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Have any of you cool cats done this? Is it a dumb ass idea....if yes, why? If no, why? I'm trying to think of ways to mount one of my amps to keep it clean and out of the way but that's hard given how large they both are/will be. If i go with the zapco it's somewhere in the 21-25 inch range in length. If i upgrade to the bonkers 5k wolfram that one is in the 20s as well.
My initial thought is heat rises and all that jazz but are there other factors as well?
Primarily just making sure it's able to vent the heat properly. That's pretty much just heatsink dependent - those big beauties you mentioned tend to have the fins on the sides, should still be able to cool efficiently.
Good to hear. I'd like the trunk to look super clean...to the point that all you see inside the trunk is the subs staring at you. My rear deck is pretty massive too so that may or may not help.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0...1fc87~mv2.webp
https://www.wolframaudio.com/collect...34894145978535
No doubt. Glenn on here inverted his Ground Zero sub amp in a Scion xB and that was killer. Had it front to back with the plexi bottom so all them beautiful electronics were on display. Was very nice.
ooohhhh that's what I'm talking about. Thanks for the insight chithead.
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Originally Posted by chithead
No issue. I had my old Alpine MRV amps under the rear deck (upside down) and my Arc KS replaced those in the same configuration. Never had a problem with either.
Good to hear, thanks for sharing that. I guess I can't do anything but go with it and see how things work out.
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Originally Posted by Notloudenuf
I had a Soundstream Ref amp, which are notorious for running warm, mounted upside down for years and never had issues. As mentioned before as long as you leave enough room for cooling you should be fine.
Attachment 14582Attachment 14583
It's not a dumb idea. I did a headliner years back that was the amp rack. It's fine. Even for amps that get hot. Their heatsinks will still do what they are supposed to do. No fans required (unless you are truly enclosing the amps).
It just doesn't sound right - "heat rises" and all that. You'll see people even criticizing mounting them on a wall, vertically - even though that's the BEST way to mount an amp, because the rising heat actually creates an updraft - at least in theory. Trunks can get pretty hot in the summer. :lol:
It also depends on how hard you're planning on running it. If you're going to run full blast with a 1 ohm load, it might go into protect sooner than if mounted another way. But for the average user, you should be fine.
If you mount the amplifier upside down, but the woofers are rightside up, would you have a reverse phase?
:p
EDIT: (thought it would generate a preview)
Answer: you will have this phase:
https://youtu.be/ebuSVeTogSs
:lol:
Depends on how far away your amps are from the speakers. Or more importantly. If your wires are the same length.Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Zazzi
Yeah that looks nice. I appreciate you sharing.
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Originally Posted by TheTodd
Yeah Al, I was thinking about that too....only because I do like to get down from time to time....I presume I'd mount the Zapco to sort of hide it from people just walking by and it would be running 4 ohm but I'll run the sub amp in another location because that would be 1 ohm. I'll figure it out.
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Originally Posted by BigAl205
Thta is how they do it down under.Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Zazzi
(similar mechanism to the water going backwards when you flush the toilet.)
Here's an ugly view of that old winterbeater Pathfinder that I had that I mounted an amp rack (and passive Xover network) in the roof of:
Attachment 14607
That amp was being pushed hard too, powering 2 subs, 4 midbass, 6 widebands, and eventually 2 tweeters as well, plus it's pushing everything through lots of passive Xover components.
This amp was running at 2 ohms for the subs and 2 ohms for the midbass - I don't recall what impedance the widebands were but there were three so I suspect about 2.6 ohms there as well - and it never broke a sweat.
The amp internals are still using the heatsink to draw off heat - and all you are doing is making it a tiny bit less efficient, by mounting it up where "heat rises" to. It's really not much less efficient than mounting it flat on the floor. The most efficient way is to mount it on a wall, because the rising heat will actually create a slight airflow - but again slight is the word.
It's a much bigger deal if you enclose it in a small space, or bury it with your gym bag, or mount it to your sub box and then shove that back into your rear seatback, etc. :wink:
No manufacturer ever asks "Where was the amp mounted?" in a warranty return.
That looks badass man. Wow.....well that's good to know. I'm thinking of the Zapco going on the rear deck and figuring out how to allow for heat to escape from the trunk possibly through my factory 8 inch sub opening without causing issue by doing that. Or....OR! putting a fan there lol. That would be cool.
Seriously though, thanks for the input on this guys. I want my install to be as stealth as possible so I can surprise people when I pop the trunk and you don't really see anything except the cones of the woofers.
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Originally Posted by geolemon
I've never had an issue with upside down. Even did an enclosed rack in my old 3 series BMW back in the day. Though I did have fans on that because it was enclosed. It gets real hot in trunks in south Texas.
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I miss these amps. Old Performance Teknique amps bought new on Ebay when they first came out. ICBM Digital and ICBM 774. They were stolen out of this car unfortunately because I forgot to lock the car due to malfunctioning remote door locks. At least they couldn't get the Ascendant Havoc 12. Was bolted to the firewall.
That looks pretty nasty. I like it. You had an E30? Trunk looks familiar.
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Originally Posted by crystalworks
I've had 4 E30's. 3 coupes and one vert. Wife and I are BMW only it looks like from here on out. Tried other brands (both new and old) and nothing drives as well as a BMW. Good thing I work on em though... because they can be high maintenance girlfriends. Here's what that trunk setup ended up looking like after I switched the Type R out for a Havoc 12.Quote:
Originally Posted by BenevolentDictator
Attachment 14893
My family had an '86 325 back in the mid 90s up until my freshman year of college.....I wish we understood what we had because it should still be in our possession...with a bored and stroked to 3.5 liter s54....boy oh boy. Anyway....yeah that would be nice to still own one. That trunk looked super clean as well. That's what i'm hoping for, just nice and clean. I don't want to see anything but the subs in the trunk.
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Originally Posted by crystalworks