Anyone use big midbass drivers as rear fill?

[Dr. Dan 10+ year member]

Rear fill is not really an accurate term here, more like little midbass subs firing into the cabin. Of course the ideal situation is to have your front drivers do as much of the reproduction as possible, but with the proper crossover points, I think this could sound pretty good.

For example, I'm considering a set of Morels that have beautiful midrange, but also lack lower end extension. I drive a small stick shift coupe and there's no chance of fitting kick panels on the driver's side.

So how 'bout using the morels upfront, and putting some deep midbases from Seas, Adire etc... in the rear shelf. If the Midbasses are crossed to produce just a narrow band, perhaps somewhere between 60 hz and 160(just guessing) I wouldn't expect any negative impact on staging. Frequencies that low are still pretty non-directional, and I bet it might blend pretty well with my 12" sub in the trunk.

Basically this would be like a 3 way system with the midbasses in the rear for ease of installation.

Thoughts?

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[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

you can but i would get something that can control phase pretty well to go along with it. if you do it right when the rest of the system plays it will sound "up front" but not to the degree that being up front would or could have. another option is on the floor. i know alot of guys that went there with mid basses and did pretty well (more old school but to me those were the better cars anyway)

 

[Dr. Dan 10+ year member]

you can but i would get something that can control phase pretty well to go along with it.

Yeah, good point. A continually variable phase control would great for this. Perhaps I can find a crossover with one built in.

Funny too, I'm considering the new Ascendant 6.5 woofer and a Soundstream Van Gogh amp, similar to your setup audiolife. Are you happy with those choices?

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

its not bad at all i am switching it up quite a bit to compete again. i used to do iasca back in the mid 90's when everyoone ran under what are the ultimate rules now. i go to alot of the big shows but to me (maybe im deadened to shock and awe i dont know) but very few of the newwer set ups seem to spark that "man that is kick *** " feeling when listening to them. i mean sure you get a few here and there but back in the day you had 200 sq cars at a big show fighting it out for the "best" now you are lucky to get 40 cars and of those 40 the majority are just more for looks. i can compete with what i have im sure and do pretty decent but it would feel weird not haveing a big image dynamics sticker on my ride and not being able to talk to the id boys about tuning and so forth.

with phase you can get it to sound in order with the front to seem more up front (people will argue about test tones and so forth but unless you listen to test tones i wouldnt worry too much about it) tuning will be a little awkward but i know it can be atleast well enough to where it doesnt standout to being back there

 

[kuijo 10+ year member]

160 seems pretty high to still count on the sound to be omnidirectional. Id find a way to put them up front at all cost. Or lower your front stage crossover to try and pull it foward more. But audiolife knows what he's talking about, so id listen to him. but thats just what was i picturing.

 

[Dr. Dan 10+ year member]

I think you're right, 160 would be too high also, just a general guess at the highest feasible point.

It's just frustrating because these Morel integras I'm looking at are quite nice in every other way, cheap, shallow mounting depth, clear and smooth midrange.

The Ascendant Component set that's coming out soon will probably have great midbass, and also comes with a redesigned Vifa XT25 tweeter for $199 during the Pre-Buy, including crossovers. But they're unproven, probably 3"+ mounting depth and I'll have to wait another month or 2 'till they come out.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

look up timekeepers car on http://www.carsrereo.com and look at his midbass for a "front option". the rear way would be easy to tell when your off and i doubt very much like it would ever sound way out in front of you (hood or behind the dash) but i have heard them sound about steering wheel to front of the dash. seen it done a couple of ways one was with pods coming out of the rear deck the other is simple fireing up. richard clark had his gn with side firing 12s in the rear arm rests. listen to it by itself it will be locatable play it in the system as a whole you should be able to tell easily when you are adjusting it. id probably opt to using the drum tracks on the iasca cd to determin the effects of your adjustments. i dont think you will really be able to "crank em up" back there either but you never know.