Acoupower

I want to understand the amplifier which is powering my 12" sub-woofers in my car. What does the cross-over dial do and how does it effect sound in comparison with the gain switch?

cross over chooses what frequencies it will allow to be sent to the sub, it most likely has a switch to make it a ‘low frequency cut off’ or ‘high frequency cut off’ you select the latter, this will make it so the sub isn’t trying to producer high frequencies, set it around 80hz or less, play around and see what you decide.

the gain switch is sort of like a volume control.

I am trying to have a stereo, amp/subwoofer and a pair of speakers transferred from my old car to my new one, but stores like Best Buy and Audio Express are charging $250+ for such a task. Are there any other audio installation stores (preferably near Folsom) that will do this task for less?

Remember the cheapest price is not always the best value. those two shop do pretty good work. If you choose to go cheaper most likely you are going to get a substandard installation. Auto Radio Stereo on Arden also does a good job but I doubt the price is going to be all that much different.

I have a Performance Teknique DVD player in my car and the remote it came with is broken. Can you use a universal remote to program to work? I am having a hard time finding a replacement

not that I know of, most universal remotes hold programming codes for home electronics only. If you mange to find a universal remote that claims it does car audio too, then you should be able to find out the makes and models it will work for.

I am running 2 JVC Arsenal CS-AW7240 subs. They are rated at 600 watts rms. What amplifier would be a good choice for these subs.

with two 4ohm DVC subs depending on how they are wired you can end up with impedances at the amp or 1 or 4ohms and the lower the final impedance the lower the sound quality but the easier/cheaper it is to power
most CEA-compliant branded amp are not stable below 2ohms so 1ohm setups would have the amp run hot, sound distorted and more than likely it would stay in protection mode so if you do decide to go with the 1ohm setup make sure the amp you choose is stable below 2ohms

here is a wiring diagram http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/woofer_configurations.asp?Q=2&I=42#results

the amp/amps needed should have about 1200watts RMS total @ your desired final impedance and also be CEA-compliant like your subs

when it comes to car audio nine times out of ten you get what you pay for- and you need to look for CEA-compliant brands which means that the amps have been tested and produce or exceed the advertised RMS wattage with minimum distortion (distortion is the main cause of speaker damage over time)
here are the top CEA-compliant brands
Alpine
Blaupunkt
Cerwin-Vega
Clarion
Eclipse
Infinity
JBL
JL Audio
JVC
Kenwood
Kicker
MTX
Orion
Pioneer
Polk Audio
PPI
Rockford Fosgate
Sony

If you send too much power to your sub, you risk damaging it. The cone of the speaker and the mechanical parts that make it move may break under the stress. Surprisingly, too little power can also damage your subwoofer — in fact, it’s actually more common than damage caused by overpowering.
When the volume is turned up and the amp doesn’t have enough power, the signal becomes distorted, or "clipped." This distorted signal can cause parts of the speaker to overheat, warp and melt. Not good!
You don’t have to match speaker and amp wattages exactly. An amp with a higher output than the speaker’s rating won’t necessarily damage the speaker — just turn the amp down a bit if you hear distortion from the sub and don’t run the speaker at extremely loud volumes for lengthy periods. Likewise, you’ll be OK with a lower powered amp if you keep the volume down and don’t feed a distorted signal to the sub
you will send the amp into clipping
Clipping
Clipping occurs when an amplifier is asked to deliver more current to a speaker than the amp is capable of doing. When an amplifier clips, it literally cuts off the tops and bottoms of the musical waveforms that it’s trying to reproduce, thus the term. This introduces a huge amount of distortion into the output signal. Clipping can be heard as a crunching sound on musical peaks.
that causes distorted sound which will damage your subs

Imagine you are in an open field where two loudspeakers are set up and connected to the same amplifier so that they emit sound waves in phase at 688 Hz. Take the speed of sound in air to be 344 m/s.

1. What is the shortest distance "d" you need to walk forward to be at a point where you cannot hear the speakers?
Express your answers in meters to three significant figures.

It’s important to know the distance that you are from both speakers initially, which would also tell you how far the speakers apart…

I think I found the first part of your question though =P

Imagine you are in an open field where two loudspeakers are set up and connected to the same amplifier so that they emit sound waves in phase at 688 Hz. Take the speed of sound in air to be 344 m/s.

Part A
If you are 3.00 m from speaker A directly to your right and 3.50m from speaker B directly to your left, will the sound that you hear be louder than the sound you would hear if only one speaker were in use?
Yes

Part B
What is the shortest distance d you need to walk forward to be at a point where you cannot hear the speakers?

———————————————————————————–

Notice that if you walk forward, the distance from you to each speaker is the hypothenuse of a right triangle. We know that the path difference between both distances needs to create destructive interference.

Since,

I bought a in car dvd player about two weeks ago. It has been working up until about 3 days ago. Everytime i put a disk into it i get a message saying loading, then it says error.
I bought a lense cleaner, and i got the same error report.
What do you think is wrong with it?

the laser may not be lined up anymore. if this is the case, the only thing you can do is return it. it would cost more to fix than it is worth. sorry.

Where can i find car sound effects to use in my Video and the Game which im planning to make?

Try this:

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/carsoundfx.shtml

I want to convert my cigarette lighter outlet to 110AC. I have a converter but I will need at least 15amps to run a small air compressor that I want to buy. My vehicle is a 2004 Nissan truck. How many amps would be available for this vehicle? Thanks

Cars & Transportation > Car Audio

10 amps.

Have a 07 Cadillac DTS that will play a dvd when in park but not while driveing. Is there anyway around this to be able to play a dvd while driveing

The answer from "not an email address" is the best one. This is just additional information.

Only one recommended change. If you use one of the magnetic switches that are used for security systems to detect opened doors or windows - you can put one side inside your car’s dash and one side (the side without wires) on the outside. For example, you could have the wired side under the cup-holder and the other side (it is just a magnet) could be tossed into the cup holder.

You need something that will switch on and off because most parking brake systems look for the brake to be on… and then released. Simply grouding the wire (as many people suggest) would not work. By using the security switch, you have something easier to install and that has no impact on your interior trim. If you don’t like the look of the switch’s magnet you can use any that you like. Just remember that to turn on the DVD, you’ll need to remove the magnet and then replace it to make the head unit think you pulled the parking brake.

I just want to listen to music on my ipod through my car but I can’t find a good one. Its not necessary that it charges it either. I’ve got a Mazda Millenia 2001 with a radio that I don’t see straight up audio plug holes in the front either. I thought you could get ones you just plug into your cigarette lighter but cant find any. I have a tape player but prefer not to use it. What’s the best one. Oh and I don’t want to spend tons of money!

I have a Monster. I’ve really enjoyed it. It plugs into your car’s AC adapter, which I’m sure you have. I have a 1999 Honda, and that has one.
I got mine at Target.