I finally started rebuilding after a year without bass. Downgrade to 2 BTL 18s and an AB 1000.1. Using realm 6.5 components and an eclipse 4ch amp, but considering 3-way active.
Only going to run 4 d3100s for now, but will have plenty of alt power. I'll see how it does, if voltage dips much I'll add more, I'd just rather test since I just lost my job and found out I've got another baby on the way. For now I have a dual alt system with MLA module, ~300 @ idle. Soon to be quite a bit more (around 700) I'm running 10 runs of 1/0, some Shok, other Knu Fleks.
On to pics- todays work: Built battery rack on side, built amp rack, just need to make the cover for the top and carpet everything. Then I picked up the wood, I have to make the finish cuts tomorrow but letting the store rip the large sheets makes table saw work much quicker.
The goal of this system is space while doing 150+ @30hz. I have a kid and one on the way and really need at least half of my vehicle to haul baby crap and tools. The amp rack is built to have a cover making it take up about 1.5 sqft. The batts on the drivers side will be covered, just leaving it open while building. I can't go too fancy because it'll just get messed up.
The box is ~10ft net with about 115sq inches of port.
Any thoughts/criticism welcome, cutting and assembling tomorrow so I'll have a LOT more pics then. A lot of things will be changing now that I have more time to do work.
Old setup was 4 btl 18s, 4 mcd-4kws My Iraggi alts sucked so much azz I ended up selling in frustration because even with 4 of Iraggi's "Best" alternators I couldn't keep my voltage up.
I did a bit over 155 @ 32hz before I ripped things out, had less than 10kw to it and never got to turn it up. .
I didn't get much done today, only had an hour or so, but tomorrow the fun starts.
I have a friend who should be getting me some 1/2" copper buss bars, but till then I decided not to use fuse holders, just 1/4" aluminum buss bars. The amp needs 800-1000 amps of fusing depending on who you talk to and where you're reading, I have 250s and 200s so I'm debating what to use. I never thought I'd get to use my 12" miter saw that works good on masonry and metal, it was like Christmas to get to use it for once lol.
2 bars cut to fit
Mocked up to figure out where to drill things.
The aluminum bars over the amp aren't screwed in place, so things look crooked but it's straight now. They're just extra security, whatever it's worth.
Almost how I want it, it's temporary till the copper comes in. The fuse holders were really just plastic with a bolt to hold wire and fuse together, so this has about 100x more metal regardless.
I have gotten my moneys worth out of this saw.
Cut everything so tomorrow all I have to do is assemble.
I used a circular saw for the last box, honestly I will never again if I don't have to, it's just so much faster to use the table saw. And perfect cuts every time is nice too.
Assembly tomorrow, I can't even hook things up till the rest of my wire comes in so I might be driving around with subs and amp just not even fully hooked up
I've been running them this last year, even without a system lol. I know the batts/alts will hold 4-5kw because I could run at idle with a mcd-4kw and 3 batts and not drop below 14.
I figure with one more battery I should be good to give each 2500w until I throw on another alternator or two and really get to crank things up. I know I need more batteries but I'm not willing to give up any space I don't have to. I'll probably be ordering my alt(s) in another 2-3 weeks, but I have a lot of other stuff to keep me working on things in the mean time.
I realize I gave away my 200s, so I'm just going to use 250s.
Thanks, we just found out so we have quite a while before we know the exact due date, but it's at least 8 months now.
These pics were taken with my phone because I forgot my camera at home. I have to upload the ones from my camera so I'll post these in the mean time:
Assembled the box completely today, just have to throw some terminals in (using bolts again) and the subs/wiring.
Started with the bottom and sides
Back wall, indented to fit over the amp rack.
3/4 round over on the face.
And the front is on
Ready for the top and to cut some holes.
Got a new toy a few weeks ago I've been dying to use. I've had a rotozip, but there was a set on sale with tons of attachments at Lowes one day. It's a circle jig for the rotozip that cuts up to 20" diameter holes.
Small review: If you don't have a jasper or good router jig, but have a rotozip buy this. It's like $20 by itself, and can be helpful. It is extremely easy to use, and pretty accurate. On the downside it has a tendency to start drifting off it's mark after a while, but not bad. The base for the rotozip is adjustable in height so you can sort of plunge, but without the plunge router bass it isn't very sturdy so you may have some dimples in your perfect holes. Overall it's pretty quick, small, and better than a jigsaw.
First hole in the first layer.
I'll have more pictures as soon as I get them off my camera and resize them. Some time tonight.
I swung by my house for lunch to grab my camera and subs. Just took a quick pic of them, I bought them in Oct 06, so there have been quite a few changes since I bought these lol:
I wasn't completely happy with the way the rotozip cut the holes compared to my router, but it did a good enough job anyway. Finished with the wood work
5/8" all thread bracing:
Drilling for the rod
More drilling lol it seemed to take forever.
The bottom with the rod countersunk.
Top to bottom bracing:
More drilling:
And finished with the wood cutting.
Tomorrow I just need to put terminals in and wire it up, hope to get it done but I'll be pretty busy with work. I found out there is no store within an hour of me that carries 1/0 or terminals. It's retarded.
Too close to getting myself in trouble to comment For some reason some like Iraggi, he's sure never been good to me. He's the only questionable business on the site, and would be better off removed.
I understand he's trying to change his image, but he should start by fixing his old problems and making angry past customers want to do business with him again. Nice thread title lol.
Thanks. I'd love to see him actually do it, but I do want 2 more alts.
I am going to buy DC, but for the price I'd buy one if it actually worked. Now if I got a DOA alt or one that did 10 amps at idle again I would be pissed, and I wouldn't be able to take it up with the Iraggi personally. If he'll transfer the warranty and trade you out for a 150+ idle gm alt I will seriously buy it from you.
Thanks, I usually use all finish nails, but without my normal clamps I figured screws would tighten things down till the glue dries a bit more. It is really a solid box for sure, but I honestly doubt it'll do what I want after seeing it's actual dimensions in my vehicle.
I might go a different route if this doesn't work - I was considering a 21" IA warden or 2 since the AA/Fi 22s seem distant, but I don't know how well they handle the power for daily. Just one of those things I don't know much about the sub and I'm not willing to pay out the azz in recones.
Yes carpet. Probably a charcoal, but there's no audio shop within about an hour, and they want like $10/ft so I'm going to be ordering offline soon. I want to test the box before wasting money on making it look good. If it sounds like crap (which it might) I'll be rebuilding again a bit differently.
If you can email me a price on those wardens I'd appreciate it. I really want to stick with Fi, but they are just too far out from finishing.
lookin' good. .. Slow down o the baby makin'.. You might need a bigger T.V. something that will keep you occupied... You don't want to end up with as many kids as I have... I had a blast makin' em though! lol
Shok industries 1/0. Seems like rf or kicker flex. 5200 strand count. I'll upload some comparison pics but it's pretty much like any other decent 1/0- I just really like the black.
Got the terminals in today. I used to run a bolt for every wire input so I can change the wiring from outside the box, but honestly that's not really an option here - just 2 ohms.
Slapped the fuses in place. Can't wait to get copper, should make it look a bit nicer. I was going to run some temporary wire just to get things going till my red knu comes in, but the old stinger stuff I have just isn't flexible enough, and I can't see wasting ring terminals just for a week or so.
Just posted this pic because of all those who bched about the tinsels on their original BTLs. This sub was bought in October of '06, played on a 2000w hifonics amp for a few months till I bought memphis 4kws and ran like that for 2 years. There's barely any wear visible at all. Tinsel slap my azz.
Now watch me f it up lol.
Wiring the subs up tomorrow, probably running my grounds too.
hey i know since your running 10 strands of 1/0 wire this may not be the easiest thing to do, but I have pretty much the same setup as youu, i have my amp rack about 2 inches off the floor of the car, and i ran all the power/ ground/ speaker wires/ RCAs all the way under the carpet then through the bottom of it, so there are no wires showing whatsoever. you may have thought of this already but i just thought id chip in my 2 cents to try to help
Can you elaborate a bit more with what you mean? I have a few more runs to put in, but pretty much I just drilled a huge hole in the firewall and ran it all under the carpet on the drivers side. The RCAs and speaker wire is on the opposite side of the vehicle.
Is this what you meant, because I'm always up for improvements. Thanks.
Wired the subs up yesterday. Each sub in series then parallel @ 2 ohms final load. All I need is power wire and it's ready to test. I have a feeling I'll be rebuilding again soon, which is why I spent so little effort making things look nice.
It is really time consuming to tighten that nut 1/4 turn at a time. There just isn't enough room to fit anything else in there lol.
Plenty of room left for baby stuff. We went pumpkin shopping yesterday and bought several while hauling all kinds of other stuff.
The box is very close to the back hatch. It will definitely load off of it in some way - not sure how well it's going to work yet. Last time it was just a bit further in and it worked out great- Helped me save air space and dropped the tuning quite a bit.
If I'm unhappy with it I'll rebuild, I figured it's worth trying since it's worked well in the past.
Today I wired up my line driver, I'll have to upload pics tomorrow. Pretty much soldered in power wire and ran all the connections. I'm using the Memphis unit I had before. It's a pain to adjust the amps output with where it's located and how it's held down. Plus my Alpine H/U has 1v pre-out.
It's much easier to change the input voltage to the amp, though until I get the rest of my alts/batteries I probably wont be able to crank it up full tilt anyway.
It's done except for wiring the amp to power. I don't have enough power wire. It's in transit- 50ft roll of 1/0 Knu Fleks for the last runs of power and the wire for the amp. Should be here Wednesday.
I thought I had a ton of crimp ring terminals, but unfortunately I found out I was short after ordering the wire. I ordered the terminals from a local shop, so should have another 40 by Wed. too. Now I'm trying to figure out a rack for the fuse holders under the hood.
Again, more pics tomorrow, but given the wire comes in on time I'll have it up and running Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
not rippin on u or nothin but my viced crimps look a lot better. i just vice half. then the half thats still sticking out i wrap over the lower one. once there wrapped over each other and tight i just crank it really tight in the middle. makes a really tight crimp then i solder them.
No problem, I like these better. They're about as tight as you can possibly get them- you could pull on them all day and not have one pop off. It's really fast too, I just solder for peace of mind.
It doesn't really matter once the cover is over the back end of the terminal anyway, all you see is the exposed end and the pretty wire.
X2 with Capps... Looks like it will be just a few inches from rear hatch...
Other than that. looks like it is gonna wang. Great install. Much cleaner than mine.... As a matter of fact, it is not even close. lol I'm gonna try to fix that though... Everything is coming out since my subs are gone and I am waiting on my new subs...
I'm really thinking about switching subs or rebuilding to make things prettier. The biggest problem I'd have in competitions is that I'm above the window line, and there are lots of guys locally with walls burping high frequencies. Basically I will only win #1 in my class when the guys with real walls aren't there
Its shok wire, similar to knu fleks. Guess which forum member I bought it from My 50 ft of red fleks just came in, went out to buy solder so pics shortly. Going to get the wire all cut and soldered tonight so I can just drop it in when its light out. Vids tomorrow If my terminals come in, otherwise I will only be running 2 runs of power so 1/2 volume should be safe.
Thanks Abarca lol. It isn't the best, but I this is like my "work vehicle" install. Everything just has to be bolted down and soldered so it doesn't move. Anything exposed will be beaten up unfortunately. Today with everything in I hauled 100 linear feet of molding, a bunch of paint and stuff, 2 people, and a 36x80 wood door in the back half of my vehicle with plenty of room to spare.
I'm really trying to buy the E-350 van off my mom and use that for work. There's sooo much room in that thing I could wall it off with these 2 18s, shove a crap of batteries in, and still build a separate wall in back for tools and stuff. Don't see that happening though
Wire came in today, but the mfers who were supposed to get my 1/0 terminals didn't. I could have ordered offline if I wanted them tomorrow. I HATE dealing with shops because I have only dealt with 1 that was decent. They lie to get business, don't know wtf they're doing. How do you have 4 15's in a wall do less than 140db? Ask a shop anywhere near Myrtle Beach SC, they can recreate their demo car for you. /Rant.
50 ft of Kolossus Fleks. It feels like more than 21lbs but thats the shipping weight.
Shok vs Knu - black is shock, red is knu. This is some thick wire, the wire has a lower strand count than the shok, but is certainly much thicker. It has a poon jacket though, very thin, but very flexible.
Unlike most wire I've used it's actually thick enough to hold a terminal in place, it's very hard to jam all the wire in without losing a few strands.
Crimped and ready for solder. No pics of that since it's just repetition.
More pics tomorrow after I hook up the amp. I don't know when that will be since I don't have terminals to hook up all the wire.
Just thought I'd add a few pics of under the hood. I'm getting ready to change that, but dual alts, K&N intake makes it easy to do alt work and see what's going on in there.
I got the components for free, I can't complain especially for the money. I'd love to do a nice 2 or 3-way active setup though, but there is no local shop I trust to help with the process and I don't have time right now. Anyway, just wanted to throw some pics up of the rest of the truck.
I got 8 runs of wire through the firewall before I ran out of space today. I don't feel like cutting more holes or a bigger hole, and honestly even if I was pulling 1200a from the front I'd be good so I'm just leaving it. Also 2 runs + battery wiring is almost 40 ft somehow.
It's running, but here's the deal: I don't have enough terminals to run more than 1 run of wire from the front, so it's going off of a single 250a fuse. I didn't let the voltage drop below 15v and it was a bit louder than I expected. Once I got on the highway it didn't drop below 15.3, really just stayed at 15.4 so I feel confident saying I was not pulling much power at all. Did a small hair trick so I'm hopeful.
I only have 2 batteries in, with one fuse, and I'd say it's probably around 149db @ 42 (ear-o-meter) with 3000rms. I tried to take a vid but neighbors came out before I could really do one. I'll have pics tonight, vids tomorrow given the terminals come in.
Me too. Did you ever send an email about those Wardens btw? If you did I missed it.
I just realized I have a 1000 word paper due for a class by midnight, so I need to get started, pics if I finish in time tonight, otherwise I'll just upload tomorrow.
In another thread someone said they needed to run wire under the vehicle. Not here fortunately, I fit everything under the carpet with absolutely no issues. Actually after a point it becomes a big flat part instead of lumps making it seem factory again
So the dash broke worse I really need to fix that- it rattles really bad.
Tightened up the speaker wires, cleaned things up some. God it's the biggest pain in the azz to do this.
Quick picture of the subs The port is small in relation to what it could be, but it's big enough to fit my Dr. Pepper good lol.
Not many pictures because of A LOT of cutting, crimping, soldering. Anyone running more than this gets my respect, I bet I spent 3 or more hours from start to finish. I finally got all 4 fuses in.
This next pic made me really unhappy, I could barely fit 1/2 the wire on those 2 terminals, it's just temporary till I get the copper buss bars in, but I was still limited to 1 run of power from the front just hooking up the amp.
So I made something temporary. It is pretty thin, but it's the equivalent of 1/4" x 1" bus bar, so it's plenty enough for my needs till the copper comes in.
Gained a few more terminals.
I've been using some mapp gas for the terminals, solders much quicker
Hooked up the pre-existing wires.
All 8 runs through the firewall. I put gas line as a grommet, fasted with glue/silicon.
All the wires hooked up. I'll still do a lot of cleaning up once the final copper bus bars come in, just wanted to get it running and see what it will do.
No vids because the camera died, but with drops to 14.4v, about 4500rms I was getting some nice air movement. I still can't turn it up all the way till I get more than the 3 batts/2 alts I have, but that should change in a few weeks.
6 months old, just really sitting up. Man, this is the 2nd baby I've ever held in my life. I hate holding babies.
I agree, they all look alike till you have one, then once you have one you'll swear they're the next Gerber baby lol. At least you could tell it's a girl, that's more than most.
We try. Going to get her ears pierced next weekend probably. She actually has a decent amount of hair coming in, but it's extremely blond and hard to see unless it's wet. It's still only about 2" long though.
i thought that EYE had it bad, i just had to re-run all speakers and tweets into my highs amp (which only takes 8 ga. ftw) into a small chamber with limited hand space... i'd take my situation ovcer your anyday!.....on the other hand yours would be worth it
Please keep in mind there is nowhere nearby for me to park and shoot vids without making someone angry, so they tend to be really short. When I get a chance to drive out to the boonies I'll get some longer ones.
First of two vids finished uploading. Still loading the second. IMO the second shows the air moving a bit better, but it should do a nice hair trick when I can get the help of a female.
It sounds as good or better, but it is not as loud by a fair bit. I'm buying a Fluke clamp meter this week, I'd like to get a true rms meter but for 5-600 dollars it's a bit out of my price range. They have a nice one that does a/c and d/c for about 200 new locally I'll probably get to test with. If I'm within a few percent I doubt it will matter.
I will put it this way, with around 300 amps of idling current and 3 total batteries (d3100s) it drops to 14.4 volts with the way I have it set up. From my math that still leaves a lot of power to pull, but I haven't had time to set things up right.
The subs aren't breaking a sweat, and with the engine rpms around 12-1500 the voltage stays at 15.2 and up. I'm thinking about turning it up more I just don't want to start clipping. I played 2 songs like this while driving and the subs were slightly warmer than air temp.
Until I make sure I'm getting as close to 10kw as possible I don't want to say for sure, but I can say this setup isn't as loud as I want it. It's hard to compare mid 150s to low 150s. It's definitely not painful to sit in. I'm going to guess it'll do 152 @ 42hz, but I think it'll be a struggle to get 150 @ 32 out of it.
I still have a lot of work, next week I should have a 3400 up front, with just 3 3100s in back. A few weeks later I should have over 700 amps of idling output to compensate
Just a teaser pic: I looked at a sample of what my buss bars will be similar to, this is 1/2" x 2" thick solid copper, I'm going to do 1/2" x 3" for the batts and 1" x 1" for the fuse holder I believe.
I blew a dust cap off today. The subs never got warm, but sure got some niiiice movement going as I was gradually turning things up.
I'll probably build a new enclosure if I have any more problems, but I figure I've been using the things for 3 years with 4kw+. Just needs reglued and should be good- probably pick up some CA glue tomorrow if possible.
I'm running 10 runs of 1/0, some Shok, other Knu Fleks. 
