new amp
 

just ordered a nice amp off of etronics.com .. mono block

500 watts rms @ 4 ohm
900 watts rms @ 2 ohm

and the best part is its 1 ohm stable so it will probably produce n the range of 1200 - 1400 watts rms @ 1 ohm

what a steal for $177

gonna power 4 12's in the back of my benz .. probably 400 watt rms kicker cvr's dual 2 ohm voice coil ..unless i can find a decent pair of 1000 watt 15's ..prices are little heavy for speakers these days ..

Ive got one JL 12W3 in the back of my car, and its plenty of bass...

In order for you to get the most out of that you will most likely need to get a stronger alternator. I have no idea what kind of car you have but you might look into adding an extra battery or even a capacitor. again i dont know what your car is but if it is older than this might be mandatory. The older alternators only gave out around 80 amps. If you have other amps to run your main drivers then you will get into problems.

jl's are nice subs .. and beings you have a hatch its sounds even better .. i like to go overboard a bit and have mega bass


very true ... i plan on installing an additional alternator .. my car is an 1988 300se.. i really dont like the capacitors unless its a humongous one .. they discharge so rapidly its almost pointless unless its a large cap .. i plan on doing the three wire upgrade to both alternators and if i have enough room putting a optima battery in the back .. we'll see how bad my lights dim before i do that though.. im thinking with proper wiring a second alternator will be just fine .. a cut off switch will be installed too for when i dont run the subs ..


i really wanted to go 18's again but the ones i want are located in the uk.. they are older versions of the kicker cvr18-2 .. to much to ship .. plus i can get a setup of four 12's for the same price and it will put out more thump ..

i never use my trunk for anything.. plan on taking out the med kit boxes in the rear window and possibly cutting out the whole rear deck to allow more passage from the trunk to the cab .. im gonna have a peak around and see if i cant install the amp somewhere closer to the engine compartment .. i hate running huge wire to the trunk .. pain in the ass ..

pair it up with an electronic crossover i had laying around and it will be in serious business .. entire setup will cost me less than 600.00 including deck, wires, alt, subs, amp .. my radio now sounds like crap ..its so crisp with no bass ..gives me headaches in the morning :D

only downfall to this all is i dont have enough space to build some nice slot ported boxes for all the subs ... im gonna have to go sealed which isnt that bad .. but just the thought of squeezing out more sound .. its the overclocker in me .. i carry it with me in all the crap i do .. goota have more ..there are more ways to get it better ... i use to comepete when i was 16.. bought a minivan and had 12 12's .. plain ridiculous but very fun .. i loved pulling up next to old people (well anyone for that matter) and turning it up and watching there mirrors rattle .. specially there rear view mirror .. would vibrate all the way into the down position .. wait a minute .. i might be reliving an old fantasy

well capacitors are meant to discharge quick that is what they are for. when you hit a long note your battery cant keep up with that neither can the alternator. my system is a kenwood excelon headunit, all interconnects are monster cable power cables are all four gauge from the distribution block to the rear. from the battery terminal if has a stinger expert battery terminal
http://a763.g.akamai.net/7/763/1644/...p/VPID/2087441
zero gauge to the distribution block stinger hpm fused block.
http://a763.g.akamai.net/7/763/1644/...20161/size/175
2 2 fared power acoustic capacitors
http://a763.g.akamai.net/7/763/1644/...46852/size/175
3 kenwood 12 inch subs titanium coated KFC-W3514DVC
2 power acoustic plasma series amps running 620 watts each at 2 ohms.
Custom enclosures all sealed but nice system. my next step is to sound deaden the whole thing. speakers run off the headunit but still has great clean sound. custom rear deck mounted up with kenwood excelon 6x9 part number is like x6900 or something like that really clean and can handle tons. fronts are boss gold series only available in Europe got them over ebay real cheap 20 dollars, they retailed for alot more than that. monster cable speaker cable. sub speaker cable monster cable 402xln sub woofer cable. upgraded Saab 9000 alternator Bosch al129x 115 amps but mine runs 122 amps. voltage at 14.9 volts at a little above idle, 1000 rpm. I can have head lights and fogs on and no dimming at all.

man im gonna have to get me one of them stinger digital blocks .. nice stuff right there .. and you got me beat by far on a nice setup .. im gonna run basic setup with mucho boom in the trunk .. i was looking at the alternators .. does the saab come stock with the same pulley as MB or does it have to be swapped ? my small speakers will run off head unit too .. untill i decide to upgrade (if i do) .. i have a pretty nice electronic crossover .. ill see how it sounds first ..

im thinking about mounting my amp in the car on passenger side floor well .. i really dont wanna go through the hassle of running 0 gauge wire all the way back to the trunk.. i just have to play with the idea a bit to make the appearance look good ..

and i think im changing to 4 15's instead of 12's .. i just looked at my trunk and i can get a pretty large sealed box inside ..should be good enough

i also looked at my belt configuration and where i could mount a second alternator .. looks like its gonna be quite painful to fit it in some where .. unless i can come up with some kind of custom pulley setup that way i can mount it off to the side and just run a small belt from the alt to the fab'd pulley .. bahh .. its gonna be a chore in a half .. but i cant wait till i turn up the juice for the first time ..

Whats the THD on your guys' amps?



I got JL amps in my car now, and they have very low THD.

2 Ohm@14.4V 900 Watts × 1 (100Hz, 1.1%THD)
4 Ohm@14.4V 500 Watts × 1 (20-200Hz, .5%THD)


RMS Power Output 500 Watts × 1 (1%THD+N) (4Ω)



i know jl is higher qaulity than kenwood ..whats yours ?

good info here:
http://www.crutchfield.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/learningcenter/car/amplifiers_glossary.html


Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
Amount of change in harmonic content of the signal as it is amplified. A lower figure indicates less change and a more accurate amp. THD below 1% is inaudible.

as for the pulley they just can be unbolted and replaced with the one from your car.
mined have .015% THD
If you get that battery terminal or the fused distribution block get it off of ebay, it will save you big time. The battery terminal retails for 100 and you can get it off ebay for around 35. same with the distribution block.

I found this spreadsheet based calculator you guys installing new amps/systems
might find it helpful

It has 3 sections: one on gain adjustment, one on power calculations for what size alternator you need, and the last section is on what gauge power wires you should lay.

enjoy..

Audio-Calc.xls [Savefile File Storage]

I didnt make it, I found it, saved it from a website.

well i have 0 guage laying around in my shop ..im gonna just use that .. i know its overkill but thats the plan ..

Nice. I got 2 Gauge running from my battery into the distribution block, and from my amp, into the subs.... I got bored. LOL.