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#11468 - 18/07/2000 17:21 Thief 's shopping list
dionysus
veteran

Registered: 16/06/1999
Posts: 1222
Loc: San Francisco, CA
ok - so what's in your car?
  • Alpine CDplayer w/ broken volume control:) (damns rotary knobs)

  • Empty hole where my empeg mk2 will eventually go:)

  • 1/8" jack sticking out of the above-said hole for my minidisk player

  • 560watt RMS 4 channel (140 watt rms/channel) mtx amp pushing...

  • 2 mtx 10" subs in custom enclosure

  • 2 infinity 6x9's in the back

  • 2 kicker 5" seperates in the front, and...

  • 2 factory (bleh - didn't wanna take my dash apart to take them out) tweets

-mark


...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units
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http://mvgals.net - clublife, revisited.

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#11469 - 18/07/2000 18:50 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: dionysus]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31583
Loc: Seattle, WA
ok - so what's in your car?


  • Empeg Mk1, number 00144

  • Pioneer 3-way 6x9's in the rear deck

  • 10-inch Polk DX subwoofer in Q-logic box in the trunk

  • Factory 6-inch front door speakers (when I get around to making an adapter for my Pioneer 5's, they're going in there, the factory Honda speakers are laaaaaame)

  • Plastic covers where there should be dash speakers (only the top-of-the-line Hondas have real dash speaker locations, eventually this dash will have a date with a dremel tool when I get the chance, and I'll insert my tweeters there)

  • Jensen amp bridged to 300w RMS mono driving the subwoofer

  • Old-but-good 2-channel Yamaha amp driving the deck speakers, I think it does about 50w RMS per speaker and it sounds fantastic

  • Cheap clarion 4-channel amp driving the front speakers, 2 channels still free for the dash tweeters when I get around to it

  • Some F-mod crossovers on the inputs to the Yamaha and Clarion amps. I'm cutting off everything below 100hz to my deck speakers, and everything below 200hz to my door speakers.

  • Heavy-gauge power wire coming straight from the battery into a waterproof 20-amp fuse block in the engine compartment- everything runs off this, not the car's power wires

  • Radio shack 20-amp noise filter on the main power lead coming from the firewall

  • Custom capacitor circuit to prevent the Mk1 from rebooting when I start the car

  • Lots of wires running in the most ungodly and difficult to reach places under carpets, trim, and paneling

  • Tiny bits of skin, hair, and blood from installing the previous item



___________
Tony Fabris
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Tony Fabris

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#11470 - 18/07/2000 19:01 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: tfabris]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12320
Loc: Sterling, VA
ok - so what's in your car?

Honda speakers are laaaaaame

That about sums it up for me.

DiGNAN
_________________________
Matt

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#11471 - 19/07/2000 04:56 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: tfabris]
TommyE
enthusiast

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 356
Loc: NORWAY
kvantacosta??

TommyE


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#11472 - 19/07/2000 05:10 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: tfabris]
teemcbee
addict

Registered: 04/02/2000
Posts: 687
So - where does the car stand?

I'd just need the empeg. The rest I'd leave behind.

TeeMcBee

_________________________
TeeMcBee
[orange]Mk2, # 080000143, 40+30 GB, Tuner, Peugeot stalk hookup</font color=orange>

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#11473 - 19/07/2000 09:21 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: dionysus]
mcousins
new poster

Registered: 19/07/2000
Posts: 16
Loc: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Panasonic head unit, stock speakers in my 2000 Golf. Still on the list.

Mike Cousins
#14979 on the waiting list
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Mike Cousins
#14979 on the waiting list

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#11474 - 20/07/2000 09:44 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: dionysus]
trevorp
member

Registered: 08/06/2000
Posts: 144
Loc: Ft Lauderdale, FL
Alpine 7525 Tape Player w/ CD changer controls
Alpine CHMS600 6 Disk CD Changer
Kicker 4 Channel x 40Watt Amp
Bazooka RS10 10" Amplified Sub (80 Watts)
Pioneer 4x10 in the back (Gotta love GM)
Boston Acoustics ProSeries 6.5, 6.5" woofers in the doors, 1" tweets in the dash (well, they will be in a week)

The Kicker amp powers the Pioneers and BAs, the Bazooka is self-amplified.

The BA 6.5" woofers are already in and sound great. I have to build a plate for the 1" tweets to mount them in the factory 3" dash holes.

This is a lease vehicle, so I've done nothing to the truck (1999 Chevy S-10) that can't be undone with minimal effort.

Power comes direct from the battery via 8 gauge wire (need to up that to 4, but I don't have the time right now to rerun it.) The 8 gauge wire runs through a Stinger fuse block, and both power and ground are distributed via Stinger power distribution blocks.

The Alpine deck is 8 years old now, and it's time for a replacement. Sounds great, but it's starting to get finicky. i.e. The built-in amp no longer produces highs, and sometimes the CD changer forgets it has CDs in it. Of course, that might be because someone chose to drive a trim panel retaining clip straight through the middle of the cable that connects the changer to the head unit. It's generally a Bad Thing(tm) when ALL of the wires in the cable are stripped and touching each other...

Anxiously waiting for a MK II,

-Trevor

_________________________
-Trevor

-----
Mk 2, Green 12GB, Tuner, 2.0b11, 080000349

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#11475 - 20/07/2000 12:57 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: dionysus]
tanstaafl.
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5546
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
14-year old station wagon in near-new condition mechanically and cosmetically, inside and out. (No, you do not want to ask about the ridiculous amount of money I spent accomplishing this -- madness, pure madness!) The only visible sign of any stereo equipment is an inexpensive Panasonic CD player in the normal dash position.

What I have:

Panasonic CD player.
4" MB-Quart co-axial speakers in corners of dash at base of windshield.
6" MB-Quart speakers located high inside the front corners of the doors
5.5" MB-Quart center channel speaker inside the dash behind the HVAC controls
??" original factory speakers located in the roof at the rear of the car.
10" Orion Cobalt series dual voice coil subwoofer inside the 16" space-saver spare wheel in the left rear of the cargo compartment.
50-watt (25 watt per channel) PPI amplifier bridged 2-ohm mono --> 100 watts to drive the 10" Orion.
100-watt (50 watt per channel) PPI amplifier to run all other speakers. Both amplifiers hidden under the passenger seat.
3 L-pads (potentiometers) to individually attenuate the volume of the 6" and 5.5" MB-Quart speakers, mounted next to amplifiers..
2 Oz crossovers mounted next to amplifiers. (They are not connected to anything, but I get competition points for "other devices"!)
1 fused distribution block next to amplifiers.
Separate fused 12-gage wires to each amp. (Yeah -- 12 gage. I'm pulling 100 watts maximum on an 8 foot wire run. 18 gage would do it!)
Lots of first and second place trophies won in IASCA car stereo competitions. (Hehe -- yes, I'm bragging!)

And most important of all -- better than average ears to tune and tweak and get the best possible sound quality!

What I don't have:

Anything gold plated.
Anything neon-lit.
Anything motorized.
Anything fancy.
Big, unnecessarily heavy gage cabling.
Any kind of equalizer
Big boxes full of subwoofers filling up the whole car
Any SPL (sound pressure level) more than 114 decibels. :-(
One nickel spent on the system that doesn't make it sound better. (OK - you caught me -- the Oz crossovers. )

And most inportant of all -- I don't have an empeg! :-(

tanstaafl.


"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

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#11476 - 20/07/2000 15:01 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: tanstaafl.]
dionysus
veteran

Registered: 16/06/1999
Posts: 1222
Loc: San Francisco, CA
In reply to:

3 L-pads (potentiometers) to individually attenuate the volume of the 6" and 5.5" MB-Quart speakers, mounted next to amplifiers..


How well do these things work? My back speakers are WAAAAY louder then my fronts; would be nice to be able to trim them without losing any quality..
-mark

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

_________________________
http://mvgals.net - clublife, revisited.

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#11477 - 20/07/2000 16:57 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: dionysus]
jbauer
veteran

Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
My 95 Miata (MX-5) has the following:

- JL Audio Stealthbox (subwoofer)
- Sony ES XK-R100 pre-amp head unit
- Sony CDX-U404 10 disc changer
- Alpine MRV-T503 amp (driving sub-woofer)
- Alpine MRV-F400 amp (driving 2 front seperate speakers)
- MB Quartz Mobil RSB-Line 218 seperates
- MAX 5 headrest speakers

...and (hopefully soon) a Empeg Mark II!!!

- Jon


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#11478 - 20/07/2000 17:34 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: dionysus]
tanstaafl.
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5546
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
How well do these things work?

I have not noticed any quality degradation at all. I use them to adjust not only the amount of midrange sound, but its location (left-center-right).

Best of all, I am not using the big, expensive L-Pads designed for stereo use. I just went to my home appliance store and bought three dimmer switches designed to be used for incandescant lamps up to (I think) about 150 watts. I think they cost about $4 apiece. As I recall, they give a maximum attenuation of about a factor of three. I am probably only attenuating by 25%.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
_________________________
"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

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#11479 - 20/07/2000 18:30 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: tanstaafl.]
dionysus
veteran

Registered: 16/06/1999
Posts: 1222
Loc: San Francisco, CA
In reply to:

Best of all, I am not using the big, expensive L-Pads designed for stereo use. I just went to my home appliance store and bought three dimmer switches designed to be used for incandescant lamps up to (I think) about 150 watts. I think they cost about $4 apiece. As I recall, they give a maximum attenuation of about a factor of three. I am probably only attenuating by 25%.


Hmm.. I'll have to try that.. I've always shied away from them thinking my tweeter's sound quality would go down..
-mark

...proud to have owned one of the first Mark I units

_________________________
http://mvgals.net - clublife, revisited.

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#11480 - 21/07/2000 13:08 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: tanstaafl.]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31583
Loc: Seattle, WA
5.5" MB-Quart center channel speaker inside the dash behind the HVAC controls

Sweet stealth deal. So it just plays out of the slots which the A/C control levers protrude through?

I love stealth installations. Once upon a time, my GTI installation was fully stealth. In the Honda, it's nearly stealth except the hole for the Empeg is not covered by a factory plastic cover.


2 Oz crossovers mounted next to amplifiers. (They are not connected to anything, but I get competition points for "other devices"!

You are evil. Pure evil.


3 L-pads (potentiometers) to individually attenuate the volume of the 6" and 5.5" MB-Quart speakers, mounted next to amplifiers..

So these are pre-amplification or post-amplification? My cheapo Clarion amp has no level adjuster, so I use a Radio Shack stereo potentiometer wired into the line-level inputs to attenuate it. But I couldn't imagine doing the same thing to the speaker-level outputs unless I had no choice in the matter. Especially if I'm driving a lot of wattage through the pots.

Actually, at home in my home theater system I have one of those expensive stereo-pots attenuating my main speakers at speaker-level to help balance them properly with the center channel. But that was because I had no choice.


___________
Tony Fabris
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#11481 - 21/07/2000 13:42 Re: Thief 's shopping list [Re: tfabris]
tanstaafl.
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5546
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
...plays out of the slots which the A/C control levers protrude through?

No, we couldn't do that since Ford uses rotary switches controlling vacuum valves for the HVAC, and there is no opening there from the inside to the outside of the dash. Insttead we drilled a nice rosette pattern of holes in the top of the dash and mounted the speaker directly beneath them. There is no real indication from outside that the holes are anything but decorative.

You are evil. Pure evil.

Actually, I prefer to think of it as taking advantage of every loophole in the rules. I also get one point for displaying the IASCA logo on my car, so I just scanned the logo from my rule book, printed it on a bunch of clear address labels, and before every competition stick one on my windshield. I won two competitions last year by less than that single point!

So these are pre-amplification or post-amplification?

Post-amp. I run the speaker leads right out of the amplifier and through the L-Pads on their way to the speakers.

Especially if I'm driving a lot of wattage through the pots.

Remember that these aren't really L-Pads but rheostats designed for use with incandescent light fixtures drawing up to 150 watts. At the minimal attenuation I use, they don't even get warm, and since they are only limiting speakers in the mid-range frequencies, there is no degradation of treble..

I call this setup my "synthalizer" -- a portmanteau word (Ref: Charles Lutwedge Dodgson... the rest of you can look it up when you get home ) derived from Synthetic and Equalizer. I equalize my treble with the gain control on the head unit; I equalize my mid-range (both amount and location) with the L-Pads; and I equalize my bass and sub-bass with the gain control on the second amplifier. Thus, no separate equalizer needed. Just wait 'til I get my hands on that parametric equalizer in the Mark II.

I must say, Tony, that keeping up with this bbs is a lot easier now that you're on vacation!

tanstaafl.






"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

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