#1498036 - 24/09/08 05:01 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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first, figure out what organizations have shows around you.
then download their rulebook and study it cover to cover.
install is absolutely key. look at the builds in the team section and see the efforts we went through to get the optimum environment for our speakers. the better the install, the less you have to compensate for later.
you going for sq or spl? if sq, i can help you more. if spl, i don't have the first clue. 
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#1498060 - 24/09/08 05:38 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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like i said, install is key. sound deadening is a must. at the very least, do the doors where the speakers are. my doors have 20 pounds of mat on them each. that's ~40 square feet per side. I went through a whole shop pack of damplifier pro just on the doors.
you prolly don't have to go that extreme, but be prepared to spend money on deadener. polyfill is great for filling voids and quieting things down as well.
what kind of budget do you have for gear?
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#1498070 - 24/09/08 05:48 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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TtownCLS
Dream it Design it Build it
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Registered: 11/02/08
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To do this actively is hectic, but the most fun I've ever had in my life. If you take the results and judges comments from each show and work on those things, you will end up with a system that sounds better than you could ever have imagined. Read the rule book for the organization you will be competing in most. Follow those rules on installation to the letter. Look at the wiring in the build logs, and do at least that good with it. Install IS very important to getting the best results. Don't expect to win every show. Be willing to listen and learn. Most important; Have Fun!!
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#1498072 - 24/09/08 05:50 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: TtownCLS]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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what are you running now?
the brands i'd look at is dynaudio, morel, and scan. there are others outside of that, but those are my favorite, and are proven.
realize a 3 way takes more amps to power the speakers, and is trickier to tune. it definitely has its advantages, but also its drawbacks. you might want to start with a 2 way setup for your first year.
what kind of car do you have? where are you considering putting the speakers?
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#1498074 - 24/09/08 05:53 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: TtownCLS]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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Don't expect to win every show.
truer words have never been spoken. 
seriously, find out who competes around you, what shops they use, and start hanging out. let them know your goals and you're willing to learn, and hopefully you can network with some local competitors, or at least get to hear their cars. there is a guy in new jersey with a scion xb that would be a great car for you to hear. unfortunately i don't even remember his name, but it was pretty awesome.
go to any shows in the area. this is near the end of the season, so you should have some big finals shows coming up. listen to as many competition cars you can to get a good mental reference of what you're going after, then try to recreate that in your own ride. we are all here to help, so don't be afraid to ask questions. we all started somewhere.
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#1498087 - 24/09/08 06:35 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
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Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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SEAS are good too. I believe USACi is big where you are. Try and find some shows and get in some cars.
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#1498822 - 25/09/08 05:35 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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TtownCLS
Dream it Design it Build it
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In USACi install, they look for small details like securtity screws used on everything including the speakers. Make sure you document everything you are doing with photo's and put them in your photo album with descriptions and explanations of why you did what you are showing. You have to show the judges what can't be seen without tearing apart the car. If you have no proof of how you installed it, you get 0 points. Tech Flex is expected on all wiring these days, and grommets are expected everywhere a wire passes through anything. Leave no exposed metal on connections.
What you describe sounds good. It doesn't have to be flashy but needs to be very neat. They usually look to see if you took the time to get the small details right.
I know it sounds like a lot, but if you want your install judged, it's necessary. Most important is the safety portion. Every car, whether entering install judging or not, get's checked for the safety items. That includes proper fusing and routing of wires, grommets used on the power wires that pass through the firewall etc.
Take a look at Rick Sellers' build log. He is a USACi World Champion, so I'd say he got it right.
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#1498951 - 25/09/08 09:16 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
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Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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4 gauge use 1/4". It wraps it thin enough so you can still see the wire color underneath. To me, this looks pretty cool, esp when using red and silver wires, then black or grey flex.
for 1/0, use 1/2" or 3/8". I'm not sure if 3/8" will fit, so try and hit up a local shop for fits.
http://www.mcmaster.com is where you can get all your different color zip ties, as well as zip tie anchors. i'd say get 400-500 anchors. They're dirt cheap from mcmaster, esp compared to the cost of getting them locally from anywhere, so stock up. If you do this right, you're going to need them.
for heatshrink to put on the ends, use 3:1 heatshrink. It'll let you get the shrink over larger connectors and still shrink tight. Also get clear heatshrink to put over the labels on your wires. I got all my shrink from wirecare.com. I liked it better than the shrink i got from mcmaster.
on the electronic crossover, you need to start thinking about a pretty powerful signal processor as well. About the standard is the alpine pxa-h701. Alpine recently discontinued it, but you should be able to get one. They're also coming up with a replacement soon. Anyways, it has time alignment to make the speakers close to you seem as if they're farther away, which is huge. It has adjustable crossovers where you can set where you want the speakers to cross, and also how steep you want it to cross. From the processor, you can flip the phase of the speakers instead of having to flip the speaker wires at the amps. It also has a 31 band graphic eq for every speaker. That's incredibly useful in dialing in a system. You'll need either a rux-c701 to control it, which is a single din controller, so you can mount it anywhere you can fit a deck, or get one of the decks that you can control the processor from. However, I recommend using the controller.
Anyways, there's a start for you. I put over 300 hours of work into my car, and over half of that time was with a friend helping. That 300 hours doesn't count any of his time, and I paid a local shop to do some things for me to save me time. I had to do my work in stages to keep the car functional during the week, so it could have been done quicker if I could have torn the car down and left it apart for a week in a garage. If you can dedicate something like all of spring break to the install and have everything ready to go ahead of time, you could really do some damage in a hurry. If you're competing with USACi, you need to look at Andy Jones' install. Everything is anchored, color coded, and labeled with laminated labels that are anchored with two zip ties all the way through the car. It's ridiculous. That's the level of over the top you need to be to. Take pics of everything, and two to three of every shot to make sure you have a good one.
FYI, you will prolly get burned out during the install. Take a breath, come on here to vent, we'll give you tips, and then you can go back at it. When it's totally done, it's worth it. I hope I get to meet you next year and hear the results of your work. Best of luck!
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#1499042 - 26/09/08 05:20 AM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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it has optical, rca, and ai-net inputs on it, so you can use the rca or optical inputs for it and use any deck. however if you use optical (and you should if at all possible), i'm pretty sure the radio signal is only carried by the ai-net, and so you wouldn't have fm. it might carry through the rca's, but i'm thinking i read it didn't.
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#1499265 - 26/09/08 10:27 AM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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1/8" should fit both of those.
Remember the sizes I listed keep the flex pretty tight against the wire. Also, doing this, 25 feet of flex won't cover 25 feet of wire, b/c the flex has to expand, and therefore isn't as long.
Also, do neat rows of zip tie anchors about every 3 inches. If you're going for install, there's no kill like overkill. Print off labels with a labelmaker, then stick it to the wire, and cover the label in clear heatshrink. Make it so someone who had no clue what was what could look at the labels and understand what to do if you asked them to move a wire or something.
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#1499443 - 26/09/08 01:19 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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JDAccord
SQ Rookie
Team SoundDomain
Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 201
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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search for zip tie anchors.
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#1501870 - 30/09/08 08:52 PM
Re: Competing
[Re: basher8621]
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Forced SS
SD Newbie
Registered: 29/09/08
Posts: 9
Loc: Arab AL
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If you use the pxa h701 would you need to run the crossover that come with the component set?
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