I'm still kind of in a daze about this tbh.

Last wednesday I was rewarded my green card after several INS post 911 mishaps.. it took 5 years.

So as you can imagine I was kinda in a good mood.

I dont have 'alot' of cash, I earn ok but we live in an expensive appartment and have to be responsible, so saving and looking after what we have is important to us.

So anyway, wednesday we go out to eat at a really nice Italian restraunt and I have a wonderful meal with my wife and cousin Brian.

We leave, and not wanting the evening to end so soon I decide to forfiet my $80 treat that I was saving up for (a hard drive for the PC) and go to the casino.

Acting with sense I decided to take $60 with me and save cash for gas.. so we go, I stick $5 in the tank to get me there and pay the $5 to park and in we go.. me with my measly $50 to spend.

First 10 in and nothing.. I go and watch my cousin play roulette for a while then get bored.

Back to the slots with my remaining $40 and stick a 20 in a wheel of fortune.. nothing.

Now Im starting to get pissed off because AC is a 2 hour drive almost and we had only been there 30 mins.. I want alot more entertainment than that for $50 and close to a 2hr drive.

So I decide to stick my last $20 in the same machine.. get down to about $10 and WHAM ! JACKPOT.

lmao, $500.

So I cash out and drive home on top of the world..

Cant sleep, trying to decide what to do with the cash and really cant help the feeling my car audio system needs to be what I expect it to be (years ago I worked in a really high flight audio store in the UK selling SPL systems. Im talking serious stuff here, try 12 JL W6 15's in the back of a BMW touring.

So anyway, I start to do the 'pricing' and discover that sonic electronic are selling one of my all time favorite subs for peanuts.. ($80 free shipping)

This one -

So I buy one of them and a Kicker ported enclosure, also a couple of distro blocks and bits and pieces.

that came to about $200 shipped with all the extras I ordered.

Then I started looking at amps, but the solobaric I ordered is 2 ohm (once the coils are wired) and finding a good amp for about $200 that goes to 2 ohm with some decent power is pretty hard.

Most of them are 4ohm only when bridged and I didnt really want a monoblok amp.

So I look around, and, to my suprise find what has to be my favorite amp ever made, the phoenix gold zeropoint.

This amp is absolutely incredible.. made in the mid 90s it looks stunning and has a shedload of gold plated circuitry, it's also stable at 1ohm, tri channel (you use the stereo and the bridge at the same time, mindblowing) and kicks out well over 400 watts RMS at 2 ohms bridged.

To say I am elated (it's immaculate too and was $150 overnighted to me) is an understatement.. there are only 2 amps I would rather have (the phoenix gold outlaw and the frank 'n' amp but both sold for over $3000 when new) so to get one in such pristine condition was a really good find.

It was a part of this guy's SPL system and its been mounted in the same place from new.



So tomorrow I must build my amp display laugh.gif

Absolutely chuffed to bits, and enough bass to rupture my kidneys.

 

awsesome luck! fing02.gif .. Could you please explain (in easy terms) the advantages of 2 vs 4 ohm,(since your very knowledgable with this stuff)

 

Congratulations on both getting the card and the win.

 

Nice work mate fing02.gif Some better audio equipment is steadily working it's way to the top of my "to do" list for me too.

Slot machines are way too risky for me though... Pure chance doesn't amount to very good odds at all.

I'm not much of a gambler but when I do go to the Casino, black Jack always seems to cover dinner & drinks for the night cool.gif

I'm a wuss though & always play super safe... Was also taught to "quit while you're ahead" sad.gif

 

Wow. Thats awesome smile.gif
Do we get to see some pics when it's all put in?

 

Sema.

Ohms are the resistance of electricity.

So if you have a 400w 4 ohm mono amp and you wire it to 2ohm you double the resistance of the circuit and therefore the amp works twice as hard (at 2ohm) to power the woofer.

When it works twice as hard it then puts out twice the wattage.. some amps go to 1ohm so a 400w amp @ 4 ohm wired down to 1ohm would theoretically push out 1600w.

However, there lies the problem.

If the amp's circuitry isnt up to the job the amp will catch on fire, literally.

PG make awesome amps, their older made in USA ones are phenomenal within enthusiasts.

Kicker make solobarics with 2 1ohm coils, which then wire down to half an ohm.. there are *very* few amps up to the job to do this.. and they dont come cheap ($1200 and up).

The solobaric I have ordered is dual 4ohm coils that wire down to 2ohm when connected in parallel.. if you wire them in series they go up to 8ohm and sound like poo.

Dual voice coils were created to halve ohm loads to gain more power in competition and the like, the solobaric is a true competition SPL sub...

I'll most definitely get pics, I have alot of work in front of me as at 2ohm 8awg wire that im using now isnt enough.. Im going to double it to 4awg.. that means a total rerun of the car's amp cabling..

Andy

 

I had an SL5L7 in my old Tib feeding it 1200w from a MTX amp. Worst fuking sub I've ever had. The SQ is HORRIBLE, the excursion was anemic. My friend which had an MTX 8500 15" in his Lancer could easily out DB my setup.

Little did I know MTX actually did some testing and also found this. You might say the results don't count cuz they were made by MTX but still, food for thought.

MTX vs. Kicker

Also:

Volume Displacement

Also when going from 4-2ohm you dont DOUBLE the resistance of the circuit, you HALVE it. In fact the reason the amp puts out more power the lower the resistance is because just that; the lower the ohm, the more power is allowed through the device, but is more unstable and generates more heat, etc. The higher the ohm, the more restriction, less current is allowed through, but safer operation and more stable.

However the best thing to do is to find the amp with the power rating you need at the HIGHEST possible ohm rating, because it will consume less amps than another amp which produces the same power rating at a lower ohm rating, lowering the load on our sucky electrical system.

Hope that clears it up.

 

That reminds me I dont have my front speakers in my car since they have been on back order for about 3

or more months, I think I might have to call up Sonic eclectroincs and tell them to get their arses in gear.

 

I hate MTX. I always have and always will.

Now, bear in mind that theyre comparing a MTX top end subwoofer with a low end solobaric.

A 3 inch voice coil with fat binding wire is all well and good, but remember, the bigger the coil and thicker the winding the more power you need and the lower the sensitivity becomes.

I have heard wonderful things about the solobarics, Im not a Kicker fan personally (Im more into serious spl stuff like strokers and orion HCCA) but for $89 I wont pass it up smile.gif

I dont like JL either (cue band of haters) because Im sorry, the build quality is TERRIBLE on them.

Steel frame on such an expensive subwoofer is inexcusable, and, they dont recone speakers.. once youre out of warranty youre screwed and they dont supply kits either the amateurs.

JLs sound nice, dont get me wrong but theyre well overpriced for what youre getting.

Personally my system of choice would be a phoenix frank n amp running a couple of stroker 15s, but being married is a serious drain on finances laugh.gif

 

They are comparing an MTX 8500 series to the Kicker Solobaric L7 (same exact MSRP price) which as you may very well know, is the semi top of the line for Kicker befor the SOLOX which don't have any place in a car IMO.

And I'm not a fan of either, but when I had my first tib I bought into all the Kicker "square" thing vibe and IMO they just suck.



Erm you mean by some sort of magic trick a Kicker S12L7(87.4DB) has LESS sensitivity than a MTX T8512(92.1DB)?

But anyways what I was trying to do with my post was to steer you away from buying a Solobaric, but I didn't notice you had already bought it. So the point is moot, and for what you paid, that was a good buy. And btw I don't have MTX subs or anything, in fact the setup I'm currently shaping up(need to buy 200$ in 0gauge wiring/accesories/etc.) consists of a Phoenix Gold Tantrum 600.4, Phoenix Gold Xenon 1200.1(fuken HARD to find), and 2 Elemental Designs 13Ov.2 in an Elemental Designs ported enclosure@ 32hz.

I have to admit I'm also a PG fanboy. i just LOVE their amps. Price/performance I can't find any better.