auto_xer

Boss 429

You can't go wrong with a Miata. We just bought a 2001 and it is a blast to drive.

The DIY TV stand is complete. I fixed most of my wiring uglyness too.

This has been a great thread! Props to all those killer systems pictured! Here is my little setup: This is our first house and we have only been moved in for about two months now. The room is a little small but it will do - it is certainly better than the apartment we used to have! Here is the front. KG.5s as mains (small but effective), KV3 center and a Velodyne sub for now. My wife and I agreed that she could have the whole rest of the house if I got the living room and the garage. That seems to have worked out well. She has not complained one single time about all the little black noise boxes. The TV is a Sanyo 32" HD. The cat is an 8 y/o tabby with an attitude. One of my prized possessions - this is a DIY rack made from polished aluminum extrusions, brackets and stained birch ply with edge veneers. It is part flexy rack, part something a little nicer. More pictures of it are here: http://home.hiwaay.net/~lbrewer/images/rack/ Matching DIY speaker stands. Different tubing, same wood. The wire is run up through the middle. Rear KG.5s for the 6th and 7th channels. View from the front corner showing more .5's as left and right surrounds. The wiring for the surrounds is Belden 5000U, 12 gauge. All of it was run in wall - quite a chore in Alabama heat. These are the brackets I used to mount all four surrounds. They are from some type of JBL monitor speaker. I took off some unused brackets and was left with a 3/8" stud that screwed right into the back of pre drilled .5s (Thanks Klipsch). Wire runs up through the mounts. Each mount was rotated 45degrees so I could put two bolts into the studs. The last shot, from the right rear. A matching TV stand with integral drawer and center channel shelf is in pieces out in my garage right now. That, and some wire tidying, should make it look a little better.

Nice car. The Matrix has grown on me over the last few years. Good kill on the Tein Coilovers also. Tires, alignment, sway bars and struts make a huge improvement in handling - at least most of the time! Now go find a place to autocross it!

Same here. We have two Regal and a Carmike and they all use JBL. Klipsch or JBL, the goofballs upstairs will still find a way to screw the sound up. I would guess that 3 out of 5 movies in these theaters have horrible sound - and that's not due to the soundtrack.

---------------- On 5/25/2005 7:22:51 PM Dave_H wrote: Some like four wheels - some like two - I like three. Only 150hp but when you punch it she really...never mind. ---------------- I am partial to three wheels - on occasion. This has been my ride for the last 8 years or so.

---------------- On 4/13/2005 11:41:29 PM Griffinator wrote: And the answer? You really don't understand how little peak horsepower has to do with your vehicle selection. Questions for you: 1) Do you plan on racing this pick-up? 2) Do you plan on basically keeping your foot to the floor on a constant basis when driving this pick-up? 3) Are you planning to have this pickup dyno-tested after you get done with whatever modifications we offer? If your answer to two or more questions above is NO, then you don't need HP tweaks. Peak horsepower is a basically meaningless statistic to the average daily-driver vehicle. ---------------- Any HP gains down low are going to translate into a torque increase. Using K&N's cheasy little dyno graph for that intake, looks like about 8 lb/ft increase at 2000 RPM and almost 10 lb/ft at 3500 RPM. It makes decent power and has pretty good torque increases from 2500 all the way to redline. That is certainly useable.

WRX's are nice but the stock suspension needs work to make it really great IMO. The STI model is a little better in both power and handling. I autocrossed a well prepped (for its class) WRX and it was a blast to drive. Another AWD to consider is the Forester XT SUVish. They have the bigger 2.5 liter motor (from the STI). They are actually quicker in the 1/4 than a regular WRX.

---------------- On 4/12/2005 8:42:31 AM endover wrote: The other thing that can become a problem is that more horsepower from the engine means more wear on the rest of your vehicle so will reach a point of diminishing returns. Your engine may put out 1,000hp but if your transmission is only rated for 200hp, you'll find that parts fall off your car! ---------------- Yep - what he said. My car now has a nasty habit of shearing off axles near the CV joint. Sticky tires, more power and a limited slip diff didn't help matters... You really shouldn't worry if youre only adding a filter on a stick and an exhaust. Your truck will run better, get better mileage and sound better (hopefully).

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=57-2535

I don't know much about that specific truck but swapping the 4 liter V6 from the higher end B series might work. It might be a plug and play event - or not. There are plenty of V8 kits for Ford Rangers that would probably work also. And of course, there is the forced induction route on your current motor - probably turbo in your case. Each of these will require lots of time and effort - especially if you are doing the work. Cheap? K&N makes either panel or entire intake systems that are relitivly cheap. A little freeier flowing muffler or an entire cat back system might help. I have a feeling that finding bolt-on performance stuff may be a little hard for that truck.

Don't forget about weight. Weight is probably the biggest unlooked at factor when determining how fast a car with XXX HP is. Lighter is almost always better for acceleration, handling and breaking.

B at ~3 seconds it drops and comes back at ~6 seconds.

Thanks, I got some help from the Updates forum also. I didn't clean it but I though about it

I had a feeling it might have been something like that. I checked the crossover but I will do another good visual on it tonight. The negative lead for the tweeter had two or three wires broken right at the soilder joint. I can't imagine that would affect it at all. Thanks

I posted over on the Tech board but didn't get too many responses. I have a KV-3 that has some sound issues playing dialog clearly. To make a long story short, after some troubleshooting, I took it apart down to the diaphragm level of the tweeter. Is there supposed to be thick / sticky brown gunk down in the magnet gap and on the voice coil? Original post with pictures: http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=62031&sessionID={94A7678D-7D8C-432C-9C85-1DABFA827848} Thanks for any help! Tim

Can someone tell me if this is a problem? I have been reading up on Tweeter construction and one page said the gap between the magnet and the pole should be clean. This is the KV-89 from my KV-3. It has some sort of very sticky brown goo all over the voice coil on the tweeter and down in the magnet. I'm wondering if this is normal on these newer diaphragms or is it part of my problem. Thanks again for any input... Here is the diaphragm. And here is the magnet - all that shiny stuff around the pole is the brown stuff.

I will check that tonight. My brother also has a KV-3 that I plan on doing a side by side with just to make sure it's not my ears fooling me. Thanks

My KV-3 sounds muffled on dialog during movies. With music it is harder to tell but it still sounds... off. Here is what I have looked at so far: I noticed this when I first purchased the speaker. I opened the box up and found the tweeter was wired backwards. After I fixed that it sounded better but still not great. I listened to it that way for a month or so and really didn't notice it until this weekend. Today I swapped it out with my old KV-1 during a movie and the difference was immediate. It lacked all the muffled/muted sound and the dialog was very clear. I didn't change anything else - just swapped the speakers. I took it back apart and did a good visual. Nothing appears to be wrong. I ohmed all the speakers out. The drivers were around 6 and the tweeter was 9. The crossover looked fine. (the tweeter on my KG.5 was 8 ohm.) I did a side by side with both the KV-1 and a KG.5 Both sounded better on dialog. So, any ideas as to what it might be? Thanks...

Dodger, How was the finish after that? Did they stay fairly light? I am about to finish a birch component rack and I wanted something very natural - only a little gloss over the light birch. I had read that the polyurethane will "amber" the finish slightly. Thanks

Auto_Xer Autocross:(ôt-krôs, -krs) n. A competition for automobiles that tests driving skill and speed.

I have been using one for about 6 months now and I like it. Mine is driving 4 KG.5s and a KV3. I picked mine up for $200 also. Good bang for the buck.

I recently purchased a KV-3 and noticed almost immediately that the voice dialog was muted compared to my KV-1. I hooked the KV-1 back up to rule out equipment. I took the KV-3 apart and the tweeter was hooked up backwards. After I switched it, all was right with the world. My question is could anything have been damaged playing it like that. I'm guessing no - it would just sound a little off. Is there anyway to test it or the crossover network? Thanks, Tim

That's part of my dilemma. I want to start by upgrading the center and moving my KV1 back to be a rear center. I just hate to think a new Reference center will make everything else sound terrible. I won't be able to upgrade the fronts for a while.