600W Audio Power Coming To An Exige S Near You

[apk919]

Originally Posted by codymac

It's showing in stock now at Cartoys, Crutchfield, etc.

Yes, I noticed! Are you in?

EDIT: It's on Alpine's website too!

[codymac]

Originally Posted by apk919

Yes, I noticed! Are you in?

EDIT: It's on Alpine's website too!

Yup - just paid for it.

Of course, it'll probably be forever before I get around to actually installing it...


I've been eyeing Jim's thread for the adapter rings for bigger fronts as well. At $30, I'll probably go ahead and get a set of adapter rings but I'll install the amp and sub before seeing if I want to swap out the Focals for something else.

I've had the JL sub sitting in the spare room forever while waiting for just the right amp to come to market.

[apk919]

Originally Posted by codymac

Yup - just paid for it.

Of course, it'll probably be forever before I get around to actually installing it...


I've been eyeing Jim's thread for the adapter rings for bigger fronts as well. At $30, I'll probably go ahead and get a set of adapter rings but I'll install the amp and sub before seeing if I want to swap out the Focals for something else.

I've had the JL sub sitting in the spare room forever while waiting for just the right amp to come to market.

I don't know if bigger diameter speakers are necessary, given the JL sub... I'm pretty happy with the 4" fronts. Since you've got 75W/channel, you might want to replace the capellini 24awg (or something like that) speaker wiring with something a little more robust...

[Viggen]

MUCH bigger improvement going from a 4 in speaker to a 5.25 then 24 awg to $500 a foot home audio cable

A 4 in speaker cannot produce midbass, 5.25 or 6.5 in speaker is what should be used.

So what's the verdict on these amps? I have been considering one of them as well homwever the reviews that I have read on a car audio forum haven't been very favorable (I have never like the SQ of Alpine amps & I have owned several of them). I think JL is coming out with some class D amps, interested to see how they compare.

[apk919]

Originally Posted by Viggen

MUCH bigger improvement going from a 4 in speaker to a 5.25 then 24 awg to $500 a foot home audio cable

A 4 in speaker cannot produce midbass, 5.25 or 6.5 in speaker is what should be used.

So what's the verdict on these amps? I have been considering one of them as well homwever the reviews that I have read on a car audio forum haven't been very favorable (I have never like the SQ of Alpine amps & I have owned several of them). I think JL is coming out with some class D amps, interested to see how they compare.

Bose might argue with you as to whether a series of small drivers can rival the bass of a single large driver... but in my case I have two 5.25" speakers right behind my head for midbass. I've carefully tried to create an enclosure for them by cutting out some of the sound dampening material behind them and adding weatherstripping around them... it does wonders for their midbass efficiency.

I love the amp... I've always liked the sound of MOSFET output stage amps (vs. bipolar designs)... and the adjustable crossovers let me adjust just how much midbass goes to the focals vs. the JL sub. It's also small enough to fit on the package tray below the harness bar... if I couldn't fit an amp there the only other place would be the boot, making the wiring a lot longer and more difficult.

BTW, 24awg cable is rated for 3.5 amps... if you're driving a 4 ohm speaker with 75W RMS, that's 4.3 amps RMS, technically above the wire's rating. Also, 20 feet (10 foot round trip) of 24awg wire is about 0.5 ohms... not insignificant. I just used 16awg speaker wire that I bought at Radio Shack... definitely not $500/ft

[codymac]

Originally Posted by apk919

I don't know if bigger diameter speakers are necessary, given the JL sub... I'm pretty happy with the 4" fronts. Since you've got 75W/channel, you might want to replace the capellini 24awg (or something like that) speaker wiring with something a little more robust...

Yeah, we'll have to see.
Thanks for the wiring info too!

Originally Posted by Viggen

MUCH bigger improvement going from a 4 in speaker to a 5.25 then 24 awg to $500 a foot home audio cable

A 4 in speaker cannot produce midbass, 5.25 or 6.5 in speaker is what should be used.

So what's the verdict on these amps? I have been considering one of them as well homwever the reviews that I have read on a car audio forum haven't been very favorable (I have never like the SQ of Alpine amps & I have owned several of them). I think JL is coming out with some class D amps, interested to see how they compare.

Dunno. To be honest, I didn't even read a review. The Alpine stuff falls into the "good enough for me" category and I don't expect to get anywhere near audiophile quality in the Lotus. My source is pretty much 100% iPod, so the sound quality issues start there.

I'll just be happy if I can:
- get some bass
- hear it on the highway (over the exhaust)

The PDX stuff is so (relatively) small and I really wanted a 5 channel, so for me, the Alpine was a no-brainer.

[Viggen]

Thanks for the info!! Yea, I use to be more in Audiphile side of the car audio stuff but I feel unlise the car is dead silent when driving paying the extra $$$ for more audiophile stuff probably isn't worth it. Hell... I still use my 15+yr old Adcom amps in my old car... & I have been considering the PDX line for my Viggen so I do not loose much of the hatch area. The small footprint is a HUGE plus especially on the small Lotus's that you all own.

O yea... Bose totally sucks.... The if not one of the most over rated speaker manufacturers in the world. Yuck.,....

[jim-clayton]

Originally Posted by codymac

Yup - just paid for it.

.

Alpine is kicking butt with those new amps. JL Audio has same size coming soon, but not soon enough.

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/jlaudio_pages.php?page_id=239

Amazing power and sound from a small package.

A real breakthrough in amp technology. Perfect for the Elise.

5-1/4" up front is a must. Step one ! 5-1/4 in the rear is fine. They will be turn down low anyway. The JL sub up front pumps out quality bass. The location also adds to the fidelity. It's loaded real nice under the dash.

[apk919]

Originally Posted by Viggen

Thanks for the info!!

You're welcome!

Originally Posted by Viggen

Hell... I still use my 15+yr old Adcom amps in my old car...

Adcom Amps
I have all Adcom MOSFET amps driving my home theater system (B&W 802 speakers)
Adcom Home Theater Receiver (went through two of them...)

Originally Posted by Viggen

O yea... Bose totally sucks.... The if not one of the most over rated speaker manufacturers in the world. Yuck.,....

The Bose system in my Audi sounds nice

[apk919]

Originally Posted by jim-clayton

5-1/4" up front is a must. Step one ! 5-1/4 in the rear is fine. They will be turn down low anyway. The JL sub up front pumps out quality bass. The location also adds to the fidelity. It's loaded real nice under the dash.

Hmmm... if I can find someone locally with this mod I'd love to hear it... I could be a convert.

EDIT: I just checked the dimensions of the yet to be released JL Audio amp... (273 x 200 x 49 mm) vs. (257 x 192 x 62 mm) for the Alpine... that extra 18mm of length (height in my case) might interfere with the harness bar in an installation similar to mine...

[XPcarguy]

Originally Posted by apk919

Bose might argue with you

The more Bose argues with your setup, the better it sounds. Bose is a good reason so many people think high-end audio is just marketing and flash. Their stuff is overpriced garbage that under performs rack systems.

[Viggen]

Originally Posted by apk919

You're welcome!

Adcom Amps
I have all Adcom MOSFET amps driving my home theater system (B&W 802 speakers)
Adcom Home Theater Receiver (went through two of them...)

The Bose system in my Audi sounds nice

I just have 1 Adcom home amp, I am undecided on what to go with next. I have the old Infinity Kappa 8.1 v II's & I want/need more power for them. Presently a GFA-5500 is powering them & they need more. I have been considering one of Adcom's home theatre receivers, what do you think of it? I have heard good things about Sunfire amps.....

Bose's car stuff is better...... their home products are garbage.....

[apk919]

Originally Posted by Viggen

I just have 1 Adcom home amp, I am undecided on what to go with next. I have the old Infinity Kappa 8.1 v II's & I want/need more power for them. Presently a GFA-5500 is powering them & they need more. I have been considering one of Adcom's home theatre receivers, what do you think of it? I have heard good things about Sunfire amps.....

Bose's car stuff is better...... their home products are garbage.....

I had bad experiences with Adcom's home theater receivers, but that was in the late 90's. Both of them had power supplies that became intermittent and then failed. They also had a disturbing tendency to accept infrared noise as remote control commands... the most common one was "volume up" which actually led to speaker damage in one case

I have an old GFA-5500 too... that's 350W/channel into 4 ohms and you need more?

[xtn]

Originally Posted by apk919

Bose might argue with you as to whether a series of small drivers can rival the bass of a single large driver...

They can argue until they're blue in the face, but their products are the definitive proof that it doesn't work.

xtn

[apk919]

Did I say 600W? Sorry, I meant 800W!

[BatmobileS240]

What did you do to secure the stealthbox?

[apk919]

Originally Posted by noobified

What did you do to secure the stealthbox?

There are two self-tapping screws with spacers supplied with the Stealthbox that tap into the underside of the aluminum dash tray... although they're much easier to install if you drill pilot holes first. In addition to the two screws, the Stealthbox is a very snug fit... I had to use a fair amount of pressure to make sure it was as close to the front bulkhead as possible.

[ewalberg]

i read through this post because it was linked in another posting. Anyway, the reason i'm responding is because the OP stated that by putting the front and back speakers in parallel, he had no way to adjust the fade from front to back. Not true.

Well... it's not so simple to do it on the fly, but putting a resistor in line with the speaker (which ever speaker you want reduce the volume on) will do the trick. I've done it before in a prior car. I don't remember what ohms resistor i used... maybe somewhere between 2 and 6 ohms... i'm thinking it may have been a 3.5 ohm resistor. They're cheap so i bought a few and swapped them around till i got the front to rear fade that i wanted. Just make sure you get one that can handle the appropriate amount of power/current. The ones i bought and used were about the size of a smallish pinky finger. Never had a problem with them. Fry's electronics or maybe radio shack was where i bought them.

[apk919]

Originally Posted by ewalberg

i read through this post because it was linked in another posting. Anyway, the reason i'm responding is because the OP stated that by putting the front and back speakers in parallel, he had no way to adjust the fade from front to back. Not true.

Well... it's not so simple to do it on the fly, but putting a resistor in line with the speaker (which ever speaker you want reduce the volume on) will do the trick. I've done it before in a prior car. I don't remember what ohms resistor i used... maybe somewhere between 2 and 6 ohms... i'm thinking it may have been a 3.5 ohm resistor. They're cheap so i bought a few and swapped them around till i got the front to rear fade that i wanted. Just make sure you get one that can handle the appropriate amount of power/current. The ones i bought and used were about the size of a smallish pinky finger. Never had a problem with them. Fry's electronics or maybe radio shack was where i bought them.

True; I meant that without adding resistors (and wasting a bit of power heating them up) you couldn't adjust relative levels (and unless you use L-pads, it's not easily adjustable). My final solution was to get the Alpine PDX-5, which has separate a channel for each speaker...

[dma550]

Yeah, if you do this, get an L-Pad. I spent around $60 for one on my old BMW install, it was great. I put it right at the amp where all of the speaker level outputs were central. I changed it at least 10 times until I got the balance where I liked it, it would have been very difficult and maddening having to take speakers out and solder in different resistors. L-pads are rated for power, so you can get one that can handle shedding a portion of your output without it burning up.