PEI330CI - Adam I support your work but competition is tough and is not for everyone. To have a guy look over your car and listen to it... and then tell you it is not perfect is difficult. To invest the blood sweat and tears associated with your build and then to have a yahoo tell you ... "nope wandering center image" "I hear a resonance" "wiring not to USACi/IASCA standards" is tough. They are insulting your baby (seriously, during the judging, some people react the same as when you criticize their children). I say competition should be fun and having another set of ears listen to your car and honestly critique it has value in the pursuit of sonic perfection. I do not recommend it for the thinned skinned but for the guy who wants genuine advice and criticism.

John, I don't need to go to a competition. I just show pictures here, and then.....

No offence, but I think that taking 2 years to prepare for you rookie class is just slightly over doing it. Remember, this is suppose to be fun and a way to learn about car audio.
. </font>[/QUOTE]I won't be competing in a Rookie class when I compete.

The people that I am learning from are all Advanced and Expert class competitors.....I will build my car to Expert standards and start out in the Advanced 601+ class.....I'm not sure what the new name for that class is. That way, I can slowly do upgrades and within a year or so, compete in the Expert class and be very competitive. MOstly I'm trying to learn imaging techniques instead of install, since I know pretty much what I'm doing for install.

I'll likely take another year to do my install as it will be very detailed and I wanna get it right the first time.

Brandon, I have a very simalar approach to doing things with my car. But, I keep finding that no mater how well I plan, I screw something up. In the process of screwing something up, I learn more in that 2 or 3 days than a month of asking people how to do it.

I don't think it matters what goes in your car. If you are serious about having a top notch install, there's no better way than finding out yourself how to do it. (both the wrong way and the right way) I can think of at least 10 things I planned to do to my car, that I now think differently about. For example, I have run into numerous fitment problems with my car. There is no way to plan how to work around these issues without getting your hands dirty. The fitment issues are specific to my car, but I've learned many new approaches to installing gear to minimize the mess ups.

Sure, take a year to do your install. But don't wait untill you think you are ready. Start now!

I'm 9 months into mine, and I can easily see another year of stuff to do.

Brandon, I'm not cutting you down. I think your enthusiasm for car audio is great. Let's start hearing about what you are DOING, not what you plan to do.

Adam

Oh god, I'm a few weeks into my install and my plans have changed so many times - it's the little things you think of doing during the install that sets you back. The overall plan doesn't change, but you just start feeling like you wanna do this, and then that, and all those small things add up to so much time lost. Then you never end up finishing anything. &lt;sigh&gt;

Hahahaha...ok, here's what I'm DOING....I'm waiting till next spring for my Cavalier to get back from Florida(used to be my mommy's car). More updates next spring :D


No, actually I am waiting for the car to get back,then I'm taking the motor out of the Park Avenue I'm driving now(3.8L) and dropping it in the Cav(1994) and it's NOT going to be hard so anyone that thinks about saying it can pipe down cause you'll jinx the whole operation [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img] :D
Then I am going to be very shortly looking into a Drive 30 EQ.....with any luck at all I'll have saved up enough money by next year to start piecing together an install....I'm pretty serious about getting the VRx 6/460 and possibly an LRx mono block of some kind.....Every thing that is in my Sig WILL be in the Cav except possibly the Behringer....I'm also, very soon, going to be looking at buying a good 1000SqFt of Brown Bread or something similar so I can do at least 2 layers over the whole car...including the floor, roof and fire wall. The main reason I wanna take at least a year on install is because I'm rebuilding the entire dash from scratch....something similar to Steven Heads Civic but I'm going to have a 12" Access right in the dead center of the dash....in addition to the sub in the dash, I will also have my proccessor mounted there for easier access(especially while tuning), Hidden X-Over(AC 4XS) and I'll probably stick with Scosche for wiring except I'll use 0/1 guage instead of 4 like I'm using now.....onew other thing I'd like to look into is running Zapco Symbalink from my deck to the proccessor(whatever it may be)and then to the X-Over......and if I can afford it, to the amps as well....Any suggestions?

My understanding is that the Symbalink is comprised of an input amplifier, and an output amplifier. Essentially a box on each end of their special cable. Simply put, it would unessessarily add electronics in the signal path for the purpose of noise rejection.

I'm running an unbalanced, unshielded set of RCAs in my BMW with no noise problems.

If you are serious about using a true "balanced" connection from the front to the rear of the car, look at the Audison Balanced System. The VRx6.420 already has the input stage for this system built into the amp.

Adam

Actually I wasn't too worried about noise as much as signal voltage....I think the 8250Ti has a 4-5Volt out which wouldn't be a problem but I could get 18 volts for better signal to the amps instead of using a line driver which I don't like.

most amps aren't designed to handle any more than a 5 volt input signal, any more than that and they distort the input stage.

Brandon, I get the feeling that you love technology.

Ever check out Meridian home audio stuff. It will open your eyes.

Adam