Sorry dude, your local shop is

They obviously arent very knowledgible, so I wouldnt take a word they say.

If you get the Audison, the eclipse should go...its not enough power. As for Focals, 100rms would be a great number. (if you got the apha amp)


Face it, you arent going to get away with what you want with the Memphis (bleh!) or the Audison. You are settling for less, DONT.
But, to each his own....

 

They are killing me!

 

Dont EVER listen to a shop that you dont know someone in....very well. They are just trying to make money. I can recommend you a couple of Brax amps at 5 grand a pop, but thats not in the cards now is it. Just get what you planned, and be happy. Second guessing only leads to disappointment.

 

I know the installer well and value his opinion. I'm cool with everything except the amp choice. They say that if I'm not happy, they will get me a different amp(s), but they think I'll be pleased with the setup. So much so, that they have no problem refunding my money and having me get another amp of my choice from wherever I want.

So, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. They are guaranteeing the work and feel that I'll be more impressed with it than I think. If not, I can have the amp changed out and be refunded the cost or pay the difference between that and another amp.

I saw the fiberglass enclosure. It's awesome! Fits perfectly. It's ported, and it will be completely flush with the top of the tool area and trunk. My friend did a very good job of making the enclosure, and he took photos of the process, so I will be able to post them later.

The car will be done today. Clarion HU, Focals, Treo 10" sub in ported fiberglass enclosure and the Memphis Baby Belle. I'm not impressed or convinced about the Memphis, but they seem to think it will be what I want. So I can only give them the benefit of the doubt and let them prove me otherwise. They said that I can drive it around and listen to it this week and weekend. If I'm not happy, then they'll change out the amp.

And we went with the Treo because it would work better with the amp setup. I asked about quality, and they said that this model of Treo subs is a high-quality sub for good bass and quality sound. I have seen Treo in other cars and was impressed with them. Personally, I do know and prefer them over Eclipse. I just know that many of you recommend and use the Eclipse subs.

From the explaination of my friend that does the installs, I will be running all four channels of the amp on mids and highs for 110w @ 4 ohm and then 400w on the sub.

Like I said, if I'm not happy or impressed, they will change out the amp. I've been arguing and going over this for the past several days, but they seem to think I'll be impressed.

We'll see tonight.

I'm cool with everything else, I'm just wondering if I'll have the power I need to go with the clarity.

We shall see!

 

Which Treo did they install? The SSX? Like I said about the Treo/Eclipse, both are magnificent subs. I have a local shop that handles Treo subs and I seriously considered it for my installation in the Range Rover. Treo makes very good subs and has a good reputation.


You may or may not like the Memphis. If you don't no big deal. It's a few hundred bucks to change to something else, and if they give you any of your money back, so much the better. I personally wouldn't have chosen the Clarion over an Alpine or Eclipse head, but I had a nice on in my BMW that I absolutely LOVED, so enjoy it.

We all have our biases toward certain gear. Some of us are more interested in sound quality, some in SPL. Some are looking at value for dollar. There are compoments out there to meet all tastes. Hopefully this system meets yours.

Quit stallin' now, where's the pics?

 

what would a ported enclosure benefir over a sealed one?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by NFRs2000NYC
I also agree that this shop pulls rabbits out of hats, along with power numbers.

This is why I tell people to buy online. If they had shops that actually know what they are talking about, honest, pleasant to deal with, and competitive on pricing, then def. go with the local.

 

Yes, they are doing the Treo SS. It's a nice sub, and should give me what I wanted.

Tej, to answer your question about the enclosure, ported will give you the ability to go lower for bass and is also louder than sealed. Since I listen to a lot of house/progressive and some rap/more bass music, the ported enclosure is a better setup. Also, because of the way our cars are set up, getting as much sound out of the sub is ideal, thus the reason for the ported enclosure. It looks really good too!

PJ, yes, if I didn't like anything, they can put it on the showroom floor with a discount as an open-item deal or something like that. They have all guaranteed to give me my money back so I can get a completely different amp if I'm not satisfied, or they will give me credit toward another amp (if I choose something they sell).

I'm still concerned that the Memphis won't do what I want, but they seriously seem confident that it will. Only time will tell. I'll have this week and weekend to test it out with the top down at highway speeds and with a variety of my CD's.

They also suggested doing the Polyglass Focals (coaxial) with additional tweeters in my tweeter pods. The reason my friend suggested this over the components is because he said that whenever the midbass and tweeter are more than 8" apart, it messes up the soundstage and brings it lower than what you want ideally.

Like I said in the beginning, this is how I have done all my previous systems (coaxial and additional tweeters).

And again, they said that if I don't like it, they will let me upgrade to whatever I want. I really wanted to do the KP's, but when I listened to one of the cars with the K2P's (components) and an audison amp (the expensive one VRX300.4?), I was not impressed with the highs. They almost seemed "drowned" out. This was in a Lexus IS 300, and he said that b/c of where his speakers are located, it does diminish the sound stage/crispness of the highs (similar to our S2K and how our legs cover the speakers). That's why he suggested doing the coaxial with additional tweeters.

So, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. I will listen to the Polyglass focals and additional tweeters to see how they sound. If I don't like them, I'll have the KP's put in. One thing they suggested if they do the KP's is that I should also consider doing an additional tweeter and "bridging" it across the 6.5" woofer so it will be similar to having a coaxial. That's also a possibility.

As for the Memphis, I don't know how it will be, so I guess we'll have to see. They said I could also do a Kicker amp. They have a 4-channel, 1000w amp that I could also do if I want more power. Or, I can do something completely different or even go with the Audison.

My concern is getting quality, but also enough quantity to overcome road noise, top down, wind, etc.

I pick up the car tonight to test it out. I give it a test drive for a few days and see what I think. If it's not enough, I'll swap the amp and consider upgrading the Focals.

And I'll get pics of the install. Seeing pics of the fiberglass enclosure being made was pretty cool.

 

actually -- these are two very common misconceptions about ported enclosures. they actually do not produce any lower bass than a sealed sub, and they aren't always louder either, but that is often true.

making bass is all about moving air. all a port does is add to the air being moved by the sub's cone... the port allows the air from the back of the cone to be 'moved' out the enclosure to where it can be better 'heard.'

but now, you have no back pressure on the sub, so the sub will generally become more efficient, and thus you seem to get more volume... simultaneously though, the sub now is pushing air through a port... and the port will generally be tuned to some specific frequency. so, some bass notes will now be much louder than other equivalently powered notes...

feel free to read up on the three main enclosure types here:
http://www.bcae1.com/spboxnew2.htm
and here:
http://www.bcae1.com/spboxad1.htm



Nate -- sounds like you've pretty much gone the full range of deciding what to do...
i really want to know how it turns out and would love to see pics.

hopefully, i'll get to hear this setup at one of the more southern meets....

 

hey are you going to the se supermeet in atl, nate and I should be there as well