MECA World Finals 2008

MacLeod

Always the bride's maid. Yes, thats right - I finished 2nd.....again. I know what youre thinking, "damn, cant you ever win?" but 3 consecutive 2nd place finishes is actually pretty good. This year was the most competitive year yet and I figured I had at best a 3rd maybe 4th. One of the judges got in and CRANKED the volume. I mean he listened with the volume at 34/35! Made me cringe and I just knew it would kill me cause I tune at a volume of 23-25 and those door panels get awful noisey at anything much over 30 but the Polks held together well enough that it didnt hurt me.

The guy who beat me is the guy whos been smacking me around for 2 years now, Kirk Proffitt. He is one of the best in the world and won not only his 4th consecutive world championship this year but also won a world championship in the 2 seat class in a car using stock speaker locations! Thats just insane. The best part is that he beat me by only 1/2 a point! To get that close to one of the best guys in the world is something Im DAMN proud of!

My favorite car there was Steve Cook. Steve is a legend in SPL and holds about a half dozen world records many of which are still standing. He came over to the SQ side this year and built a beautiful Avalanche with about 20,000 watts! A pair of Incriminator Audio 18's getting 10,000 watts each. Yes, 10,000 watts each! This thing will do nearly 155 db at the headrest at 30 Hz!!!!!! Best of all, it sounds great too! The high part of the show was when he had "You dropped the bomb on me" playing in it at about 130 db. It was like a ride at Disney Land. People would jump in and listen then jump out for the next one and they were lined up. It was awesome!

The Polk SR's did awesome and proved once again they can tangle with the most expensive speakers out there and more than hold their own. In my class were Dynaudio, Hertz, Audio Technology, Alpine PDX and Zapco and the humble Polk SR's and PA amps came within 1/2 a point of winning the whole shebang. Not too shabby for some lowly Circuit City speakers.

I cant wait til next year. Ive already got a lot of ideas Im wanting to try. Maybe something along the lines of an aperiodic enclosure for the SR's. I cant wait!

I didnt get any pictures because Im a lazy bastid but others did so Im gonna wait til they get theirs up and steal them. Ill post them up as soon as I find them.

tk421

congrats man. for 1 - competing. and 2 - for winning second place.

tk421

MacLeod wrote: »

Kirk Proffitt. He is one of the best in the world and won not only his 4th consecutive world championship this year but also won a world championship in the 2 seat class in a car using stock speaker locations! Thats just insane.

for real! how the heck can he do that? my stock locations could never do that.

are they angled? they can't be time aligned if it's 2-seat, right?

MacLeod

You can use time alignment but it will be different than youre 1 seat setting. Generally one side will be just a little left of center while the other side will be way right center but if you get the tonality great, the left and right stage good and you keep the center focused, you wont get docked that many points for having an off center image. It aint easy but Kirk is a great tuner that has been doing this since the 90's and he's got several thousand dollars worth of Zapco gear and processing. Ya got the tools, ya got the talent, ya get the results.

Toxis

congrats man! Great to hear. Well, read at least. Wish I could hear the ol' ride but you're too far away. lol

only126db

Congrats.....

Looks like Zapco was out in force and put in some work in the SQL.

Kinetic

woow men, you are already a legend, and come on, for us you are the number 1, and you know it.

I also want to compete here in mexico, with my SRs, but MECA is no longer here, so im going to go with IASCA, and just to prove that polk can do it, this would be my first time and last. but i just want to prove a point. (here all the SQL have more than 2 speakers)

black magic

Gongrats... Glad to hear of another great success story. 1/2 a point away from being world champ sounds pretty impressive to me!

MacLeod

Found a couple videos.

This is an SPL'er playing around. "The Old Double Hair Trick."

Several other videos on that page as well from the SPL lanes.

Here are a few pics Ive found off various sites. Not too many photographers in the SQ lanes apparently. Oh well, got some cool SPL setups tho.

Steve Cook's Avalanche. This is the one from the mutli world record holder that hits 153 DB at 30 Hz and sounds great too!

















My personal favorite. Me getting my 5 foot trophy!



If I run across any other cool pics Ill throw them up here as well.

black magic

Thanks for sharing the pics...

MacLeod wrote: »

I wonder if this amp ever over heats when the rack is tucked in.

tk421

^^ no.. he will have fans installed

exalted512

My setup is going to be the same way. Fortunately, my amps dont get very hot at 0% gain Plus, I will have an intake and exhaust fan, I'm sure he has something similar.

Congrats Macleod! Don't know how I missed this thread. You need to get an alarm on your car installed if you dont have one already, $150 for a basic alarm can potentially save you hundreds of dollars and a lot of heartache.
-Cody

MacLeod

Yeah I do need one but I spend all my spare cash on hitting shows. My first show of next season probably wont be until February so Ive got some time to save some but Im going to tinker around with my install some and try some new things.

audiobliss

Wow, I missed this, too. But that is awesome! Congrats!

only126db

MacLeod where did you lose points @ compared to 1st place?

Jstas

That's one hell of a port!



And that's one ghetto voltage meter rig and if those are power distribution blocks...yeah. If it works, great but I don't know how that could be efficient. He must get a ton of cabin gain.


And this guy:



Rockin' the Parts Expresse flared port tubes! I love those tubes! All the power of a slot loaded port but need 30% less space.

MacLeod

Yeah those SPL setups aint pretty but they sure do slam. All those guys are in the 150's at the headrest which is maybe 160's in DB Drag or USACi.

only126db wrote: »

MacLeod where did you lose points @ compared to 1st place?

My main problem was in sub bass. While 2 judges scored it high, the 3rd thought it was a little too heavy and unrealistic so he docked me in sub bass but also in linearity and dynamics. I actually agree with him. I have a tendency to think more bass is better bass and while Im getting better at it, all it takes is one picky judge that wants total realism, and Ill get nailed and rightfully so. It has to be accurate and sound just like a guy with a stand up bass guitar is playing on my dash.

Another snag was the high frequencies. Im having trouble getting my left tweeter to blend with everything else so its kinda **** the highs up. Not anything major - Im still scoring in the 8's but if I want to play with the big dawgs, Im gonna have to get that up to about 9.

Imaging wise, Im pretty close. Ive got really good width and a pretty strong center. If I can clean it up a little more, smooth out the sub and get the tweeters are working together I think I might have a little something.

I also need to do some more deadening. While I sound good at moderate volumes, you crank it up really good and my trim panels start singing the blues!

thumpin07

Great job mac keep up the good work

only126db

MacLeod wrote: »

Yeah those SPL setups aint pretty but they sure do slam. All those guys are in the 150's at the headrest which is maybe 160's in DB Drag or USACi.




My main problem was in sub bass. While 2 judges scored it high, the 3rd thought it was a little too heavy and unrealistic so he docked me in sub bass but also in linearity and dynamics. I actually agree with him. I have a tendency to think more bass is better bass and while Im getting better at it, all it takes is one picky judge that wants total realism, and Ill get nailed and rightfully so. It has to be accurate and sound just like a guy with a stand up bass guitar is playing on my dash.

Another snag was the high frequencies. Im having trouble getting my left tweeter to blend with everything else so its kinda **** the highs up. Not anything major - Im still scoring in the 8's but if I want to play with the big dawgs, Im gonna have to get that up to about 9.

Imaging wise, Im pretty close. Ive got really good width and a pretty strong center. If I can clean it up a little more, smooth out the sub and get the tweeters are working together I think I might have a little something.

I also need to do some more deadening. While I sound good at moderate volumes, you crank it up really good and my trim panels start singing the blues!

What processor/processors do you use?

Jstas

MacLeod wrote: »

My main problem was in sub bass. While 2 judges scored it high, the 3rd thought it was a little too heavy and unrealistic so he docked me in sub bass but also in linearity and dynamics. I actually agree with him. I have a tendency to think more bass is better bass and while Im getting better at it, all it takes is one picky judge that wants total realism, and Ill get nailed and rightfully so. It has to be accurate and sound just like a guy with a stand up bass guitar is playing on my dash.

What's your crossover point for the sub and the full range speakers? Do you know what your frequency response falloff rate is?

It's been my experience that while you want to keep your sub crossed over as low as possible, if your full range speakers don't dig all that deep, say to 45 Hz, and you cross over your sub at 50 Hz, your frequency falloff might be too rapid and you get a dip that is just large enough to notice but not be able to pinpoint. Usually if you go up to 55 Hz or 60 Hz on the sub, for example, you don't hurt your performance that much and you can get rid of that dip that takes away the "realistic" aspect.

MacLeod

My sub is cut off at 40 Hz at 30 db/octave and my mids are also cut off at 40 Hz @ 30 db/octave.

The SR6500 mids will get down to 40 with no problem at all so it wasnt so much a problem with that it was just that I had the overall all 40-63 Hz range a little too hot. I personally like it better this way as it will fatten up kick drums really well but it makes a stand up bass which is used in jazz a ton too boomy and unrealistic.

The MECA SQ disc has a TON of stand up bass tracks and only 2 tracks with kick drums and thats actually ok with me as its a lot harder to accurately reproduce a stand up bass IMO. The most realistic setting is with the mid cut off at 63 Hz @ 24 db/oct but it makes the drum tracks too thin so Im going to have to find that happy medium.

The 40 Hz cutoff point for the sub is just right. Since the SR mids can play down so low I want to keep as much coming from the front as possible and getting the sub any higher than 45 and you can start to localize it.

Im using the Alpine H700 processor. Its the same thing as the 701 other than some display features.

rdb2001

I just wanted to say congradulations and to ask what type of box are you using for your subs.

MacLeod

Thanks!

Im using the box Polk recommends - 1.25 ft3. Actually it came out to 1.27 ft3 but close enough.

Works like a charm. Lets the SR124 play very flat all the way down to 20 Hz. So much so that my sub EQ is set to flat all the way across.

only126db

MacLeod wrote: »

Thanks!

Im using the box Polk recommends - 1.25 ft3. Actually it came out to 1.27 ft3 but close enough.

Works like a charm. Lets the SR124 play very flat all the way down to 20 Hz. So much so that my sub EQ is set to flat all the way across.

You said your 40-63 hz was "too hot", I wonder if you bumped up the box size another .05 - .08 cu ft if that would tone down that area?

exalted512

From the little I've played with the sub, on my RTA, increasing the box size would bring a spike in the 40-55 Hz area, and start to tone everything above that down. We ended up making the box at 1.2 cubic feet, but every car is different.
-Cody

MacLeod

The problem is in my mids. Its an easy fix, simply massaging those frequencies on the EQ some. Its just a matter of finding that perfect blend of plenty of energy without being too overbearing and still sounding realistic.

thumpin07

hey mac ive got a question, What do you think bout jbl's car audio speakers, are they any good.

MacLeod

I think they can be. Gary Biggs won a bushel of SQ world championships with them. However I dont know personally anybody that is currently using JBL for anything other than subs in the SQ lanes.

I think so long as you start out with a quality set of speakers, their potential is limited by the tuner.

only126db

thumpin07 wrote: »

hey mac ive got a question, What do you think bout jbl's car audio speakers, are they any good.

http://manuals.harman.com/articlefiles/JBL/CAR/JBL%20MS8%20and%20Team%20JBL%20at%202007%20Spring%20Break%20Nationals.pdf