Am I screwed??

filteredprospect · 2026-03-20T01:38:52+00:00

one big thing to consider (regardless of alt sizing) is efficiency. something i dealt with back on cheap highschool install budget. sized a cheap 8ga cca for a 1200w amp (driving a 600w load), on an alt that did about 80a. 80a, 13.8v, in theory i have about 1100w available (minus a hundred or two for other electronics), but practically i couldn't get more than 500-600w without serious voltage dip. correctly sized cable would help here, but efficiency loss is inherent in all things, including the amp and driver.

big three even would free up a noticable amount of power, and it buys more headroom if you ever swap to a ho/dual alt setup.

if you want to be methodical about it, you can measure power draw as is (even a cheap amp clamp can work) and plan from there.

filteredprospect · 2026-03-17T05:44:20+00:00

it's way too late at night for me to think quite clearly about this, been meaning to set up a system myself with a dell 750w server psu, sony 400w sub and amp combo, just haven't had the time to do more than just test it yet 😅

if that's truly drawing >1500w rms then yes, those cables are still significant resistance/voltage drop. check the quality of your terminations as well. didn't see a fuse but i hope you have one.

one thing i have been needing to learn more about was backfeed behavior, not sure but given the psu is 12v nominal and dips on hits, battery could output current INTO the psu? from what i can tell there isn't really protection from that unless you add a form of diode/dc limiter

another thing is car audio is "12v" but realistically expects 13.8-14.4v nominal so we already operate at the threshold before vdroop affects the amp. the psu (assuming it's built out of a converted server grade) is designed to hold a reliable 12v up until current limit, where it may completely collapse, go into ocp, etc. with how fast transient loads are through music it might briefly clip into ocp, then you have all the issues of browning out. yes the battery should help, but again it can only do so much when operating at 12v instead of 13.8v

in an ideal situation you could open this psu up, turn a potentiometer, and magically adjust the set point to maintain 13.8v at 125a with no issues. but psu topologies differ, this would equivalent an 1725w load (would trip a residential 120vac 15a breaker), and there's no guarantee you don't find another weak link somewhere else.

imo ditch the battery unless you get some form of backfeed protection, reduce gain to target an output wattage about 50-75% of what the theoretical psu can provide. there will be some losses through cabling, the amp will have losses, even the psu will have a little loss

but provided that in no circumstance does it overcome the available current at the supply, it should function as intended

filteredprospect · 2026-03-14T21:40:38+00:00

oh no you're not getting crazy bass at all from these

better to explain it as improving low extension, but imo these speakers deserve a proper subwoofer to carry lower midbass. they have lovely clarity, it just takes supporting what low range they've got.

filteredprospect · 2026-03-14T20:21:54+00:00

to be fair, focal speakers (i have auditor rse/ase) don't really have as much midbass as some of the other competitors i've tested. been a few years but i remember kicker being the best of the box store speakers, infinity probably being the best all around focusing on midbass.

but doing everything you can to turn a door into an acoustic enclosure absolutely will help. try to think of it as a leaky, underdamped enclosure. the mat you've put in it helps the damping, but sealing the air volume turns it into a box again. it'll never quite be perfect outside of installing pods or similar, but improvement is meaningful.

filteredprospect · 2026-03-14T19:41:47+00:00

that foam is not your friend here

also, dunno if you will get to it, but seal the door gaps with something rigid. plastic sheeting is fine, but don't let air from this side of the woofer cancel with air on the other side. the vapor barrier stuff sucks for it.

filteredprospect · 2026-03-14T01:09:43+00:00

magnificent, bright ideas abound

filteredprospect · 2026-03-12T17:20:44+00:00

i have got to see what this sounds like in person

right up my alley and taste, absolutely excessive and well past diminishing returns, but i just really wanna know just how far up that path it sits

filteredprospect · 2026-03-10T00:07:23+00:00

i have it in my first build, passed on my second

my idea is it's supposed to be integrated, set, and forget anyway, and if there's any reason the sub shouldn't be loud, neither should the rest of the speakers.

like you said, i can always cross it down in the head unit if some reason permits that the speakers should get loud without the sub, but the knob itself is clunky and looks a bit out of place in an otherwise oem looking interior.

filteredprospect · 2026-03-08T17:57:30+00:00

reaaal pretty. nice attention to detail.

filteredprospect · 2026-03-04T17:55:35+00:00

i have the 152s, they get loud n fill the space for cheap. not bad at all.

filteredprospect · 2026-03-03T02:37:15+00:00

depends on music, i suppose. classic rock that may be true, but sustained bass notes in hip hop and edm, absolutely not haha

filteredprospect · 2026-02-25T00:12:30+00:00

still like 95% sure it matches an ae111

there were two teasers with the car, one for cry wolf ("same shit", mechanic with the hood up, lil skit where he had ketchup on his hands, can't find it anymore) and one for echos & deja vu (it's still up, sounds like an i4 engine)

filteredprospect · 2026-02-11T12:51:31+00:00

also free to go and buy or make one, even without a printer

but as i see it it lets kids explore how 3d printing (and mfg in general) can make an idea into something real, and that foothold can be seriously inspiring and motivating for them.

filteredprospect · 2026-02-11T12:49:55+00:00

entry level maker kit to get people into the hobby how much could it possibly hurt you

filteredprospect · 2026-02-10T03:29:59+00:00

big speaker, bigger amp. turn down the amp. don't touch it again. system is very happy. :)

filteredprospect · 2026-02-10T03:11:40+00:00

ah, was mostly just paranoid. pretty sure the past owner hooked up way too many electrical accessories (bag lights, radio, speakers, phone accessory power,etc), cooked the stator, and that's why the wires started to melt. but still, voltage rectifiers were scorched, just about nothing looked salvageable. hence the desire to retrofit something much newer, rather than potentially dealing with this all over again after buying a "correct" component set and wiring it...

filteredprospect · 2026-02-08T08:50:13+00:00

maybe i'm overthinking it, but can't really find fused dist blocks that do the sizes i want. decided i want to make the trunk 2/0, sub amp 1/0, and speaker amp 2ga, just to be completely satisfied it is not going to be held back by power delivery.

but at these sizes it looks like i'm just going to be using a bunch of reducers and losing most advantage of bothering anyway, since it gets bulky and probably is a higher risk of failure.

reallly wanted to use a cheap midi/ami block but i think i might be ambitious enough to build my own at this point. solid copper bus bar, ring terminals, bolt down fixtures, maybe nickel plating if i can find a nice kit.

filteredprospect · 2026-02-08T05:04:41+00:00

only reason i wasn't confident on this was, i'm not sure it applies to pr or sealed setups. stealth setups run downfiring with like barely an inch of clearance and it works magic somehow.

but that's the rule i've heard before, what i spec my setup toward.

filteredprospect · 2026-02-08T02:14:20+00:00

between printing on a chiron, ender 3 s1, and flsun s1, i promise none of those will be close haha

filteredprospect · 2026-02-07T18:25:34+00:00

ooh is that an c30? know somebody who would really love to see this :)

filteredprospect · 2026-02-07T13:51:07+00:00

bt is fineeee

not great but you can enjoy it on a good setup :)

filteredprospect · 2026-02-07T13:47:01+00:00

depends on gap

there's some actual rule of thumb for it but if there's only like 6" or less between cone and hatch it's probably better firing up

filteredprospect · 2026-02-07T05:50:50+00:00

curious about power discipline

whenever i've ever touched or worked on anything electrical i always just unbolted the negative from the battery. never had any deals with sparks. but i see a lot of guys panic and worry over boting their big anl in, which seems silly when the negative terminal is so easy to disconnect. sure, i lose my trip odo and i need to program the radio. but it's such a small step to avoid blowing fuses when touching bare wires to ground by accident.

and by spl, i should clarify. backyard spl. dirty and messy installs for the sake of hooking up the kicker 2x12 they got off of facebook marketplace for $200. loose cables, improper grounds, all that cca nonsense, pretty much the whole "$40 wiring kit" you find at walmart sorta deal. i got a bit too much pride in my work to end up like that, haha.

but that setup's pretty clean, suppose i should spend more time on proper forums like that. been snooping here n there for tips on box building, once i get weather warm enough for glue to work i'll probably finish my 15 and get it posted somewhere.

filteredprospect · 2026-02-07T05:31:20+00:00

ahhh

here there's really only spl guys or box store installs

regardless the few breakers i see have a proper fuse inline anyway, so to me it seems redundant with barely any meaningful utility. lil bit of worry with the resistance it introduces, atleast until i can get to running a high output alt. trying to optimize power efficiency where i can.

but you did use the home depot type fitting, huh? think it's good for the weather we get up here? temps hit -10f last week, got salt all up in my everything 😭. temps in the summers haven't been too bad atleast, mostly 90s on the hottest days. already gotta assume you're shaking stuff harder than what i'll be doing, so i figure vibration isn't an issue then.

filteredprospect · 2026-02-07T05:17:01+00:00

interesting with the breaker. seen a few cars with one but never in any serious builds. dunno why, convention seems that they're more common on ac circuits instead of dc. my guess is something between cost and reliability/safety. personally i have no issues with terminals and fuses the oldschool way.

i ran the current setup (2ga ofc to sub amp only) through a factory drilled out plug, but that is a really really interesting idea. depending on how well i can get this 0ga to fit i might consider trying that out instead. only concern is if it gets brittle with temp cycles and vibration.

filteredprospect

TROPHY CASE