I have read a lot but still have a few questions - Building setup from scratch

[akamigs]

After days of reading and research, I've chosen the following components to build a somewhat decent SQ system from scratch, under budget:

• One 12 Fi Q 1 ohm DVC - sealed enclosure at 1.2 cu.ft.
• Sub amp: Orion XTR2200.1D rated 1700rms @ 2 ohm
• One pair of Morel Maximo 6.5" coax for the front
• No rear speakers (I know, a little unusual). Reasoning behind this decision was to save money and don't really like the idea having to baffle them in the rear deck.
• Speakers amp: Cadence CSA1000.2 rated 75wrms per channel @ 4 ohm
• 150A Mechman Alt, stock battery, Big 3 Upgrade
• Clarion CZ401 HU 4V/6ch
• Vehicle: 2001 Nissan Altima Sedan
• 60 Mil Audio Technix deadener all around with extra weather stripping for the trunk
• Stinger wires and fuses: 0 AWG running from stock battery to fused PDB. The PDB splits into one 0 AWG feeding the Orion amp and one 4 AWG feeding the JL amp.

Questions:

• I can't find any fused PDB that meet my requirements. Should I just run two separate power cables from the battery, fused separately?
• Should I ground the two amps separately or together under one distribution block?
• Am I really going to miss out on much by eliminating the rear coaxials? I don't care about any passengers
• I've been to car audio shops in my area but they either don't have the drivers/amps I'm interested in or the setup is located in an open floor room, where it sounds differently that when in a sedan. That's why I'm depending on input from members here. Will the items mentioned here complement one another nicely?

Thanks for any input, btw nice forum y'all have here.

[Neckbeard]

1. Fuse wires separately

[soundstream15]

May I ask, why sealed?

[akamigs]

May I ask, why sealed?

Several reasons:

• I've read it's better for SQ
• First box I will be building from scratch. It's much easier to design and construct, for a noob like me, don't have to worry much about tuning. Don't have fancy tools but I suppose the same tools get used for either box type...
• I'm purposely not selecting the 'High QTS' option when ordering the Fi Q so that I have the ability to place it in a ported enclosure sometime in the future when I think I 'need' something louder lol

[akamigs]

I've cut my original post in half, in hopes of getting the more important questions answered, particularly the one about ground loops.

[SQ SUBARU]

Ask yourself these question when designing a system:

-What is your goal(s) ? Sq or spl

-Do you want the final result to look factory/stock?

-How much room do you have for the equipment? (Sub(s), amp(s), speakers.

-Do you care about processing/EQ?

-What is your budget for everything?

-What do u want to get out of the system performance wise?

-How much power are you looking at, amp wise? Do you plan on using the factory alternator/wiring?

-Do you plan on sound deadening the car? (Doors and/or trunk)

To answer your questions:

1) either way you can either run 2 separate runs from the battery and fuse each run with an appropriate size fuse 10 inches from the battery, or you can run a single large gauge wire back to your amps and use a distribution block and split it into 2 or more smaller gauges going to your amps. Look at the knukonceptz website they have some nice fuses and distro blocks to suit.

2) you can either ground using a ground distro block or just ground to the same point or separate but keep them close otherwise u will get ground loops.

3) no you won't. If your setup is designed properly then you shouldn't even hear the rear speakers, if u chose to use them they will be for rear fill only, for the passengers in the back. But I would not worry about rear fill, you can always add them in later if u feel you need them. Keep your money and spend as much as you can afford on the front speakers as its 70% of what you hear.

4) stay away from brands that aren't reputable and don't have CEA rating, use reliable brands that is in your budget, for sq my favourite are audison, hertz, focal, alpine, image dynamics... Etc. I'd recommend going to your nearest car audio shop and listening what's out there, or if u know of anyone with a professional setup done.

[akamigs]

Ask yourself these question when designing a system:

-What is your goal(s) ? Sq or spl

-Do you want the final result to look factory/stock?

-How much room do you have for the equipment? (Sub(s), amp(s), speakers.

-Do you care about processing/EQ?

-What is your budget for everything?

-What do u want to get out of the system performance wise?

-How much power are you looking at, amp wise? Do you plan on using the factory alternator/wiring?

-Do you plan on sound deadening the car? (Doors and/or trunk)

To answer your questions:

1) either way you can either run 2 separate runs from the battery and fuse each run with an appropriate size fuse 10 inches from the battery, or you can run a single large gauge wire back to your amps and use a distribution block and split it into 2 or more smaller gauges going to your amps. Look at the knukonceptz website they have some nice fuses and distro blocks to suit.

2) you can either ground using a ground distro block or just ground to the same point or separate but keep them close otherwise u will get ground loops.

3) no you won't. If your setup is designed properly then you shouldn't even hear the rear speakers, if u chose to use them they will be for rear fill only, for the passengers in the back. But I would not worry about rear fill, you can always add them in later if u feel you need them. Keep your money and spend as much as you can afford on the front speakers as its 70% of what you hear.

4) stay away from brands that aren't reputable and don't have CEA rating, use reliable brands that is in your budget, for sq my favourite are audison, hertz, focal, alpine, image dynamics... Etc. I'd recommend going to your nearest car audio shop and listening what's out there, or if u know of anyone with a professional setup done.

Thanks for your input. I was trying to follow the 10 commandments stickied under the HU section of this forum:

"VIII. Dont connect all of your amplifier ground wires under one bolt. Contrary to belief, this is not required if the rest of the system is installed properly. If you do connect more than one power ground wire under a single bolt, you run the risk of amplifier ground modulation. This is caused by the current demands of, for example a woofer amp, modulating the power ground wire of a tweeter amp. This results in a squeaking noise that can be heard over the tweeters whenever bass notes hit."

Since I will only be using 2 front speakers and 1 sub, which RCAs behind the HU do I connect the speakers amp to? "Rear Out High Out" or "Front Out Mid Out"? See image below:

Wouldn't I want both signals, mids for the 6.5" and highs for the tweeters?

[Soccerballzs]

You are going to need upgraded batteries with the XTR!!

[akamigs]

You are going to need upgraded batteries with the XTR!!

How many total batteries are we talking about? When I contacted Mechman they said one deep cycle under the hood plus the 150A alt should be enough for my system. For the price to upgrade to a deep cycle battery I might as well get the 240A alt they offer instead. I'm sure their alt would last longer than a battery.

Edit: I'm planning on installing a Volt meter to keep an eye on any voltage fluctuations.

[bcbrassard]

Are you running active off the Hu? You might want a second two ch amp if so, or a jl 4ch to run TA from hu.

A