Bass system install - Q before paying

[dj_hektik]

Hi everyone

I'm looking to re-do my amps/subs in my car, at the moment I have:

Alpine CDA9855R, Kicker KX700.5 amp, Rainbow Profi components front, Rainbow Profi Kickbass rear, Mac Audio Premium 300 Sub. Stinger cabling and 1.5F Cap.

I'll be keeping:

Alpine CDA9855R
Rainbow Profi CS265 Phase Plug (Front), 120w
Rainbow Profi Vanadium Kickbass (Rear), 120w
Stinger 1.5f cap (maybe)

My amp, cabling and sub will go, to be replaced with:

* Kicker KX650.4, 120w x4 @ 4 ohm
* Kicker KX1000.1, 1000w x1 @ 2 ohm
* 2 Alpine SWR1242D Subs, 500w, DVC 4 ohm
* AudioControl Epicenter W/Wired Remote
* KCA420i iPod Interface
* 20m Stinger 10 Gauge Silver EXPERT Series Speaker Wire
* Monster Cable 4 Ch. 16 Ft.MicroXLN Interconnect
* Monster Cable 2 Ch. 16 Ft. MicroXLN Interconnect
* Kicker 1/0 Gauge Dual Amp Power Kit

Should I get a higher rated capacitor, like 5 farad or so?

Also should I get the Epicenter or would the equaliser/crossover on my head unit be OK? I have 7-band GEQ or 5-band PEQ plus fully controllable crossover.

Another thing is I will measure my car today to see if two 12's fit in the spare tyre well. would two 10's be OK if i cant fit 12's or should I revise my install plan?

 

[UncleFester]

I'd lose the power cap for starters.

2 x 10" subs will give a much tighter bass and more punch than 2 x12" but those alpine subs are very very good so you might be ok with 2 x 12".

As for the epicentre ..... are you trying to remove the interior of your car using bass frequencies or do you just want more bass.

Personally i'd just use the H/U for bass control but if you want more toys to play with then get the epicentre.

 

[dj_hektik]

I'd lose the power cap for starters.

2 x 10" subs will give a much tighter bass and more punch than 2 x12" but those alpine subs are very very good so you might be ok with 2 x 12".

As for the epicentre ..... are you trying to remove the interior of your car using bass frequencies or do you just want more bass.

Personally i'd just use the H/U for bass control but if you want more toys to play with then get the epicentre.

remove the cap completely? wouldn't a cap help reduce the voltage drop? i'd much rather remove it and simplify the install but I don't want my lights dimming with the bass or harm my alternator.

As for the epicenter I want a lot of bass - but i dont want it if it's not very useful - I understand its a bass booster but the Kicker amps have this and my Alpine HU has a lot of controls. If you dont think it will help in my case i'll save $200.

and regarding 10's or 12's i would get Alpine R's in either case, they have identical power ratings

 

[UncleFester]

10s tend to give a nicer punch and 12s tend to handle the lower bass frequencies better - depends on what kind of music you like to listen to. I got the kicker 10" for mine as they only need a really small sealed enclosure - been down the HUGE box route with ported 12s before and it left me no boot space.

There's a wide range of opinions on what power caps do - every post i've seen by people who know their stuff regarding ICE slates them, the most charitable view was that they were completely unnescessary and served no real purpose besides looking nice.

I'm running 2xKAC8401 4ch amps and a KAC8152D in the back of mine and i've yet to see any funny electrical behaviour - the benefit of running a diesel with a large alternator and huge battery i guess

 

[dj_hektik]

I may just go for 10's then.. I listen to house music mainly and I do care about the quality very much - I paid 450 quid for my front speakers alone!

About the cap I don't know. I need to place the order by next monday, so I guess i'll wait and see what others have to say especially pete.

Also do you know if a Optima yellowtop fits in a Leon battery tray?

 

[UncleFester]

I would ask pete yes - worth a chat to yellowtop battery - way better than any power cap ...... does it fit in a Leon battery tray, no idea but if you can get it to fit i'd have one without thinking twice

 

[dj_hektik]

I would ask pete yes - worth a chat to yellowtop battery - way better than any power cap ...... does it fit in a Leon battery tray, no idea but if you can get it to fit i'd have one without thinking twice

I'll measure the battery in my car later today.

I want to do it RIGHT this time I've cocked up a few times in the past. I'm Dynamatting the rear floor and front doors as well, and will be replacing the car's ground and alternator cables for 1/0 gauge.

 

[UncleFester]

I did the boot on mine too - made a fair bit of difference, i also packed out the rear wings / boot area with sound deadening foam to stop some of the panel resonance and road noise. I am still undeciced whether or not to dynamat the roof of the car. I don't think the front doors are 'that' bad but if you've paid that much for speakers you might as well do a proper job

 

[dj_hektik]

I did the boot on mine too - made a fair bit of difference, i also packed out the rear wings / boot area with sound deadening foam to stop some of the panel resonance and road noise. I am still undeciced whether or not to dynamat the roof of the car. I don't think the front doors are 'that' bad but if you've paid that much for speakers you might as well do a proper job

what is the sound deadening foam called - there is a fairly decent hardware store here not unlike B&Q but it may be called something else - what is it usually used for?

 

[UncleFester]

The stuff i've got is just acoustic barrier foam, nothing fancy ... there's a place in milton keynes that makes tiles of the stuff and they leave their yard open / bin unprotected at lunchtimes

 

[dj_hektik]

I tried out a Vibe Blackbox yesterday, the local shop was kind wnough to let me try it overnight. its rated at 100 rms x 4, sounds fantastic but I can't help thinking a 120 x 4 amp would be better. I will try the Kicker 120 x 4 amp today i'll see how it goes.

Also Rainbow make amps so i'll give them a call - only problem is i'll have to import from Germany, and they use separate Preamps so will cost more

 

[Icecavern]

OK firstly how much do you want to spend?

I wouldn't get vibe personally, not that they're bad, they're just not the best out there. But it depends on your budget.

You can get 2cuft of air space with a FG wheel well enclosure.

The kit you've listed in your first post would do the job nicely, except you'd need dual 2 ohm voice coils on the subs, you'll need to check you get the right ones. THen you can use series/parrallel wiring to show the amp the 2 ohms it needs.

Also leave the cap out. You shouldn't need it, my advice would be to upgrade the battery to chassis earth with 0awg when you do the re-wiring and you should be fine. I've never used a cap and never had problems with lights dimming etc as I make sure all the earth points are the best I can get them.

 

[dj_hektik]

OK firstly how much do you want to spend?

I wouldn't get vibe personally, not that they're bad, they're just not the best out there. But it depends on your budget.

I don't want to spend more than I have to - but as a general idea i don't want to spend much more than £600 on the amps.

A problem that came up is that I can't get the Kicker 1000.1. I don't want to use two different brands of amps it would look silly I think

I found out that the Alpine MRV-F545 gives out 125 RMS at 4 ohm, and the MRD-1005 fits the subs I want to get - 1000 rms at 2 ohm. How are those?

I've read some more on the Epicenter and I don't think i will be buying that as it doesn't seem to be worth it for me.

You can get 2cuft of air space with a FG wheel well enclosure

I've never worked with FG before and none of the car audio shop here do that. I'll be making an MDF box that will fit the back of the wheel well - so that's about 1.5 cu ft? I will make the box slightly higher as I want to make a false floor to hide the cables and other mess, also I will be mounting the subs the other way round (magnet out of the box) so that would be a bit more volume.

What sort of volume would you recommend for two 10" Type-R's? or should I get one 12" Type-X? I want the bass to be loud and defined - I listen to house mostly but I want my car to sound good whatever I play. I like sealed boxes better usually - I like the way they sound and they're much easier to make - i'll be making the box myself and I'm not a carpenter

Thanks a lot for all your help

 

[Icecavern]

The new Alpine amps are pretty damn good. And they look good too.

The epicenter is all about cranking the bass up, if you don't want to do that then yeah it's a waste of money.

How much you'd get making an MDF box depends on how complicated you make the shape, but I doubt you'd get 1.5cuft unless it's very complicated and it'd be easier to use FG then. I prefer sealed enclosures too. You should be able to get the recommended box size for the alpine subs off the alpine site.

 

[dj_hektik]

The new Alpine amps are pretty damn good. And they look good too.

The epicenter is all about cranking the bass up, if you don't want to do that then yeah it's a waste of money.

How much you'd get making an MDF box depends on how complicated you make the shape, but I doubt you'd get 1.5cuft unless it's very complicated and it'd be easier to use FG then. I prefer sealed enclosures too. You should be able to get the recommended box size for the alpine subs off the alpine site.

OK I'll refer to the Alpine site.

Thanks a lot for your help. I will get the Alpine amps, two Type-R 10's - 2 ohm voice coils, remove the cap and replace the wiring.

I'll post pics as soon as I'm done!

 

[dj_hektik]

The new Alpine amps are pretty damn good. And they look good too.

The epicenter is all about cranking the bass up, if you don't want to do that then yeah it's a waste of money.

How much you'd get making an MDF box depends on how complicated you make the shape, but I doubt you'd get 1.5cuft unless it's very complicated and it'd be easier to use FG then. I prefer sealed enclosures too. You should be able to get the recommended box size for the alpine subs off the alpine site.

OK I'll refer to the Alpine site.

Thanks a lot for your help. I will get the Alpine amps, two Type-R 10's - 2 ohm voice coils, remove the cap and replace the wiring.

I'll post pics as soon as I'm done!

 

[dj_hektik]

The new Alpine amps are pretty damn good. And they look good too.

The epicenter is all about cranking the bass up, if you don't want to do that then yeah it's a waste of money.

How much you'd get making an MDF box depends on how complicated you make the shape, but I doubt you'd get 1.5cuft unless it's very complicated and it'd be easier to use FG then. I prefer sealed enclosures too. You should be able to get the recommended box size for the alpine subs off the alpine site.

OK I'll refer to the Alpine site.

Thanks a lot for your help. I will get the Alpine amps, two Type-R 10's - 2 ohm voice coils, remove the cap and replace the wiring.

I'll post pics as soon as I'm done!

 

[adam_lincs]

someone mentioned a yellow top battery and whether it fits in the standard tray....

well, for an install like this i'd suggest a split charging system with the yellow top battery in the boot (means cable from battery to amp is shorter) and keep standard battery in engine bay.,

would also mean you could listen to music with battery off and there's no chance of not being able to start the engine due to flat battery

 

[Icecavern]

Whoooa Holy thread revival batman

Why post this in a 3 year old thread?

 

[adam_lincs]

ha ha crap yeah, didnt notice that. one of the dangers of searching threads i guess..

sorry!!