New Setup

Well as promised (and as the sig dictates), I'm making a new setup. Trashing everything, starting from scratch, etc

Head: Alpine CDA-9835
Comps: Adire Koda 6.1
Front amp: Linear Power 2.2HV
Sub: Adire Brahma 15
Sub amp: Cadence ZRS-8

Thoughts? The sub is going in 2.2cf sealed, but I might build a SPL ported box sometime later, something large and tuned in the high 30's just to mess around with, beat up the kids at competitions, etc. Everything is pretty much finalized, I should have ordered the headunit already but I still haven't received my paycheck yet (was supposed to be here on thurs :banghead: ). Either way, should be done in about a month, gotta love summer jobs that pay well :)

Total cost should be just under $2500 after shipping, extra wiring (adding a 1/0 run, distro block, etc) and everything else.

how did you decide on cadence for a sub amp ?

Heard nothing but good things, puts out the power I want at the impedence I want, never heard of anyone ever blowing one, good efficiency, puts out rated power, looks nice, not all that pricey (comparatively)

sounds like my type of equipment ........ I don't care for all of the frills per se - I am far more concerned with performance. The PG amp I just got is the first amp I have ever had with a built in crossover. When I redo the CRX, I will have to use a class D for the bass amp

yeah

Over the last several months I've been looking around for negative comments and I still have yet to read anything negative about ANY of their amps. The ZRS-8 is the replacement for the A7HC, and every person I've talked to who owned an A7HC has said it was the best, or very very close to the best mono sub amp they ever owned. It was rated stable at 1ohm, yet many people ran it at .5ohm daily and even .25ohm for competitions and never had the amp break down (though I think a few people said at 1/4ohm the amp would go into protection before too long, go figure). I also went to the local Cadence dealer and asked them about the amps, this very well could have been the salesman in him making things up, but he said that out of the hundreds of Cadence amps they've sold, ONE has been returned for warranty work (he didn't say what had gone wrong with it).

All that put together made a pretty powerful argument, so I decided to go with it.

cadence are great amps. My friend Frito has one hooked to two PG cyclones, sounds bad a**. Why the Brahma? Why not the 12Ov2? or the new ed stuff? What about the XXX, if you are going SPL, I would rather go XXX or Av2 than the brahma.

Why the Brahma?
The Adire reps are the only ones who haven't pissed me off lately. RE, eD, etc have all resorted to name calling and little childish backstabs when threatened, the Adire employees are the only ones that I've seen remain professional. I also have the Adire Kit81 towers in my room, for one the service I received was nothing short of phenominal, and I also really REALLY love these speakers.

Honestly it was a tossup between the XXX and the Brahma, I ended up going with the Brahma just because of the attitudes of the employees on each side.

Why not eD?
Well, I want to get this system going this summer, and only God knows when the new subs will be released. There's also something about them completely changing their lineup all the time, they haven't had one model last more than a year. I'll still recommend them because they do make good products and I still like my 12a, but for my own personal system I want to go with a company that has both feet on the ground so-to-speak.

heh sorry jus lettin ya noe sr20

me = retarded

thanks, fixed now

Exactly why I'm about to get a brahma instead of a xxx...and as far as going for SPL a brahma isn't noticeably less then an xxx...and ed's stuff doesn't compare w/ a brahma.

hmm im not really sure what to say, it seems like your stuff is a few steps above mine, im also not in the financial level to do that yet heh, but doesn't seem like you could go wrong, i mean.. the head unit im about to get is the pioneer premier deh-p860mp, hope that can match up to the 9835 heh anyways good stuff !

hmm im not really sure what to say, it seems like your stuff is a few steps above mine, im also not in the financial level to do that yet heh


hehe, we all start somewhere, I'm just lucky to have the summer job that I do

Exactly why I'm about to get a brahma instead of a xxx...and as far as going for SPL a brahma isn't noticeably less then an xxx...and ed's stuff doesn't compare w/ a brahma.

Well you have never heard the new 12/15av2. Only Ed has, but with an xmax like it has, I am sure it will at least stand next to if not blow away the brahma. Have you even seen the movies of those two against each other? The Av2 looks like it will handle much much more abuse and it far surpases the movement of the other subs I have seen on videos. I have yet to see one metered though. I think the only thing it is worried about is the MTX 9500 that I have seen. I know I don't know very many subs though.

Won't blow away...it will probably be comparable. How long till theese things come out anyways?

12Av.2 spec's
Qts - .39
Qms - 4.08
Qes - .441
Fs - 26 Hz
Re - 2.38
Vas - 80 L
BL - 21
Xmag - 31
Xsus - 45


B12
qts .43
qms 5.1
qes .47
Fs 28
Re 1.5
Vas 38
Bl 15.9
xmax 28mm

Just a few things to look at...

If I was going for SPL I would go with something completely different than eD, Adire, RE, etc. I'm going for excellent sound quality with the ability to get loud if I want to, and with the fact that people can hit a 150 with a single brahma 15 (or atleast very very close), that's more than enough for me.

Besides, with a Qts of .39, the Av2 is obviously built to be ported, and I already said I want to stay sealed.

9835 is in and running

Great headunit, TONS of features. Install took about 20 min, now I just have to spend a few hours playing so I can figure out how to get to the different features.

9835 is in and running

Great headunit, TONS of features. Install took about 20 min, now I just have to spend a few hours playing so I can figure out how to get to the different features.

good stuff sr20, did you feel it was a HUGE leap from the 760?... because i went from a lowely cda-9807 to a supposedly high end 860mp.. and i actually regret it.. my next head unit will be an alpine FOR SURE, anyways have fun with your settings.. im still messing around with my eq =D

Build quality is definitely leaps and bounds above the 750, as for sound quality, I haven't spent enough quality time with my system to tell. I hooked everything up, played for about 10 min, and then shut it off. Over the next week or so I'll be able to get more used to it. One thing I'll say though is it sounds excellent with no EQing at all (other than the filters), that's one thing I couldn't say about the 750.

oo i meant 750, hey sr20 tell me when u start messing around with the time correction n stuff, i still gotta get a subwoofer amp, so i can power my rear speakers.. then i'll do all that auto eq / time correction n stuff.. and just a question.. if i convert a group of mp3s with a 192 bit rate into a cd, just to take advantage of the burr brown dac is there a point? or should i do it anyways? thx

I played with the time correction just a couple mins ago. Nothing really extravagant, just moved it around, and I could hear the soundstage moving around me. Sort of like if you take some home speakers and wire one of them out of phase, then it just sounds different. All the sound is still there, just sounds....odd, well that's what it was like when moving the time correction around. I put it at one setting where I thought it sounded the best, but after I put in some different cds that could change drastically.

And there really wouldn't be anything to gain by making a cd out of 192 bit mp3s vs just making a data cd with the mp3s themselves. Once you drop to mp3, you can never go back up to cd quality.

yea your right, i guess i should find some cd's, i think its a waste that i have that and i dont use it lol and for the time correction.. there is auto.. or i can do it myself... i think im just guna strap on the mic and have it auto eq

Kodas have been ordered, www.acoustic-visions.com is having a huge sale on them right now through the end of June. $280 shipped vs the normal $350 shipped....not sure why, maybe it's a summer sale, maybe they're coming out with a new version, regardless these are probably the best speakers you could possibly find for under $300...anywhere....ever.

And yes they're authorized and everything, I've talked to Kyle (the owner) several times personally when I bought my Kit 81s (got them from the same place) and he's a great guy with great customer service.

They're not for everyone though, if you aren't willing to take the time to install them properly (being careful with the surround since it likes to tear, sealing/deadening your doors very very well, etc) then don't bother.

i think im just guna strap on the mic and have it auto eq


Auto eq would definitely be a nice thing to have. I can tune pretty well to my ear, but I'm slow (it took me 5 months to get it perfect with my last headunit, fiddling with it slightly every once in a while when I felt it needed improvement). I know that I can't tune to the judge's ear though, which is the main reason why I'll probably not ever enter a SQ competition. Me and the judges have very different tastes in how things should sound ;)

The auto eq would be great for getting a baseline tune though, where everything is flat, you don't have any nasty resonances, etc. Then you can increase the midbass or subbass or treble how you want afterwards, that's one thing I wish I had.

Okay while were on the subject of new systems....I ordered my brahma 12 a few days ago. Already had a hifonics brutus bx1500d to power it but my friend really needed and an amp and offered me more then is cost me so i sold it....the amp is pushin 2 of his 18's HARD. Well the guys at adire said in my box (2.8 cubes per sub tuned to 28 hz) is a little big to be running 1500 watts to and the sub could bottom out at certain frequencies when being pushed really hard....so now I got the money for an amp but what amp sould I get? Another brutus bx1500d...bx1000d....I was also looking at the nine.1 1200 watts would be nice, but when are theese things gunna be out? Also what are the prices on Cadence amps that will put out a nice wattage for a brahma at 1 or 4 ohm? While were on the subject of amps one more question....If an amp is mounted on a box and it vibrates a lot is it more likely to fry and is it bad for the amp? I don't have much room to put one in my small ass trunk but if its gunna be bad to mount my amp on my box Ill find another place.

I'll try to take those one at a time

1 - Yes that is a lot of power, and the sub could bottom out, you're getting into the realm of "headroom". The amp I'm getting has more than enough power to bottom out the sub, especially if it's in a large sealed box. There are a couple reasons why I'm getting it. It will let me run the gain lower (so even though it's a 1500 watt amp I'll only be sending maybe 900 to the sub), which lets the amp run cooler and cleaner, you never have to worry about hitting the limits of the amp and having it clip, and you have room to upgrade later if you want. It's up to you, if you're willing to spend the extra money for the 1500 to have the extra headroom and you have enough self discipline to turn it down if you hear funky sounds then go for it, if you aren't comfortable with this extra power, then go for the 1000.

2 - The nine's are supposed to be out in August I believe

3 - Cadence amps are very expensive...the ZRS-8 (1500x1 @ 1ohm) has an MSRP of $900, and is $700 at my local shop. I'm hoping to talk him down to $600...

4 - There shouldn't be any more vibrations on the box than there will be on the chassis of the car, won't really make a difference either way. If you're worried about it then get some rubber washers to help cushion the amp. Only down side is it makes your stuff much easier to steal if someone happens to break into your car *shrug*

I had to basically take my car apart to get it all in because it wouldn't slide in the trunk I have a mustang ...small trunk... stealing isn't an issue plus im getting a great security system. I think I may go with the 1500 and turn it down a little bit. comming soon a second brahma and another bx1500d :-D

I know that I can't tune to the judge's ear though, which is the main reason why I'll probably not ever enter a SQ competition. Me and the judges have very different tastes in how things should sound ;)

how do your tastes vary from the judges' tastes ?

I like an overexaggerated low end, basically from ~120hz and down (not overwhelming, but definitely not flat), and very soft highs. I'm not sure, maybe I could cut back on a lot of the low end and do some ghetto rta-ing (lots of test tones, a RS spl meter, and excel) to try to get it somewhat flat. I've just heard cars that were set up for true SQ and I don't like the way they sound on most music. On orchestras and symphonies they sound good, but that's not what I listen to 364 days out of the year.

hmmm ....... I usually have a good sized bass boost (15 dB or so) in the bass reqion below 75 Hz - the rest is flat. Most music doesn't sound good in a car when it's EQ'd flat in the bass region, especially when the car is moving. Where I live, most people are into the SPL - so my bass hump sounds relatively tame in comparison. With just 2 8's in the doors, I hit 125 something - the sound judged freaked when he found out I had no subs in the back and a stoch alternator.

hey guys sorry this is a little off topic but.. since we're kinda discussing this stuff.. what would you set your hp/lp at? i have my hp at 100hz and -12db slope (i think) and lp at 100hz and -12db slope.. i kinda.. know nothing about tuning.. so yea.. is that a good way to set it? can you guys help me out

all depends on your setup

Right now I have my HP at 80hz/18dB and the LP is 80hz/12dB. I needed the mids to play as low as they could to keep the midbass going, but they can't play very low before they distort, hence the steep slope. They also have a pretty lacking midbass (in my opinion), which is why the LP is on a weaker slope so the sub can kind of help out in the lower midbass region. When I get the Kodas I plan on setting the HP at 63hz/12dB and the LP at 63hz/18dB and I'll see how that works out.

100 Hz is kinda high when the subs are in the back, as I dicovered in my CRX. On the Accord, I set it to like 110 Hz ......... but my "subs" are 8" subs mounted in the bottom of the front doors. It would be more equivalent to midbass drivers in any other set up.

ahh i c.. well im guna mess around with it.. i realize that at 200hz the sub makes a crapload of bass.. but at 50hz it seems to be more clear.. i might stick something under 80hz.. but one problem.. when i put my speakers at 80.. they start to flutter at high volumes.. which is pretty crappy.. i gotta turn the gain down now.. but then again im using a 87rms amp for 60 watt pioneer speakers -_-

Both kodas are finally in and running. Door panels are back on, no hitting, it's just great. These fuckers are sick, that's all there is to it. Just one of them butt rapes the pair of Focals in sub-100hz output, with the pair it's just ridiculous. They're also more efficient than the focals were, even though the Focals are rated at a 93dB sensitivity and the Kodas are rated at 88dB...I always thought something was fishy about Focal's efficiency ratings.

Right now I'm still trying to decide where to highpass them, both 50hz and 63hz sound amazing, I just don't know which I like better. I still have yet to hear these things stress, I throw everything at them and they just turn around and call me a pussy. I really love them, I still can't believe they were only $280.

The Linear Power should be here in about 2 weeks or so, I can't wait for that

that linear power will put them thru their paces .... it has headroom power to spare

www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/kodas_01.jpg
www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/kodas_02.jpg
www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/kodas_03.jpg
www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/kodas_04.jpg
www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/kodas_05.jpg
www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/kodas_06.jpg
www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/kodas_07.jpg

I've been able to get some more listening time in (but not much since I was away for the weekend). I still have yet to hear them break up, stress, distort, or hit the door panels. Frankly I'm just afraid, I didn't know it was possible for a pair of 6.5s to have this much bass and I know the cones must be getting close to the door panels. Right now I have a 2dB boost at 100hz and they're highpassed at 50hz/12dB. They just sound amazing, the more I listen to them the more I love them. I just can't wait for the LP now, you're right it's going to have a LOT of headroom, just the way I like it :)

are you selling the focals? If so how much for the pair?

Did you happen to get those off SI.net...

Get what off SIN? The kodas? I ordered them from acoustic visions when they were having their sale the last week of June

As for the Focals, no they won't be going up for sale. Those bastards are beaten to hell and back, you wouldn't want them.

hey sr20.. jus a question off topic.. how was your ed12a? how does it compare to the 16kv2.. yea if u guessed.. im thinking of buying that sub.. do you think its worth buying for $100 pre-sale?

o yea did you get your ED sub from them online? or u bought it somewhere else.. thx

I like the 12a, only reason I'm upgrading is because it doesn't have enough output for me when sealed, and the low-end overwhelms everything when ported. So instead I'm going for a 15 sealed.

I have no idea how it would compare to a 16kv2, there are only like 5 people on the face of this earth who have ever heard the kv2, so it's a little hard to make a comparison ;)

I got my 12a straight from eD last summer off their website, there are no other places you can buy their products unless they're used.

I like the 12a, only reason I'm upgrading is because it doesn't have enough output for me when sealed, and the low-end overwhelms everything when ported. So instead I'm going for a 15 sealed.

I have no idea how it would compare to a 16kv2, there are only like 5 people on the face of this earth who have ever heard the kv2, so it's a little hard to make a comparison ;)

I got my 12a straight from eD last summer off their website, there are no other places you can buy their products unless they're used.

but do you think its safe..??? i've never bought anything online before.. much less presale thx

there's a first time for everything ;)


It's definitely safer than ebay, if that's what you mean. Only "unsafe" thing I can think of is you don't know when you'll be receiving your sub, they have a tendency to be a little optimistic in their predicted shipping dates. You definitely won't just be screwed over though, hell even if you were you can just stop payment with the credit card (assuming you paid with a credit card) and get all your money back.

there's a first time for everything ;)


It's definitely safer than ebay, if that's what you mean. Only "unsafe" thing I can think of is you don't know when you'll be receiving your sub, they have a tendency to be a little optimistic in their predicted shipping dates. You definitely won't just be screwed over though, hell even if you were you can just stop payment with the credit card (assuming you paid with a credit card) and get all your money back.

ooo i c maybe i'll try it out thx

If you're hesitant about simply buying online because of security, try buying from Linear Power....

They only accept money orders or cashier's checks, both of which are just like stuffing cash in an envelope and praying it doesn't get lost in the mail. I was freaking out inside ever since I sent off the money order, but I got an email from them today saying they got my payment and the amp is scheduled to ship out on Fri. Now I just hafta wait...more...

The Linear Power is up and running

This thing is beefy, very powerful and very well built. The internals are just beautiful, you could take off the back plate and hang it on a wall as a work of art. It's bigger and lighter than I expected for some reason, I guess I thought the heatsink was solid lead or something, and I guess it just looks small in the pics on their site. It's about as wide as the Avionixx, a little taller, a couple inches shorter in length, and it weighs like half as much. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why the Avionixx weighed so much....either way it's beautiful. I have a couple pics of the Avionixx and the LP sitting side by side opened up. It's pretty funny looking, it basically looks like a Sony sitting next to.....god.

As for how it sounds, it will take me a few days and a bunch of listening to hear all the differences, but for now it's definitely more powerful. I had to turn the sub out up 5 notches to get it to keep up with the front stage now. As a whole, the midbass is more pronounced and punchy, the entire frequency range sounds warmer and smoother, I don't get any breakup on extended "clean" sections (like a female hitting a high note and holding it for a while) like I did with the Avionixx, I don't have this nasty peak in my response around 2khz that I did before, and these little details like some static from a distortion effect on a guitar, or little squeaks from the guitarist moving his fingers, or just other little things seem to blend in better and not stick out like a sore thumb. It's hard to put that last part into words, but basically, the distortion effect on a guitar in something like Slipknot or Mudvayne sounds more like a distorted guitar and less like a normal guitar with static laid over top of it.

We just moved into an apt and right now I don't have an internet connection there, so it will be a few days before I can get the pics up, for now you'll just have to deal with it.

Most of what you are describing as better sound can be attributed to the LP amp being SO much more powerful.

it's not really all that much more powerful though (going by rated power). At 12.5V the LP is rated at 135x2 and the Avionixx is rated at 125x2. At 14.4V the LP is rated at 185x2 and the Avi has no rating. I mean the LP is probably underrated and the Avi probably isn't, but still. A lot of it probably does have to do with having more power though

And the breakup of the vocals was at all volumes on the Avionixx, not just with it cranked.

alright guys, I had to do a bunch of random shit to get this to work, I even had to endure 56k, but here they are

http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/lp_01.jpg

http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/lp_03.jpg

http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/lp_04.jpg

http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/lp_05.jpg

http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/lp_06.jpg

I have 1600x1200 versions of all the pics too, but those aren't going up until I get off of 56k because it's the spawn of satan

that amp looks so crazy.. i've never seen anything like that before

The avvionix is actually laid out better, but it IS hard to put those big wires into a trace or buss bar. and you gotta love those huge T0-3 transistors

I hate it when they put large crap wires inside... looks so homo...

went to the store just now and ordered the Cadence....damn that was a shot to the wallet.....

Should be in Tues, I'll post pics and such

Cadence should be fun

I hate it when they put large crap wires inside... looks so homo...


homo wires ... ok, I have heard it all now

what are you doing with your old stuff

i have been looking for an eD12a.22 and the company stopped selling them i also want the amp to go with it. i am interested in buy if your interested in selling

I'll be selling, it will be a bit before I have the sub up for sale though. I'm going to wait to order the Brahma until I get back to school (about another month), and then I have to wait for it to get off of backorder and actually show up. After that I'd be up for selling though :)

you should pm me with prices and shipping fees and such i am very interested

um....it's a little bigger than I thought, lol

here ya go:
http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/zrs8_01.jpg
http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/zrs8_02.jpg
http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/zrs8_03.jpg
http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/zrs8_04.jpg

Stupid flash screwed up all the colors on those ones, here's one last one with no flash so you can see what the amp really looks like:
http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/areynol1/hosting/audio/zrs8_05.jpg

2awg power terminals, 8awg speaker terminals....this amp is a beast