Hiya,

I figured I would tease you guys a little. I don't have any pictures yet, but I am finishing up working on my audio system on my car.

I had to put a secondary battery in to power everything. Its a KinetikPower HC800 AGM battery mounted in my trunk (removed my spare/jack). The battery is connected to my alternator using a battery isolator solenoid.

Mounted in my trunk is a Power Acoustik 1440 Watt amp connected to my Cerwin Vega 12' Sub (~600 rms). Before it is a 1.5 farad capacitor. That amp is reserved for powering that sub only. Above it is a Power Acoustik 960-4 watt amp which is used to power my speakers. Front speakers are 100 watt rms Blaupunkt Vx542 and rear speakers are 100 watt rms Infinity Kappa 682.7cf.

Thats not the impressive part. When you open up the trunk, all you see is the two amps. What you don't know is that under that is a massive powerhouse. Next to the battery is a power inverter which is used to power my trunk mounted laptop. I modifed the laptop and inverter to turn on and off using switchs mounted in my center console (modifying the laptop was NOT easy).

The laptop is running a special software made for cars. It is connected to my 2din touchscreen system and controled using my remote. Using the laptop, I can browse/play my entire music collection (about 30 gigs), watch music videos, browse the internet (with wireless), use GPS sofware, play games, etc...

Not a bad setup right? Just finishing wiring in everything. I'll get some pictures up in a few days. What do you think?

~Fred

 

Sounds good man!

I have some advice for you though. Many people will go to dealerships to have this kind of stuff installed, and the dealerships won't do it because they have better things to do and the amount they would have to charge you for labor would be ridiculous, so they usually refer the people somewhere lese. If I were you I would go down to the dealership and show them what you did, and ask them to refer the people who want that stuff done, to you. My brother was on good terms with the Crevier BMW dealership in Santa Ana California, and they refered the people who wanted custom navigations systems to him, and he charged MUCH less, but enough to get someVERY good money. That'sjust something you may want to consider for money on the side.

As a matter of fact he is actually installing a navigation system in someone's BMW right now lol. One guy even flew my brother to Kentucky to have that done, so that should give you an idea of how well you can get paid for a few days hard work.

 

I thought I was the only one running a carputer on this site. What frontend are you using? I am using Centrafuse right now, but I may switch over to Roadrunnner.

I also put switches in my center console to turn the inverter on and to power on the laptop.

 

right now i have an eclipse head unit powering my memphis audio speakers

w/ 1 12' memphis mojo in the back, running at 1100watts rms.

in the bronco it currently hits around 146 decibles (yes, 1 sub)

but as soon as i get my stang, im building a custom box for it, and getting a pioneer 7' flip up w/ ipod controls


i know alot of people may have never heard of memphis car audio, but you should check them out, they sound just as good or better than any jl's.

 

I'm running Media Engine. I'm thinking about switching, but it would be such a pain in the ***. First off, I have the two wires for the ON button running to my center console. Second, I have it secured to my car body with industrial strength double sided 3M tape. Lastly, I can't just use it in the car because the screen on it is broken.

I would have to take it out (somehow) and attach it to a TV or computer monitor (or bring a monitor to my car). Its a 6 year old laptop, can't support much except playing music.

~Fred

 

Now were talking!!!!!!!! Eclipse head units FTW!!!!!! (nice on the Memphis stuff too). Fred you did well choosing a Vega for a sub but your amps are mediocre at best. I used to have a business licence for stereo equip so im VERY familiar with almost every brand out there. JL's suck, half of that is a personal preference but seriously I have a particularly strong hate for those speakers and I don't really kow why.

Right now I have a Kenwood head unit, a Kicker EQ, a 1.5 farad cap, a Kicker 800w rms 4 channel amp driving EIGHT Aura RPM 8" subs in custome box with perfect airspace for those speakers. I have all those fit into the trunk of a Contour and still ALOT of room left over for groceries. I also have 3 new old stock Kicker 10" 8 ohm Solo-Barics (the original round ones) that I may put in the 06 GT along with a kinda crappy Hifonics Brutus 600w rms amp.

anyone wanna buy the stuff out of the contour? im selling that p.o.s. car soon

 

The Vega is an amazing sub. I don't think people give enough credit to PA for their amps. They sound great and perform perfectly. Plus, the little plasma shpere in the middle is kind of cool. I got them more for showing off then anything. Open your trunk in the dark and you have these plasa things dancing to the music.

~Fred

 

yeah, that eclipse unit is amazing, best part is that i got it for free b/c the dude grounded out my premier deck

most people (except for alot of people in memphis) have never heard of memphis car audio, mostly bc youcant buy any of their stuff online (except directly through the site). i dont think JL's suck. but it seems all the kids from the rich preppy private schools have JL and i try to stay away w/ the stuff they do.

i've never run across anyone w/ a system louder than mine (even in the bronco, the most un sub worthy car ever). best part is the look on peoples faces after i blew away 6 of their subs w/ my 1 12'.

w/ my soft top on and the sub up, it looks like i turned a leaf blower on inside the car (or im driving down the highway w/ my windows open) it makes it shake so much. w/ the hardtop, my window class bumps to the beat so much im afraid their gonna come out of the gasket.




oh and as far as amp's go. no matter what you buy, if you want it to power a sub, get a class d. they are made specifically for subs and will make them sound better. im running a memphis audio 1000d which is 1100watts continous rms at 1 ohm. theres a new company called Massive Audio that makes a very decent product and they sell for very very cheap (1500watt class d amp for $350)

 

i have been going to the daytona spring break nationals for the past 7 or 8 years so i've seen and heard almost every brand of amp/sub/whatever. (i was there back in the day when alma gates had 64 10" PPI piston subs, 32 amps, and 32 batteries in a bronco and set the world record.... which has since been broken)

to clarify my last post - its not that p.a. makes "bad" amps (i would never use their subs) its just their amps are not what you would consider tier 1 stuff ya know? (like the hifonics amp i have sitting new in the box lol)

what kind of vega do you have? h.e.d.'s and vega series are nice, but the strokers are brutal. i've seen 1 18" in a crx hit over 150db's. last year we decided to bring a crx to daytona with whatever equip we could muster up. this is what we ended up fitting into the car.......
2 - 10" L7 solobarics
2 - 12" Eclipse subs
2 - 12" Audiobahns
2 - 12" Rockford Fosgate HX2's
2 - 15" Audiobahns
we had a clam shell with 2 12's and 2 15's and then one box on each side going up and down with 2 12's in each (behind each seat) and a box going across the floor between those two boxes with the 2 sqaure L7's. we put 4 extra batteries across the back, and had 5 amps hooked up mounted to the back and sides of the clam shell. for amps we had....
a 1600w Soundstream
a 1000 Audio Art (bad fuggin *** old school amp)
a 1000 watt Infinity Beta Digital
a 800w rms kicker 4 channel
I'll be damned, I cant remember what the other amp was. anyways, you get the idea. we built the boxes and installed it (and the car got painted) within one week before the show. when we got there we were still tuning it and we were having amps cut out when it would hit. so naturally, we hit REALLY low in the SPL contest and left pissed. later we found that the fuses were loose in the fuseholders and that was the whole damn problem (they were those jumbo blade fuses.... they SUCK)

anyways, it was pretty badass to see all that stuff mixmatched and stuffed into that little car. if i can find some pics i'l throw em on here

 

I wouldn't use their subs either.

My Vega is the V-MAX series 12'. The Stroker Pro's are NICE, but highly unnecissary. I don't even like Bass that much, just a little hard hitting bumps is perfect.

My 139db is an estimate. Everything wasn't in secure, I was just testing the wiring. Doors weren't even closed at that level. Can't wait to see the result when its all in.

~Fred