Center Channel trickery

  • 2
    Participant count
  • Participants list

Seth F.

CarAudio.com Recruit
Has anyone ever attempted to or been successful in using the stock corner dash locations in many cars to upgrade the 2 3/4 or 3" mid/high drivers into a series or parallel wired mono center channel? My assumption is that it could work providing that time alignment can be figured out and possibly finding the correct driver with premium off axis response.
I'm trying to think out of the box a little bit to build up a unique front stage where my midbass and highs are mounted close together (basically a two way component set) in the front doors, preferably in kick panels or in the stock door locations and then using a center channel for extra support in the 1k to 3k range.

Thoughts? Or am I completely off the wagon?
 
Has anyone ever attempted to or been successful in using the stock corner dash locations in many cars to upgrade the 2 3/4 or 3" mid/high drivers into a series or parallel wired mono center channel? My assumption is that it could work providing that time alignment can be figured out and possibly finding the correct driver with premium off axis response.
I'm trying to think out of the box a little bit to build up a unique front stage where my midbass and highs are mounted close together (basically a two way component set) in the front doors, preferably in kick panels or in the stock door locations and then using a center channel for extra support in the 1k to 3k range.

Thoughts? Or am I completely off the wagon?
OR should I set up a three way component system with mid bass in the door, mid in the dash corner, and tweet either in the A-Pillar or Sail panel. I've heard keeping the tweet and mid close is important, so in a 3 way system that configuration may work?

The other goal is to avoid modding the door panels too much. Id rather mold a surface mount pod for the a-pillar or sail panel and drill a hole for tweeter wire than take a hole saw or bondo to the door panel.
 
For a center channel, you do NOT want a mono signal, and you definitely do not want to bandpass it as you mentioned. You need an upmixed signal otherwise you pull the soundstage in and it sounds tiny and narrow. A proper upmixer essentially reads the signal and split it up into the left signal, right signal, and center signal. Unfortunately, this isn't very common to have in aftermarket processors. The only ones that have it that are still in production are Helix with their "Real Center" center extractor, and the Alpine H800 with Dolby, but that's a PITA to use and must be used with digital input. The JBL MS8 has this as well, but those haven't been sold in a while. But yeah, with a center channel you either do it 100% correctly or don't do it at all. With the method you mentioned, i'd say don't do it at all.
 
OR should I set up a three way component system with mid bass in the door, mid in the dash corner, and tweet either in the A-Pillar or Sail panel.
Absolutely do this. I'd take better individual locations over keeping the mid and tweeter close to each other any day all day. Kick panels for mids and tweeters need to be left in the 90s
 
For a center channel, you do NOT want a mono signal, and you definitely do not want to bandpass it as you mentioned. You need an upmixed signal otherwise you pull the soundstage in and it sounds tiny and narrow. A proper upmixer essentially reads the signal and split it up into the left signal, right signal, and center signal. Unfortunately, this isn't very common to have in aftermarket processors. The only ones that have it that are still in production are Helix with their "Real Center" center extractor, and the Alpine H800 with Dolby, but that's a PITA to use and must be used with digital input. The JBL MS8 has this as well, but those haven't been sold in a while. But yeah, with a center channel you either do it 100% correctly or don't do it at all. With the method you mentioned, i'd say don't do it at all.
Gotcha, that solves that :-D
 
Absolutely do this. I'd take better individual locations over keeping the mid and tweeter close to each other any day all day. Kick panels for mids and tweeters need to be left in the 90s
Good deal. What are your thoughts on distance between the mid and tweet on a three way? I don't recall the measurements for my truck but obviously the apillar would be closer to the mid in this configuration.
 
Activity
No one is currently typing a reply...
Old Thread: Please note, there have been no replies in this thread for over 3 years!
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.

Similar threads

Audio Control ESP 3 is the way to go ..if your wanting to do a quality center channel setup ...
7
943
Well I ordered an oscope. Should be here today. And this beautiful beast showed up today. I’m gonna have to redo my battery and ground terminals...
36
6K
It is Opel (Vauxhall) Astra J 2011 model, I change the HU to Kirinavi 10 inch screen. The factory speakers are Infinity and would have come with a...
3
322

About this thread

Seth F.

CarAudio.com Recruit
Thread starter
Seth F.
Joined
Location
Virginia
Start date
Participants
Who Replied
Replies
6
Views
1,104
Last reply date
Last reply from
SkizeR
DD451980-D607-41AB-B69C-6745AAE4B848.jpeg

SlugButter

    Mar 28, 2024
  • 0
  • 0
F98C6D78-7734-4659-9FCA-34969BDDC56A.jpeg

SlugButter

    Mar 28, 2024
  • 0
  • 0

Latest topics

Top