How many tweets, mids and subs?

[Brazito 10+ year member]

With no consideration to budget high or low what is the determining factor for decision making?

Do you select subs and their amps first when building a system or mids and tweets. If it all has to be considered at the same time what is the rule of thumb determining the quantity of speakers?

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[The_Grimy_One 10+ year member]

With no consideration to budget high or low what is the determining factor for decision making?Do you select subs and their amps first when building a system or mids and tweets. If it all has to be considered at the same time what is the rule of thumb determining the quantity of speakers?

Well, when it comes to mids and tweets, I guess it comes to your goal. If you want incredible SQ, maybe go with a 4-way front stage, or 3-way. Many people dont run rear speakers, and other do, but if you do, most only run one set. If your goal is SPL, and you have a bunch of subs on a bunch of watts, then you are probably going to want multiple mids/tweets in the front stage to keep up with the bass. That can be anywhere from 2-5 sets of components, Im sure some have done more. Then of course subs fall inline. If you want SQ maybe go with 2 8s, or 2 10s. If you want ridiculous monster bass, maybe 6 15s. Haha. Of course subs take up much more room, so you have to see how much space you are working with, how many watts you are going to use, and what kind of electrical upgrades you will undergo. All in all I think it comes down to if you want pure SQ, SQL, or pure SPL.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Midrange decision is probably the most crucial. Placement is everything, so whee the speakers can go determines size. I would take a set of full range point source drivers in the dash over anything else. But not all of us have a vehicle that can pull that off. Separate mids and tweets are used to give airspace to the mid and mid bass while the tweeter sets the soundstage height.

You want mids as far from you as possible, aimed at you. Kicks work well, but kicks lack airspace for mid bass. You can vent the kicks, then your struggle is structure borne vibration and resonance. Solve those, and you are sitting pretty good at building a two seat car. We use the doors because it is easy to get mid bass once we deaden and seal the doors up.

I've heard great 2-way systems. I've heard great 3-way systems. Install is everything, and I focus most time and effort into speakers up front, working to get a proper sound stage with driver placement and T/A.

Subs are last, because until you determine what you can do for mid bass and overall music volume, you don't know how much bass is needed. Subs should fill in but not take away from overall balance and instrument location in the sound stage. When you hear bass that seems to come from the dash, it's pretty cool.

Good bass is difficult to achieve, especially with standard methods. A box in the trunk hasnt impressed me since I started to appreciate accurate reproduction of music. Custom integrated enclosures usually work best, taking phase interference into account.

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

I like my stuff loud, so I run 8 10s and 8 bullet tweets on like 2500w for highs, and then 4 12s on 2k for bass. No matter how loud I play the subs, the mids and highs are always loud and clear to be heard over that.

YouTube - ‪galamonkey's Channel‬‏

 

[Chrispy 10+ year member]

^ That. I like crazy loud mids and highs with the bass to back it up.

 

[The_Grimy_One 10+ year member]

I like my stuff loud, so I run 8 10s and 8 bullet tweets on like 2500w for highs, and then 4 12s on 2k for bass. No matter how loud I play the subs, the mids and highs are always loud and clear to be heard over that.
YouTube - ‪galamonkey's Channel‬‏

That schit is ridiculous! I would run some diff subs, but Im sure they get loud with that box... Good stuff.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

I like accuracy and no comb filtering. When two or more speakers play the same signal the response is different in each location due to phase interference called comb filtering. I don't like phase interference or distortion. The best sound usually comes from the fewest number of speakers.

But some people want a rock concert, //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

that is the beauty of car audio, you can build whatever you want.

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

That schit is ridiculous! I would run some diff subs, but Im sure they get loud with that box... Good stuff.

It is just 4 Kicker CVR 12s (the 2007 model, they were $70 shipped each BNIB), on a Massive Audio Nano N4. The sub amp fits in my pocket its so small, and it still manages a 141 @ 25hz with the front doors open.

 

[Brazito 10+ year member]

Thanks, much appreciated.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

I like accuracy and no comb filtering. When two or more speakers play the same signal the response is different in each location due to phase interference called comb filtering. I don't like phase interference or distortion. The best sound usually comes from the fewest number of speakers.
But some people want a rock concert, //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

that is the beauty of car audio, you can build whatever you want.

Hope hit the nail on the head. Music, for the most part, is recorded in stereo. Stereo means two channels, one left, and one right. So for ideal reproduction, only two speakers would be needed. The more speakers you add, the more interference, phase issues, point sourcing and blending problems will occur. Obviously technology wont allow us to just run one left, and one right speaker, so we break the frequency response down to tweeters, mids, and subwoofers, that is a necessity. But beyond that, again for ideal reproduction, the fewer the drivers, the better.

And while I can appreciate galacticmonkey's setup, mids and tweeters should never be placed in a center console, unless SQ is not your goal in any way. Galactic knows what he is doing, so obviously his goal was simply raw output, Im not dissing his setup. Im simply commenting so people realize the potential drawbacks of such a system if your goals are not aligned with what galactic was trying to accomplish.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

If SQ is your goal, 2-way or 3-way setup is the way to go. High quality components or even some budget sets like the HAT Imagine are good SQ for the money. I would stay away from the component sets that are $120 or lower. One of the best sets I've heard was a Polk Audio 2-way component set that has got to be 10 years old by now. Very clean sound from 40hz on up. If you want ultimate control, going active and even using time alignment for perfect imaging can be accomplished.

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

x2 what audioholic said

 

[Brazito 10+ year member]

Thanks again.