posted
well, I hate to admit it, but I did some stupid things myself. My first Car Audio system was a disaster. I didn't know anything about how subwoofers or amps worked or anything and was too dumb to buy a book. I was like 16, it was my first car and I was eager. I bought a kraco 30w amp and two pyramid 15" free air subs at the flea market for like $30 for everything. the systems I had seen had big sub boxes so my buddy and I used 1/2" plywood. we removed the back seat of my plymouth scamp and built a box about the width and depth of the seat and about 2 feet high. I had 2 radio shack 6x9's in the rear deck and a RS digital tape deck. _I_ thought it sounded great. but with the windows up you couldnt hear it outside the car. I thought I was so cool and had it like that for months. and so we learn. I've had WAY better sound out of a single 8 than that system had. I decided to have my next system installed professionally. they put a 10" infinity sub in my trunk ( bolted to the rear deck with no hole cut through ). with a 30w jensen amp. i was disappointed and went back. they then cut a hole in the rear deck for the amp to play through, and it was a little better. then I went back and was SO unhappy so they gave me a discount on another 10" sub and cut a new hole. only a couple years later when I decided to really study car audio and figure out why I was getting shafted did it dawn on me that a 30w amp wouldn't run one of those let alone both. the one sub with a decent amp would have been better than their idea. they would have had me running 10 subs off that stupid amp if I would have let them. oh, yeah, my killer front stage was the stock speakers capped to eliminate bass. can you say SUCKER?!? everyone learns somehow. hope most dont learn like i did. Posts: 13 | From: erie, colorado, us | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
this reminds me, almost every system I've seen that sucked revolved around being underpowered. there should be a "golden rule" of Car Audio. "Spend the most money on the amp". I have seen Rockfords and Soundstreams and all sorts of "good" brand SUBS being run off rockwood type 20w amps. almost without exception it seems people who don't know, spend money everywhere but on amps. I'd rather have a PPI amp and rockwood subs than the other way around. not that _I_ have ever made a dumb mistake like this. Posts: 13 | From: erie, colorado, us | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Heh, yea, I remember my first system--I had two Kicker Solo 15s (C series) running off one Kenwood PS200 amp. The thing put out, like, MAYBE 250x1 when I briged it. I was SOOO pissed I was only hitting in the 130s when I saw other guys with what I thought was the same setup hitting in the 140s.
Live and learn!!
------------------ Jason-TEAM WEE BEE
2 RF HX2 18s, 4 RF 800a2s in a slammed Jetta---HEHE
"I've learned that dB cars make TERRIBLE winter cars, but awesome downhill sleds."
Posts: 111 | From: State College, PA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
The only "bad" part of my first system was some 6x9's I got off ebay and belived that they were Premier (pioneer) brand. Well, needless to say those things started smoking with 60watts rms going to each side before I could even appreciated the horrid sound they had. So they lasted about 20minutes of play time before one of the voice coils melted so much it created a dead short and sent my amp into protection mode. My first system is what I have now and that I would have to say was the only mistake I had made.
I guess looking for good deals and waiting to get a car gave me time to research & learn more. It's best to take things in steps.
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Posts: 131 | From: Missouri, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ThumpinVeeDub: Heh, yea, I remember my first system--I had two Kicker Solo 15s (C series) running off one Kenwood PS200 amp. The thing put out, like, MAYBE 250x1 when I briged it. I was SOOO pissed I was only hitting in the 130s when I saw other guys with what I thought was the same setup hitting in the 140s.
Live and learn!!
Heh, my 1st system wasnt too bad, but it was the same senario as Thumpin. I had all pioneer tweeters, mids and rear deck 4x10's ( i was jsut getting into car audio at the time, never thought id get addicted to car audio), i had a pioneer 4 channel amp running all the inside speakers, sounded great, then i added 2 JL 12w0's and a Power Acoustics 400x1 amp. This amp did about 300 RMS. Well that set up never broke 127.6 DB.
3 months later i got smart and bought a Phoenix Gold ZX250, this did 300 watts rated, and retested the system and broke the 130 mark. Moral of this story "SPEND THE MONEY ON THE AMPS INSTEAD OF THE SPEAKERS!!!!"
------------------ AudioStylz "Caution: Flying objects may result during use."
Posts: 3022 | From: I don't just want to knock over the pins, I WANT TO VIOLATE EM!!!! | Registered: Jun 2000
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Well my first system I setup some sub enclosures that had holes in the top for the stock 6x9s on the top section. This was in a chev Beretta. Well I made it so I had speaker terminals for each speaker and each sub, two on each box. The bad part was that I put them all right next to eachother. Well, when I hooked it up I ended up hooking the amps to the 6x9s and the deck to the subs. Needless to say those 6x9s were smoking with a mtx 2300 mono to each. Made a pretty interesting sound when I did let it rip for the first time though...
Posts: 736 | From: Albertville MN USA | Registered: Mar 2000
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