Getting into "serious" car audio. Looking for guidance.

[Athecal]

This being my first post on the forums I will give a bit of background first before delving into my questions. I caught the bass bug when I was young, let's call it 1998 or there about. My buddy's neighbor was into lowriders and car shows and had a 2 door escort with a pair of rockford fosgate something in it that would make you sound as if you were using an Electrolarynx when speaking. 3 years later when I got my driver's license and my first vehicle I also got my first system. Since that time I have dabbled in car audio on and off. Between myself and friends who also dabble we have probably installed and uninstalled, at least a hundred different meh speaker systems. At times one or two of us had a system, sometimes 6 or 7 of us. We have upon occasion stripped multiple vehicles laid out all of the gear and mixed and matched gear and vehicles just to see what combination sounded the best. 

Clearly I am no stranger to DIY, but during all of these years I lacked so much knowledge. I did not know the names Thiele or Small or that programs such as WinISD even existed. I spent years in the dark playing with bottom of the barrel entry level gear. I mean I had some mid level gear here and there, JL Audio, midgrade Rockford Fosgate, but most of the people I was around thought you can't go wrong with Kicker, and RF P1s were the cream of the crop.

A few years ago I was working in the oilfield with tons of time on my hands sitting around the motel in the evening, internet, and a desire to build a home theater system. Being 450 miles from home meant purchasing and building it weren't viable options so I was left with research. I am amazed now that anything I have ever built sounded worth a damn without knowing what I do now and would like to give a thanks to everyone here who has ever offered advice to one person and as a result help educate many like myself.

I did pick up a few good deals here and there while on the road just to have some sort of bass in my truck and traded or sold for a profit and reinvested in other audio gear to the point where I am now sitting at $0 out of pocket. My current setup is a cheap Kenwood Excelon KMM-X503 that allows me to play music via bluetooth from my phone with some cheap RF 6.5 coaxials I bought to replace the crumbled factory speakers running on head unit power. I do have an NVX JAD800.4 I plan to use to supply power to the doors in the future when I decide what I want to upgrade them with. For my subwoofer I am running a Dayton Audio Ultimax UM18-22 powered by a NVX VAD17001. I was a believer in the myth about smaller subs having faster punchier bass for the longest time and after learning different I went from running 8s or 10s to an 18. It's not a bad subwoofer really and I have several people who would gladly take it off my hands when I do upgrade, and I will probably even break even selling it with the enclosure I built for it.

My current enclosure is just a 3ft^3 sealed enclosure which has an f3 of 30hz. It sounds pretty good, is moderately loud but overall I find myself underwhelmed. I want to port it just to see what it will do while I plan out my next upgrades and have designed an 8ft^3 enclosure tuned to 22hz that I think will sound pretty good with an f3 at 20hz instead of 30 and 4-7 db increase in spl over the entire range of the sub.

My next upgrade will be either a mechman or singer 250a-270a alternator and I already have 1/0awg ofc for the big 3 as well as the power and ground to the amplifier. I have another question about alternators but I will come back to it after supplying and requesting more information on subwoofers and amplifiers.

After that I am looking to upgrade my subwoofer to an 18" sq type sub. To clarify what I mean by sq, I am not looking for something that will blend in seamlessly with the soundstage. I am a bass head but I want a subwoofer that is detailed and doesn't blend double bass drums into an approximation of what they should be. Until this 18, I never realized how much I like low low bass, but I still want it to be clean. Spl is less important if it isn't crisp and clean, I would rather add a second sub to get the level of spl I want than sacrifice quality for it. This is some of the guidance I am asking for, I was looking at RE XXX but I am not even sure if they still make them. I am also looking at Fi Q series Neo 18s and trying to find other similarly recommended brands to research. I was a bit surprised by the subwoofers FS being 28hz and seeing other drivers in the same ballpark when my current sub has an FS of 19.5. I haven't yet had a chance to model the Fi in winisd but I plan to at some point today to see what I can get out of the low end. Do any of the current better quality subs dig as low as I am aiming for or am I going to readjust my expectations? 

When I upgrade subwoofers I am going to need an upgraded amplifier as well especially if I decide to add a second sub. What are the good brands out there? I see tons of amps flooding the market and amp dyno videos abound but what are the quality brands? I was looking at Crescendo Bass Clefs and was looking at Orion until I read a post dated sometime around March that leads me to believe Orion is not what it was. That is one of the downsides to passive research, information becomes outdated and eventually you have to stop asking google and ask people in the know. 

I am curious about how much amperage I truly need out of an alternator, and at what point would I have to run dual alternators. I have read somewhere that some people prefer running 270a alternators because of a better idle output than 300a+, if this is outdated information I may just get a higher output alternator to start with. I understand the math, hypothetically if I were to run dual Fi q neo 18s at 1750w each on a Crescendo BC4k with an efficiency of 70% (for a safe margin) that's 4500w at 14.4v you're talking 312a. But I don't play test tones, I don't compete in any sort of car audio competitions that would require that sort of full bore output. This whole setup will be a daily driver just for my own personal enjoyment, is there a somewhat accepted percentage of absolute power to actual music power demand that might necessitate the need for a second battery vs a higher output alternator? And are multiple extra batteries truly necessary for a daily driver when I don't sit around listening to music with my engine off?

I apologize for the long read but have done as much research into the subject as I could to be able to ask the right questions (or so I think). I appreciate any guidance that you choose to offer me. 

 

 

[Mike4068]

Rule of thumb, 50% of your power needs from the alternator. Yes you need extra reserve from multiple batteries at that power level. 

[Athecal]

I was going to look into fitting a group 31 under the hood and I would have just build a box in the front of the bed to house the others but this whole project may have just been derailed by someone making me a great offer on my truck today. Been wanting a more economical vehicle for a while now.

[White Lightning]

I had to have a custom 18” driver built to my Sound Quality Competition specs. So ... good luck with your search Sir. 

[Marius]

Hi my name is marius and I could someone plz help me Im driving n ford bantam bakkkie with 2 targa xxx4d 15 inch subwoofer but the shit hits the fan when close my windows then there is no bass. What should I do?

[AaronT]

Roll your windows down 

[Athecal]

Guess my project hasn't been derailed after all. Guy offered me $12,000 for my '02 GMC Sierra 1500HD crew cab. Then when he came out to the house he tried to lowball me with 7k, I told him to kick rocks.

[AaronT]

Lol ain't that the greatest? Mofo tries to come at you with damn near 50% off.

 

I don't get people. They wave cash around at sellers like we forgot what the fuck it looks like

[Athecal]

Yea, really threw me for a loop because I didn't have any intention of selling the truck. It's a nice enough ride, been well maintained, and other than the crappy mileage from the 6.0L I have no complaints about it. Guy just approached me in a parking lot asking if it was for sale. Told him what I tell everyone: Everything is for sale for the right price.