1st gen acura tl

[xxgokouxx]

Are you sure you're at 14.8-14.9v on the TL? Is this stock alternator?

Even moreso, are you SURE you got 1600w RMS? That's pretty damn good voltage readings @ 1600w!

At stock I was having a toughie w/ voltage drops on my car on 700w RMS. It was a 160a alt and a D34 Optima batt.

[marzbomber888]

Are you sure you're at 14.8-14.9v on the TL? Is this stock alternator?

Even moreso, are you SURE you got 1600w RMS? That's pretty damn good voltage readings @ 1600w!

At stock I was having a toughie w/ voltage drops on my car on 700w RMS. It was a 160a alt and a D34 Optima batt.

yea at idle it reads 14.9 and durring hard hitting it reads 13.9 also since the car is old it doesnt have muching running i havnt used my AC this year yet so idk how bad it drops when thats on

[marzbomber888]

Well since you ask for suggestions.

1. Boss cap is a glorified volt meter and you actually want more along the lines of 100 farads per 1000 watts.

2. Don't cut stuff up to fit more speakers in the back. It pulls your soundstage behind you. You want a good soundstage upfront for way better sq.

3. Considering that at least your sub amp is over rated voltage could be better. Make sure to be using ofc wiring, cca works but ofc has been proven better

for the big 3 I don't know how you did it but on most cases it is better done like this

alt positive to battery

alt case to frame or battery negative

battery neg to frame

try finding a better ground in the back and be sure to sand and clean any paint or rust off.

anyways welcome to the forum and good luck with the build.

i have the big 3 done and i saw a HUGE improvemnt over the stock wiring i have used fosgate 4 guage for all that cause its what i had lying around

as far as the cap i thought it was 1000 watts per farad was that a typo or am i mis reading info?

btw thanks for the help man

as far as me cutting the rear deck i like the way it sounded in my old car where else could i fit more speakers? my door cards arnt big enough or have enough room for more in the front

[alaskanzx5]

Its a rule of thumb that local shops say for the 1 farad per 1k watts. We have a few members on here using caps and have lots of knowledge on them including building their own cap banks from buying caps like the maxwell3000. They suggest more along the lines of 1k watts per 100 farads.

for speakers less is more for sound quality.

you can spend 800 on 2 amps and 3 cheap sets of speakers or spend 800 on a single amp and high quality component set.

the single set of components will make it a lot easier to set eq and with the right amp and speakers will get plenty loud. Placement is everything, you want the sound to be coming in front of you so once you get it all adjusted you get a nice concert like sound right there in your car.

things for you to research is a proper cap bank. For that look for posts by snowdrifter. He has dome of the most knowledge about caps and has explained it several times on this forum

then look up sq builds on this forum and the difference between passive and active crossovers.

I am running active now on my door speakers and will when I get subs installed again. Huge improvement over passive. Don't have any rear speakers either. Actually running just 2 punch pro 6.5 and 2 punch pro tweets on a t400-4. They get crazy loud and I know they will keep up with the 2 15s in 3k rms I plan for my substage.

[marzbomber888]

Its a rule of thumb that local shops say for the 1 farad per 1k watts. We have a few members on here using caps and have lots of knowledge on them including building their own cap banks from buying caps like the maxwell3000. They suggest more along the lines of 1k watts per 100 farads.

for speakers less is more for sound quality.

you can spend 800 on 2 amps and 3 cheap sets of speakers or spend 800 on a single amp and high quality component set.

the single set of components will make it a lot easier to set eq and with the right amp and speakers will get plenty loud. Placement is everything, you want the sound to be coming in front of you so once you get it all adjusted you get a nice concert like sound right there in your car.

things for you to research is a proper cap bank. For that look for posts by snowdrifter. He has dome of the most knowledge about caps and has explained it several times on this forum

then look up sq builds on this forum and the difference between passive and active crossovers.

I am running active now on my door speakers and will when I get subs installed again. Huge improvement over passive. Don't have any rear speakers either. Actually running just 2 punch pro 6.5 and 2 punch pro tweets on a t400-4. They get crazy loud and I know they will keep up with the 2 15s in 3k rms I plan for my substage.

thanks ive just searched it and its a gold mine!

im very happy with my polks front and rear and they sound great i just wanted a bit more volume outa them. that kenwood amp had a birth sheet at 421 watts so i think its good enough for me as far as power i was planning on running another amp for the mids and highs with 2 more polk db 6x9s prolly a fosgate or somthing along thoose lines you really think i wont need thoose extra speakers?

[alaskanzx5]

I can't say you won't need the extra speakers to get the sound you want. All I can say is that having several cheaper speakers won't compare to one nice component set. After hearing different comp sets and doing the speakers I gave now I wont do coax speakers again unless its just rear fill on the hu power for my kids.

I would suggest learning how to fiberglass if you want more speakers. Then do something like 2 nice comp sets in your front doors. Or 1 nice component set and a 8" midbass on 200-300 watts set up to play 60-150hz then the comp set doing 150-20k hz on 400watts.

that should get real nice and loud with some great sound if done right.

I'm a Rockford kinda guy so comp set I would recommend is any of the power series components. Some people have great results from the punch series components but I've only heard the power series components myself.

make sure to look at sq builds to see how they do speaker placement and look at some of the bigger spl builds. You will see that there are some loud sub stages out there with only 1-2 mids and tweet per door that have no issue with getting loud and keeping up with their subs

[marzbomber888]

I can't say you won't need the extra speakers to get the sound you want. All I can say is that having several cheaper speakers won't compare to one nice component set. After hearing different comp sets and doing the speakers I gave now I wont do coax speakers again unless its just rear fill on the hu power for my kids.

I would suggest learning how to fiberglass if you want more speakers. Then do something like 2 nice comp sets in your front doors. Or 1 nice component set and a 8" midbass on 200-300 watts set up to play 60-150hz then the comp set doing 150-20k hz on 400watts.

that should get real nice and loud with some great sound if done right.

I'm a Rockford kinda guy so comp set I would recommend is any of the power series components. Some people have great results from the punch series components but I've only heard the power series components myself.

make sure to look at sq builds to see how they do speaker placement and look at some of the bigger spl builds. You will see that there are some loud sub stages out there with only 1-2 mids and tweet per door that have no issue with getting loud and keeping up with their subs

i had the fosgate power 6x9s in my deck and they were super harsh unpowered and powered im very happy with polks but mabey i got a bad batch? they werent rich or warm enough for me i also have a lot of people comming in and out of my car as well as my gf and sometimes friends borrowing it so im tryna keep everything as far away from your feet as possible. i had someone break my old fosgate 6.5s in the doors of my old 4runner i had 3 in each door up front and i guess i should have protected them better but still its a fear i have

[alaskanzx5]

Metal speaker grills, can't go wrong.

before buying more speakers go around to local shops to listen to different brands, can go around to car shows to get demos to. Start a thread in the mid/high section explaining what kind of sound your looking for and what they recommend. Add a price of how much your willing to spend to get options in your price range.