Old School Stereo: bass

Showing posts with label bass. Show all posts

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Watch BigDWiz interview Mark @ CarAudioFabrication!

BigDWiz Interviews Mark at CarAudioFabrication

Check out this detailed interview of the man behind CarAudioFabrication!

The video is over an hour and a half chocked full of interesting content and insight behind the man who tells the "secrets" of car audio. Be sure to check the information below the embedded video...you'll be able to jump to a specific question in the interview. I wish everyone would, but doubt most people will watch the entire 1 hr and 38 minute interview, so to make it easier, I added links to the exact point of the video for each question I asked Mark.

We discuss everything from where to buy fiberglass material to what we think about Steve Meade's success! I had a great time interviewing Mark and think you guys will enjoy watching the archive.

Check out Mark's Website:
http://www.caraudiofabrication.com
And the Car Audio Fabrication YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/CarAudioFabrication

Watch the entire 1 hour and 38 minute video on YouTube
or embedded below:
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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Old School Mini Truck System Orion HCCA XTR Wow

1990 Mazda B2200 Custom Mini Truck "Fantastic Voyage"

Lowered mini trucks are the epitome of old school car audio. If you were into the car scene in the early to mid 1990's, you know these trucks. Lowered, crazy paint jobs, wire wheels and of course boomin' stereo systems! Here we have a demo of the 1990 Mazda B2200 nicknamed "Fantastic Voyage" owned by Jason Williams. What a true time machine! See the truck as it was created in the mid 1990's! Stereo is classic old school including:

Alpine CDM-7823 Head Unit
Alpine CHM-S600 6 disc CD Changer
Audio Control 3XS Electronic Crossover
(2) Orion 225 HCCA Digital Reference Amplifiers
(4) Orion XTR 15 DVC Ferrofluid Injected Subwoofers
(4) Soundstream SS 5.0 midranges
(2) Soundstream SS 1.0 tweeters
Sega Genesis Game system with optional CD-ROM drive
4.3" Color TV

A very impressive facet of this truck is the fact the Orion 225 HCCA amplifiers are rated at 50 watts each. That's right, 25 watts per channel at 4 ohms. The 225 HCCA is an example of the classic "cheater" amp meaning it was capable of MUCH more power at lower ohm loads. The 225 sub amp for example, is loaded down to 1/2 ohm mono and putting out over 500 watts! I know, 500 watts is not much by today's standards, but watch to see what it can do with the ultra-efficient XTR 15 DVC subs!

100 Watt Old School System with Orion 225 HCCA Amps and (4) XTR 15" Subs

The 1990 Mazda B2200 sports a custom peach paint job that really makes is stand out in a crowd. The truck also has some original Dayton 15" wire wheels with the classic 195/50/15 Dunlop radials. The stance is lowered 3" via lowered control arms and sits nice and low, yet still able to traverse speed bumps without scraping. The rear has one leaf removed and air shocks.

1990's mini trucks often times used "themes" for their presentation. Another famous mini truck was "Ladie's Choice" which sported a convertible hard top and a bed full of PPI 2350DM amplifiers. These themes helped differentiate the trucks while also assisting in the displays. Jason's truck sports Care Bears as the interior theme and also displays a couple of his many magazine features. This 1990 Mazda had the center spread in the December 1995 Mini Truckin' magazine! The most impressive part is the truck is almost exactly as was back in 1995! A true time machine!!

Jason sends a personal thanks to William Wilson of Hickory, NC who actually built the truck back in 1994. He also did a great job of preserving the Mazda for 17 years until Jason decided he needed to put it back on the show scene! Great job with the truck, William!!

Back Side View of the 1990 Mazda B2200 Custom Mini Truck

Big thanks to Jason for the demo! If you are at a car show in the NC/SC/VA/TN area and see Jason's Mazda, make sure to stop by and chat with him and get a demo of this amazing system. It is impossible to capture the full experience via video, but we try our best here at OldSchoolStereo!!

See the full 10 minute plus video of Jason's truck and even get a demo of the 100 watt (yeah, right) sound system:

Watch on YouTube in full 1080P HD or embedded below:

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Thanks to Jason for taking the time to show and demo his truck! If you'd like to write and article or make a video of your old school install, contact me through Facebook and let me know.

Make sure to Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to stay updated of my latest videos. You can also follow me on Twitter @oldschoolstereo. Also be sure to like us on Facebook. Keep it Old School!!

-BigDWiz

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Old School Soundstream MC500 Car Audio Amplifier

You guys know I like the old school "monster" amps, and I recently came across a rare beast indeed...a Soundstream MC500 from the late 1980's. The MC500 was part of the original "monster amp test" held by Car Stereo Review back in 1989. Here are the specs of the MC500:

Four Channel Amp rated at 125 watts x 4 channels
Bridgeable for 2 or 3 channel operation delivering up to 250 watts x 2 channels
LSE - Linear Subwoofer Extension with adjustable frequency for added low end impact
No built-in crossovers
2 ohm stereo / 4 ohm mono stable
Dual 30A fuses for power
Up to 70A current draw at maximum output

1989 Soundstream MC500 Amplifier

The MC500 was one of the few amps in 1989 to have integrated terminal connectors. The power, ground and speaker terminals can accept up to 8GA wire. The RCA jacks are gold plated and very high quality. The dual 30A fuses are inserted just beside the power terminals.

Soundstream MC500 Amplifier - Power Connectors

The Soundstream MC500 was available for a short period of time around the 1989/1990 time frame. From what I've been told by Soundstream experts, this amp was one of the few Soundstream powder coated. Most of their other amps at this time (D series and Class A) were anodized aluminum. Many of the first batch of MC500's had extreme paint flaking issues and had to be recalled. The next run of amps had a better coating, but based on the U.S. MSRP of $1295, not many of these amps were sold.

Unlike many of the other Soundstream high-end amps at the time, this one was not touted as "Class A". That said, the MC series (MC500, MC300, MC245 and MC140) were well regarded for their sound quality and flexibility. Yes, at the time, 500 watts was considered BIG power!

Soundstream MC500 guts - Nice!

Amp output tests coming soon...just waiting for the NC weather to cool a little. Maybe one day my labs will be climate controlled! Enjoy the video overview below. Output test coming in the future.

See my video overview of the Soundstream MC500 below.

Make sure to Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to stay updated of my latest videos. You can also follow me on Twitter @oldschoolstereo.

Watch the video on YouTube in 1080P or embedded below:

Sunday, May 13, 2012

OldSchoolStereo.com Updates - May 2012

Thanks to everyone who visits the website, leaves comments, sends emails and subscribes to my YouTube Channel! The past several months have been extremely busy in my personal life and I haven't had the time to dedicate to the website. I hope you understand this is still a passion of mine, just had to take the back burner for a while. I'm hoping to be back in full force in the upcoming months and have TONS of planned videos, demos, tutorials and other goodies. In the meantime, anyone who has pictures of old school installs (they have taken or have rights to) or do any videos on old school car audio, please let me know and I'll be glad to link to them from here. You can reach me at oldschoolstereo (at] gmail dot com. It may take me a few days to get back with you, so please be patient.

As many of you know, I've been talking about the 1990's 25x2 cheater amps for almost a year now. Well, I recently came across two new additions for the shootout and will hopefully have time to test them soon. I actually have an unboxing video and will post below for one of the amps...MTX Thunder 225 HO. It is rated at 25x2 at 4ohms, but has 90A, yes 90A worth of fusing!!! The epitome of cheater amp status! It may be the amp to beat in the group, we'll see...

MTX Thunder 2300 (left) and MTX Thunder 225 HO (right)

See the video of me unboxing the MTX Thunder 225 HO and comparing it physically to the earlier generation Thunder 2300:

I also recently found a really neat Rockford Fosgate LED sign for the OldSchoolStereo labs. You can see it in the background of the MTX amps above, but also below in an unboxing video:

Thanks as always for visiting OldSchoolStereo.com and please bookmark this page and sign up on the right side of the page for email alerts when a new article is posted. I look forward to your participation in the forums and keep it Old School!

-BigD

Friday, March 9, 2012

Dragster DH 1804 1.2kW Car Audio Amplifier

Dragster DH 1804 1.2kW Amp vs. Orion XTR 2250 "The Beast"

I recently picked up an Italian made amplifier from Dragster, called the "DH 1804" or "1.2kW" amplifier. This amp is a 4 channel model rated at 180 watts x 4 channels at 4 ohms and 300 watts x 4 channels at 2 ohms or bridged at 600 watts x 2 (giving you the 1,200 or 1.2kW of power). Dragster also offered a 2 channel version of the amp, called the DH 1802. Ratings are 360 watts x 2 at 4 ohms, 600 x 2 at 2 ohms or 1200 watts bridged at 4 ohms.

As you can see by the comparison above, the DH 1804 makes the Orion "Beast" look not so beastly...The Dragster is about 5 inches longer and 3 inches wider than the Orion. All connections are made via terminal strips and there are dual connections for power/ground. The DH 1804 is beautifully constructed of aluminum and partly chrome plated and partly powder-coated a bright, candy red.

Unfortunately for me, the seller I purchased the amp from shipped it with virtually NO packing material. The amp took a beating during transit, had the mounting tabs and a few fins bent. Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper! Anyone who sells a car amp listen....pack an amp VERY carefully when shipping. If you haven't worked at UPS or FedEx (or any other shipping/receiving company) unloading and loading trucks, you have no idea how much the package goes through before it's delivered to the destination.

Continuing with the amp itself, there is very little information available online about this 1.2kW amp. A quick "all language" search with Google helps as this amp appears to be very popular outside of the USA. Since it was made in Italy, I can only think of well-made exotic cars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini. Thanks to Google Translate, I was able to retrieve the following specifications:

The Dragster brand from Italy is known for very good sounding amps. Excellent workmanship combined with a stylish design are just a figurehead of this high-end manufacturer, this power comes in all walks of life up to the top model DH 1804, with impressive values.

PWM MOSFET power supplies
Variable Crossovers
RedRubin aluminum heat sink
High-quality epoxy circuit boards
2 ohm stable stereo
Sealed potentiometers
Teflon-plated RCA connectors
High Speed HEXFET audio outputs

4 x 180 / 300 watts RMS at 4 / 2 Ohms
2 x 600 watts RMS into 4 ohms
variable 50-500Hz HP / LP filter for Front & Rear
Distortion 0.05% Signal-to> 103 dB

Dimensions: 740 x 55 x 245 mm

Dragster DH 1804 vs. HiFonics Zeus VII

Make sure to Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to stay updated of my latest videos. You can also follow me on Twitter @oldschoolstereo.

Dragster Demo Vehicle equipped with DH 1804 Amplifier

See the video on YouTube in 1080p HD or embedded below:

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