# How'd They Make The Cars That Go Boom?



## VeeBot (Aug 16, 2014)

Way back when, guys would use bass boards and 6x9s to make the loudest stereos. They would use Pyramid Amps and Pre Amps. Not sure how you get 6x9s to sound that way, but they blew this new stuff out of the water.


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

theres no reason a wall of six by nines couldnt do some serious bass, i've been fooled by old earthquake and pioneer drivers into thinking there was a sub in the car, so i'd guess eight or more would really move some air.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

what exactly, is being asked, or said here?

I believe a system using new pro audio drivers like BMS or B&C, 18Sound or Faital Pro, will blow away old school 6X9's across the deck.

Of course, as a distortion bomb, old school by nines might rule, some people like that kind of output.

I like it, and then again I don't like it because I can get louder, while staying clean with new school product but if it's really freaking loud and you can't hear any distortion, most neophytes are going to keep turning the knob until they get to the distortion, because they want to know it's "all the way" like a kid who punches his sports car until it hits the limiter.

It takes a while to un-learn the bad habits of immature stereo operation, and get used to listening at high, undistorted levels.

I always thought a distortion bomb button would be useful on a stereo, where the music got the over-driven sound out of it, while not clipping any of the audio chain and all at a lower overall SPL than actually cranking your **** to the elevens.

Call it the "drunk" mode, like the valet mode on a sports car engine, it would protect a lot of equipment during those momentary lapses of reason...


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## VeeBot (Aug 16, 2014)

I'm not talking about distorted sound. It was clean, hit hard. You couldn't just hear it, from blocks away, you would feel it! Sure, there's some great audio equipment out, but this stuff was the loudest, etc


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

I am old and have experienced most of everything but the early stages of car audio. I think you have fond memories of the past, but if you compared head to head, you would find the stuff now is better...


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

It seems you never heard what single modern 18" can do. and A pair of prodrivers with horns. You think you remember that it was clean and loud. I can assure you that you don`t remember that correctly because human hearing just can`t.
sometimes in 80th I played on korg poly 800 synthesizer. I thought it sounded awesome. fast forward 15 years and i bought one at garage sale.It sounded awful to what I thought I remember. good thing it was only $50.


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## VeeBot (Aug 16, 2014)

18s are too big to produce great sound, aren't they? I guess unless you spend mucho $$$. You have any sound clips of the Korg?


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

18s really have come a long way, the whole argument that they were too big to be controlled and make good sound is outdated, but i do understand what started it..now 24s are too big lol.


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## VeeBot (Aug 16, 2014)

24s? What? Wow, I'm good with 10s.


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## MikeT1982 (Jul 6, 2011)

Are you sure they were multiple 6x9's and not just multiple 12s or 15's in the wall? It was very common to do very efficient subwoofers like JL audio, Fosgste, Kicker, etc or so that would only take 100 or 200 W and do maybe 6 12's or and a small high current cheater amp (Class A/B or A) and they did get very loud up in the upper 140s or so. Sealed that is. There was even a van using bazooka tubes that broke 150 with only 300 W RMS. The six by nines may have been mounted below the subs for more music and highs. Also you could be correct some people have done walls of six by nines and they were extremely loud but the frequency range was probably pretty limited as they don't handle the super lows very well. However done correctly and not compared to modern set up done correctly they probably would've been pretty damn impressive. Honestly though a wall of 6x9's should not equal a pair of digital designs ported in the trunk say. I say digital designs because that is the last brand that I worked with when I got out of car audio about 10 years ago and started to just collect. Now there is crazy **** out there like sundown audio etc. However you never know, six by nines done correctly and tuned could very well do the crazy numbers I will never doubt it. If they're now breaking 180 with a single driver that's absolutely nuts considering I'm from back from the day of Alma gates bronco with 64 PPI tens doing the low 160s...


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## VeeBot (Aug 16, 2014)

No, I have seen this. They would take out the back panel, where your speakers would sit. Replace it with a 1/2" (thick) cut out of wood (cut to fit below the back window), with 6x9s mounted in it. The 6x9s were usually sideways. I need to get a hold of this guy. He still lives in Houston, TX. Dude was one of the original bumpers! LOL Yeah, I've also seen the wall design you speak of. One guy had his whole backseat replaced with 6x9s.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

VeeBot said:


> 18s are too big to produce great sound, aren't they? I guess unless you spend mucho $$$. You have any sound clips of the Korg?


Sorry I don`t, I switched to sampler synthesizers and physical modelling many moons ago. Poly 800 sucks. Decay was noisy and not truly analog fat sounding, check youtube, there plenty of sound clips.


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

who remembers the John Stossel interview from the late 80's about car audio?

I would LOVE to find that available.


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## T3mpest (Dec 25, 2005)

As far as cars being louder, I'd like to mention it took until the mid/late 90's to even do 150db. I beleive that was alma gates bronco that set that record, but I could be wrong, regardless a 150 at one point was a world record, as in period, nobody scored any higher. Now a days, there are hundreds of daily drivers that can do that and even well beyond. A good no holds barred stereo no for daily can do 160db+ Heck the world record is only a few DB shy of the absolute limit of sound pressure (183.x bs, we can already do a hair over 180).

THEN to compound matters, we now use a much more accurate and harder to get a score on meter. The termlab that is now the standard only came into being in the early 2000's. Before that meters read several DB higher. Odds are back then the record for SPL was only 150.xdb, it was really a 145ish db by todays standards, literally thousands of cars can do that, no issues.

You can try to convince me all you want some 6x9's on 200 watts were louder than todays huge motored 35mm+xmax 3kw handling monster subs, but I don't buy it for a second lol. I wasn't around much, but I've read just enough history to be dangerous.

Sometimes when I remember the setup that got me into car audio ( also a pair of 6x9's, they were stock, but were much bassier than most) I feel like it was as loud. In my head I remember it as about a sealed 12 or 15.. However, I also remember getting out of the car looking for my "flex" and finding none, so I know it wasn't even that loud lol.


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## MAIDEN69 (Jun 23, 2014)

Sounds like his memory has faded. Or like the fisherman who's 10lb bass 20 years ago is now 15lbs. The older we get, the greater we were kind of thing. 
I remember my VW Scirocco I had back in the day. Removed the back seat and built a carpeted wall with a deck up top. Had 2 pairs of Pioneer 150w 4-way 6x9s in the wall and another pair in enclosures on the upper deck. The front doors had a pair of their 6.5" 3-ways. The car would get loud as hell cranking stuff like Metallica Kill Em All/ Ride the Lightning! The next car was a 65' Mustang Fastback. The back seat would fold down and it was just a flat deck back there. I had two original Punch 12's and when I cranked up Dark Side of the Moon for the first time!!!!!! Heaven. I had no idea what I had been missing. Fast forward another 20 years and several other systems in that time.... no comparison. While I love old school amps and decks, the drivers do not compare imo. Especially on the reliability side of subwoofers.


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## upgrayedd (Apr 19, 2011)

miniSQ said:


> who remembers the John Stossel interview from the late 80's about car audio?
> 
> I would LOVE to find that available.


I looked on youtube for hours for that one day. I didnt remember it was john stossel. It may not even be the same feature. I was like 6 when i saw it. All I remember was a gold plated amp, possibly mounted on a ceiling.


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## SUX 2BU (Oct 27, 2008)

Are you talking about that TV story from say 1987 that featured some NYVC guy's late 70's burgundy with gold pin striping Buick Riveria that had like 4 15s in a big box in the trunk (aimed upward at the trunk lid lol), a bunch of MTX speakers inside and shaved door handles with poppers? I LOVED that article. And I thought I was the only person in the world who ever saw it because nobody remembers it lol


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

upgrayedd said:


> I looked on youtube for hours for that one day. I didnt remember it was john stossel. It may not even be the same feature. I was like 6 when i saw it. All I remember was a gold plated amp, possibly mounted on a ceiling.


yup it was john stossel and barbara Walters. Yes there were gold plated amplifiewers, and the kid who lost his hearing in a sound off, but got a 6 foot trophy.

Remember when they were blasting the music and the crowds were walking by? Someone said..Whats that noise?..and the cute old lady with the red hair was saying some thing like " they drink and congregate and play loud music" and then she raised her eyebrows insinuating they had sex.

I think the guy who owns Brooklyns Best Audio was in it..Mike Mineo? 

I have looked for hours and hours for it...i found one that was done like 10 years later...but never the original one.


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

SUX 2BU said:


> Are you talking about that TV story from say 1987 that featured some NYVC guy's late 70's burgundy with gold pin striping Buick Riveria that had like 4 15s in a big box in the trunk (aimed upward at the trunk lid lol), a bunch of MTX speakers inside and shaved door handles with poppers? I LOVED that article. And I thought I was the only person in the world who ever saw it because nobody remembers it lol


yup...thats the one...it is classic to me and my brother...we always to this day are saying "whats that noise" when we hear good stereos.

it had this song in it..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okg3UN-GH5I


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

Maybe it was not john stossel...and it was hugh downs? off to google it

Anchors[edit]
Harold Hayes (1978)
Robert Hughes (1978)
Hugh Downs (1978–1999)
Barbara Walters (1979–2004, 2013-2014)
Diane Sawyer (1998–2000)
Charles Gibson (1998–2000)
Sam Donaldson (1998–2000)
Connie Chung (1998–2000)
John Miller (2002–2003)
John Stossel (2003–2009)
Chris Cuomo (2009–2013)


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## upgrayedd (Apr 19, 2011)

well atleast 4 of us remember it.


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

theres this...but this is the second one...not the original one. They do show a couple clips from the original on here.

http://www.amazon.com/News-Kids-Cars-Loud-Music/dp/B002EQA12A


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## SUX 2BU (Oct 27, 2008)

^ Wow, I'm stunned that you can buy that still. Love the description:

"Why must kids play their music so loud? When John Stossel first reported on the growing trend of kids, cars and loud music in 1990, he thought it could not get any worse. But as he reports, some of the car systems today have 12,000 watts, twice that of a normal car stereo."

I thought for sure it was earlier than 1990 but could be wrong. That's funny how 12,000 W is only TWICE what a 'normal' car stereo is LOL How about 10x or more?


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

SUX 2BU said:


> ^ Wow, I'm stunned that you can buy that still. Love the description:
> 
> "Why must kids play their music so loud? When John Stossel first reported on the growing trend of kids, cars and loud music in 1990, he thought it could not get any worse. But as he reports, some of the car systems today have 12,000 watts, twice that of a normal car stereo."
> 
> I thought for sure it was earlier than 1990 but could be wrong. That's funny how 12,000 W is only TWICE what a 'normal' car stereo is LOL How about 10x or more?


The original 20/20 show that we are talking about trying to find was in 1990..this link i posted was to another show from 2005.


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

miniSQ said:


> theres this...but this is the second one...not the original one. They do show a couple clips from the original on here.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/News-Kids-Cars-Loud-Music/dp/B002EQA12A


i dug up my old copy of this and watched it this morning for the first time in many many years. I forgot how negative this version is toward "noise". ONe guy actually called people who listen to loud music or used leaf blowers as terrorists...in 2005.

But clips from the original showed that it was Billy Vickers who blew his eardrum, but won a 7ft 2inch trophy, not the 6 ft trophy i remembered, and he was wearing a speakerworks t-shirt.

And the "whats that noise" comment came from and older lady walking by covering her ears. Not the yuppy i thought it was.

For some reason my computer will not load the DVD or i would rip that segment and put it in my dropbox for anyone that wanted to watch it.


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