amp ones, u can go check the post.

sorry if i have done somthing wrong.

oh and i wanted to ask for a pair of 18'' FI BTL's in mint condition D2's if anybody is selling some since scott seems very busy

April 30, 2009

youre only going to fit one
you wont find a used one

mechman, powermaster, or click/call dcpower, the banner is at the top of the page, all of them have great alternators, you may have to settle for less amperage because of size constraints (I can only fit a like 200amp in my car, anything significantly more powerful needs a bigger case)

best bet is to call, so you can talk to a professional and they can tell youw hats available, how hard it is to install, what you will need, prices, warrantee, etc.

like you were told in the other thread, you're going to need a battery bank to keep it all going, you're going to have to bump responsibly and watch your voltage, and if you want that kind of power you probably will have to hook your batteries up to a charger once in a while(if you want to bump full blast all day every day, which you honestly may not be able to handle, even my 1500 watts and 8's gets uncomfortable after like an hour or so and I turn it down a few notches for road trips)

i hear ya! i am deffinatly going with the DC power alts, i was just recomended to ask for a pair of used ones as there was a guy selling some on the forums. But i am going to give him a call back when i am ready to get it. I love the gut wrenching feeling of not being able to breathe when the 18''s hit though hehe, and ur skull is litterally vibrating its good stuff. I cant wait to get my other amplifier, i am going to get the strongest alternator i can, and fit in an MLA pro-module with it as i was told to on thease boards.

Also a pair of used BTL's would be nice, if they were mint since scott seems to be not answering emails and extremely busy, and i am going to need my woofers reasonably soon.

is there anyway i would be able to get in direct contact with him once i am ready to order so there is no waiting for him to respond he is probably busy building woofers, thats why i wouldnt mind grabbing a set of D2 18''s used, and if they are in perfect shape because then i can get them faster and save some dough !!! hehe, does steve have any for sale ? can somebody ask him for me ?

April 30, 2009

When you're ready to get an alt either PM me or tell robbie that kyle sent ya from the forums and that he said that you might be able to do something crazy. But remember, Robbie has the final say on this and you might be screwed regardless. :\
But if it's possible, Robie can do it.

Let us know!

awsome man, you guys are great ! this place is very good for me because it is stress free and seems to be free of trolls and people who are just out to attack others, i have epilepsy and dont deal with stress well and get worked up easily and upset and have nervous break downs pretty easily, its an embaressing condition but its what i live with.

anyways, thanks man i really do appreciate it !

i hope that i can get atleast 2 alternators working in tandom, but if not 1 big giant one and enough battery support should be able to handle the 5200 RMS . What you all think ?

April 30, 2009

Also verify all of the connections espically the ground they usually just use a self tapping screw to hold it in place. I pefer to bolt mine down. using an existing bolt or making a new location...

Theyre grounds where so shotty, that everybody was getting hit with lightning bolts when they got out of the car. They did not replace the chasis ground with 0 gauge, they left it as the tiny little wire it origonally was, they never grounded to the engine block with 0 gauge like they where suposed to, and they also never replaced the u gauge power wire comming from my alternator to my battery.

All thease factors where causing huge electrical drain on my system, and they are all taken care of now and functioning way better because of it. But i need to know the full consiquences of doing this, what kind of danger it put us in and also what type of problems would running all three wires right beside each other do ?

This is all for legal reasons because i have stated in my old threads, we are going to small claims court with them and we would rather try to proove incompitence than sue them for the price of all our gear. Because if we get the win for incompetence im sure that they will be forced to re-emburse us the full price for the installation we paid for there. Also any compensation for putting us in danger by not grounding 2600 RMS propperly with some pretty big powercells involved.

remember i really need some detailed info guys for legal reasons, also about the ground issue and how big of a danger that was would really help. I need everything i can build agianst them to proove incompitence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8DBqdsYyBY

April 30, 2009

title says it all, throw me some good prices people

also looking for a pair of FI BTL 18'' D2's, will not take anything less than mint condition, As i would rather have the factory warrenty but thease forums seem pretty trust worthy !

i am going to be replacing my RE audio SX 18''s with the FI BTL's and powering each subwoofer with a hifonics brutrus 2600 RMS

April 30, 2009

Just run the rca's opposite side of the power wire.

Hmmm, another mess-up futureshop has my RCA cables litterally entangled with my o gauge ground and power-wire, what type of issues could this be causing ? and could it be contributing to the exessive over-heating i was experiancing ? maybe i over-compensated by tunning everything down so much thats why it doesnt heat up anymore as bad, but maybe the RCA cables being bundled right in with everything else has somthing to do with it.

because my system seems extremely quiet unless it is cranked. That could also be my 2.2v head unit aswell, but with the gain set right that shouldnt be an issue. So i am starting to think maybe the RCA's being right beside everything else could be effecting it, opinions guys ?

April 30, 2009

The best thing you can do like everyone said is get the biggest damn alt robbie can build you.... and maybe for a little extra money robbie might be able to go and do some research and see if he can build anything more than 300 amps
All in all, Robbie is the guy to come to when it comes to alts.

There are also other factors on dual alts as well (even certain alternators). If there is too much load on the idler pulley it can literally stall the engine even on the freeway. Now we wouldn't want that

I also am interested still in running dual alternators or even 3, like steve. I want to turn this car into one of the most insane trunk install's that still has backsteats and i mean that. I want this thing to be fuckin mean lol. anyways, if you could answer that question and offer some advice i will also go take some pictures of where my alternator is so we can all look if i would even have room for a 2nd one let alone a third !

April 30, 2009

hey guys ! ever since future shop completely botched our install, we have taken it apon ourselfs to now learn how to do it ourselfs, and not only that do cheap installs on the side's for our friends just to get started.

Our first project is going to be a :

4v pioneer head-unit

MA audio 750 RMS 2 channel amplifier

2x RE audio SR 12'' (d2's) in a ported enclosure

we are instalilng this setup in my GF's friends sunfire, we selected the gear for her budget and it all seems to match up well.

my question is, from what i can remember when i used to be into car audio around 2001, is that RCA cables are supsoed to be as far away as possible as all other wires to eliminate any noise or interuption of the signal.

If somebody could please clear that up it would be great !

April 30, 2009

The best thing you can do like everyone said is get the biggest damn alt robbie can build you.... and maybe for a little extra money robbie might be able to go and do some research and see if he can build anything more than 300 amps
All in all, Robbie is the guy to come to when it comes to alts.

There are also other factors on dual alts as well (even certain alternators). If there is too much load on the idler pulley it can literally stall the engine even on the freeway. Now we wouldn't want that

hahah hell no ! thanks alot for that information guys, i will deffinatly be getting a DC power alternator there is no question about that and i will do my best to get him to build one larger than 300 amps.

That with an MLA module should do the trick, also backed up with heavy battery supply so i think i will be fine on the 5200 RMS i will be pushing

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