Ignorance.....

last night I am at my buddy's house jammin out in the garage (he has a studio in the back half, we are working on originals) and then as I am about to leave, I am in the house talking to his son (19), he starts talkin bout car audio...When I start into the conversation he stops and says "wow, sounds like you know a lot about car stereo"......I told him about how I love all audio and have been into car audio even before I had a car.....

Now, he is telling me about his buddy is selling an amp that he would like to buy but does not have the money at the moment....I tell him about the system in my truck and my plans to upgrade (work in progress)......We go out to my truck and I fire it up and let him listen...I show him some of the cool features on the HU....He sees HPF on the display and asks what that is...I tell him.....He sees LPF on the display and asks, I explain....Then he sees non-fading and again, asks, I explain......

Then he starts telling me about being disappointed about the sounds in his car. He bought two subs off of his friend...in his friends car, he said they were killer, but in his car they do not hit hard....Says he put them into two pre-made boxes and his buddy had them in one box.....his buddy also had a different amp running them.....I told him that the wrong box can make the best sub sound like crap.....He starts asking me about bridging...He said one can bridge, but not the other....I said "are you talking about the subs?" figuring maybe he had one SVC and one DVC....He said "no...the amp"....So I told him lets go check it out....his car has a blown engine right now, but still has battery power....During our conversation this whole time, he is telling me that he don't know nuthin bout car audio, not amps, not HU, boxes, NOTHIN.

So I have him turn on the system and pop the trunk....First thing I see....The ground wire for the amp is attatched to the bolt for the hinge on the trunk lid (so it goes up and down when you open and close the trunk) I tell him that this is a no-no.....Why he asks....I said "well the trunk lid hinge moves, it is NOT solidly attached to anything....IT IS A HINGE!!!......I pull up the carpet on the side and show him the strut tower....Right there is a good place...Drill a hole, scrape the paint and put a nut and bolt in it.....And I tell him he can also get rid of the extra 4' of cable that is not needed (8 ga.)......I ask him where do you access the amp and he "loosens" it up for me....Now get this..The amp is a legacy and on top it has a big blue neon light that lights when the amp is on....He has it sitting in the middle, up on end with a wire going around the top to keep it in that position....On the inside of the car, there is that center part of the rear seats that folds down so you can put long things in the trunk like ski's......He wants his amp in that position cause when he cruises at night, he opens that up and gets that "cool" look in the back seat from the blue neon.....

The boxes are sitting in the trunk, and I would bet they are too small....The subs are some type of MTX.....Boxes are not mounted to anything and the amp is basically balancing on end held in place with a wire....In the trunk I also see a few different wires laying....he says they are unused and just sittin there.....So I did not have a flashlight with me and his is about as bright as a freshly blown out candle.....I can't really get to the amp cause I would have to climb into the trunk and lay on my back...it is cold out here and my instinct tells me that all this stuff should be pulled out and redone the correct way.....So I sit and listen and the subs are not very loud....The one on the right side is barely moving and the one on the left side seems to be functioning correct....I can touch the drivers and verify this....I tell him that and he checks to see if the wires are connected on the back of the box...yep....connected......I tell him...You know what...when you get the motor all fixed and car is runnin (I may go help my buddy do the job) I will come back and we can straighten this out.....I told him something aint connected or set up right....He says "I know everything is connected like it should be...maybe the one sub is blown" I told him possible but I did not think so.....I sit there and scratch my head thinking to myself...."this kid has told me countless times that he knows nothing about car audio...he don't know what high-pass or lo-pass or non fading preout is....He tells me about all these different numbers on his head unit (some model of pioneer...looks like a nice one)....so how the hell would he even know how it should be wired, connected, set, gains, bridging, impedence, cu ft. , etc.......

Then he says "oh wait a minute, when I turn on the HPF thing, the sub usually plays louder" So he does something on the HU and now the left sub is damn near over excursioning to where it makes weird noise....still not much from the other sub. I tell him, leave it alone untill I can come back and straighten it out for you.....He said "cool"......he tells me that he wants to hear it better outside of the car...he tells me that he really don't care about how it sounds in the car....he names off some street and says he wants to be able to be heard from that distance.....He again says he really don't care about how it sounds in the car.....

So what am I thinking I want to do with this kid??? No not call him stupid and walk away.....I would love to spend an afternoon with him and this car and pull everything out, correctly wire and mount and set this system up for him to get what he wants out of it, but do it correctly.....But in the end I think what he really wants is the "cool" blue light to shine in the back seat and the subs to go "boom...boom..." driving down the road......

It simply amazes me that all he wants is the "noise" from the subs.....I listen to music cause I love music....Been a muscian from the age of 10....Anything to do with listening, recording, connecting, etc...In ANY type of audio format. I just love it.....To me it is about the sounds....Getting the best sound I can with the means I have so I can enjoy the music and try to accurately reproduce (or produce) it.....I love audio systems, because I love music.....

Willy

 

I think his younger brother (15) probably hooked it up.....He is a pretty smart kid, just not educated in that area (the younger one)....but I bet if I told the younger one all the things about the connections and the "right" way...he would take it to heart and learn that, remember it next time....

The comment about "hey I really don't care what it sounds like on the inside, as long as you can hear me comin from 1/4 mile away"

To me it's like saying...I don't care what my home stereo sounds like as long as I can hear it over at the neighbors house.....Or saying I don't care what my big screen TV looks like sitting in the room as long as I can go half way down the block and see my TV through the window.....

Just funny....to me audio is supposed to sound good when you listen to it in that room/car/whatever....

Willy

 

One way I try to show a difference is to play a tune with bass guitar that is steady and kick drum that is kicking ass.....Then I tell the person "listen...can you hear the distinct difference in the bass guitar and kick drum??" I have learned lots by doing some recording (multi track, band stuff....) and I know how hard it is to get all the instruments to sit in the mix and still have their own sounds be defined...Kick drum and bass guitar both live down in the same frequency range.....and.......A good sub with a good set-up can show you both of those.......Now if you take a rap-type of set-up that is designed (I use that term loosely....the designer is usually some person who just wants boom-boom) and it makes everything sound like it is a continuous flow of bass tone.....no definition.....yeah its loud as hell, but sounds like hell....

One such recording I just stumbled on that shows this very well....

The band is Jackl.....Any song you pick out of "I stand alone", "Dirty little mind", or "Down on me"....You will hear these distinct sounds.....I let the person hear it in my truck, pointing out the differences.....then we pop it out and put it in their system......It all sounds like one big bass fart.....but yeah you always get the "I don't listen to that style music" or "yeah but mine is louder"

Whatever....

Willy

 

many years ago, one of my cousins had a mazda....and in it was his "system" I cannot remember any of the brands but he had a HU and EQ in the dash....Every slider on the EQ was at max (hell he might have even taken a die grinder and cut the slider valleys to push the knobs just a hair farther up...ha ha ha)....In the back seat was a piece of plywood....mounted on that plywood was probably 4 sets of speakers.......Plywood was just laying in the seat......classy!!!!!!!....he raved about how "loud" it was......

Willy

 

My cousin had the Mazda....

The car with the blown motor is a Grand Prix.....Now the story behind that???

My buddy bought the car (fairly clean) for $400.00 and the motor was knocking bad....This kid had a beater corsica but the motor still ran good...so.
my buddy swapped motors...It is a 3.1....very good motor...I had a Cutlass with that motor....very quick.....anyway.....this motor has quite a few miles on it....The kid takes it out and beats it...thinkin he has a hot rod....Runs it till he throws a rod....Now he is upset cause he is without wheels (this kid lives with my buddy and his wife, along with his pregnant girlfriend) for the longest time, neither of them worked....he wants stuff handed to him and then when he gets a break....he abuses and beats it....breaks it, then cries like a candy-ass.....IGNORANT!!!!

My buddy wants to set him out on his ass, but his wife is a softy....so the kid lives there and sponges....sticking his hand out...

Willy

 

presently have 3 kits....

Mapex micro pro....10,12,14 toms...18x20 kick....5x13 wood snare....Toms are very shallow, the 14 is only 7 inches deep...

Pearl Export Select...

10,12,14 toms (regular depth)....18x22 kick....5x14 snare


Yamaha Beech custom....

6, 8 concert toms (old pearls I had..painted to match the yamaha kit)
10,12,13 power toms....16 floor tom.....16x22 kick.....6.5x14 nickle plated brass with 24 k gold lugs & rims....

Cymbals.....8" orion splash (not kidding Viking)....10" Paiste Signature (I have had it for 5 years and I pound it)...13" Zildjian "A" mastersound hats....14" Zildjian "A" rock hats....16" Zildjian "A" thin crash....16" Zildjian "A" med/thin crash....Paiste 2002 18" crash.....Paiste 2002 20" crash....22" Zildjian "A" med ride....

Hats I have had....
14" Zildjian "A" new beats....13" Zildjian "A" new beats....14" Zildjian "A" quick beats....14" Paiste Sound edge sig....13" Paiste 402....14" Paiste 502...Sabian 13" AAX fusion hats...

Snares I have had
1960 ludwig 5x14 brass....1963 Ludwig wood 5x14......yamaha Beech custom 6.5x14....Tama Starclassic maple 6.5x14....Pearl 5x14 chrome....Pearl Chad Smith Sig series 5x14 steel....

I love drums......

Willy