Alright, so as i mentioned in prior threads that I am 16 and the 96 M3 i recieved has enough power with ECIS intake as is. Therefor, i have no problem throwing in a nice system that may add some weight over all, and that when i turn 18, i will be supercharging it, so power is not so far around the corner. For now, this car can take me to my limits and past given the right love. The car currently has the HK premium sound in it. Alright, he goes. Around what will be being put in the m3.

Alpine CDA 7894
Sub: 2 Brahma 12's (www.adireaudio.com) for those that want to scope them. They are big comp. for the JL 12 W7's.
Sub Amp: Orion XTR Pro 2400. Each sub will be getting 1200 watts.
Speakers: Diamond Audio S500's. WOULD THAT BE CORRECT? 5.25" components for hk system? PLEASE CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG
Speaker Amp: Us Amp 300x2 . 150 to each channel.

As you can see I will be running some really heavy power. I am currently looking for a High Output Alternator for my system and I am having next to NO luck.... ANYONE HAVE ANY HELP ON THAT REGARD? Also, someone check my speaker section of the config. Is that size right for my spots? Any and all help is needed. Thanks alot guys.

Any audio heads out there??!!!? :)

Bummed, thought there might be somoene with some expertice willing to be shared....

Well, you need capacitors at least....probably 2.0 Farad, as far as alternators go, I forget; but, I believe the newer alternators maybe 97-99 have a higher output as well. In regards to an aftermarket alternator, can't help you there. I know that with a phoenix gold 4 channel amp, a JL 500/1 -- I'm fine. I'm not pushing nearly as much power as you -- but, I don't have any problems -- I'm using 2 1.0 farad caps as well.

With that system you have -- dynaudio -- really good, REALLY expensive!....why not ditch the 7894 and go with the Alpine IVA-801, or Kenwood 911-CVT. I would also reconsider 2 brahma 12's, that will eat your entire trunk. Plus, you will need dynamat to muffle the rattling you will hear. Further, a custom box -- the wiring, etc.... unless you are doing everything yourself, that's quite a price tag on your system...

I would first make sure you have an alarm that can protect the system, avantguard 4 by clifford, or the clifford 9000 (that's the one I'm putting on)...motion/tilt sensors, mercury switches to protect hood and trunk, proximity sensor, lo-jack, LCD screen (if you go with Viper x790v (cool as hell)....etc...That's a good $1K for the alarm system....but, I believe most have a $3K reimbursement if anything is stolen...

I would personally take some of your "ICE" money and spend them on more "go" mods..or exterior mods (clear corners)...etc. You have the ECIS -- but, shark injector, perhaps UDP's, exhaust, etc.

A good system is taking the stealthboxes and slapping them in there...dynaudio, MB quart, and a good 4-channel amplifier....etc...and a good headunit. That will save you beacoup money on the amplifier, enclosure, etc. This way, you have a quality system...it sounds like you are going for SPL...EVEN WITH the dynaudio's...those brahma's will definitely drown out your imaging...I would rethink your strategy....

i agree....the bass will drown your highs and mids.

speakers wise..your right...
my 99 has 5.25 in the front, with a 2 inch and inch on the door.
what i did is disconnected the 2 inch (hard to find a speaker for it)
and just bought top notch component set.
(Infinity kappa perfect)

for the rears, i have 6x9's. get something good for the rears. maybe top of the line polks (www.polkaudio.com)

im assuming you have 6x9's in the back too. i started out like you, wanting just alot of bass. now im into sound quality. i got an alpine amp the mrvf540 which throws 82 watts rms into every speaker, and is crystal clear.
look into polk momo subs, which can take a .88 cu/ft box. or alpine type r subs, which can take a small size box as well.

as said right before me, you will need to dynamat the trunk and its MUTHA!



regarding your power, im assuming a 2.0 farad will be good.
i have a 1.0 cap and its good.
the difference before and after is like day and night. before i had the cap, on a cold start it would hesistate to start for an extra second.
now its fine. rule of thumb is to get 1.0 farad for every 1000 watts.
im running 82x4 for the inside speakers and 350 to each subwoofer. = a bit over 1000. in the future i will get another cap.

anyway..if your going with the power draining setup, id even get a bigger cap. some vendors sell 15 farad caps....
either that or a new battery (which will just wiegh you down more)

regarding the head unit, i currenty have that head unit. great choice, great quality, and matches the interior amber color.

never used diamond audio, but i heard thier great.

hope this helps.

one more thing, when buying an amp, dont be fooled by those bogus wattage claimings on the box or on their websites.
look at power at 12v, the at 14.4 volts, and RMS, and under the correct ohms.
for ex.
if you have 4 ohm speakers, look under 14.4 volts RMS, not peak, and under the 4 ohm colomn. then look under 12 volts and see the difference. my car, when on, gives off 14.2/14.1 volts, close to 14.4. so i basically get almost what the 14.4 volts rms claims.

i dont know about your amp enough, but i highly doubt that it gives off 1200 watts to each sub RMS. maybe peak. if it were 1200 WATTS rms to each sub you will set off every alarm in a 2 mile radius.

Actually the orion is a pretty high Q amp. It will infact be giving the subs 1200 watts each because its RMS power rating is 2400 x 1 @ 2 Ohm. The brahmas can take this kind of power, dont worry... They are top notch. Dont get the wrong idea, the Brahma is a 60 % SQ 40% spl sub, its is just alot of both :). They are built for these very setups. The diamonds should be able to keep up, as long as they got the amp to run em. As for as go mods, I think for a 16 year old, this m3 is fast as need be right now. As i said, the fast mods are only a year away. This will allow me to fully take this car to its current limit, and get a awesome feel for it. :buttrock ANything else ???? comeon.....

wow, 1200 watts rms!
the most i ran was a jbl bp 1200.1 to 3 polk momos...(12's..)
i was constantly hitting over 150 db at the dash. the jbl was throwing 1200 w. rms....so basically 400w rms to each sub.

you will go deaf in your car with 1200 watts to one sub.
i was like you a few years ago...now its all about imaging and sq. getting the right amount of highs, mids and bass. good luck anyway, dont forget to dynamat the sh*t out of your trunk so it wont fly off.

ya, most people here of the XTR pro 2400 and think its max, little do they know, its RMS. WOOT WOOT. It should be pretty intense, i will make sure to video tape it bumping and shit for people. Thanks alot man.

ya, most people here of the XTR pro 2400 and think its max, little do they know, its RMS. WOOT WOOT. It should be pretty intense, i will make sure to video tape it bumping and shit for people. Thanks alot man.

I guess I'll throw 2 cents in also, It seems you're worrying a little bit in the wrong areas.... 1st. given your age,car,particuliar equipment selected,and future plans it doesn't seem as though you're "pinchin pennies" so plan on investing just as much into install as equipment.. in which case put whatever size speakers you want in !! ( I easily fit Polk MOMO 6.5" all the way around )
Tell a reputable shop what you want and they'll make it work.. I have to go with NoSoup on the alarm... ( just had my alpine CVA 1003 stolen and my driver's window smashed) Now have the 7894...
As for the alternator, some disagree and like to pay out the ass for an aftermarket, but in 3 different cars I've competed with I've taken my alternator out and had it remanufactured in one day by a local auto electric shop, never cost more then $150.. I go there they look up the largest amount of output possible from the alternator housing I bring in , and the next I get it back !!!
Make some phonecalls, ( might not be chrome, but always looks new when they're done)
Good Luck !!!!!

hi everyone.....just gonna give an opinion :) dont get too hung up on capacitors.....people think the bigger the better...thats not true in MOST cases...matter of fact if your amp is a fully regulated model u dont need any cap at all.....about the alt....getting a higher output alt is great but not needed....it will suck more HP from your engine tho.....bmw alts are high output stock so i wouldnt touch it until u put the stereo in and actually see any light dimming and such....i have built large systems and have never changed an alt or needed the use of a cap....over 2000w systems in some cases....but to each his own....when researching caps do NOT let salesmen tell u foolishness....higher output caps usually have such a high ESR as to make them totally useless except to look 'cool' if your into that sort of thing....also, putting those subs in your car will add at least 100lb to the rear of the vehicle..the car WILL feel different under any type of hard cornering so put some cement bags in the trunk before u do all this and then hate how the car feels.....u might like it but i doubt it....for a lightweight alternative and all the bass any mids and highs in that car will be able to keep up with i would get a pair of stealthboxes and use hi powered amps on them...they get too loud to stay in the car in my opinion when u power them and thats clean low bass....but i am not sure what u are trying to accomplish except maybe to get the bass loud outside the car? if not then stealthboxes are the way to go in my opinion.....
Kevin

Why not get a Class D amp that won't draw as much power. I don't know why anyone needs 2400 watts and 2 Brahamas. My buddies W7 with 1200 watts is already too loud to listen to. You get a headache, but what ever floats your boat.

If you want a good cap, then get one of those 15 Farad ones. Most 2F caps don't perform any better than a 1F. Good luck... with your ear drums. Kids these days...

aus....actually your mistaken....the 15F cap is the one i was really refering to when i said its a waste of time....Richard Clark of Autosound 2000 did a test on said 15F cap and the ESR is so large that the cap is useless....the rule of thumb is to use 1F per 1000w of power output....lets not get caught up on caps...they are a bandaid and it has NEVER been proven that u hear any difference whatsoever by using a cap...RC will bet u good money to prove that u can hear a difference if anyone wants to try....and with little systems like we can fit in our bimmers needing a cap for SPL and such will never be an issue..caps are used as a money maker for audio companies...most of the caps are the usual blue ones u find at parts express, etc. or $20 and rebadged and have pretty electronic readouts on the top which do nothing unless u drive the car from the trunk...the best place for a cap is near the headlights since what we really wanna do is stop the light dimming that we sometimes get and the resistance of the power wire makes it useless when mounted in the trunk...since we cant hear a difference then putting them near to the amps its a 'looks' thing..spend your money on something else...i agree on using a class D amp....the JBl1200.1 i believe is class D.....and its an underrated amp....and relatively inexpensive.......
Kevin

I'll take your word on it Kevin. I just remember a review of the PG 15F cap a couple years ago by one of the car mag's that just raved about it. Oh well, I'd never spend the money on one. I agree that most caps are not worth while.

I had a 1 farad cap in my last system and it seemed like the lights still dimmed a bit, but not quite as much. Now I am only running about 150 Watts in my current setup and the lights still dim a bit. It is bearable, so unless your dim very bad, then don't worry about the cap.

to minimize the dimming issue put hi temp caps in the engine compartment near to the battery (the caps u buy for audio which are rebranded are rarely if ever rated for hi-temp usage)..also if your lights are dimming with such little wattage i would check your battery gorund strap and the wiring from the Alt to the battery...its probably either too small or not bolted on well or old....putting a BIGGER ground strap on the car will also help dimming assuming the power draw of your amps is not too much...under a few hundred watts...the reason is simple...the smaller the wire to the trunk means the more resistance it will have...with more resistance u have means the more current needed to pass through the wire to maintain whatever power output your amp is trying to achieve because your amp is still gonna try and put out the same amount of power no matter what the voltage is...the tradeoff..the current must come from somewhere...well, if u have more current draw from the alt+battery then u will have more of a voltage drop when u have bass beats, etc...hence u will have more pronounced dimming....
Kevin

regarding the whole capacitor issue....

when i hooked up my system in my m3, i initially had no cap. on cold starts, my car would hesitate to start up like usual...it would take it an extra second or two...
why? i have no idea.
lights...were dimming when the bass came in. (back then i had 2 mtx 8000 subs powered by 750 total rms watts, class d mtx amp)
i purchased a lighting audio 1 farad cap (the digital one).
ever since, lights dim alot less, and most important, never ever had that startup problem again, which was frequent before the capacitor.

anyways..this is the second car that this lighting audio capacitor helped out. (freind has a montero truck, with 2 15's and a jbl bp 1200.1)

i cant speak for caps in general, all ill tell you is if you want 1F cap, get a lighting audio capacitor. ( i purchased it off ebay).

All my setup is stock. Since the battery is in the trunk, replacing the power cable between the battery and atl. would be a BITCH of an ordeal. I will check the ground strap to the battery though. My lights always seem to dim more when it is cold out. Cold weather messes with batteries. It is not as bad when it is warm out, actually the 150 watts on the amp don't do anything to the lights when it is warm. Only when it gets cold out. It has been under 30 Degrees for a couple of weeks now in Columbus, OH.

wow....stock setup and still having dimming...i havent seen that happen but then again i am in a warmer climate and it is possible your battery is on its last leg...have u put a voltmeter in the car up front so u can monitor the electrical system while u have lights on, etc.?
Kevin