Best SQ option?

[LoyC]

I have a Pioneer mvh-2300nex HU, Alpine X-series 120w x 4 amp w/matching components & coaxials in front. KTA-450 (bridged) 100w x 2 w/Pioneer Z-series coaxials in rear. NVX 1000.1 amp w/ DC Audio sub in ported & tuned box in a 2012 Silverado Crew Cab. I've had serious SQ issues, blown many speaker setups & I'm still not impressed with system. Tried tuning by ears, voltagen & bought the DD-1 & think it sounds best when set by ear. HU has network mode, (running standard now) & auto EQ measuring. Checking w/DD-1 I have found distortion at 4khz at v.26 (goes to 40) but at 1k & 40hz no distortion.
I would think this setup would sound pretty awesome but not happy with it.
Also running an Epicenter & Line Driver.

Should I delete rears & let that amp run tweets & go network mode or am I missing something?

Click to read more...

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Try without the rears, it can't hurt to test. I'd say if you can't fix things to your liking with EQ it may come down to improving install/location of your components up front. Chances are that just throwing different amps/drivers at this will not be your silver bullet.

Is everything in stock locations? How much sound deadening and sealing have you done around mounting locations? Are you using passive crossovers that came with your components or trying to cross over active? If active, what are your crossover points?

I don't think those auto-eq tools are meant to be the end-all be-all set and forget, but rather to get you close enough that you can dial in to your taste. If you are finding distortion somewhere it is possible that your head unit is trying to over-drive one frequency band to try to overcome a null that could be corrected with tweaking crossover points or changing aiming/position of components.

 

[LoyC]

Try without the rears, it can't hurt to test. I'd say if you can't fix things to your liking with EQ it may come down to improving install/location of your components up front. Chances are that just throwing different amps/drivers at this will not be your silver bullet.

Is everything in stock locations? How much sound deadening and sealing have you done around mounting locations? Are you using passive crossovers that came with your components or trying to cross over active? If active, what are your crossover points?

I don't think those auto-eq tools are meant to be the end-all be-all set and forget, but rather to get you close enough that you can dial in to your taste. If you are finding distortion somewhere it is possible that your head unit is trying to over-drive one frequency band to try to overcome a null that could be corrected with tweaking crossover points or changing aiming/position of components.

I did put a good bit of sound deadening in doors, 6.5's are in stock locations using the speaker pods to install dual 6.5's in front. Playing around with tweeter locations now & it's helping. Running the crossovers that came I the comps & have tried both deck & amps for main crossovers.

 

[LoyC]

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Playing around with tweeter locations now & it's helping.

Tweeter aiming and position can make a big difference. Might also experiment with running one or both out of phase, sometimes it helps. If your passive crossovers weren't meant to drive both 6.5s running the pair will change the crossover point since the passive crossover ONLY works as intended with the load it is designed to be connected.

 

[LoyC]

Tweeter aiming and position can make a big difference. Might also experiment with running one or both out of phase, sometimes it helps. If your passive crossovers weren't meant to drive both 6.5s running the pair will change the crossover point since the passive crossover ONLY works as intended with the load it is designed to be connected.

I thought about trying that but was scared I'd mess something up lol. I have the coaxials on channels 3 & 4 with the components on channels 1 & 2 but will definitely try the tweets out of phase, thanks. And I'm open to any other suggestions. When checking for distortion with the DD I find the distortion at 3500 - 4000 hz range. I can have it clean at/before the amp but thru the amp it's there no matter what, time I touch the gain setting if not without even touching them. All settings flat on eq, crossovers, etc.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I thought about trying that but was scared I'd mess something up lol. I have the coaxials on channels 3 & 4 with the components on channels 1 & 2 but will definitely try the tweets out of phase, thanks. And I'm open to any other suggestions. When checking for distortion with the DD I find the distortion at 3500 - 4000 hz range. I can have it clean at/before the amp but thru the amp it's there no matter what, time I touch the gain setting if not without even touching them. All settings flat on eq, crossovers, etc.

Seems that by process of elimination your amp is producing the distortion, but that shouldn't be happening with even flea market brand amps these days so I have no theory on this apart from some manufacturer defect or fault in the amp.

Tweeters out of phase won't harm equipment and often it helps. The more drivers you have in different locations the more complicated it becomes acoustically speaking to get all the sound waves to hit your ears at the same time and in phase, and a car is far worse than studio, concert hall, or home where we have better flexibility in positioning and more symmetrical environment (room). Usually less is more when you're trying to pull off good sound stage and dial in a smooth response but the tradeoff is that adding another set of components on more power is an easy way to get 6dB gain.

Depending how picky you are about sound this **** can drive you absolutely buggy so don't get discouraged and don't try to tweak/play for extended sessions and fatigue sets in quickly and you won't be making good decisions after sitting and testing for too long in one sitting.

 

[LoyC]

I told my wife several times that I believe it's my amp and ur on the money about driving me bonkers, everyone around me knows this thing has been driving me nuts for some time now but I'm not giving up lol. I appreciate the info, gonna try a couple of other things and I'll let u k know how it turns out.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Just my 2¢

I'd not use the second amp on the coaxials. Or at all.
I'd use the Alpine 4 channel like this:

Channels 1/2 on tweeters ( see below for a better suggestion)
Channel 3/4 on midbass in doors

However, I would purchase a pair of 30MC Alpine speakers and pair them with the tweeters and have them on the dash in pods or the A-pillar in pods. You can use a passive 2-way crossover to run them and your head unit to crossover the low side of them... around 300hz. The passive crossover will cross them over appropriately on the high side.
You can run the doors 80 - 300hz on channels 3/4 and now you have a hybrid 3-way active front stage.