Re: Finally finished my audio....I think?!

["Paul Elliott" <pelliott@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Mark,

I didnt mean to confuse...There's no question, the system is AWSOMMMMME.  I
love it.  Between the Excelon HU and the Excelon amp, there are so many
features, that it takes a few days of listening to get it completely tuned
in...I'm about 95% there now, and its beyond what I was expecting.

>However, for anyone to be able to assist you regarding whether or
>not to run your amp mixed mono (L+ and R- as you mentioned)
>then you need to find out what impedance (in ohms) your speakers
>are, and what load the amp is  capable of driving... (also in ohms)
>I would bet that you have 4 ohm speakers. If that is the case then you
would
>not want to run them in parallel as you would have a 2 ohm load.. Running
>in mixed mono the Kenwood amp would see 1 (!) ohm and would either
>1) puke
>2) get hot and shut off every thirty minutes

Nope, the stealths are rated 8 ohms each...Therefore, here's the best way to
handle it...First, bridged, the amp is rated at 300 watts.  The power rating
on the subs is 150 watts.  And they are 8 ohms.  So, connecting both
stealths positve lead to the left channel '+', and both stealths negatives
to the right channel '-', I have effectively bridged the amp, and wired the
subs in parallel, cutting the load presented to the amp to 4 ohms.  Its the
ideal way to wire them, given the specs.

>not want to run them in parallel as you would have a 2 ohm load.. Running
>in mixed mono the Kenwood amp would see 1 (!) ohm and would either

Since the stealths are 8 ohm and not 4, I guess that changes your
argument...One question though...I thought that wiring them in parallel
presents half the load of each, or 4 ohms to the amp.  I dont know what
mixed mono mode is, but is that the same as bridged?  If so, are you saying
that what I thought was a 4 ohm load presented to the amp, is really a 2 ohm
load?  If so, I think I'm still ok...Tell me...The manual for the Excelon
amp says that in stereo mode, make sure the speakers or the combination of
speakers is 2 ohms...Bridged, they say to make sure the load is at least 4
ohms....I guess that this means the amp is '2 ohm stable'?  So, I should be
fine...But tell me, am I sending the Bridge rated 300 watts to the speakers,
or is it halved to each speaker, with 150 watts to each?  I have a feeling
this is it...Still since the speakers are rated at 150 watts, this should be
perfect.

There's so much kicking bass that I have the gains of my front channels and
my bass channels set about equal at half way.  Still, for good SQ, I cant
turn my non fading level above -3 on the scale of -15 to +15 without it just
taking over.  If I want to impress, I just turn it to 10, and it practically
knocks the breath out of your chest.  And thats on a scale with a max of 15.
And, thats with the gain only at about half......I think its got
enough!!!!!!!!!

And the Polk DX components up front are more than enough to hold their
own...I have them crossed at 60 hz, and the mid woofers are more than up to
the task.....They're so clear at any volume....

Anyway, i hope this review is a little more definitive.

_____________________________
Paul Elliott
'99 Alpine White M3  <25000 mi  Forged M dbl-spokes; Rotex pads; Dinan Stage
II Supercharger; Stygar Short Shift kit and Clutch Stop; Skaggs Pedals;
X-brace; Sound by Kenwood Excelon, Polk, JL Audio

- -----Original Message-----
From: Mark Williams <williamh@domain.elided>
To: pelliott@domain.elided <pelliott@domain.elided>; bmw digest <bmw-digest@domain.elided>
Date: Monday, November 20, 2000 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: Finally finished my audio....I think?!


>So.. are you happy  or not? Sounds like you need to decide..
>Reread your posting and then go sit in the car and jam for awhile and let
us know.
>In my opinion you should probably leave the system as is.. As you
mentioned,
>getting more power from the amp will only skew the sound  back to bass
heavy.
>However, for anyone to be able to assist you regarding whether or
>not to run your amp mixed mono (L+ and R- as you mentioned)
>then you need to find out what impedance (in ohms) your speakers
>are, and what load the amp is  capable of driving... (also in ohms)
>I would bet that you have 4 ohm speakers. If that is the case then you
would
>not want to run them in parallel as you would have a 2 ohm load.. Running
>in mixed mono the Kenwood amp would see 1 (!) ohm and would either
>1) puke
>2) get hot and shut off every thirty minutes
>
>Personally, I would never expect any Kenwood amp to run 1 ohm for very
long.
>(If you had a Phoenix Gold or PPI amp for example, the amp would run
> one ohm all day long.)
>
>Mark Williams
>Dallas, TX
>91 ///M3
>
>
>P.S.. if you don't have the boxes for your woofers then you will likely
>have to take them out of the box in order to look at the back of the
>speaker to determine their impedance... You could also use a voltmeter..
>
>
>FROM: "Paul Elliott"
>
>
>> Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 01:33:52 -0500
>> From: "Paul Elliott" <pelliott@domain.elided>
>> Subject: Finally finished my audio....I think?!
>>
>> Just an update on my system. Today, Sound Concept in Mt Kisco NY
installed
>> my Polk DX3000 tweeters to go with my Polk dX5510 mid woofers, my
>> Stealthboxes, and my Kenwood X501F 4X75 @ 14.4v amp to go with my Kenwood
>> Excelon head unit..
>>
>> Its truely awesome. Before, I did all I could to make my bass more
>> prominent. Now, I find I have my hands full just trying to keep it down
to
>> reasonable levels. At first, it was sooo boomy, it had no
'distinctiveness'
>> between notes...I found that using my hi pass filter to filter out some
of
>> the lows below 40 hz, and by messing with the Non Fading preout level,
the
>> gain, the Qs, etc, I can alter the boominess, so that I can either here
>> smooth loud bass, boomy bass, or tight no-boom bass.  What are Qs and
Center
>> Frequencies anyway?  If I make the BAss center frequency Higher, how does
>> that effect sound?  What about the Treble center frequency?
>>
>> What kind of pissed me off is that I told the store and the installer I
>> wanted him to bridge the two rear channels. Bridged, this amp is rated at
>> 300 watts. With 2 subs, he should, I think, have wired the + terminal
from
>> the left rear channel with the - terminal from the rt rear channel,
>> connected the left steatlhbox, and wired the rt one up in parallel....at
>> least, that's how I read the manual...Instead, even though he said he was
>> going to bridge them, because he's used all 4 rear speaker connections to
>> the, I think he just gave them a traditional stereo connection, and set
them
>> to mono via a switch. So that instead of getting 300 watts, theyre
probably
>> getting 75 each. As I said, the bass from the subs is extremely
prominent.
>> Given that fact, do you think I might as well leave it as is, rather then
>> going through another day at the audio store? I would think that giving
more
>> power to the subs by bridging would just make my job tougher to tune it
back
>> out for good sound balance! Leave it as is? Of course, I suppose its
>> possible that he DID bridge the amp another way, if there is such a
>> thing....But with all 4 rear speaker terminals used, I dont think that
>> spells bridging, do you?
>>
>> Also, I dont think he ran the ext. amp control wire from the head unit
which
>> allows me to control the amp's BMS Bass Boost circuit from the head unit.
>> But, since I can set it at the amp, again, I dont think its worth dealing
>> with those guys again. Sheez, where are the Good audio stores/installers
?
>>
>> Anyway, I'm real happy with the system now, and I've finally got sounds
Im
>> real happy with.  Thanks for the tips.
>>Paul Elliott

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