Really Boring Stuff Only III: Resurrection

Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Maybe that broken
MBOW1. My xo repair worked to get a broken resistor lead repaired. It looks like I broke that 'inspecting' it but the tweeter still won't fire. I practically rewired my whole system over this. I knew I should have wrote the particulars down before I reinstalled the tweeter. Crap. I always did hate Christmas ... the holiday of liars. I guess it will be over soon enough. F^%&. :D
Maybe that broken resistor lead wasn't the only connection in the XO that broke. Those boards are crowded and if you move one thing, something else down the line might also get nudged.

Send a photo of it to Dennis? He'll know the wiring layout and might see something you don't.
 
Steve81

Steve81

Audioholics Five-0
Oh, well. We had a good run. :)

It's their business. They can run it how they want. I just wonder how long the quick-fix, FB post readers will stay tuned in unless they keep offering free prizes - and then it's just about the prizes and maybe what gear they can sell through articles.
I think its fair to say Gene recognizes that the forum decline is a serious problem. Unfortunately, his time has been limited lately by various issues (personal and business) that are unrelated to running AH. However, we had thrown around some ideas not too long ago to boost forum traffic. My thought was a series of review writing contests. This wouldn't be like the SVS contests per se, but just an open call for a review of X in any given month. X could be an amplifier or speaker, a product from a particular manufacturer, a movie, etc. Winner would get published on the main page and a small prize. I think of it as a win-win-win: Gene gets content for the site, it draws more people in with substantive posts, and the winner gets five minutes of fame.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
This forum is different than others I frequent, for other hobbies I have, I go to a long range sniper/gun forum, a classic car hot rod forum, and a private construction professional message board... On the sniper forum I have met at least 11 that I can think of off the top of my head, from as far away as Oregon, the hot rod forum I have met maybe 50 over the years, and the construction forum {which is private, more of a message board} I think I met everyone, well not quite but a few years back we all met at a trade show in vegas, there was almost 70 of us there!!! I'll tell you what, I have been to a lot of shows, car shows, motorcycle shows, gun matches, audio shows, the list goes on and on, and NEVER were we treated as good as we were at that trade show, when they heard we had a group of over 60 coming from as far as the UK, they gave us some serious attention, and it was a blast, a lot of us brought pictures of our builds and work, I know it sounds stupid, 70 guys in vegas talking about building materials, but honestly one of the most fun trips I ever took with 2 of my employees, lol, plus 100% tax write off ;)

But I have noticed that them meet and greets, group buys, ect have been getting less and less frequent, maybe forums are dieing in general, although with AH its happening pretty fast. I do notice a lot less activity since the update... Now it seems like more of a place for a handful of guys to post in habit vs. an active community of people with similar interests...

Just from my dumb business mind, not knowing a fking thing about internet bussiness, I would do 3 things...

1-talk to some companies and organize a member discount with group buys and specials, there are some companies on here that get a lot of mention for free, I am sure there are a ton of guys that google "best subwoofer for the money" and they get our posts talking about HSU and SVS... But the trick to this is going to be making sure someone can not just join and get the discount, you need at least say 30 posts to get in with at least 10 likes... This will get conversations going and bring in new people, as well as show companies that AH offers some buying power to the market...

2- get some of these ID companies to interact, I know these guys are busy but having a relationship with these guys where you can forward them a link to posts with their products are being mentioned positive or negative and giving them a chance to interact directly with the customer will do a lot for their business. Some guys already do this {dennis} and its great, but having a real system in place to get this done would be better...

and lastly after the posts start flowing, you keep doing your articles, comparisons, ect, there are many forums out there talking about all kinds of gear, I think if there was a forum that didn't exclusively cover ID but focussed on it more than others they would excel Think about it, if you had the forum where HSU, SVS, Ascend, Outlaw, EMP tek, ect ect ect came and talked about their products, offered specials, gave personal support in a forum atmosphere, and got ideas of what customers are looking for, it would be a win win win for all 3 parties, the company, the customer, and AH....

Home Video Audio is a weird field and the only aspect of it that I see growing is the internet direct sales, and this is good for an internet company because them customer are already here... 2 ch audio systems are more and more rare, funny how you go to Europe and they are common place, me and my wife were invited into a few homes in Italy and all of them had a 2 ch music only system of some sort, in the US, everyone needs a tv attached to it, but here at AH it is a good mix of music and HT, I like it here, I would like to see it grow and not go....

Anyway, I have no clue what i am talking about I know nothing about internet sales and how it works...

PS totally unrelated, this is an awesome deal on a pair of m blocks and dac, I own a pair of these amps, they rock and sound clean- http://www.musicdirect.com/p-263176-musical-fidelity-m1pwr-pair-m1-s-dac-black.aspx
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I knew I should have wrote the particulars down before I reinstalled the tweeter. Crap.
Nobody writes anything anymore. That is why your cell phone has a camera!

Hope you work it out! Those are nice speakers.

...some people just can't have nice things...:D
 
fuzz092888

fuzz092888

Audioholic Warlord
Almost finished the 3rd sub cab. Tested one, going to test the other one soon. So far so good. Only half looking forward to the last one being finished. When it's done, it means I finally have to rearrange the room to fit the two new subs.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Almost finished the 3rd sub cab. Tested one, going to test the other one soon. So far so good. Only half looking forward to the last one being finished. When it's done, it means I finally have to rearrange the room to fit the two new subs.
Cool, man. I can't wait to see those bad boys all set up.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
I snagged one of these from Vine last night. I fear it was a mistake. I didn't see where it said that it required 150 amps dedicated. 150 AMPS! Holy ish. I'm going to brown out the whole freaking neighborhood every time that I take a shower. Okay, I know that's not true - it should only draw as much current as is required to heat the water flowing through it. So, if my flow rate is low, it shouldn't need any more than a smaller unit...but I don't know if I still need to install four 40-amp lines to it per the installation instructions. That's going to cost some coin.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
I snagged one of these from Vine last night. I fear it was a mistake. I didn't see where it said that it required 150 amps dedicated. 150 AMPS! Holy ish. I'm going to brown out the whole freaking neighborhood every time that I take a shower. Okay, I know that's not true - it should only draw as much current as is required to heat the water flowing through it. So, if my flow rate is low, it shouldn't need any more than a smaller unit...but I don't know if I still need to install four 40-amp lines to it per the installation instructions. That's going to cost some coin.
Why did you post this, are you baiting me into a 5400 word post?
Don't buy that...

Heres the thing...

When I used to {thats funny to say for some reason} get customers asking me how they can save money on energy, the first thing I looked at was the envelope, insulation, doors, windows, intake and exhaust air for clothes dryers, kitchen hoods, bathroom vents, ect... Thats first, seal the envelope, stop outside temperature from impinging your desired internal climate.

NEXT WOULD BE DHW {domestic hot water}, this is one of the easiest places to save money, BUT when done wrong it can cost you money, and fast...
First thing to do is shower heads, http://www.amazon.com/High-Sierra-Efficiency-Shower-Polished/dp/B001W2CEYA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419177241&sr=8-1&keywords=high+sierra+showerhead

Them are awesome, they make wands and all kinds of stuff, great product, and it will save you money, to the tune of 50% the energy you use when showering which is 80% of your DHW usage...
Next is time, a shower timer for the kids will go a long way, a timer in the shower helps me too, I forget how long I am in there sometimes, having a timer that is set to beep at 6 minutes is helpful...

OK, so thats the cheap stuff, now onto the appliance and the fuel...

OK, there are free ways to heat hot water such as solar, but as the old saying goes, "if its free its for me", no wait, not that one "never look a gift horse in the mouth", nope that one is wrong too, "if its too good to be true, its probably not", Ummmm getting closer, "nothing is for nothing", yeah thats the one.. Here is the issue with solar water heaters, they are expensive, and they don't last long enough to return your investment, in most cases they cost you more to buy and replace in the time they last than if you just had a $400 40 gallon water tank.... So that is a waste...

So what do we use to heat hot water, there are a lot of options, first you need to look at your fuel, if you only have electric, I would install this http://www.americanwaterheater.com/products/productDetails.aspx?ID=1210 rebates through your electric company are easily redeemed, here that tank costs me $905 and the rebate is $750...

Gas I would install this http://www.amazon.com/Rinnai-RL94iN-Natural-Tankless-Gallons/dp/B0058DQLPW/ref=sr_1_3?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1419177802&sr=1-3&keywords=rinnai rebates here are around $300 then feds may have some money for it next year too...

But since you are looking into electric then I would go for the hybrid tank... ONLY if you current equipment is at the end of its life.... Replacing good equipment makes it financially less appealing because you are not getting your use out of the first unit, if you paid $800 for your existing heater, and it has 5 years of life left you just wasted half its costs...

Now if you don't have the room for a tank, then you may need something different, but most places have room and it isn't a problem...

heres the issue, a single guy with a small water tank will spend about $250 a year heating hot water, them tanks and hot water appliances in general last 5-10 years, so if you buy a $600 device that costs you $400 to install and it saves you 50% of your energy costs {WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE, YOU WILL SAVE 5% max, lol}, it still doesn't make much sense...

On demand is good, I like it, but it requires much more energy for the entire use cycle, where non on demand storage type systems require much less energy for sporadic periods of time throughout the day. For example a rinnair on demand water heater uses up to 199K BTU's where a 40ga water tank uses 33K BTU's... So it ends up almost evening out when use is frequent, with steady use it can cost you more in some cases...

The first thing to look at it what DHW costs you right now and what your useage is, then make a decision based on what you will save and how long the equipment will last you, also try to keep what it will cost you to keep said equipment running in mind...
 
fuzz092888

fuzz092888

Audioholic Warlord
Cool, man. I can't wait to see those bad boys all set up.
Well their raw MDF, so they ain't pretty. However, the ability to have a sub cab 75% finished aka 100% assembled in 2 days is magnificent. I already did the fan mod on the Peavey too, so that's ready to rock. I just have to drill the speakon hole in the last cab, stuff it and pray that the bolt holes line up.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Why did you post this, are you baiting me into a 5400 word post?
Don't buy that...
We've talked about Vine before, right? I didn't buy it. :)

I have a gas water tank right now, and I'm happy with it. I have zero idea what it costs me a year in hot water costs, which means that it's low enough to stay off my radar. I got caught up in the moment and snagged that heater because I'd contemplated one in the past. I just didn't happen to see the electrical requirements until too late. I'll figure out some way to try it out, though - assuming it works to begin with. A number of reviews for that brand mention defective hardware.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
I missed the vine part, sorry, yah so for free, its easy to test...
Simply buy http://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-125-ft-8-2-NM-B-Wire-28893602/202316591 and then instead of hard piping it into you system, grab some of these... http://www.sprinklersupplies4less.com/hose-brass-with-valves-p-22018.html and 2 of these for the bottom of the water heater http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015ASX12/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687762&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B007SY4STA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=18F7SZF3C3C7Q6SY2MKP
install them on your washing machines hot and cold, then shut the water feed to your hot water tank and turn the gas off to it...
Next hook your new water heater up with some ss washer hoses to them tees and hook the washer up to the other side, your hot water will now flow through the tankless vs your tank... simple and not permanent...
The wire is going to be the costly part, figure if you stay under 90ft {code is 93ft I believe}, you can run 8ga for a 40a circuit, anything over that you need 6ga {$$$$}, the breakers are also not going to be cheap, depending which box you have square d bryant, ge, ect you will need 4-4oamp breakers meaning you need AT LEAST 8 free spots in your existing box, if you don't have them free spots and can not use mini breakers to free up some space {you cant use mini of l1 l2 but you can replace some full size 15 and 20 amp 120v spots by using mini's...} you will need a single large breaker and a sub panel that will support the 4-40's, and that small sub will need to be fed with #1 copper or 1/0 aluminum in pipe, you wont need much since you should mount it by the main panel, but it gets much trickier than just snapping in 4 breakers...

 
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ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
One more note, when we installed an on demand electric unit, or some of the electric slant fin boilers we installed, we installed them very close to the electric service to save on wire, it was essentially cheaper to run pex to the water service than run the wire to the unit... Chec local codes for how close to your main panel it can be and it may be an option for you, I am not sure how handy you are with wiring and plumbing, but its pretty easy stuff to get done yourself...
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Thanks, Irv!!! I sure appreciate the time you put into that. If I was just going to run it to the washing machine, why would I have to do anything with the existing water heater? I'd think that I could just close the hot water valve by the washing machine, split the cold water line to the washer to have part go into this heater and part go into the washer's cold water inlet, and then connect the output from the heater into the hot water inlet on the washer.

My plan is to do something that feeds a hose or faucet - something that I can easily feel and measure. It's the power that has me a bit freaked because I haven't ever messed with my power lines before. I suppose that I need to learn sometime. :)
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
Thanks, Irv!!! I sure appreciate the time you put into that. If I was just going to run it to the washing machine, why would I have to do anything with the existing water heater? I'd think that I could just close the hot water valve by the washing machine, split the cold water line to the washer to have part go into this heater and part go into the washer's cold water inlet, and then connect the output from the heater into the hot water inlet on the washer.

My plan is to do something that feeds a hose or faucet - something that I can easily feel and measure. It's the power that has me a bit freaked because I haven't ever messed with my power lines before. I suppose that I need to learn sometime. :)
You lost me, not hard to do, lol...
The only thing you are doing with your current water heater is shutting the supply off so there is no back flow, ghost flow, or mixing.
Then your washer hooks up just how it is hooked up now except to a tee, other side of them tees go to the water heater, thats it, done...

Now for the electrical, its not hard, but dangerous, lol...
First thing to do is make sure you have the room for 4 double breakers...
If you do that is half the battle, read the name on your box and go get the materials..
4-40a breakers that match your box
4-lugs so you can put the wire into the box with a mechanical seal http://www.indoorcomfortsupply.com/PDGImages/650DC2.jpg , you will need 2 for each wire, one to go into your breaker panel and one to go into the water heater...

Next is the wire, measure and figure out what you need, the romex 8-2 will be good for under 90ft away from the panel...

Wire the water heater first, while the lights are on, you hang it, and run the wire from the panel to the water heater using insulated wire nails that are the correct size, follow the manu's instructions on wiring their unit, L1 L2 {red and black it doesn't matter which} and ground to the chassis most likely...

Now setup a battery powered light, shut the main breaker off, you house will go dark, remove the 6 screws to drop the front cover, test the panel to make sure shes dead...

Now you will see the 4 bus bars, 2 hots which the breakers connect to, a neutral and a ground, neutral will have a bunch of white wires connecting to it, and the ground will have stripped copper wires, the breakers should have black and red connected to their terminal...

so feed your wires into the box through the lug and strip it back, your 8-2 wire will have a red, black, and ground the breaker will have 2 screws, wire the red to one of them and the black to the other, wire the ground to the bar where all the grounds go. snap the breaker into the bus where they go...

Do that 4 times, then remove the knockouts in the panels cover, have all 4 new breakers in the off position and reinstall the panels cover, then turn on the main, then 1 at a time flip on the 4 new breakers, you should be done...
2 notes, 1 Make sure there is water in the heater before you turn it on and the most important is even when the main breaker is off there is a spot you CAN NOT touch, that is the main breaker "IN", you will see 2 large wires near or on that breaker, them are hot from the pole, don't touch cause you wont be able to let go and you will cook, and niki will eat you in the dark...

 
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ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
so its easy, I hold master electrician license for 2 states, master mechanical for RI, master pipefitter for RI {in the mechanical}, CT, and MA, master refrig for CT, heavy equipment for CT, RI, MA, and a few other licences that I will pay for, for the rest of my life and probably use once a year, lol... If you ever need any info, feel free to ask... The only thing I don't know is finish carpentry, I mean I could build a house with a couple of helpers, but a basic house, to start installing crown moldings, mosaic tile floors, plastered in windows, ect, you are better off having a 1 armed 11 year old do it, because my brain dont work that way, I have done more roofs than I can count, I built 2 houses with help from a temp agency {if you ever hired from an agency you know what I mean when I say almost useless} when I was first starting out, the only things I didnt do with my own hands was pour the cement, but I dug the foundation, formed it, I had another company pour it and polish the floor... I also had a company come in and do the granite counter tops and hardwood floors, but I did all the tile, framing including roof trusses {ordered not made by hand, but I set them}, I even connected the sewer and water services!!! Built 2 houses at the same time on 1 piece of land that I subdivided, both 2 families....
 
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Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
so its easy, I hold master electrician license for 2 states, master mechanical for RI, master pipefitter for RI {in the mechanical}, CT, and MA, master refrig for CT...
Well, I hold a master in something.

Try blocking that mental image. Just try it. :D

MSME, pervs.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
On a different note, I just got two routers set up - one as the main router, and the other as a client. FINALLY. Honestly, I don't even know what I did differently from it not working to it working, but it's going. Kind of. It just quit again. What the heck...
 

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