Wicks

Only glue. I had pocket holes drilled, but wasn't getting the screws to bite and grab like I needed them to so I scrapped that idea and just glued.Looks like I'll probly be trying to retrofit some screws back into the baffle now. Plus some other things to strengthen it. In the future, if I ever have another angled baffle, I'll be designing it with more stability then just a glue joint. I figured a glued double baffle would be sufficient, but I clearly underestimated what 5000W of DC power can do... Ahh thats the issue. Glue by itself is not quite enough. Even brad nails are better that nothing. But you want something to help hold it. Another option when you cant use screws is those little wood dials that you drill for and insert. That at least gives some support. But if it were me I'd add some steel HA! Your Cruiser wall has so much steel that it could be used as a roll cage! I wish I had the room for some steel, but it wouldn't incorporate well with some of the features I'm trying to add.

Yep that's a good idea. I built my box in my trunk though so there's no way I could tilt the box enough to pool resin in a corner. I may be trying to fiberglass that weak spot in my box. That should help. My mirrored plate is slightly in the way though. We'll see what I can come up with.

Only glue. I had pocket holes drilled, but wasn't getting the screws to bite and grab like I needed them to so I scrapped that idea and just glued. Looks like I'll probly be trying to retrofit some screws back into the baffle now. Plus some other things to strengthen it. In the future, if I ever have another angled baffle, I'll be designing it with more stability then just a glue joint. I figured a glued double baffle would be sufficient, but I clearly underestimated what 5000W of DC power can do...

Good question! I was meaning on including that, but forgot to add it although it should be buried in a previous page of the build. Titebond3 and it should have been a liberal amount, but maybe not... Should be fun trying to re-glue it and get it properly sealed again. May have to beef it up some more to make sure it doesn't happen again.

So recently I got my DC5K running my two DC XL12's and they were sounding great. A week ago I noticed a harsh rattling noise that I figured was my fiberglass trim piece around the subs or maybe the rear deck..... Boy was I wrong once I started looking closer. Well check out the bottom edge of my sub baffle (pardon the dirt, I'm still working on the front of the box): Yep...the whole bottom edge is cracked apart from the bottom plate of the box. This is a double baffle of 3/4" MDF which is also cut on an angle so there's >1.5" of contact area which broke loose.... Here's a video which shows the issue better: I was hoping it wasn't something serious like a damaged sub or something, but I was quite surprised that it turned out to be this. My first reaction was to be pissed, but I have to say I'm not mad at all, in fact I'm quite impressed. It's not like I have a wall either with long sides that could flex. This should have been pretty solid. Hmmm, maybe I didn't use enough glue, who knows...? Anyway just wanted to share. Rusty, thank you, I think for definitely making some bad ass equipment.

NICE Vid!!! That snow looks DEEEEP... That really makes me wanna get a sled. I live right next to the Rockies so its stupid that I don't go up there more... Lovin' those 12's. Especially inverted which is the only way to go with Level 6's.

Voted. Good luck

As long as the voltmeter displays your minimum allowable voltage and then has some room below that then you're fine. The VM-1 is fast enough that you shouldn't need higher resolution as long as you can see the minimum that your voltage is dropping. You'd also want the HV to see what you're charging at with a little room above that. With the normal VM-1 you can't see of your overcharging which is important too.

Do you need that finer resolution if your voltage is more stable with those monster caps?

Hell yeah! Great to see the Caddy again. More pics!!! Any chance at putting one of those T15K's on an AD-1 pull? Would love to see what they are actually capable of!

Everything unpowered and disconnected. Resistance between the RCA outside conductor and the amps ground terminal. General procedure: <1ohm = single ended ~1000-ish ohms = balanced No connection = your HU probly blew its pico fuse

Use a DMM and measure the resistance from the RCA outside conductors to the device's chassis or ground terminal. If you see basically a direct short, it's single ended (unbalanced).

How's this for old school: Texas Instruments Ti-99 http://oldcomputers.net/ti994a.html Don't remember the exact year but we're talkin' mid to late 80's. Traded a neighbor a Tonka dump truck for it (the real all-metal versions) Used to spend HOURS programming BASIC just make some colored squares flash on the screen. Would usually stay up all night messing with it cuz if I turned it off all the code would disappear.. I must not have had a ROM cartridge or something. The computer just plugged into the family's living room TV through an RF modulator. As in an OLD ~25" tube console TV.....No flatscreens back then. Then I think I had an Apple IIe and then my folks finally got a Gateway2000 PC in 1992. I think it had a 25MHz processor and something like a 40MB HDD. Those old school games always bring back the best memories... Of course Oregon Trail. Eamon (and a few other text based adventure games) Deja vu Moraff's World Leasure-suit Larry Many many others.

I checked the stats on on DD's website but they don't have much other than what you stated (24dB/octave). More than likely its Linkwitz-Riley, but for your question about before the cutoff frequency, it probably doesn't matter. Here's a plot of a 24dB/oct slope (LR filters are -6dB at fc): The fc is 80Hz. At an octave before (40Hz) you can see the slope just starts to drop. I've seen the same effect on other filters (Butterworth). At a full octave before the cutoff frequency, I wouldn't worry about any attenuation.

D series = very fast current release. XP series = extended current draw.

How do you know it's clipping? More detail on your complaint of "clipping"? Enclosures can't cause clipping. You can't harmfully underpower a speaker either.

Most aftermarket equipment is single-ended, check your manuals. Balanced outputs/inputs are a unique feature, if your equipment supports it then it will tell you. If you don't have any noise to deal with then twisted pair will work fine in a single-ended system. You just won't get the full noise reducing capability of the cable. Your question about RCA type and distortion is a loaded question. Its more then just type. A poor quality cable can also greatly affect your signal as well.

Your Method #2 is actually a better way to wire it up (assuming you're using the same gauge wire on both methods). You're dividing the current up on a separate cable run to each sub rather than pushing all the current through one wire. Less current through the wire = less voltage drop. Not that you'll get much with a fairly short cable run to the subs but every little bit helps.

Digging up an old thread. Did you ever figure out your issue? I ask because I recently stumbled on this exact issue. I was noticing MUCH lower output when using my iPhone then with regular CD's. I did all kinds of measurements through many different sources and got all kinds of varying output voltages from my HU. Today I was doing more measurements and I remembered something Tony D said in another thread about iTunes and the "Sound Check" option. My iTunes was set correctly with it off, but I never knew my phone also had that damn setting. I found the setting on my phone and turned it off. Low and behold my HU output voltage jumped from ~1V to the normal 4.8V! Hope it helps, if not sorry for bumping an old thread, but I wanted to spread the word around 'cuz I'm sure more people have been stuck with this.

You make a great point. I completely forgot about ripping to itunes. That said, how did you resolve your varying signal level issue? I'm in the same boat, although I haven't measured it. My bluetooth audio is noticeably weaker than ipod audio. I'm assuming the best course of action would be to set gains based on the strongest signal, and accept a slightly weaker output when using bluetooth or aux. I was considering switching to a new Kenwood unit...preferably one that is compatible with the lightning connector for the newer ipods and iphones. Thanks for the reply! Glad to help! Actually I haven't resolved it yet. The Kenwood had internal RCA-fuse issues so I had to send it in for repair. I requested that the RCA voltage also be looked at, but sure enough I don't think it was even looked it. All I got back was the HU and a small card taped to it with my initial complaint notes. The card had a couple of written scribbles on it, but nothing as far as verifying total operation of the HU. Now I'm currently in discussions with Kenwood Technical Service who is just giving me the run-around and not answering my direct questions about the different output voltages. Needless to say, I'm not impressed with Kenwood customer service at all..... I had to go Bluetooth for a while because my iPhone 30-pin header had some really nasty static noise when it was hard-wired to the HU through the special Kenwood cable. I verified with my girlfriends iPhone which is exactly the same and it was fine. Therefore I was stuck paying ~$150 for a replacement phone or trying Bluetooth. I could get an adapter and upgrade to an iPhone5 which is really tempting but I've researched that you can get video through that adapter. Not a huge deal but I wanted the ability to play videos and such from my iPhone to my double-DIN Kenwood. Looks like I may have to give that up in the near future. I doubt that this is anything specific about my certain HU and I'd be willing to bet that LOTS of HU's out there have varying output voltages. It's probably not that noticeable to the average Joe so I'm sure these aftermarket company's don't worry about it. Yeah about all you can do is set your gains for the largest signal and accept the weaker output on the other sources. Or set your gains for the source you use most and only use that (or at least be very careful with the other sources). ...Or I'm contemplating dumping the HU all together and trying an iPad Mini with a Fosgate 360.3 which has Bluetooth and hopefully a more consistent output. I don't use discs all that often but it would suck to not have that capability. I would like to spread the word about this around the forum and have more people measure their setups. I'm curious how widespread this is?

The DD-1 only needs to recognize 40Hz and 1kHz test tones so anything that can source that is fine. It helps to know the output level of the track as well (0dB, -15dB, etc). I ripped my DD-1 disc to iTunes and then loaded it onto my iPhone which I use to hold most of my music. USB stick would work fine as well. Based on what I learned on mine, my recommendation if you're going to go that route is also measure the rms voltage from your HU with a DMM. I have a nice Kenwood eXcelon HU and it has varying max voltages on the RCA pre-outs depending on what source I use. Ex: Using CD's, I get the full rated 5Vrms from the RCA's. Using my phone through Bluetooth, I only get 1.5Vrms from the RCA's. AUX input from my phone's headphone jack only gives 500mVrms. Make's it very difficult to set the gains on the amp when you have a varying signal from the HU. You wouldn't want to set the gains based on a reduced signal level and then use a different source which outputs a much larger signal.

Huge congrats! One of the most innovative audio products to hit the market. I'm glad it was you guys and not some large corporation mass-marketing some cheap knock-off. Changing the game, one product at a time.

Amp before the car........ I like how you roll, Man! Lots of room to play in a Jeep SRT8. Good luck!

Nice choice! You'll love it. What are you going to push with it?

Awesome vid Tony! I just received my custom 20' SMD COAX cables and love them. I haven't had a chance to install them yet, but I do have some very detailed measurements comparing them to the regular RG6 coax that I was using. Resistance-wise the SMD COAX cables are better then RG6 which is impressive since RG6 has a very thick center conductor. RG6 has less capacitance (better) then the SMD's, most likely due to the increased diameter it has. This is a very minimal difference though and the MUCH better flexibility of the SMD cable far outweighs the RG6 in my opinion. The RG6 had about twice the inductance of the SMD cables which adds up to more inductive reactance in the upper frequencies. All measurements were swept from 20Hz to 20kHz. I've used two different types of RG6 COAX before and to me, these SMD COAX cables are much better. They are MUCH more flexible and very well made. I'll post more details after I install mine and do some more measurements. For anybody interested or new to these cables: Make sure you also check your HU for its output as well. To make the best use of each cable type, you'd want to match the HU output to the amplifier input along with the correct cable type.