hey guys new to the site, been an installer for 4 years now. youngstown ohio. was looking for some bass songs and this site came up so i decided to join. site looked interesting and helpful. right now i have a 99 escort zx2. it is pretty crazy. as for sounds i have the clarion 935 flipout touchscreen dvd. mids and highs consist of clarion 6.5" components up front (1 pair in each door) and fiberglass rear deck lid with 4 more midbass and 4 more tweets. in the trunk : spare tire removed 2 optima red top batteries, 1/0 guage wire front to back with 2 150 amp anl fuses (1 under hood 1 in trunk) 4 guage with 100 amp anl fuse to each bass amp and 8 guage with 60 amp agu to each high amp. 2 pioneer premier 5000spl subs in sealed 2.2 cu/ft air each side. 1 earthquake phd2 on each sub bridged 1 ohm mono 8 guage with 40 amp atc fuse to positive terminal and 8 guage black to negative. pioneer premier prs x340 4 channel running all mids and highs. havent measured yet but guesstimating around 160+/- db. ill try to be as helpful as i can to people with problems and will look forward to hearing from other members to the site.
Replies (6)
xplicitblitzboi on 06/7/2003 16:29:55
Welcome to the board, we need as much help as we can get around here :)
Buickman94 on 06/7/2003 17:13:17
some nice stuff you got there...
I live in ohio, near cleveland, what shop do you install for?
Swez on 06/7/2003 17:46:26
Hey ZX2, welcome to the forum!
Your HIGH SPL experience will be handy for those on that track. How's your background on SQ install applications, electrical power upgrades and noise rejection techniques?
Bonus Question: What's you opinion on Surge Caps? I did not see you mention them in your gear list.
Swez (SE- MI)
ZX2Xtreme on 06/8/2003 22:41:02
not too much sq install experience youngstown is all bass and tweets you dont hear many voices. im not a good judge of sq i have had a vehicle with 4 10" subs off a hifonics zeus that sounding amazing to me....but im sure sq judges would disagree.
Swez could you elaborate on the electrical power upgrades? if you are referring to relays on remote turn on leads to boost more power i am. or as far as ground trigger 12 volt trigger and reverse polarity. as for noise reduction i have not had to troubleshoot too much, however I do have experience in that area, usually caused by lack of ground, bad rca's, and have discovered smaller cooling fans to be problems. surge caps? if by surge cap you mean 1 farad or higher capacitor i dont mess with them, sure if you use more than one it will begin to help, however i found that the alumapro 5 or 15 farad capacitor really does help..hope these are a few answers to your questions swez... look forward to more discussions with you in the future....
Swez on 06/9/2003 07:16:49
By power upgrades, I meant ALT/BAT upgrades for larger amping systems. Ie: small car, small stock ALT/BAT and guy uses 2 x 100 ampere sucking amps for subs and maybe a third amp for mids/highs and the guys light dim like heavily on large bass etc.
Your system is a good example and I noted you have added a pair of Red Tops in tire well, using large wire gages as feeders... but what did you do for the stock ALT? Would think a stock ALT of <100A would be tough to charge primary starter battery and a pair of Reds in the back if you boom it hard with lights and accessories on for any length of time ???
As for Caps... a large cap 5-15 Farad may have some merit for short duration voltage dips, but a secondary BAT(s) or larger primary BAT and larger wires from ALT/BAT and BAT/GRD, seem to be very
effective. Any comments on that issue?
Noise issues are a big problem in some DIY installs. We usually recommend proper grounding (bare metal connections to body floor pan) from HU back to amps and all toys in between. "Ground loops" can be a problem for some that use many toys and several ground points as well. Sometimes we recommend GL isolators or common grounding points for toys and amps. RCA wire position can be a factor, if too close to main power feeder line or very poor quality wires.
Also, factory harness grounds are sometimes inadequate for aftermarket HU's. So here, we often recommend going with a separate ground line to floor pan.
Anyway, just trying to gage what/how your install experience lines up with some of the issues we often see here on the board. Some of our "collective fixes" come from other Pro installers on this site and other resources. Just curious to see how your shop handles these common issues noted above.
FYI: We are very open to new and better ideas for our readers. So feel free to add your pool of knowledge to the posts. Look forward to hearing more from you as we go. This is more a collaborative team approach forum and concenses building on common install issues are most helpful to our readers. But, having 4-5 differing opinions may make for great debates... very confusing to our readers.
Comments?
Swez
ZX2Xtreme on 06/10/2003 18:36:35
Stock Alt in mine is 90 amps but i have a battery switcher, it lets music draw power only from the 2nd and 3rd.... but lets only normal car operations draw from battery up front. this does help and save costly alternators. a second battery in my opinion is the deffinite way to go. capacitors only store power for large bass hits but the charge empties fairly quickly.
i did find that if you add a ground to the existing ground at the battery under the hood (matching size for size....ie 4 guage to amps 4 guage ground added under hood)
As far as noise issues go.....ground ground ground, grounds the most common problem for noise.
Replies (6)
xplicitblitzboi on 06/7/2003 16:29:55
Welcome to the board, we need as much help as we can get around here :)
Buickman94 on 06/7/2003 17:13:17
some nice stuff you got there...
I live in ohio, near cleveland, what shop do you install for?
Swez on 06/7/2003 17:46:26
Hey ZX2, welcome to the forum!
Your HIGH SPL experience will be handy for those on that track. How's your background on SQ install applications, electrical power upgrades and noise rejection techniques?
Bonus Question: What's you opinion on Surge Caps? I did not see you mention them in your gear list.
Swez (SE- MI)
ZX2Xtreme on 06/8/2003 22:41:02
not too much sq install experience youngstown is all bass and tweets you dont hear many voices. im not a good judge of sq i have had a vehicle with 4 10" subs off a hifonics zeus that sounding amazing to me....but im sure sq judges would disagree.
Swez could you elaborate on the electrical power upgrades? if you are referring to relays on remote turn on leads to boost more power i am. or as far as ground trigger 12 volt trigger and reverse polarity. as for noise reduction i have not had to troubleshoot too much, however I do have experience in that area, usually caused by lack of ground, bad rca's, and have discovered smaller cooling fans to be problems. surge caps? if by surge cap you mean 1 farad or higher capacitor i dont mess with them, sure if you use more than one it will begin to help, however i found that the alumapro 5 or 15 farad capacitor really does help..hope these are a few answers to your questions swez... look forward to more discussions with you in the future....
Swez on 06/9/2003 07:16:49
By power upgrades, I meant ALT/BAT upgrades for larger amping systems. Ie: small car, small stock ALT/BAT and guy uses 2 x 100 ampere sucking amps for subs and maybe a third amp for mids/highs and the guys light dim like heavily on large bass etc.
Your system is a good example and I noted you have added a pair of Red Tops in tire well, using large wire gages as feeders... but what did you do for the stock ALT? Would think a stock ALT of <100A would be tough to charge primary starter battery and a pair of Reds in the back if you boom it hard with lights and accessories on for any length of time ???
As for Caps... a large cap 5-15 Farad may have some merit for short duration voltage dips, but a secondary BAT(s) or larger primary BAT and larger wires from ALT/BAT and BAT/GRD, seem to be very
effective. Any comments on that issue?
Noise issues are a big problem in some DIY installs. We usually recommend proper grounding (bare metal connections to body floor pan) from HU back to amps and all toys in between. "Ground loops" can be a problem for some that use many toys and several ground points as well. Sometimes we recommend GL isolators or common grounding points for toys and amps. RCA wire position can be a factor, if too close to main power feeder line or very poor quality wires.
Also, factory harness grounds are sometimes inadequate for aftermarket HU's. So here, we often recommend going with a separate ground line to floor pan.
Anyway, just trying to gage what/how your install experience lines up with some of the issues we often see here on the board. Some of our "collective fixes" come from other Pro installers on this site and other resources. Just curious to see how your shop handles these common issues noted above.
FYI: We are very open to new and better ideas for our readers. So feel free to add your pool of knowledge to the posts. Look forward to hearing more from you as we go. This is more a collaborative team approach forum and concenses building on common install issues are most helpful to our readers. But, having 4-5 differing opinions may make for great debates... very confusing to our readers.
Comments?
Swez
ZX2Xtreme on 06/10/2003 18:36:35
Stock Alt in mine is 90 amps but i have a battery switcher, it lets music draw power only from the 2nd and 3rd.... but lets only normal car operations draw from battery up front. this does help and save costly alternators. a second battery in my opinion is the deffinite way to go. capacitors only store power for large bass hits but the charge empties fairly quickly.
i did find that if you add a ground to the existing ground at the battery under the hood (matching size for size....ie 4 guage to amps 4 guage ground added under hood)
As far as noise issues go.....ground ground ground, grounds the most common problem for noise.
Copyright ClubKnowledge 2009 * All Rights Reserved
