• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

My stereo build thread

...just what are you going for with this build? If you are going for loud, then you haven't quite succeeded. I have a whopping $500 invested into my stereo, including HU, speakers, amp, subs, AND wiring, and I hit over 130. Not saying my system is good, cuz it isn't at ALL, but I'm just inquiring...
if your referring to your setup with those dual subs what mic was this metered on and where was the placement and what frequency.. I have a hard time beleiving this.
 
Not quite sure about the frequency. It was at an audio competition at a car show. The mic was placed up near my rear-view mirror. :shrug:
 
I believe 130, sound isn't expensive... now having it loud for any amount of time, that takes more work.

I'm only using half the amp, and that was before the 6amp charger couldn't supply enough juice and the head unit cut off.

we'll see how it does when I get actual power to it.

when the old Pbass die, I'm going to 4 ma 10"s, with another box just like that one.
 
:confused::confused: wtf are you talking about

I think what he is saying is that his car engin isnt working. So he is building a stereo in a dead car. And he also is using a 6amp battery charger to power it temporarily. Basicly he is using his cap as his battery and stressing the hell out of the wimply little charger to play the role of his alternator. He also appears to be using wire from a bedside lamp power cord as his power wires. Its no wonder he is having electrical problems in the rest of his car judging from his other posts and the quality of his builds. by "using half the amp" I think he means he only has one speaker hooked up? Thats the way it looks in one of the photos. I see what looks like 20ga speaker wire (to power a sub :nonono:) hooked up to one channel.

I'm just waiting for the "garage fire" thread to pop up.
 
thanks, for the most part, thats right... besides the snide remarks about the power cables.

they are janky cables, but plenty big enough, well besides the speaker wire, but thats what I had.

the power wire is cheap red 8g copper stranded power wire from lowes, the ground is the ground leads from the old ranger parts truck outback, the remote wire on the other hand, is half a powercord, it's fused with a fuse holder at the hu harness, and is probably 12g or so, plenty big enough for a remote wire.

for the speaker wire, I actually have some fancy polk audio braided cables with bananna clips for high end home audio I was thinking of using, but the braided inside only has that "coating" for insulation, and since they were only hooked up to 100watts in the past, wasn't sure if they could be trusted.

by half the amp, I mean I have two 350w 4ohm 10" subs wired paralel, for 2 ohms at 700w from one chanel of an amp rated at 350 per channel at 4 ohms. with two pairs of subs wired paralel, I can have 1400w of cheap loud bass.

if two are hitting 114 on 6amps of battery charger power (at half volume), 4 new subs and twice the power should put me well over 130db.

this is not an SQ car.
 
by half the amp, I mean I have two 350w 4ohm 10" subs wired paralel, for 2 ohms at 700w from one chanel of an amp rated at 350 per channel at 4 ohms. with two pairs of subs wired paralel, I can have 1400w of cheap loud bass.

Is the amp stable at 2 ohms?

I know on paper you get double the power output if you halve the resistance, but I'm just worried the amp isn't capable of providing that much power and may cause a little meltdown in your trunk. The fact that you are not powering this amp 100% doesn't let you see this...

Just make sure whenever you turn this sucker on in the car, have the gain and volume to the radio turned all the way down. Then turn up the radio to your loudest normal listenening volume and then start turning up the gain until it starts to distort, then crank it down below that.

Then just run and watch EVERYTHING for a while and make sure nothing happens to it.

But hey, I do gotta hand it to ya that you put a lot more thought into this than most ghetto instals I've seen.
 
well hopefully it wont be ghetto forever, this was just what I had around the house.

next I need 4 new MA tens (the Pbass are half shot), another 1.9 cubic foot dual box like the one there, and better wires.

at that point, more highs will be needed.

oh, and gotta panel off the boxes

right now I seem to have a fuse panel problem though, so I'm a little ticked at it.

[edit] oh yeah, the amp is 2 ohms stable by two, 4 ohm bridged.
 
Just be careful like others have said. From you the way you talk i get the feeling you know what you are doing, however i would most definitely put some money into some quality cable once the funds are available. Props on choosing MA stuff. A guy i know has two of their midrange 12's in his celica with an amp matched close to perfectly and it is some serious bass. I'd say it's comparable to the cvx series by kicker from what i've heard.

Best of luck with the install and stay safe.:laugh:
 
I just had the hook on ma stuff, so I have alot, and like it from experience.

right now the inside is pioneer, but that may well change, who knows.

the subs are currently memphis power bass, but that is sure to change, they are loud and cheap, but tear up quickly, and I need two more anyways. I'm going MA mainly because the amp is (mobile authority, same difference) and the cap is, and they hold up pretty well and wont cost a bazillion dollars.

might change all the doors to ma 2 ways as well in the future. but for now, this will be ok till I'm done spending all my money on go-fast

right now though, I'd be happy if I could fix my fuse panel and get the head unit to come on. it was fun annoying the neighbors with it in the driveway for a few days there.
 
its not really much of anything IMHO.:shrug:
x2 Now I understand the owner's impression is the only one that matters, and I understand building a system on a budget, We've all been there and done that..
Its just humorous for somebody to talk like he knows so much about audio to the point that he tries to shoot down some of the PROVEN audio gurus. But then shoots himself in the foot with half of the posts and then this thread with the photographic evidence. Consider yourself lucky that not many audioheads are still driving contours. Some previous regulars would would have handed you your ass on a silver platter. Most of the gurus that are left simply pop in (thank God) to prevent the passing of stupidity (like blocking trunk vents or modifying mounting cages) on to innocent and unsuspecting others.
 
mines in the process of complete tear down and rebuild.

if you want i can post pics of what i have here and whats coming, or just list it? Its up to you.

I'll just list it...

Electrical

300amp Excessive Amperage alternator
1 Redtop upfront
2 Kinetick HC2400 in the back
big 3 done in 1/0
2 runs of 1/0 to the back

Front stage:
RE XXX components ran active
powerbass 600.4

Rear Fill
RE RE6.5" components ran passive
powerbass 400.2

sub stage
4 RE audio SR15"
2 Sundown SAZ-1500D
11.2 cubes @ 34hz, 177sq in of port

200sqft of Raamat

















Anything else?
 
Back
Top