Pre-Fab beats custom fabrication???? wtf?

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:37 am

Are the systems still up somewhere to check out?
I missed that...

OnYrMrk · Post by **OnYrMrk** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:41 am

yea, go to carstereo.com click on "install gallery" and go and vote on there. My Mark VIII is third on the "highest ranked" systems on the column on the right. You can check out all installs from one sub all the way up to multiple subs.

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:43 am

That install looks great, and based on your description has wiring integrity to match.

That's the same location my friend with the MDX used with his Utopia 3-ways...
Even with the F#1 status, it was hard to avoid localization of the midbass - and the reason had more to do with physical impact presence than it did acoustical anomolies...
In other words, that little driver did it's job kicking out the midbass and bass...
but with your knee naturally landing right in front of it, the sensation on your kneecap really (and oddly) took away a bit from the soundstage image.

With your car, your seats are probably lower... but I'm just curious if you had the same issues? Your doors, location, speakers and all, are very similar to the MDX!

Also (your rack looks plenty large enough), but with that last-gen LRx amp setup (check out the new ones - very cool - literally), have you had any heat related issues?

We did an install for Lawyer Milloy of the Buffalo Bills (I did the fabrication and motorization, had one of our finishing experts help with the upholstery and finishing, and left the video up to one of our resident gurus) using those amps, and had THREE failures of the amp, despite having fan cooling through the rack.
By the time we were done, we not only had a drawn airflow down each side of the amp, but also a large squirrel cage fan forcing air down the front (with the amp rack closed), and a second squirrel-cage fan recirculating the air out from under the rear seat (which was actually very spacious underneath, seemed wholly unnecessary).
http://www.kwbuffalo.com/gallery_f650.php

(btw, the Audiobahn subs were used for two reasons - one, the 6" depth of the enclosure, and second, the proper bling-bling desired by the football pro

I wish we had illuminated shots of the enclosure, it had a 4 piece color changing kit that was oriented in such a way as to actually cause moving swirls of changing light patterns inside, on the frosted glass)

But anyway, those haven't been the only heat related failures we've had with them - so I was thrilled by the new LRx with it's integrated fan, obviously something Audison identified as an issue as well.

OnYrMrk · Post by **OnYrMrk** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:46 am

yea the 1.400 is kicking my butt by overheating problems. I will check with the rep and see if we can just swap out these amps for the new ones. We will see. the 2.150's have had no problems what so ever.

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:46 am

Actually, I forgot, I did put other pictures up on my personal page showing the color changing effect, and there's a link to a poor quality video as well

http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/Milloy
Mostly those are unprofessional pictures I snapped on my own as we worked.

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:48 am

OnYrMrk wrote:yea the 1.400 is kicking my butt by overheating problems. I will check with the rep and see if we can just swap out these amps for the new ones. We will see. the 2.150's have had no problems what so ever.

Exactly, it's that same amp!

I think it's just a poor match of "big power" plus "small heatsink" (hard to tell from the pictures, but these amps are relatively TINY.)

Are you opposed at all to using the factory heatsink fans that are the factory optional add-on?

OnYrMrk · Post by **OnYrMrk** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:52 am

not at all. I was about to order them, is there a reason on why I shouldn't?

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:34 pm

OnYrMrk wrote:not at all. I was about to order them, is there a reason on why I shouldn't?

If you are ordering a 2005, make sure you get a clearance price on it.
and the auxiliary fans as an option - it's a must, IMO.

But if not, you might just wait - check out the new 2006 LRx's - they even look cooler and classier, if that's possible.
The most important improvement though is a central fan that's built into the heatsink in a very slick way, such that the air travels all the way through the heatsink, improving cooling and short of any air noise escaping their vents, should substantially quiet the fan as well.

I really liked the look of the LRx's (the rest of Audison's line stayed the same).

Also - for anyone who attended CES - did you see the Chrysler 300M that Billy Brown did at the Focal/Audison booth? It was insane - front and rear doors welded together, mounted on a pivot in such a way that the doors motored out and then swung 180 degrees above the car (pivoting right about where the doors were welded together).
Downside was that you couldn't listen to the Utopia Be's that were mounted in the doors with them swung up above the car, as it sat for most of CES.

Upside was that the install was unbelievably immaculate.

(Billy Brown built our fabrication shop, and is currently fabricating a "high end" room for the stuff most people won't buy

His fabrication skills are truly unbelievable, check out that car)

Let me see if I can find a link for you, for the new LRx's (and that car

).

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:44 pm

The car was easy to find:
http://autoblog.com/2006/01/08/focal-20 ... sler-300m/

I didn't realize the new LRx actually won an industry award at CES (at least the new 6.9):
http://www.cesweb.org/attendees/awards/ ... ategory=95

Here's a picture:
http://www.cesweb.org/shared_files/inno ... to5232.jpg
Note that the fan is buried deep in the amp, center of the heatsink. Air escapes where the blue fins on top turn into grey fins on the end caps.
The plastic covers are supposed to be paintable, the controls look much nicer (under the blue cover), and the amp comes supplied with extra overlays that allow you to cover up any features that you either aren't using, or don't want prying fingers to mess with... or to keep customer's fingers from causing damage to their own system.

I like the redesign a lot - and the redesign means "don't pay full price on 2005 gear

)

OnYrMrk · Post by **OnYrMrk** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 8:57 pm

I never pay full price...I haven't since I co-owned a shop here in OKC. but that was over 10 yrs ago.