# 2004 Accord sedan



## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Vehicle: 2004 Honda Accord sedan

Equipment: Pioneer, Audible Physics, Image Dynamics, Dynaudio, Scanspeak, Planet Audio, US Amps, hybrid tube amps. Don't really plan to compete, did that many yrs ago so this is all for myself and enjoyment of toying with a fun hobby!

Goal: best sounding music in my vehicle to myself. After several months of switching out gear (ok, ok.....many months and tons of switched out gear) I'm happy with the lineup I have set. Can't wait to get everything done........finally!

Details of equipment:

Pioneer p99 - MattR modified
Planet Audio HVT7150 - Scanspeak d2004(x2)
Planet Audio HVT754(bridged) - Audible Physics xr3m-le(x2)
US Amps AXTU600c - Dynaudio mw170(x2)
US Amps AXTU1000c - Image Dynamics IDMAXd4v4 (x2) - IB setup
Phoenix Gold distro block zbb34ti
SounDrive (Westco) RCA cables


Mark Worrell will be doing the pillars and amp rack. Will post up pics when available.......


A few pics till I can get some posted up.........

A few pics of the muffin....








And a few of the equipment.......


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## casey (Dec 4, 2006)

in before gear change


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

casey said:


> in before gear change



Good one.........


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## rdlhifi (Sep 8, 2013)

DBlevel said:


> ...Can't wait to get everything done...A few pics till I can get some posted up...


:ears: Please hurry! :anxious:


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

A few pre install testing pics of mids. Pods are cheap a$$ pods off ebay with some abs plastic so I can swap from a 3" to a 4" for testing easily without any major modifications between sizes. They are fugly but effective for the purpose.




xr3m-le midrange and Seas Neo tweets in the pillars.......











CSS 4" mids...........


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## casey (Dec 4, 2006)

DBlevel said:


> Good one.........


Im only here out of support. I want to see this done as much as you do. 


I still think I should quote your original post so you cant edit it


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

casey said:


> Im only here out of support. I want to see this done as much as you do.
> 
> 
> I still think I should quote your original post so you cant edit it


Quote if you want bro, I'm done searching lol. I've gone back to the old tubers.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

A few previous install pics as well 

Planet Audio HVT752, HVT754 and p225hc



Brax x2400.2 (x2)



A little US Acoustic/Alphasonic Old school Zed Audio love.......



Pair of Zuki hybrid 5 channels........


Pair of Phoenix Gold Ti215 subs in IB with a trio of Mosconi's.........


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

600c and 1000c from this pic.........


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Amazing attention to detail...........

Some work on the pillars by Mark.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

This is pretty cool!


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## nickt (Sep 22, 2013)

Congrats bro.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

In to see the results and continued development.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I'm in just because he calls his car " Muffin" lol jk.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Thanks guys!

A few pics of the wall when I had to redo it to fit the IDMAX subs.........


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## rdlhifi (Sep 8, 2013)

DBlevel said:


> A few previous install pics as well
> 
> Brax x2400.2 (x2)


Brax Amps!  Yummy!


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## UNFORGIVEN (Sep 25, 2010)

sick build. I have the same vehicle can't wait to see the final product


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Thanks!

Unforgiven you ever use those kick panels? Like to how yours is going as well!


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## crea_78 (Jan 6, 2014)

Looks good Russell!! Personally, I would have kept the trio of Mosconi amps  Good luck with the build.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I'm just wondering what made you go with these new amps also sir ?


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

crea_78 said:


> Looks good Russell!! Personally, I would have kept the trio of Mosconi amps  Good luck with the build.



Yea, a lot played into that decision but when I can plug the PA tube amps in and very little EQ work versus a lot of EQ work on the Mosconi's.........

It was personal preference, the Mosconi's sounded great but to me the older, cheaper Zed built tube amps were just better choice to me and even with the Brax when cost came into play. Just wasn't worth the extra cheddar for name brands or eye candy factor........


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Also to me the tube amps just seem more natural, clean, warmer and detailed on vocals and acoustical. It was a total difference between the Mosconi amps and the Planet Audio tubers.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Got the amp rack for all the amps done last week. Unfortunately I ended up having someone else do them, back to work and wasn't sure when I would have time to get the car down to Mark to have him do them.







In the process of getting everything wired up. Still on the fence if I want to bridge a second hvt754 on the Dynaudio 170's or run the axtu600c. Guess I'll make a decision this week............


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Got both the US Amps mounted on the amp rack, might still switch out the 600c for the 754 tho........

Waiting on some wiring and another pair of PA amps to finish.

Had to make some spacers to mount the amps. Cheapest option cost wise I found at the local Home Depot was some copper tubing.


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Wait a minute. You have Dynaudio 170's in your doors? Any pics of that. I didn't think they could fit.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

I think I took a couple pics, I'll find them and post them. 

Took some trimming and 3/4" spacer(if I remember correctly, can confirm in the morning) but fit very good now.

Still have a little more work to do on the doors but have to try sometime this winter to finish the doors up.


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Do they hit the door cards at all? I was worried about that as well.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

They don't hit the door card but I also had to do so trimming on the door card as well.


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## Rs roms (Jul 12, 2012)

DBlevel said:


> Got both the US Amps mounted on the amp rack, might still switch out the 600c for the 754 tho........
> 
> Waiting on some wiring and another pair of PA amps to finish.
> 
> Had to make some spacers to mount the amps. Cheapest option cost wise I found at the local Home Depot was some copper tubing.


Thats cool, any heads up on exactly how you did it. Whats holding the rack from behind?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Rs roms said:


> Thats cool, any heads up on exactly how you did it. Whats holding the rack from behind?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk



Thanks, I'll get a few pics of the back. I didn't build the actual racks. Ryan Shore and the guys at Dedona tint & sound in Greensboro, NC did both racks last week.


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Awesome build. Could you post some pics of your final pillars? Your car is really inspiring me to push through on mine.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

I'll get some pics up once I get the pillars back from Mark. Hopefully get time in the next week or so to get together with him so I can get the pillars and the Dr will have time to do a little tuning on everything.


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## crea_78 (Jan 6, 2014)

Russ, Mark's Audio Control RTA isn't working right now so he had to send it in. I know b/c I was scheduled for a tune this past Thursday and he had to cancel it.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Thanks it'll probably be at least another week before I could get with him. I still need to finish getting everything wired up. I'm back to work now so it'll be slow progress lol.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Ok so it's changed a little.

Right now .......

US Amps axtu1000c - Dynaudio mw170 (x2)
Arc Audio xxk2500 - IDMAX15d4v4 (x2) 

Doubt it'll change unless I get a deal on another xxk2500..........


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## casey (Dec 4, 2006)

and I quote



casey said:


> in before gear change




Im aint mad at ya though 
XXK are nice amps


You already got one and looking for another?


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

casey said:


> and I quote
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Lol.......

Possibly but not a big rush now, if I did it'd be for the Dyns. The 1000c be fine for them otherwise...


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## casey (Dec 4, 2006)

they bout tree fiddy on ebay. IDK what a good deal is on them


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

casey said:


> they bout tree fiddy on ebay. IDK what a good deal is on them


Guess we will see


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Well, I don't know what happened there......I'm positive I posted on this thread last week, but don't see nuthin' now........

Looks good Russ. I like what Ryan did with the amp rack - looks good, functional, out of the way. I'm looking forward to hearing those tube amps as well. Tube amp on those XRs should be a very good combo.


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## HardCoreDore (Apr 30, 2014)

DBlevel said:


> Ok so it's changed a little.
> 
> Right now .......
> 
> ...


Man! You change amps like most folks change draws. Are the Arc's really superior sounding to the tubers? 

I've been eyeing a couple of Zed made tube amps bnib, on Amazon.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

bertholomey said:


> Well, I don't know what happened there......I'm positive I posted on this thread last week, but don't see nuthin' now........
> 
> Looks good Russ. I like what Ryan did with the amp rack - looks good, functional, out of the way. I'm looking forward to hearing those tube amps as well. Tube amp on those XRs should be a very good combo.


Thanks Jason! I'm excited to hear the xr3's in an actual enclosure instead of the cheap pods I had lol. I'm hoping it'll be an even better sound out of them.

Ryan's good people! Known him for a long time........



HardCoreDore said:


> Man! You change amps like most folks change draws. Are the Arc's really superior sounding to the tubers?
> 
> I've been eyeing a couple of Zed made tube amps bnib, on Amazon.


Can't comment much, this will be the first Arc Audio amp I've tried. All the searching I've done I haven't seen anything negative about Arc Audio amps, specially the SE and xxk series ..........


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## jpf150 (May 22, 2013)

Following this. I can't wait to see this thing done, and more importantly hear it. I'm too lazy to look in the meet thread, but are you making it to Jason's meet-up?


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Yea planning to go after work.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

I didn't get any pics of the 170's actually mounted in the doors but here are a couple pics of the passenger side door......


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Wow those adapters are big! If it's not much work I may have to consider them. How deep are the adapters?


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

I think it's two MDF rings at 3/4" height each.

It really wasn't very much work but worth it in the end!

Going to try and finish the doors later this winter, at least before spring........


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Really? No metal cutting?


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Of course metal cutting. Wasn't that big of a deal to me to get them to fit.

They won't just fit in your oem locations without any cutting or spacers.......


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Yeah I figured that. I like seeing that it can be done though. Can't wait to see the rest


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## Arete (Oct 6, 2013)

teldzc1 said:


> Yeah I figured that. I like seeing that it can be done though. Can't wait to see the rest


X2!! I have an 07 accord and would loooooove to use the dyn 8's for Midbass. I have a dumb question. What is the door card?? Does your accord have the compartment to the right of the speaker? This what mine looks like. It seems like cutting around it would cut into that compartment.


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

Holy crap I did not know a 1.5" spacer would fit there. That's a good 3.5-4" total depth, which would house a majority of 6.5" mids. Sweet.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Door cards are the interior door panels.

It took some trimming on the inside of the door panels to get the 170's to fit and of course some metal on the doors themselves. I'll get a pic of them installed in the next couple weeks. I need to do some work on the door panels anyways so I'll be taking them off.

I had someone make me some MDF spacers, like I said I think they were 3/4" each but can't remember the diameter but I matched to the 170's. 

I wish I could fit a Morel 9" in the doors! May consider those first of next year if myself or Mr Worrell can get them to work


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

That is exactly what my door panels look like even the color btw......

It was a close trim to fit the 170's in but it is possible.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

While I've been waiting on the pillars decided to do a few things. 

Of course had an issue with my battery as soon as I got cold so went ahead and replaced it with the die hard platinum......wasn't cheap but the muffin cranks up perfectly everytime now!



Picked up the ODR RD-7x power line filter, figured it couldn't hurt trying it out and the PAC SWI-RC kit to keep the steering wheel controls.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Amps are mounted and waiting. At some point I'll cut a spare tire cover, the oem cover wouldn't fit. Was just a little too wide to sqeeze in with the amp racks mounted in.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Still waiting on my pillars but sent the amps to the Dr to get a check up while I wait .........

Super excited, lovin the way they look! 





The Arc Audio amp I was going to run had some technical issues so won't be using it in the build. Going to just keep it all OS on the amps and run a Lanzar Opti 2500.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Very excited! These are on the way back from the dr.......









Still waiting on the pillars but have a project I'm wanting to get done before they go in anyways.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

DBlevel said:


> Very excited! These are *on the way back from the dr.......*
> 
> Still waiting on the pillars but have a project I'm wanting to get done before they go in anyways.


From the Dominican Republic?


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

bertholomey said:


> From the Dominican Republic?



Sure Jason


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## ZombieHunter85 (Oct 30, 2012)

Love it!!


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

bertholomey said:


> From the Dominican Republic?



Actually they're coming from Shawnk ........the Dr. 





ZombieHunter85 said:


> Love it!!


Thanks Logan!


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## capea4 (Sep 2, 2010)

DBlevel said:


> Actually they're coming from Shawnk ........the Dr.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I'm pretty sure we can't call him that!
The name has been taken, and I don't think we can reuse it on a goofy lookin white redhead kid


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

capea4 said:


> I'm pretty sure we can't call him that!
> The name has been taken, and I don't think we can reuse it on a goofy lookin white redhead kid


I'm sure his skills could argue that point alone........

Besides ******* statement is so last year........ 

Maybe the more pc correct statement would be duck dynasty fanatic 

Never met Shawn in person not really sure, seemed straight up on the phone tho. He'll be seeing more of my goodies in the stash to work his magic on for sure!


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## capea4 (Sep 2, 2010)

DBlevel said:


> I'm sure his skills could argue that point alone........
> 
> Besides ******* statement is so last year........
> 
> ...


Well, that would make him Dr King
And I said redhead, not *******


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Slowly getting somewhere on the build. Started another project that'll hopefully wrap up within the next week or so. Came across a set of black leather interior for my accord so working on swapping out the tan interior. My brother and myself will hopefully get that done this weekend with the dash being the major part Saturday.

Already started on some.......






The headliner will be the only thing not switched over. Will have to find someone to recover it for me. Have to decide if I want to go all black or keep the headliner and a couple of the upper pillar panels grey...... I'm leaning towards all black but we'll see.



Decided to use the Metra kit 99-7803G and replace the OEM HU/HVAC as well since it was all going to apart.




Also got these back from Shawnk last week so basically for now all the amps are here to install. Very excited to get them in and listen to them! Still waiting on another usa2300 for the subs but I want to run the Lanzar 2500 for a while before I put in the other 2300.....


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Looks really good, but I say keep the grey for the contrast.


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

I need an honest review on that Metra dash kit because I've wanted one but heard mixed reviews on it.

Also, I have to agree on the contrast. I have black cloth interior with gray from the pillars up to the headliner and I like it.


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## capea4 (Sep 2, 2010)

capea4 said:


> Well, that would make him Dr King
> And I said redhead, not *******


Ok so as I reread this I guess I was in a goofy mood.
His last name is King, so you nick named him dr king, and like I said the name was taken.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Thanks guys!

Alex ......will do. Actually installed the Metra kit today, definitely not a direct fit. It's says non-nav 7th gen Accord, maybe mine originally came with it but took a little finessing but it's in now lol. First impressions during setup were the cheap buttons so far but we'll see...........


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

A few pics from Friday and early Saturday. 

Will get more pics tomorrow. 







My brother doing a little cleaning once we had the old tan interior out......


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Interested to hear how much of a difference the MLV makes for you. I was considering doing it, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

captainobvious said:


> Interested to hear how much of a difference the MLV makes for you. I was considering doing it, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.


I've had the MLV in for awhile. Did that early last year. It made a little difference, I guess it was worth all the time. I actually gave Casey some money towards what he had bought for his car plus helped with his car some and just used some of what he had.

He bought so much of the MLV we did my car, his car and he sold what was left which was quite a lot lol.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

A few pics of the install. Got the amps powered up today.......

The tubers are amazing!!


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Those are beautiful amps! I love the way the ID's look as well. I can't wait to hear it!


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

Looks better than last time I saw it 
Can't wait to hear it!


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Nice job Russell. Hopefully you'll be there for the spring met so I can get some ears on it.


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## DBlevel (Oct 6, 2006)

Thanks guys! I should be there for the spring meet, so far no reason why I wouldn't make it.......

After having to shift priorities and recent events I've downsized the setup some and with waiting on the pillars now for almost 5 months I've started to lose some interest in anything major as far as a setup....

I'll be running a pair of the modded/upgraded by Shawnk Planet Audio hvt754 hybrid tube amps on the front stage with a newer Zed Audio Kronos on the subs...


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## airdevin (Sep 20, 2014)

does the mods on hvt's gives results as expected ?


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## casey (Dec 4, 2006)

lets see the pillars


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