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I finally got a chance to get my car on a meter today. It was an Audio Control though, and I've heard that they read higher spl than the Term Lab's do. The car did a 146.7 on the dash legal with the AC. My question is if the AC's read higher than what would the car probably read on a TL? I know a guy that has one near me, but he wanted to charge me $25 to read it and I didn't have the money. Instead I took my car to an audio shop down the road from my house where I bought some of my wire at and they did it for free!!!! That's why I need to know what it would do on a TL though so I have an idea where I'm at. Oh yeah, I also metered it in the kick for fun and did a 148.2. This was all achieved on a single Fi btl in 2.7cubes tuned to 41hz(peaked @ 45ish)and 2 Alpine mrd m-605's. Alpine's CEA rating on the amps @ 14.4volts is 600 watts each, but the volt meters on the amps read 15 volts when I burped it. So I probably have about 1300 watts or so going to the sub. It is severly under powered. In theory every time you double power you should gain 3db. So I plan on adding a Sundown 3000D soon and expect to do about a 152-153 on the AC. I still have a lot of work to do in other places though. I need to dampen the whole car, add more runs of 0 guage, upgrade the alt, possibly make the enclosure smaller, and of course upgrade those amps! If anybody can answer my ? that would be great, as I am excited to find out what I can expect on a TL. I think I might have heard somewhere that the TL reads 5-6db lower than the AC, but I'm not sure if thats right.
-------------------- Team Sundown 148.6 with 2 Nightshade 12's and a Crunch GP3000D Posts: 732 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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I'm not sure, I could probably find out tomorrow. How much of a difference is this going to make on what model it is?
-------------------- Team Sundown 148.6 with 2 Nightshade 12's and a Crunch GP3000D Posts: 732 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig diffrence, first time my car was metered, efore i knew any better, i was put on an ac 160, and found out it was neer 10 db off.....lol...good times....
as far as i know, each of the sensors will be more accurate then the next, example, ac 160 is less accurate then 170 and 170 less then 180...and so on...
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Alright, I might just have to go on Friday when I get paid and use the guy's TL just so I know what's up. The same guy that has the TL also use to have an AC and I heard of him turning the sensitivity down when people that didn't buy stuff from him used his meter. He did this because people would get mad and want to get new stuff because their cars weren't loud enough. So he would say that the product that he had would make their cars louder if they bought it. Even if it didn't he would then turn up the sens. and the car would appear to be gaining db's. Is this possible on the TL also? If so how can I check for this? This guy is kind of shady, and greedy charging 25 bucks to meter. I've been to shows that cost less. Bottom line is that I don't want to go pay the $ if he's just going to fck with the meter to make me think that I need new equiptment(which I do anyway)so I'll try and buy it from him. I think the only stuff he sells if JVC, Fusion, ARC Audio, Panasonic, Diamond Audio, and American Bass anyway. The only one of those brands I would consider for spl would be American Bass or possibly Panasonic for a deck. I might just try and find a show to go to soon, but February in Ohio is gonna be hard to do.
-------------------- Team Sundown 148.6 with 2 Nightshade 12's and a Crunch GP3000D Posts: 732 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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Same here, between the AC190 and the TL I was only off by about .3 db. There was about a 7. db difference between the AC180 and the AC190 I used last season.
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mathematically doubling power should gain 3.01dB. In actuality, I believe most people are scoring between 1.4 and 2.1dB. Some getting up into the 2.4dB gain range. From what I've heard as well, the Sundown3000 has been giving people a lot more power than rated.
-------------------- World Record-Loudest SPL in my driveway Team Powermaster/XS-Power Hifonics Amps, Kicker subs-The way it should be Zensky....World Domination at It's Finest www.zensky.com Posts: 3159 | From: Columbus, OH - formerly FL | Registered: Oct 2003
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Cool so my goal of 150 db should probably be possible. Hopefully the AC wasn't too far off the TL, but I guess I won't know till I get on the right mic. The Sundown is definately the amp I'm going with. I've met a couple of people that are dealers and one price that I got is pretty decent. I've also heard that a guy on the car audio.com forum said he was getting almost 5000 watts out of his. So let's say that more than likely on the TL I'll probably be in the 141-145ish range depending on the AC mic(I'll look into the type of sensor being used and probably the last time calibrated would make a difference too)and with the addition of the 3000D and two Kinetik hc2400's I'll probably see anywhere from a 3db-9db increase. I'd say that it is completely possible to break 150's. Thanks for the input and I'll let everyone know what mic it was when I find out.
-------------------- Team Sundown 148.6 with 2 Nightshade 12's and a Crunch GP3000D Posts: 732 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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-------------------- World Record-Loudest SPL in my driveway Team Powermaster/XS-Power Hifonics Amps, Kicker subs-The way it should be Zensky....World Domination at It's Finest www.zensky.com Posts: 3159 | From: Columbus, OH - formerly FL | Registered: Oct 2003
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the old mics, you could adjust the K-factor. Many times I have heard of shops doing this to make their customers feel their money was well spent, and to show potential/new customers how much better their shop is.
-------------------- World Record-Loudest SPL in my driveway Team Powermaster/XS-Power Hifonics Amps, Kicker subs-The way it should be Zensky....World Domination at It's Finest www.zensky.com Posts: 3159 | From: Columbus, OH - formerly FL | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Even if it didn't he would then turn up the sens. and the car would appear to be gaining db's. Is this possible on the TL also?
No, the termlab pressure sensor system doesn't have a sensivity adjustment.
quote:and greedy charging 25 bucks to meter.
A meter costs $800 - charging you a piddly $25 to get you car metered is hardly greedy.
Actually charging $25 is pretty darn high. Like I said before most of the shows that I've ever gone to didn't even cost that much to compete for points or money. So $25 to just have my car metered for 5-10mins is rediculous. Now if I could have the meter to use for an hour I wouldn't complain about the price. It would give me plenty of time to make adjustments and stuff. I understand it costs $800 for a meter, but do you understand that it costs millions upon millions of dollars to make a movie, and theaters don't charge $50 a person. They charge a somewhat reasonable price($8.50@my local theater for evening showings)and spread the cost out over a lot of people, just like the owner of the shop should do. Not rape every person that comes through the door that wants to use his precious equiptment. Actually I remember a couple of years ago when I was installing at Best Buy we had a show that was done by Sam Horn. After all the cars were done for the day he let myself and all of the other Best Buy employees use the meter to get readings for free. There's a perfect example of someone being generous. I'm sure at this point the TL he had was paid for so instead of making us pay to use it he did a good thing and let us for no charge. That's class my friend, and is something a lot of people lack these days and I'm sad to see it this way. DBass, as you were wanting to know where I'm at in Ohio it is called Mansfield and is about an hour south of Cleveland and about an hour north of Columbus. I will however be moving to Columbus probably in October sometime.
-------------------- Team Sundown 148.6 with 2 Nightshade 12's and a Crunch GP3000D Posts: 732 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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moving here for what? and I ask because I was going to suggest going to some contests that use the Termlab to see where you are at. Greg Zoller has shows about once a month near Dayton or Cincinnatti, it varies. I know Sam's gotta throw some up that way. There are usually some near toledo, and some between toledo and dayton.
-------------------- World Record-Loudest SPL in my driveway Team Powermaster/XS-Power Hifonics Amps, Kicker subs-The way it should be Zensky....World Domination at It's Finest www.zensky.com Posts: 3159 | From: Columbus, OH - formerly FL | Registered: Oct 2003
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Well, my girlfriend is getting a job at OSU medical center or possibly Grant and I am no longer installing at Horizon Audio in Canton. So I plan on looking for an installation job in the Columbus area. There's not much here in Mansfield except Best Buy, Circuit City, or a few small potatoes local shops that don't pay jack. I really like Columbus Car Audio. I went to a couple of their shows back in the day and really took a liking to them. Here are a list of the shops that I'm interested in. Maybe you can point me in the right direction or hook me up with somebody to talk to. Okay CCA, Autotronics, Elite Car Audio, Mobile Electronics, Sound Investment, Sound Solutions, Stereo Limited, Ttraffic Jamz, WC Auto Accessories, thats all I know of or could find the phone number or address. Are any of these some good places to seek employment, or should I stick to CCA? I would appreciate any help that you can give me. Mobile electronics is my life and I've been installing for 9 years, but only for about 3.5 professionally. For the past year or so I've been working in a cabinet shop building cabinets(pretty much a sub box with doors) and haven't done a ton of installs(a deck here, a remote start there, some subs and an amp stuff like that) other than a lot of work on my own car. I can pretty much do anything, with fabrication and sub enclosures being my strong point. I'm fairly ok with remote starts, not a genius by any means but I can hold my own. Some of the newer high end vehicles are a little bit out of my range too, but I learn very quickly and have a ton of patience. I can't wait to get back into installing, that is if I can get myself a job doing it pretty soon. I would greatly appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction, as I would help you with any project that I could if you would do so. An extra head and set of hands is usually always a benefit. I'm probably not as knowledgeable as yourself in the field(from what I've read from you here), but I am pretty well rounded and I believe I would be a solid addition to any install bay. Anyway hit me up if you ever need a hand or something, I'm always glad to help a fellow basshead.
-------------------- Team Sundown 148.6 with 2 Nightshade 12's and a Crunch GP3000D Posts: 732 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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well if your going to columbes you will be where team livewire is. i am also a hour away and livewire and us see eachother often. so you are moving into a very well rounded spl area.
team ohio spl team baldman creations
-------------------- Team Ohio Spl Team Baldman Creations Posts: 1086 | From: sidney oh | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:So $25 to just have my car metered for 5-10mins is rediculous.
Lets break it down, say it takes the retailer 15 minutes to setup and help you with your readings. 1x employee costs and shop overheads costs apporx $40 an hour - so you've consumed $10. That leaves $15 to go into the Termlab pot - $800/15 = 53 people the store has to meter to get their money back, let alone make a proffit. Sure it's not cheap, but it's hardly rediculpus. a ripoof, or being greedy.
Posts: 36 | From: nz | Registered: Jul 2004
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the ac 180 is 5 db off from the term lab. so if you do a 145 on ac then you will do 140on termlab
Posts: 81 | From: WAIALUA ,HAWAII(NORTH SHORE | Registered: Mar 2006
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CCA is a decent place to work. Most of our installers are very skilled. We do a LOT of wholesale work, including sunroofs and leather. Lots of remote start and alarms. They are very professional with the installs, do not use scotchlocks, and demand clean installation(no birdsnests). Definitely worth applying. Mobile Electronics is a decent place from what I know. They moved to mostly doing wholesale and less retail. The other places, a few I've heard of: Elite and Stereo Limited. One of them may be decent. The others, I've never heard anything good about, but then I don't know everything. I chose CCA because they seemed the most professional. Mob.Electronics was in the middle of a transistion. The rest I didn't want to work for.
-------------------- World Record-Loudest SPL in my driveway Team Powermaster/XS-Power Hifonics Amps, Kicker subs-The way it should be Zensky....World Domination at It's Finest www.zensky.com Posts: 3159 | From: Columbus, OH - formerly FL | Registered: Oct 2003
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Dbass, which CCA store do you work at? The one on Brice, Morse, or Baker? I'm not actually going to move to Columbus more like Deleware or Westerville, so I was kind of thinking of applying at the Morse Rd. store. I'll let you know when I'm coming in to apply and we can meet each other if you want to. I would like to get a job as soon as possible and make the drive of about 50min-hour each day until I move. Do you know of any openings at any of the stores? This is my profession and I will install again. I will make sure to bring some pics of some of the few custom installs I've done. I haven't took a ton of pics, but I do have some to show my skillz. I guess I can bring my heap too but as everyone knows a work in progress is hardly an install to show off. Don't get me wrong the install is very solid, but its just not done and I hate to show a potential employer with out it being finished. Maybe I'll wait till I'm done to come in and apply so I can show off my car. The stereo in the car is worth more than the car itself, so thats why I'm kind of embarassed to show it off like, yeah thats my ride dig it? Because its nothing special just a 4 door 1997 Ford Escort. I plan on getting a new car but I can't wait that long to get a job when a car I don't even own yet is finished. But anyway let me know whats up if you want to. I know you might not be willing to help as you don't even really know me, but I assure you I'm not full of sh!t and would love a "foot in the door" if you know what I mean. If its worth anything I am MECP certified. First class to be exact:), and I did go to Mobile Dynamics which means absolutely nothing, but I learned some stuff in a class room. I'm sure we'll cross paths at sometime or another.
A little more info on the AC, the owner of the shop that I went to and used the AC said that another customer he has also had his car metered by the other shop and is about 4.5-5db different. So by my math my car should read about 141.7 give or take. Not a bad starting point considering the amount of work I have left on it. My tax return should be here soon and I will be able to buy the stuff I need to give me some more db's. So, thanks for the input on the mic situation and I'll keep working to get louder.
-------------------- Team Sundown 148.6 with 2 Nightshade 12's and a Crunch GP3000D Posts: 732 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Jan 2008
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