Good Morning Gurus!

Well, this week is starting off like last week.

Super busy....

The price I pay for being good at what I do, I guess.

Hopefully everyone had a great weekend. Mine was expensive...

$330 in tires for my daughter's car, and about $800 in stereo gear for my Amigo. ($300 for the installation. Yeah, my butt hurts)

Gonna spend about $700 on tires for that little truck too.

I did end up getting that Fender bass guitar I had been chatting about just before Thanksgiving. Pix soon. And I will be picking up a used amp for it this week. Thinking about a set of electronic drums for my son and I to mess with. He already has an "analog" set. I want something that is a little quieter. You can run the electronic ones through headphones. Ahhh.....


Enjoy your day!

There is a reason why I have a $3000 system in my Vette - I DID IT MYSELF!!! I hate the idea of paying hacks to do what I can, better.

Then again, it has to be cold in CO now.

I have been busy... watching too much football in all reality. I will be freed up now that college ball is over until Jan.

Can't wait to see pics of the new bass!

Oh, well... off to work!!!!

Quote:

If I work on my system, can you walk me thru it? System I got now cost about a grand. I got the box and wires before hand though so a little more.

I am going to put together some tech stuff for you.

Start reading. Get a copy of Car Audio and Electronics magazine. I think there are some books are car stereo install. Check Amazon.com. the car doesn't matter, you need to learn the terms, the science, the brands, the techniques. You see, audio trancends the car. It matters to know the limitations of the install, sure, but at the same time, what you learn on a Civic will help you everywhere. It's also the art of learning, being able to learn in one environment and applying it in others.

You will need a soldering iron. I advise the Weller SP80. Get some .070 solder tin based solder. then practice. Do you have a good electronics supply shop? Find it. Check the yellow pages. I think you can get the Weller at Home Depot. Don't let anyone talk you out of it (I have run into "experts" who say it's too hot... yada yada yada, they don't know the advantage of hot).

I have been meaning to do a tech tip on how to solder. Stay tuned.

Finally - TAKE YOUR TIME. Don't rush this. You may drive around with a stripped interior for a few days... only a drivers seat... but you will learn a ton about your car, the stereo and yourself.

Soldering irons are like any other tools, you simply dont buy cheap rubish and expect a top notch result. If you take pride in doing a job right, money is no object, and the end result much be something you can show to people and be proud to say "i did that".

I use a Royel adjustable temp feedback soldering iron, although in my experience, Weller are also good.

Practice and know-how are important, but they are only part of the job, you must use quality tools.

Depending on what youre soldering, you dont want it too hot or itll burn the wire and/or the item youre trying to solder. (especially quality OFC speaker cable, its got very fine strands and will burn easy if its too hot, which will result in slag filling the join, and then causing resistance in the flow)

You dont ever want it too cold, and you dont ever want to rush the process, cause this will cause a poor result, and what ever solder you use, be sure it has a flux core so it will adhere to the job. (this is mainly important for passive type soldering equipment, if youre using an industrial type soldering iron, which is heated usually by resting over a gas flame in what looks like a very small oven, you would use a clean solder, and apply the flux to the job.)

Dont strip back too much insulation when youre soldering, only as much as you need, and dont twist the wire up too tight or the solder will not be able to absorb into the wire.

70/30 is a good solder for this sort of job, 80/20 may be getting abit hot, and 60/40 or less is not something i would use on a high current application. The numbers relate to the make up of the solder, usually tin/lead. The more tin content, the higher the melting point.