huge system upgrades, 3-way morels, 12w6, take a look!

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

i did 3 huge upgrades this weekend in my 2003 Audi A4: HU, components, and sub:

UPGRADE 1. i had a pair of morel 2-way hybrid ovation 6 components, which is not too shabby at all. i upgraded to morel elate 3-way components: http://www.morelhifi.com/products/mob_3way_elate.html

SPECIFICATIONS FOR COMPONENT SET AS A WHOLE:

Nominal Impedance : 4 Ohm

Power Handling: 200W

Max. Transient Power Handling: 1000W

Sensitivity (2.83V/1M): 89dB

Frequency Response: 20-25000Hz

Crossover Point: 300/3800Hz

Voice Coil Diameter

Woofer: 75mm (3")

Tweeter:28mm (1 1/8")

Midrange: 54mm (2 1/8")

Voice Coil Wire

Woofer: Hexatech Aluminum

Tweeter: Hexatech Aluminum

Midrange: Hexatech Aluminum

Magnet System

Woofer: Hybrid rear vented

Tweeter: Double Neodymium magnet

Midrange: Neodymium rear vented

Mounting Depth

Woofer: 2.4"

Tweeter: 0.8"

Midrange: 1.0"

Morel Elate 6" Woofer [80 Hz - 300 Hz] http://www.morelhifi.com/products/mob_subwoofers_elatesw.html

SPECIFICATIONS: ELATE SW 6" WOOFER

Nominal Impedance: 4 Ohm

Power Handling 160W 180W 200W 200W

Max. Transient Power Handling: 1000W

Sensitivity (2.83V/1M): 89dB

Frequency Response: 25-4000Hz

FS: 50Hz

DC Resistance: 3.7 Ohm

Voice Coil Inductance @1kHz: 0.38MH

Magnet System: Hybrid rear vented

HE-Magnetic Gap Height 6mm (0.25")

B-Flux Density 0.8T

BL Product/BXL 6.35

Max. Linear Excursion/Xmax: 8.5mm (±4.25mm)

Suspension Compliance CMS 721

Mechanical Q Factor QES 0.39

Total Q Factor Q/T 0.33

QMS 2.06

Mechanical Resistance RMS 1.03kgS¹

Moving Mass MMS 13.56gr (0.48oz)

Equivalent Car Air Load VAS 14.35L (0.51ft³)

Effective Pison Area SD 119cm² (18.45in²)

Cone Type One-piece formed

Cone Material DPC

Unit Diameter 165mm (6½")

Mounting Depth 61mm (2.37")

Mounting Cutout 141mm (5.55")

Net Weight 1.18kg (2.6lb)

Morel CDM-54 3.7" Midrange [300 Hz - 3.8 kHz]

SPECIFICATIONS CDM-54 MIDRANGE

Nominal Impedance 4 Ohm

Power Handling 100W

Max. Transient Power Handling 300W

Sensitivity (2.83V/1M) 91 dB

Frequency Response 450-7000Hz

FS 300Hz

Voice Coil Diameter 54mm (2 1/8")

Voice Coil Former Aluminum

Voice Coil Wire Hexatech Aluminum

DC Resistance 3.5 Ohm

Magnet System Neodymium rear vented

Dome Type Acuflex Soft Dome

Dome Material Soft dome

Unit Diameter 94mm (3.7")

Mounting Depth 25mm (1")

Mounting Cutout 84mm (3.3")

Net Weight 0.25kg (0.55lb)

Morel MT-23 Tweeter [3.8 kHz - 6.5 kHz]

SPECIFICATIONS MT-23 TWEETER

Nominal Impedance 6 Ohm

Power Handling 130W

Max. Transient Power Handling 350W

Sensitivity (2.83V/1M) 91 dB

Frequency Response 1400-25000Hz

FS 950Hz

Voice Coil Diameter 28mm (1 1/8")

Voice Coil Former Aluminum

Voice Coil Wire Hexatech Aluminum

DC Resistance 5.2 Ohm

Magnet System Double magnet Neodymium

Dome Type Acuflex Soft Dome

Dome Material Silk

Unit Diameter 45mm (1.8")

Mounting Depth 20mm (0.8")

Mounting Cutout 50mm (2")

Net Weight 0.07kg (0.15lb)

UPGRADE 2.

10"ALPINE TYPE-R UPGRADED TO JL 12W6v2. huge sound diff, noticeable but not drastic increase in output, but at least 3 times the SQ relative to the alpine type R in my opinion and in my application.

Free Air Resonance (Fs): 25.0 Hz

Electrical “Q” (Qes): 0.480

Mechanical “Q” (Qms): 7.100

Total Speaker “Q” (Qts): 0.450

Equivalent Compliance (Vas): 2.82 cu. ft. / 79.9 liters

One-Way, Linear Excursion (Xmax)*: 0.65 in. / 16.5 mm

Reference Efficiency (no): 0.250%

Efficiency (1W/1m)**: 85.9 dB SPL

Effective Piston Area (Sd): 77.8 sq. in. / 0.0502 sq. m.

DC Resistance (Re): 6.75 ohm***

Nominal Impedance (Znom): Dual 4 ohm

Thermal Power Handling (Pt): 400W

Driver Displacement: 0.090 cu. ft. / 2.5 liters

Net Weight: 19.4 lbs. / 8.8 kg

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_subs.php?series_id=4

UPGRADE 3.

piece of sh*t SQ Alpine CDA-9856 upgraded to a Pioneer DEH-p7800mp.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/product/details/0,,2076_310069880_291147601,00.html

sounds unreal in comparison to my old HU, have little to no experience using an equalizer so need to keep playing with it. i got it bc i was obsessed with the BBE processing that the alpine HU had, so i settled on the Pioneer 7800 after reviewing all the audio controls as well as bc of the fact that it also has BBE processing.

Audio Features

Equalizer 16-Band Graphic

Loudness Yes

DSP yes

Listening Position Selector yes

BBE Digital yes

Electronic Balance/Fader yes

Source Level Adjuster (SLA) yes

Crossover Network 3-Way Crossover

High-Pass Crossover (HPF) 50/63/80/100/ 125/160/200Hz, 0/-6/-12dB/Oct.

Subwoofer Crossover (LPF) 50/63/80/100/ 125/160/200Hz, -6/-12/-18dB/Oct.

Subwoofer Direct Control Key

RCA Preouts 3 pair (Front, Rear, Sub/Non-Fading)

Preout Voltage & Impedance Hi-Volt (5V), 100 ohm

NOTE: i did the HU install myself, and everything else was held constant so i was able to do a straight up comparison bw the way the same equipment sounded on a diff HU.

then i had the morel 3-way elates done the day after and i wired and mounted the sub that night. any one of these 3 upgrades would be exciting on their own and more than enough to keep me in the car long after i pull in my drive way. all 3 upgrades together is enough to keep me in my car from the time i get home from law school in the PM until its time to go to school for the day in the AM.

only problem is i still have this kicker kx650.4 pushing the morels. i was planning on biamping my 2 way system but with the 3 way system, i am going to stick to the morel mx33.3 passive crossover (http://www.morelhifi.com/products/mob_alignment_cross_mx33.html) especially since the tweeter is 6 ohms and will complicate things even more.

thus, i am now seriously in need of a high end 2 channel that puts out 200+ Watts at 4 ohms per channel. please suggest something if for some reason you are still reading this post after i have rambled on for pages upon pages and included even those specs which are meaningless to me personally.

Click to read more...

 

[klepto 10+ year member]

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[frankiebones 10+ year member]

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first off, i dont have a digital camera at the moment (my girl has it at her place on 78th and 3rd ave) and i am in long island.

secondly, my install is a little sloppier than what would pass for a show car, and i just assumed you had all seen what a pioneer hu and a jl sub looked like, but...

gimme a day or two and i'll get them up, or see if i can get a decent pic of my phone. lets say i had the pics, what would you think then?

 

[2kchevy06civic 5,000+ posts]

I've actually been looking at that very same 3-way comp system. I want to have a full writtin review of what you think on my desk asap.

thx

 

[frankiebones 10+ year member]

I've actually been looking at that very same 3-way comp system. I want to have a full writtin review of what you think on my desk asap.
thx

what kind of car you riding in? what size 3-way system u lookin at, the 5, 6, or the 9? (i think they're might be a 10 as well)

 

[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

Amp suggestion:

http://www.audiojunkies.com/product_detail.php?cid=180&product_id=219

Actual output is closer to 250 watts at 4ohms. You can read all about them at http://zedaudio.com/aboutus.html

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

dang those morel elates aren't cheap, lol.

also you can look at arc audio 4150xxk. there a couple on here for sale and does a rated 320 x 2 @ 4 ohms bridged and probably will do more than that. headroom is always a good thing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif.

 

[Bolognablake 10+ year member]

Ahh, pics, we need pics!

I'm looking at Audi A4s right now, so I'm looking for ideas.

 

[THUNDERBIRD 10+ year member]

that is some badass stuff my boy has that hu and i love it he talked about selling it i might just have to pick it up and i want ur model car.

 

[LeofromtheH 10+ year member]

booo for no pics

 

[Death By Bass 10+ year member]

umm...

whats the point in having a 3 way setup?

less is often more.

the 6inch woofer in this case has a 4000Hz upper response, and would happily cross over straight to a tweeter.

in other words, the 3 way setup is almost pointless, and just adds installation dificulties, and more crossover points, which is often considered a bad thing...

oh well.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

umm...
whats the point in having a 3 way setup?

less is often more.

the 6inch woofer in this case has a 4000Hz upper response, and would happily cross over straight to a tweeter.

in other words, the 3 way setup is almost pointless, and just adds installation dificulties, and more crossover points, which is often considered a bad thing...

oh well.

no you are completely wrong here my friend. there are a lot of benetfits of running a 3 way over a 2 way. sure its much more difficult to tune you probably would have to do some fabbing to get it done (ie kick pods). but what the 3 way setup does it:

1) much better tonality. a 4 inch speaker will definately add much more detail in the midrange area than a 6 inch woofer, in general of course. you will hear music you've never heard before. i'm hearing guitar and vocals with much more detail. my lotus 4 is unreal.

2) much better sound stage. if you put your midrange in the kicks you will get a much deeper soundstage. why? duh, the speaker is physically deeper in the car rather than in the stock door location. also it will be much easier to image as you shorten the path length difference between the speakers when you put them in kicks.

3) much better midbass. if you have a woofer playing from 80-3000hz then the woofer is working much harder to produce those frequencies. if you shorten that bandpass to 80-300 or so, then the speaker will work less giving a more punchier or snappier midbass. this is what happened to me when i was running 2 way with the seas lotus reference set. change the mid bandpass from 80-2.5khz to 80-800hz and the midbass increased tremendously.

i'm not saying you can't get great midbass, midrange response from a 2 way set though.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

first off, i dont have a digital camera at the moment (my girl has it at her place on 78th and 3rd ave) and i am in long island.
secondly, my install is a little sloppier than what would pass for a show car, and i just assumed you had all seen what a pioneer hu and a jl sub looked like, but...

gimme a day or two and i'll get them up, or see if i can get a decent pic of my phone. lets say i had the pics, what would you think then?

dont worry, i'll get the camera for you tonight.

 

[Death By Bass 10+ year member]

^^

thats wrong, but anyhoo... lol

btw, you want a HIGH sound stage, not a low sound stage...

I've never worked out why exactly all you people like your music playing down by your feet, but anyway.... lol

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

^^
thats wrong, but anyhoo... lol

btw, you want a HIGH sound stage, not a low sound stage...

I've never worked out why exactly all you people like your music playing down by your feet, but anyway.... lol

thats why its important to mess around with speaker locations before fabbing. also the midrange does not determine stage height. i believe its like 5khz or up that will determine the stage height. so to compensate, you can put the tweeters in the pillars and your soundstage height problems are solved //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif.