random thought

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ttocs
the Floor Sweeping Hack with Golden Ears
Posts: 14783
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:53 pm

Re: random thought

Post by ttocs »

there has always been a huge divider that any shop could put up by simply pricing themselfs into a certain catagory. I started off at best buy sales and worked back to the bay before going to that high-end home theater/furniture store with the sweet car audio room, and then from there went to scottsdale az. I started off just replacing speakers in the big box, got my teeth cut in the custom world with the high-end furniture shop, and then was amazed what they chareged in az.... All the shops were successfull in their time and it just depended on if you wanted to pound 10-15 cheap/easy/dirty cars a day nickel/diming each customer to try and get a couple of buck profit or if you wanted to do 2-3 really nice/clean cars a day, not sweat nearly as much or get as dirty in the cars but also carry a HUGE liabitity.

Best buy we would stack as many cars as we could back-back-back-back and just start knocking them down. We were often running between the cars, rarely got breaks and each installer could do 8-10 per day depeding on what it was but the average ticket was probably less then $100 each eash. The shop in scottsdale, the first day I walked in they pulled out two BMW M8's that they did a K40 radar detector in each car the day before and had a ticket price of $2500 each. We pulled in a porsche 911 carrara 4 twin turbo that we then spend the next 2 days putting a deck, 4 speakers, 2 amps(with an amp rack), subs and a deck in. That would have been a $300 ticket back at the big box, I studdered when I walked by and saw the work order was for $1700 labor alone before the equipment which was not being sold at bargin basement prices. Now working on teh 911 was alot different from anything that ever went into the big box with a full leather package, hell it took a special headlight removal tool to run the power wire for the amp alone... After 2 days putting in a clean system, the guy tipped us $100 and said "yea it sounds nice" as though he didn't care and signed the $4k credit card receipt.

Which would you rather do? Not everyone has access to the people and cars that are in scottsdale by any means but if I could have my choice, I sweat alot less in the desert of scottsdale doing 2-3 cars a day then I did in Indiana at the big box doin 8-10/day.... The install bay at best buy back then was hourly with a good commision while you were working on cars but the bays in scottsdale were salaried. Az paid better but cost of living killed it....
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
Kirghiz
Posts: 1013
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:59 pm

Re: random thought

Post by Kirghiz »

Oh, I'd totally rather be doing the high end installs. When I was in high school I hung out at the two home theater shops that did the higher end stuff, drooling over the high end gear. They'd let me check out what they were working on when they had vehicles in the bay, and they'd half bragging tell me how they did this or that. I in turn used that knowledge to pocket some extra cash installing HU's and Pyramid/Crunch/Radio Shack garbage amps and speakers into people from school's vehicles, and took that money to buy an M44, and later an M100 (The shop hooked me up a little over cost since I was in there so much, they liked me, and I referred them a lot of wire/accessories sales from school). I was all set to go to the installer school in FL after high school, but somewhere along the way decided I didn't like hanging upside down out of people's trunks or under their dash and changed course. With all the twisting and bending my back and neck would kill me after doing a car.

I say that because everyone that knew me back then knew that I knew car audio, and they'd always show off their Series 1 Fosgates, or their premade Kicker and MTX boxes to me thinking they had something, while what really impressed me was the isobaric bandpass and fiberglass custom enclosures with recessed amps and no visible wiring that the high end shops were doing at the time. They are all "installers", but one type of installer just hooks it up clean and more or less nice, while the high end installer makes it into an art form. I wanted to be the latter, until I just didn't anymore, if that makes sense.
Being loud without good sound quality is pointless, but having good sound quality without being loud is also pointless.
Francious70
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Re: random thought

Post by Francious70 »

Discussions like this is what made me love the XeLoad. 1-4 ohm, you get the same power. 2-8 ohm bridged, you get the same power.

So while you could run a dual 4 ohm coil sub at 2 ohms bridged on a X600.1 @ 2 ohms and get 600 watts, you could just as easily run it at 8 ohms and get 600 watts, plus less THD to boot!
Boomshackalacka
thebroke1
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:58 pm

Re: random thought

Post by thebroke1 »

Isn't that like jl's rips tech?
Kirghiz
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Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:59 pm

Re: random thought

Post by Kirghiz »

thebroke1 wrote:Isn't that like jl's rips tech?
Sounds like it, but I always figured they did that so the consumer would have to buy another amp when they wanted to add more subs. If I cared enough about SQ to consider buying an amp that did that, I would just buy a high end A/B amp and not the full range class d's that JL makes. Doing that on a class d seems like a pointless exercise.
Being loud without good sound quality is pointless, but having good sound quality without being loud is also pointless.
thebroke1
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:58 pm

Re: random thought

Post by thebroke1 »

Another random stupid tired thought........why isnt the elite.1 a triple darrlington design? is it becasue its class d and is the elite.1 really like the other elites or is it just in the same chassis? mine is a beast but what really sets it apart from the rest of the pack besides being a 4000 watt mono block that weights like 40 pounds <-------thats still awsome the first time you get to pick it up :D
Kirghiz
Posts: 1013
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:59 pm

Re: random thought

Post by Kirghiz »

thebroke1 wrote:Another random stupid tired thought........why isnt the elite.1 a triple darrlington design? is it becasue its class d and is the elite.1 really like the other elites or is it just in the same chassis? mine is a beast but what really sets it apart from the rest of the pack besides being a 4000 watt mono block that weights like 40 pounds <-------thats still awsome the first time you get to pick it up :D
It really isn't feasible to make a 4000 watt amp as a Class A/B. Sure, it has been done in the past I think by someone, but if it had a 50% efficiency like the other A/B's it would pull over 600 amps at rms power and require two alternators just to feed it, be roughly triple the size of the Class D, and produce enough heat that you wouldn't have to run your vehicle's heater in January. It could certainly be done, but you'd be looking at an amp basically the size of The One to match the output of the Elite.1. Honestly, as good as Phoenix Gold's distortion numbers are on their Class D's, particularly the Elite.1, the drop off between those Class D's and their older A/B Triple Darlingtons that everyone loves isn't significant enough to justify the difference in size, efficiency, and heat dissipation. Especially in a subwoofer application where you'll notice an increase in distortion a lot less.
Being loud without good sound quality is pointless, but having good sound quality without being loud is also pointless.
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