The ask Tin about audio thread

new alternator - scraping and whining and only putting out 13.8v on output wire on back of alt. Has to go back to advance auto today.
 
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New alternator is much quiet, putting out 14.4v.

Popping is gone and I even turned up the amp a tad in light of this.

It will pop if I turn the volume way up to like 32 on particular songs.

Thanks, Tin.
 
raroz28 said:
New alternator is much quiet, putting out 14.4v.

Popping is gone and I even turned up the amp a tad in light of this.

It will pop if I turn the volume way up to like 32 on particular songs.

Thanks, Tin.
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No problem, glad you got it sorted out. Those voltage swings can be a pain in the ass.
 
What type of box should I get for a 1991 Mustang LX convertible?Not much room at all and I have NO bass what so ever :( ..Not alot of room so can't go any bigger than a 10 inch sub..I pretty much have 15 inches from the front to back of the trunk and 13 inches tall..Going to be useing a older Power Acoustk 800W amp..Little more money than I wanna spend but how good would a 10 inch Kicker Solo Baric in ported box sound??
 
Jacob said:
What type of box should I get for a 1991 Mustang LX convertible?Not much room at all and I have NO bass what so ever :( ..Not alot of room so can't go any bigger than a 10 inch sub..I pretty much have 15 inches from the front to back of the trunk and 13 inches tall..Going to be useing a older Power Acoustk 800W amp..Little more money than I wanna spend but how good would a 10 inch Kicker Solo Baric in ported box sound??
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An 8" or 10" sub would do you well. You won't rattle the hood, but you'll have some good bass. A larger sub in those constraints won't work to it's best potential. If you want to go ported or sealed depends mostly on the driver itself. A weaker magnet will like a sealed box, while one with a stronger magnet will like a vented/ported box. If you go sealed, fill it with a decent amount of loose pillow stuffing. If you go ported, get some 1" thick fiberglass insulation and staple it to the inside walls of the box...except for the baffle where the driver resides. Most sub/speaker manufacturers will disclose the recommended box volume and port geometry for their products.
 
Tin said:
An 8" or 10" sub would do you well. You won't rattle the hood, but you'll have some good bass. A larger sub in those constraints won't work to it's best potential. If you want to go ported or sealed depends mostly on the driver itself. A weaker magnet will like a sealed box, while one with a stronger magnet will like a vented/ported box. If you go sealed, fill it with a decent amount of loose pillow stuffing. If you go ported, get some 1" thick fiberglass insulation and staple it to the inside walls of the box...except for the baffle where the driver resides. Most sub/speaker manufacturers will disclose the recommended box volume and port geometry for their products.
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Awesome and thanks Tin ..I was thinking about a 8 also so i'l report back with which one I get..
 
Tin,
Well this is what I went with..Its a 91 Mustang LX 5.0 convertible so I didn't think I could fit 12's in it..Went to a buddys shop and he helped me out with a AMP,subs and box..Not sure how good of a deal I got but im happy with it,can hear bass now lol..
Two 12" Hifonics Atlas subs and a 1200W SSL AMP ..Paid $240.00 for it all so I don't think thats too bad??






 
Jacob said:
Tin,
Well this is what I went with..Its a 91 Mustang LX 5.0 convertible so I didn't think I could fit 12's in it..Went to a buddys shop and he helped me out with a AMP,subs and box..Not sure how good of a deal I got but im happy with it,can hear bass now lol..
Two 12" Hifonics Atlas subs and a 1200W SSL AMP ..Paid $240.00 for it all so I don't think thats too bad??
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Looks good to me! I can't say how good of a deal you got as I'm not too well versed in car audio brands and reputations. That said, the science behind car and home audio are the same.
 
littlemissGTO said:
Hey Tin,
If for some reason I needed a new power cord for my Focal Cub 2 subwoofer where would I find one?
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I was looking at pics of that amp on the sub, it looks to be 2-pin, but inside a 3-pin IEC socket. Can you tell me how many pins there are? You may be able to use a power cable from a desktop PC. They're pretty heavy duty and very cheap.
 
Tin said:
I was looking at pics of that amp on the sub, it looks to be 2-pin, but inside a 3-pin IEC socket. Can you tell me how many pins there are? You may be able to use a power cable from a desktop PC. They're pretty heavy duty and very cheap.
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The plug is 2-pin.
The back looks like this:

It looks like there's a fuse in the power cord housing, how do I get that cover off to check the size of the fuse?
 
Looks like a 3-pin IEC with the ground removed, you can see the socket itself has a space for one. You should be able to use a desktop PC power cable, it's the right size. That sub uses a floating ground, probably to eliminate any possible ground loops which would cause it to repeatedly play a 60Hz tone when power is applied.
 
Tin said:
Looks like a 3-pin IEC with the ground removed, you can see the socket itself has a space for one. You should be able to use a desktop PC power cable, it's the right size. That sub uses a floating ground, probably to eliminate any possible ground loops which would cause it to repeatedly play a 60Hz tone when power is applied.
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Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Just tried a PC power cord I have here, and the sub won't power on. I'm at a loss.
 
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Tin said:
Did you check the fuse? There's a spot for it where the power cable connects.
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I figured out how to get the fuse cover off. The fuse is fine. Just no power. I sure hope I don't have to buy a new sub. I loved this one.
 
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Here's one for ya. I just got an SMD DD1 (which is the best tool for car audio ever made) and got all my gains set. What do you suggest for a spectrum analyzer so I can check for peaks and valleys? It sounds really good flat but I've gone this far so I may as well get super picky. I have a pretty good ear and can tell what sounds good to me but I'd prefer my music to sound as it was recorded.

Side note: I have a Pioneer 2din head unit and at Max volume it is under 1% distortion. Thought that was pretty impressive.
 
RBOD said:
Here's one for ya. I just got an SMD DD1 (which is the best tool for car audio ever made) and got all my gains set. What do you suggest for a spectrum analyzer so I can check for peaks and valleys? It sounds really good flat but I've gone this far so I may as well get super picky. I have a pretty good ear and can tell what sounds good to me but I'd prefer my music to sound as it was recorded.
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Lots of guys swear by Room EQ Wizard, it's free, but you'll need a calibrated omni-directional mic such as the MiniDSP UMIK-1 USB mic. You'd then run the Room EQ Wizard through your laptop.
 
I've used TrueRTA with an M-Audio MobilePre USB and a Behringer ECM8000 (I think) mic. It costs a bit to get started, but works great (luckily I just borrowed my buddy's). That said, no one I know tunes their car system perfectly flat unless they're competing, and let me tell you even then it doesn't really sound that pleasing to the ears.

Here's a good guide to the process:
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...mbers/45407-truerta-calibration-tutorial.html
 
Birdie2000 said:
That said, no one I know tunes their car system perfectly flat unless they're competing, and let me tell you even then it doesn't really sound that pleasing to the ears.
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Flat tuned systems usually sound rather lifeless. Accurate? Absolutely. Fun to listen to? Maybe, if that's your thing. A flat system can sound mid-range heavy to the human ear, due to the ear being most sensitive in the 300Hz to 3KHz area known as the vocal range. I've had studio monitors (Yamaha NS-10M's) that were ruler flat from 50Hz to 20KHz, they sounded good, yet boring at the same time. Remember, with an EQ, you're trying to correct any anomalies in room response, and not speaker response. The space the speakers are playing in greatly influence the end results. If the space has issues with reflections or bass getting stuck in certain areas of the room, the EQ will be of great help because it will correct for a poor space. Ideally, you want to EQ in the digital domain, and not analog. An analog EQ has a much greater influence over the quality of sound itself due to it introducing additional components directly in the signal path. A digital EQ will do this before the conversion to an analog waveform, so it doesn't run the gamut of capacitors, resistors, opamps, and potentiometers before it gets to the amplifier. If you were to take your exact speakers after EQing, and put them in an anechoic chamber, the final sound would be vastly different compared to being in your own listening space.
 
Also, if you want to get really picky, some guys go as far as to set up the mic and run the analyzer in 3 different locations in the general area of your head and average them together. I've never personally done this and still had good results, but if you want to go the distance it's definitely something to consider.
 
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