Germs or DIY?

[GemaRastem 10+ year member]

I've been searching, thinking, reading and can't make up my mind. I want to upgrade my SLC's, but not sure what I want to do. Budget is around $500 for the set. It's either the Germs, or I do a diy setup that is just as good or better than the Germs. I also so the CMX line is cheaper, but I don't know anything about them.

1. They will be run active 2 way, 85 watts

2. Mid must be around 6.5"

3. can't build kick pods, so tweeter can't be large format, mid will be IB

4. Upgrade from the SLC's

Thanks

Chaston

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[enzowho 10+ year member]

If you are running active I would say go with a DIY setup (that assumes you have good installs/tuning abilities or know somebody who does though). The Germaniums are great drivers, but really pull ahead of the competition with their awesome passive crossover. For an active setup you can get better sound for roughly the same price IMHO.

I believe the Germanium setup is around $550 new. For $400 you could get some 7" Scan-Speak Revelators. That leaves you with $100-150 to spend on tweets. For $300 you could get some 7" Seas Excels, which leaves you with $200-250 for tweets. I know some people complain of having thin midbass with the Seas running them IB, not sure if that's a problem with the Revelators too (they both have a Qts of ~.35, so I assume it could be). The Revelators have the best midrange I have personally ever heard before with the Seas fairly close behind.

As for tweets, I'm haven't used any small format DIY tweets. You might try getting your hands on a pair of Rainbow tweets... If you do figure out how to fit a large format tweet try the Hiquphon OWI or OWI-fs. Very flat response from 2.5k up and amazing off-axis response.

 

[spudracer326 10+ year member]

^x2 I like the scanspeak revelators and hiquphon ow1fs....would put you around 600....

 

[enzowho 10+ year member]

spudrace326 where are you at in Oregon?

 

[Motovet 10+ year member]

Get ready for snow!

 

[Towncar 10+ year member]

Easy choice... Diy!!

 

[///M5 10+ year member]

DIY for sure.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

You might be able to DIY car audio speakers. When I was talking to 3.5sixspeed that is what he reccomened to be. I got my tweet down (Cal 27 -- $300 range) and now I got to find a $2-300 mid. I think that would be better than the germs because you can have exactly what you want.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

no doubt go DIY. much better value IMO than going with components if going active.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

You can certainly experiment going DIY active. But i will most certainly bet you WILL end up with a caraudio tweeter at the least at some point or another. NOTHING beats their off axis and form factor- which is what the automotive environment calls for before you hack your car or lose leg room chasing a dream.

*I dont recomment DIY for those lacking the correct tuning to go active.

*I dont recommend DIY for those that do not know how to tune.

*I dont recommend DIY if you are not willing to learn the technical aspects of what makes a certain drivers parameters suitable for your application.

*Making most DIY home drivers work optimally may require decent modification/fabrication skills.

*99%+ of home audio speakers parameters are not optimal for IB use(door use) whithout sacrificing certain aspects of that drivers usable range.

*Most of the GREAT drivers available for 2 way use are no good past 1.5-2khz tops, leaving a greater emphasis on a tweeter that can crossover lower- in the DIY world you are talking of mammoth sized large format tweeters that NEED on axis mounting (pointing at you) to get your money's worth- which requires heavy modification in the car.

And if you are the type that is looking to reach the simple goal of great sound one shot and leaving it as is, the DIY world will likely have you changing your equipment more often than implementing a solid car audio set-whose drivers are matched to work well with one another .

Remember a speaker that performs well and measures well, doesnt mean will work well in YOUR car. I've personally have lost more $$ trying/selling DIY speakers, than I have trying/selling car audio speakers(which also have more used market demand).

Whatever you do, do so wisely. Dont come into DIY thinking its all about a cakewalk and saving $. There are perks and cons.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

3.5 gave me the same lesson....I am still trying to match up car audio speakers to my needs but I have all but give up on using home audio equipment

 

[PremierAudio 10+ year member]

You can certainly experiment going DIY active. But i will most certainly bet you WILL end up with a caraudio tweeter at the least at some point or another. NOTHING beats their off axis and form factor- which is what the automotive environment calls for before you hack your car or lose leg room chasing a dream.
*I dont recomment DIY for those lacking the correct tuning to go active.

*I dont recommend DIY for those that do not know how to tune.

*I dont recommend DIY if you are not willing to learn the technical aspects of what makes a certain drivers parameters suitable for your application.

*Making most DIY home drivers work optimally may require decent modification/fabrication skills.

*99%+ of home audio speakers parameters are not optimal for IB use(door use) whithout sacrificing certain aspects of that drivers usable range.

*Most of the GREAT drivers available for 2 way use are no good past 1.5-2khz tops, leaving a greater emphasis on a tweeter that can crossover lower- in the DIY world you are talking of mammoth sized large format tweeters that NEED on axis mounting (pointing at you) to get your money's worth- which requires heavy modification in the car.

And if you are the type that is looking to reach the simple goal of great sound one shot and leaving it as is, the DIY world will likely have you changing your equipment more often than implementing a solid car audio set-whose drivers are matched to work well with one another .

Remember a speaker that performs well and measures well, doesnt mean will work well in YOUR car. I've personally have lost more $$ trying/selling DIY speakers, than I have trying/selling car audio speakers(which also have more used market demand).

Whatever you do, do so wisely. Dont come into DIY thinking its all about a cakewalk and saving $. There are perks and cons.

Very well said. I am seeing a lot of people want to go active these days because a few guys have had great success for what they are aiming at (after numerous trial and error) and think that they can just go buy some Dayton mids and some tweeters, hook it up to an amp and will be drastically supprised by the outcome. Only to be extremely disappointed that there 200.00 comp system smoked their active system. I really hope people read this and understand it takes a good amount of tuning and trial and error with a few different drivers to find what is going to suit them best.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

Very well said. I am seeing a lot of people want to go active these days because a few guys have had great success for what they are aiming at (after numerous trial and error) and think that they can just go buy some Dayton mids and some tweeters, hook it up to an amp and will be drastically supprised by the outcome. Only to be extremely disappointed that there 200.00 comp system smoked their active system. I really hope people read this and understand it takes a good amount of tuning and trial and error with a few different drivers to find what is going to suit them best.

Would you say this is also true with car audio speakers? Going mix-and-match like I am doing?

 

[slick rick 10+ year member]

Get the germs...they are a nice upgrade. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

word with 3.5. in my response, its an assumption that tuning and knowledge is there.