Amp Rack Design

Don't quote me on this, especially if I am way off, but I would guess my amp weighs about 8-10lbs. I remember when it shipped with a wiring kit it said the weight was like 14 or 15lbs, so minus the wiring and minus the packaging I should be a close guess. I'm not sure what is defined as a heavy amp though.

Good call about the heatsink too, I actually remember reading about that in some thread here. I might just drill through a peice of wood first, then into the seat (on the bottom) so the amp mounts vertically instead of slopped.

mike - how long were the screws you used? Just guessing I was probably going to go with 1 5/8" drywall screws (what I used on my box). Maybe I need something longer/thicker though. The amp did come with some screws, but I don't know what they look like offhand.

when I had mine to the seat I used screws that where probably about 2" long and didnt have any problems, but you dont need anaything that long, i'd get something shorter.

also agree you cannot even tell the amp was there, i moved mine and you'd never know there was one there.

i'd strongly suggest you try and build something into behind the carpet though, having the amp there is a major pain in the arse. anything you put in the trunk, slides around and smashes into the amp, when you pull the seat down wires can get caught an dripped out of the amp, if you leave enough slack to allow the seat to come down all the way then it looks like heck, etc.

but i also have a 2 year old and travel a lot and am putting my seats up and down a lot so it might not be an issue for you.

[eag182]

gett, I sort of understand you, but I thought subs kept a threshold of 20-22Hz so as to not waste away on infrasonic frequencies.

[mike2002]

i wouldn't have used drywall screws for your box. they arn't very hard, they're really easy to snap. so id pass on using them to hold up the amp. the threads also pretty coarse on them.

i used 1 1/2" screws, i dont remember what they were for, but id go to the hardware store and pick up a bag of 4 for like 88 cents, and skip on the drywalls. i used a thicker screw, pretty sure it was #10.

[mikegett]

The threshold will be dictated by your crossover. More than likely your amplifier will be the one to eliminate the lower Hz. If you look, most amps will only produce down to 20Hz. The same goes for the Head Unit. Frequencies below 20 will never reach the sub because they were never produced. So, if you see one of the guys with a "0Hz" on the rear window, you can laugh. Most likely, he never got close.
When I was refering to a ultrasonic cleaner, I should have been more specific. A ultrasonic transducer is dependant on voltage. The transducer will vibrate when a given voltage is supplied. The frequency of the vibration is directly related to the make of the transducer and the voltage supplied. Your sub will never react like a ultrasonic transducer. However, it will still produce vibrations. In part due to the flexing of the box walls as air is moved. Also do to the transiant response. This is what your sub and amp will try to defeat with a dampening factor. The larger the dampening factor the better the amp and sub can controll the vibrations. The lower your sub hitts the larger the dampenging factor has to be to control it. Our premium amps for speakers have a dampening factor of greater than 200, while our class D amps have a dampening of greater than 1,000.
Tenny,
Lighten up. No one here is claiming to be "audio gods". If you do or don't believe it then fine. It is your amp, your call. However, don't make the claim that companies use it as a reason for not fixing what you broke. The reality is that vibrations kill electrical components. We fix boards every day that have solder joints broken in half. The larger your amp the more prone it will be to vibration damage. If you have ever opened up a amp, you will notice the capacitors are quite large and heavy. The semiconductors solder joints on the heat sinks sheer in half. On a better amp silicon is placed under these to help reduce the vibration from the leads. Nearly every HU and amp is ran through a vibration test. We hardly ever have a failure here, but you are comparing a 30 second test to hours of use. Call your amps tech department and see what they suggest. If they say no, I would stay away from. When ten solid joints have been sheered off, it is very apparent that the amp was not installed correctly. But, what the heck do I know after eight years. And don't forget the installers like mike2002. His experience obviously means nothing to the true audio god here.

Originally posted by eag182@Apr 8 2005, 07:36 PM
gett, I sort of understand you, but I thought subs kept a threshold of 20-22Hz so as to not waste away on infrasonic frequencies.

Quoted post

[eag182]

What's the capacitance of a typical capacitor in an Amp?
Do you mean damping?

it's not my amp, I dont even have a sub in my alero.

in my camaro i have it mounted on the sub box and never had a problem.

ever been on a plane? they vibrate a lot, I guess thats why they dont put any electronics on them...

but what would I know, it's not like i'm an electrical engineer or anything...

and i'm not the one that should be told to lighten up, I didnt start with the name calling.
"After this post you should have shut your face, you obviously know NOTHING. GO home Jr, and respect what ppl who know more then you tell you. If you dont want to beleave it, then dont. but Dont dispute what is fact. "

[freakout]

Put a handful of change on a subbox and watch results.

[mikegett]

Thank you for the correction. Spelling has never been my strong point. I can't define a typical capacitor. Every amp will very in sizes. One amp can have several caps ranging from capacitors sized in microfarads (uF), nanofarads (nF), and picofarads (pF) smallest. The smaller picofarads and nanofarads are typically connected from the power supply to ground as a "bypass cap" used in filtering out AC noise. Our OEM amps are quite small and are a bad representation of aftermarkets.

Originally posted by eag182@Apr 9 2005, 01:21 AM
What's the capacitance of a typical capacitor in an Amp?
Do you mean damping?

Quoted post

[mike2002]

mikegett for president!

hahaha.....im drunk

[forbidden]

Originally posted by mike2002@Apr 8 2005, 03:30 AM
well im going to ignore tenny...but anyways


jiffy, i didn't pre drill. i got some pointed screws and just drilled them in, the plastics soft enough so you dont need to pre-drill. if i take the screws out, i can just massage the carpet and the holes are still there, but barely noticible. i believe the carpet is glued to the plastic, so you cant cut a flap up, but a flap would be more noticeable. I used #10 screws i believe, they were pretty thick, but my amps pretty heavy. with a lighter amp, you can use thinner screws that are even less intrusive.

also, since you mounting your amp sideways, the heat sinks are not as effective. one thing i did was put some 3/4" rubber washers under the screws, when drilled in they squished to about 3/8", but now the amp itself isn't touching the seat, so heat can get out from behind it. also helps to absorb a little vibration id think.

Quoted post

Keep up the good work Bro... Dont listen to Dumb ass like Tenny. He has no clue. He must have put in a system in his car and now he is a pro type of person...lol

[mikegett]

Hey, what are you saying. You have to be drunk to vote for me. :P In that case, beer for everyone.

Originally posted by mike2002@Apr 9 2005, 04:33 AM
mikegett for president!

hahaha.....im drunk

Quoted post

haha now i'm a dumbass, you guys are so cool.

There is still the little point that NOBODY has proved ANYTHING. It's all just speculation. So unless your going to say something inteligent to show what electrical components are hurt by the amp then keep quiet.

I'll assume that i'm right until otherwise shown that i'm wrong and wont be posting back on this topic unless someone has something to say other then speculation because so and so told them so.

[mike2002]

your an idiot, let it go

f*** you ahoe

this board is full of people like you who think they know everything because so and so told them.

so shut the f*** up unless your going to actually say something to prove that sub vibrations are going to hurt an amp more then road vibrations would hurt it anyways.

i know I said I wasnt going to post back to this thread, but your so stupid that it just amuses me.

[mike2002]

Originally posted by tenny@Apr 10 2005, 10:56 AM
f*** you ahoe

this board is full of people like you who think they know everything because so and so told them.

so shut the f*** up unless your going to actually say something to prove that sub vibrations are going to hurt an amp more then road vibrations would hurt it anyways.

i know I said I wasnt going to post back to this thread, but your so stupid that it just amuses me.

Quoted post

you should probably go tell your mom that we arn't being fair

prove they dont cause vibrations

im glad i amuse you, but im sure alot of things amuse you, pretty colors, things that make noises, shinny objects and what have you

if vibrations kill electronics then how can we have them on planes, ships, huge oil drilling rigs etc, I bet they vibrate.

I mean sure a plane isnt going to vibrate as much as a sub would vibrate an amp and all, which is clearly 100 times that of the vibrations caused by the road...

You guys are talking out your butt based on what somebody told you, and that's what I find amusing.

[mike2002]

vibrations are bad no matter where they come from, planes, boats cars whatever, the point is not subject them to more vibrations than you have to.

whateva.

[Youngblood77]

Ok, if we're not gonna play nice, then we might as well not play @ all. Game Over.