Advice for stereo competitions

[paulsaveo]

Does anyone have any good advice for stereo competitions? Saturday the 11th I will be entering a stereo comp for the first time. What is to be expected for rookie classes? My current setup is an alpine cda-9885, i have JL Audio RCAs running to a JL Audio 250/1 slash (black edition) with a JL Audio 8ga amp kit (40 amp fuse) and stinger 12ga speaker wire. hooked up to 2 JL Audio 10W1s in a dual chamber sealed enclosure. Power wires are tucked under carpet run down the driver side of the car, RCAs are under the carpet run down passenger side of car. Their is an Optima red top under the hood. It wont matter for SPL but for the fronts, I have off brand RCAs running to a JL Audio 300/4 slash (black edition) with off brand 16ga wire for MB Quart ESA-213 components (5.25 mids and 1"tweets).
The gain on my 250/1 is just above half, on the HU, the sub control is 13 out of 15, and the bass is 4 out of 7.
Im not actually going to compete yet, I am going to see what my numbers are currently, in the next few months I am planning on fiberglassing the rear to hold all 4 of my 10W1s and both of my black 250/1s. when all of that is in, I may compete locally as an amateur.

[daug1502]

Sounds like you have a good start. I recommend talking to some of the other competitors and coaches see if you can get any tips while your there. I haven't competed, but I have helped install and tune a few subs, and the tuning is really what makes the difference.

[paulsaveo]

My first competition

[Siege]

Hey I just saw your doing competitions! Welcome! What circuit are you doing? MECA or DBdrag?
Let me know if you need advice, my Aveo was first for awhile there in Park & Pound.

Good to see more fellow Aveo's in the SPL game!

[tidus10]

get a new box, sealed boxes wont put up good numbers, id recommend a custom aero port of even a slotted, and then its all about box placement, i lose 3+ db by having my box to close or too far away from the trunk... now that youve been on a meter youll never want to see that number again..

[tidus10]

was that 62hz that you played? thats way to high knock it down 10 or so and play around in that area

[paulsaveo]

From the sweep I was at 59hz. I understand that I can get a few more db from port or slot, but I prefer the tight sound (sq) of a sealed box. If my Aveo wasnt a daily driver family car and I could orient it more toward show I would probably go with a slot port. But, its a daily and doesnt have a whole lot of room in the back as Im sure youre well aware of LOL, my wife doesnt like booming stereos and my 2 year old daughter is in the car ALOT so unfortunately, I cant go as big as I would like. Right now I have a JL 250/1 pushing the 2 10w1s, in my garage collecting dust, I have a 2nd 250/1 and 2 more 10w1s. Im considering getting rid of the 2 250s and all 4 of the w1s to make way for a 500/1 and 2 12w3s. Also my current set up, the 250/1 at full tilt is just over RMS for the 2 10s, I only had the gain at roughly 75%, afterward, I got to thinking, if had had gone 100%, i would have been in the safe zone for the subs but would have been able to peak for a few seconds for a test and probably pulled 134.2. But, Im a rookie that was my first event, I was pleased, I was expecting 125 and hoping for 130 so 133.9 IMO wasnt too bad. It was a Texas Bass Productions (TBP),texas bass wars, their was no organization at all for this event. I wont go to another of their events. The class I was in was "consumer spl" under 1500 watts, 2ohms and higher, no walls, 2 subs or less, 1 amp only

[tidus10]

i have a kicker 750.1 if you wanna buy an amp hell i even have subs but they are pricy to ship..

in a competition you always wanna run everything maxed out, but i found having my headunit bass flat worked out better for me, gave me less distortion.. keep running in their crappy league, its probably cheaper and a great way to learn your car.. i would give you some of the secrets but if i did that, it wouldnt be a secret

[paulsaveo]

Nothing against Kicker, but I prefer to stay with JL Audio. A few months down the road, when I am able to upgrade to the JL 500/1 and 2 JL 12w3s, i may look into some better organized events to just get out and have fun, for right now though, I am focused on getting my aveo back on the road, clutch slave cylinder went out sunday morning, fun times.

[tidus10]

the only problem with JL for competition is that they arent built for it.. they are designed for sound quality, not to be loud