Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 15:10:10 -0500
Reply-To: Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <derekdrew@DEREKMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Sound systems (yet again)
In-Reply-To: <CACHTzae240w75srod=LbkhML86z7ev5pL0Y-oLUsmUprp8+-Kg@mail.g
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<font size=3>I just bought the really great Alpine 4 channel x 150W RMS
power amplifier (600W RMS total), which fits great under the dash so you
don't have to take up the valuable under-seat space for your power amp.
<br><br>
The power amplifier is at
<a href="http://alpine-usa.com/product/view/pdx-f6/" eudora="autourl">
http://alpine-usa.com/product/view/pdx-f6/</a> <br><br>
The key thing about this amp is that it is incredibly compact, allowing
it to fit far above the glovebox, yet has gobs of power. <br><br>
I am going to run the 600 watts RMS into my front doors (150W x 4)
because I have four drivers in the front doors, each rated for that power
(old NOS driveer JBLs I had), and then pick a different amp to drive the
rear speakers and the rear subs. <br><br>
The obvious place to put the subs is in the rear hatch. <br><br>
But after searching the Internet, I cannot find a single really fantastic
sub install into the rear hatch. I am not sure why. <br><br>
The rules for me are that I cannot use space under the front seats
because I want to use that for drawers to be used by the human beings in
the car. <br><br>
For the rear hatch, I am a subwoofer dummy, but it seems that sub people
want to build boxes, not re-use existing cavities as they are. So, my
suspicion is that they would poo poo any notion of just bolting subs into
the rear hatch without building a box. <br><br>
That's a pitty. <br><br>
For a rear box, it seems that it has to either be figerglass or wood,
figeglass being better able to use up all available cubic space volume,
and wood being cheaper. <br><br>
For the subwoofer project, space is at a premium, the shape is curved and
irregular, and I am not sure I want to allocate 3/4" for a sealed
wood enclosure wall. Presumably, fiberglass could be employed more space
efficiently. <br><br>
Accordingly, I am looking for a specialist that makes fiberglass
enclosures and see what they can do with the rear hatch and see how much
more space efficient than it would be to use wood. <br><br>
Without a specialized enclosure, the amount of space inside the rear
hatch is 1.57 cubic feet, I calculate based on measuring. This space can
be increased by moving the forward wall of the enclosure outwards, but
for aesthetic reasons, I'd like to minimize how much of that moving we
need to do. <br><br>
The enclosed space itself is roughly 59 inches wide x 17 inches tall x
2.75 inches depth that tapers down to 2.25 inches depth. <br><br>
For drivers, my initial take is to use the first of the three drivers in
the list below, with perhaps three drivers each amped at their max watt
rating: <br><br>
-- The Alpine Type R, Alpine SWR-T12, 300-600W, mounting
depth 3.5" (0.6 cu/ft ideal enclosure size)<br>
-- JL Audio TW5, 250W-600W, mounting depth 2.5"(0.8
cu/ft ideal enclosure size) <br>
-- Stereo Integrity BM mkIII, 450W handling, mounting depth
3.4", (0.5 cu/ft ideal enclosure size) <br><br>
If you had 3 drivers amped at 600WRMS each, then I guess I'd bolt the
power amps up high in the closet. <br><br>
I am dying to just use what is there and not build a box, but I fear that
is not going to produce sound acceptable given the great speakers and
amplifier power that is available. <br><br>
For head units, you are on your own, but I might just use an Alpine unit
I have here cause it is here. There are a zillion optional add ons for
the head unit that look terriffic. <br><br>
I simply cannot believe the lack of progress in subwoofer rear hatch
development in Vanagonland. <br><br>
And NO, I don't want a sub box floating around inside the vehicle, or a
bazooka tube inside the vehicle, and I don't want to give up my
under-bench-seat storage space, or other storage space, to sub hosting
purposes either. <br><br>
At 02:39 PM 1/4/2012, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Hello Volks,<br><br>
At the risk of starting another endless thread on "the best car
stereo", I<br>
could sure use some input. I know of lot of folks like the Alpine, which
I<br>
am seriously considering, but from the online descriptions and photos,
I<br>
can't really tell whether or not any of the Alpine units allow one to
tune<br>
the radio manually, i.e., one frequency at a time, versus having a
preset<br>
button. That's really a biggie for me - - I'm a radio junkie and if I
can't<br>
pick and choose my frequencies I don't have any use for the
unit.<br><br>
Other requirements: USB, CD, and Bluetooth.<br><br>
Anyone have any suggestions, or know if any of the Alpine units allow
for<br>
selective tuning? Also, I think I've read it before, but the newer<br>
(smaller) units can be installed in our Vanagons, just need a custom<br>
bracket or something, right?<br><br>
Thanks in advance,<br><br>
Gary</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
_______________________________________________<br>
Derek
Drew
<br>
Washington DC / New York<br>
derekdrew@derekmail.com<br>
Email is best normally but...<br>
PHONE: 202-966-7907 (Call the number at left normally)<br>
(alt/cell for diligent calling only): 703-408-1532<br><br>
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