looking for a series of sq amps

[chefzane]

Not trying to rag on you, but I'd do a little more research before finalizing everything. It's better to spend more time planning if it makes the end result better. Look around some of the SQ cars at some shows and talk to their owners and get some tips. Remember that the install is the most important part - you can't just mount everything wherever you want and expect it to sound good just because you bought good equipment.

I have been to see cars at Austin and Kansas city shows last year, I have based all decisions on monetary and quality points, all the speakers and such are being positioned based on guidance from ca.com, maf, and diyma threads and questions and pics of installs from all over so they should be good, remember this is first year entry level stuff not trying to win world finals

Can we get off the other stuff I can give you specs, price range, and items to be used on them just need suggestions on amps haven't even gotten one of those yet

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

Lets put it this way. I have a setup in my Bus that sounds on par with about 90% of the high end systems that I've heard at the shows...and its about $500 worth of gear (in my sig). I'm even using god-forsaken 3-way coaxials. The main reason it works well is the amount of time I spent building speaker pods that aim each speaker towards my ears and are rigid enough to hold the speaker and provide a baffle. The stage sounds like it is coming from a few inches in front of your face, dead center, if you are 5'10".

Most installs place the speaker firing off axis to the listener or worst yet....firing across the cabin and canceling out against the other speakers or a hard object. If the speakers are fired on axis or against a soft material and aimed for the listener, it will improve the SQ considerably.

You don't listen to your home speakers pointed at your walls, so why not use less speakers and point them at your ears?

Some guys even use full range speakers and supplement the highs with some tweeters. Just 2 way, no crossover. If you match the start of the curve on your tweeters to the fall of the curve on your full range, you don't need a crossover.

 

[chefzane]

So any amp suggestions anyone?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

If you match the start of the curve on your tweeters to the fall of the curve on your full range, you don't need a crossover.

Most mids get a bit funky up around the top end of their response curve (notice most "full range" bookshelf type DIY projects use notch filters at least).

A sub with a suspension still enough to stand on is NEVER considered SQ. Consider LMS, RE XXX or MX, JBL WGTI, or similar high x-max driver with some good distortion reducing technology. Hell, even consider W7. These could actually play well with the potential to get loud.

You should not even be thinking about running anything below 2 ohms, and as has been mentioned, your positioning of mids and highs, care in deadening, and much time spent doing TA and EQ will be 90% of it. You definitely shouldn't have to pay a fortune in components or snobophile amps to get there.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

So any amp suggestions anyone?

I'm very happy with my Zed amps. Good looks, performance, and efficiency.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Lets put it this way. I have a setup in my Bus that sounds on par with about 90% of the high end systems that I've heard at the shows...and its about $500 worth of gear (in my sig). I'm even using god-forsaken 3-way coaxials. The main reason it works well is the amount of time I spent building speaker pods that aim each speaker towards my ears and are rigid enough to hold the speaker and provide a baffle. The stage sounds like it is coming from a few inches in front of your face, dead center, if you are 5'10".
Most installs place the speaker firing off axis to the listener or worst yet....firing across the cabin and canceling out against the other speakers or a hard object. If the speakers are fired on axis or against a soft material and aimed for the listener, it will improve the SQ considerably.

You don't listen to your home speakers pointed at your walls, so why not use less speakers and point them at your ears?

Some guys even use full range speakers and supplement the highs with some tweeters. Just 2 way, no crossover. If you match the start of the curve on your tweeters to the fall of the curve on your full range, you don't need a crossover.

Speaker aiming does make a difference in what we hear, there's no denying that. However, in the car we have reflections arriving at the same time as the original sound in the treble frequencies. Plus speakers all perform differently depending on their polar response. We can use that information to our advantage.

Some midrange drivers sound good when they're allowed to play up until the response naturally drops, but breakup nodes are a real problem. Crossing the midrange with a low pass filter before the breakup nodes occur is a good thing. Another factor is beaming. Do you want to use beaming in your install as a means of controlling directivity, or do you want to use crossover selection to prevent beaming from occurring and maximize dispersion? I chose my speakers and crossovers to maximize dispersion and simplify the installation. I use a small midrange driver to mate up to the woofer and the tweeter. I use amplifiers that offer good performance and adequate power to account for music with a good crest factor.

 

[chefzane]

Speaker aiming does make a difference in what we hear, there's no denying that. However, in the car we have reflections arriving at the same time as the original sound in the treble frequencies. Plus speakers all perform differently depending on their polar response. We can use that information to our advantage.
Some midrange drivers sound good when they're allowed to play up until the response naturally drops, but breakup nodes are a real problem. Crossing the midrange with a low pass filter before the breakup nodes occur is a good thing. Another factor is beaming. Do you want to use beaming in your install as a means of controlling directivity, or do you want to use crossover selection to prevent beaming from occurring and maximize dispersion? I chose my speakers and crossovers to maximize dispersion and simplify the installation. I use a small midrange driver to mate up to the woofer and the tweeter. I use amplifiers that offer good performance and adequate power to account for music with a good crest factor.

Plan on using xovers to help with dispersion and prevent beaming etc. Also using it to make sure none of the components reach the end of their range and play in time with each other using TA etc

So all that being said, again I say amp suggestions been looking at american bass, zeds, and PPI

 

[chefzane]

Speaker aiming does make a difference in what we hear, there's no denying that. However, in the car we have reflections arriving at the same time as the original sound in the treble frequencies. Plus speakers all perform differently depending on their polar response. We can use that information to our advantage.
Some midrange drivers sound good when they're allowed to play up until the response naturally drops, but breakup nodes are a real problem. Crossing the midrange with a low pass filter before the breakup nodes occur is a good thing. Another factor is beaming. Do you want to use beaming in your install as a means of controlling directivity, or do you want to use crossover selection to prevent beaming from occurring and maximize dispersion? I chose my speakers and crossovers to maximize dispersion and simplify the installation. I use a small midrange driver to mate up to the woofer and the tweeter. I use amplifiers that offer good performance and adequate power to account for music with a good crest factor.

Plan on using xovers to help with dispersion and prevent beaming etc. Also using it to make sure none of the components reach the end of their range and play in time with each other using TA etc

So all that being said, again I say amp suggestions been looking at american bass, zeds, and PPI

 

[chefzane]

Speaker aiming does make a difference in what we hear, there's no denying that. However, in the car we have reflections arriving at the same time as the original sound in the treble frequencies. Plus speakers all perform differently depending on their polar response. We can use that information to our advantage.
Some midrange drivers sound good when they're allowed to play up until the response naturally drops, but breakup nodes are a real problem. Crossing the midrange with a low pass filter before the breakup nodes occur is a good thing. Another factor is beaming. Do you want to use beaming in your install as a means of controlling directivity, or do you want to use crossover selection to prevent beaming from occurring and maximize dispersion? I chose my speakers and crossovers to maximize dispersion and simplify the installation. I use a small midrange driver to mate up to the woofer and the tweeter. I use amplifiers that offer good performance and adequate power to account for music with a good crest factor.

Plan on using xovers to help with dispersion and prevent beaming etc. Also using it to make sure none of the components reach the end of their range and play in time with each other using TA etc

So all that being said, again I say amp suggestions been looking at american bass, zeds, and PPI

 

[chefzane]

Speaker aiming does make a difference in what we hear, there's no denying that. However, in the car we have reflections arriving at the same time as the original sound in the treble frequencies. Plus speakers all perform differently depending on their polar response. We can use that information to our advantage.
Some midrange drivers sound good when they're allowed to play up until the response naturally drops, but breakup nodes are a real problem. Crossing the midrange with a low pass filter before the breakup nodes occur is a good thing. Another factor is beaming. Do you want to use beaming in your install as a means of controlling directivity, or do you want to use crossover selection to prevent beaming from occurring and maximize dispersion? I chose my speakers and crossovers to maximize dispersion and simplify the installation. I use a small midrange driver to mate up to the woofer and the tweeter. I use amplifiers that offer good performance and adequate power to account for music with a good crest factor.

Plan on using xovers to help with dispersion and prevent beaming etc. Also using it to make sure none of the components reach the end of their range and play in time with each other using TA etc

So all that being said, again I say amp suggestions been looking at american bass, zeds, and PPI

 

[chefzane]

Speaker aiming does make a difference in what we hear, there's no denying that. However, in the car we have reflections arriving at the same time as the original sound in the treble frequencies. Plus speakers all perform differently depending on their polar response. We can use that information to our advantage.
Some midrange drivers sound good when they're allowed to play up until the response naturally drops, but breakup nodes are a real problem. Crossing the midrange with a low pass filter before the breakup nodes occur is a good thing. Another factor is beaming. Do you want to use beaming in your install as a means of controlling directivity, or do you want to use crossover selection to prevent beaming from occurring and maximize dispersion? I chose my speakers and crossovers to maximize dispersion and simplify the installation. I use a small midrange driver to mate up to the woofer and the tweeter. I use amplifiers that offer good performance and adequate power to account for music with a good crest factor.

Plan on using xovers to help with dispersion and prevent beaming etc. Also using it to make sure none of the components reach the end of their range and play in time with each other using TA etc

So all that being said, again I say amp suggestions been looking at american bass, zeds, and PPI

 

[chefzane]

Speaker aiming does make a difference in what we hear, there's no denying that. However, in the car we have reflections arriving at the same time as the original sound in the treble frequencies. Plus speakers all perform differently depending on their polar response. We can use that information to our advantage.
Some midrange drivers sound good when they're allowed to play up until the response naturally drops, but breakup nodes are a real problem. Crossing the midrange with a low pass filter before the breakup nodes occur is a good thing. Another factor is beaming. Do you want to use beaming in your install as a means of controlling directivity, or do you want to use crossover selection to prevent beaming from occurring and maximize dispersion? I chose my speakers and crossovers to maximize dispersion and simplify the installation. I use a small midrange driver to mate up to the woofer and the tweeter. I use amplifiers that offer good performance and adequate power to account for music with a good crest factor.

Plan on using xovers to help with dispersion and prevent beaming etc. Also using it to make sure none of the components reach the end of their range and play in time with each other using TA etc

So all that being said, again I say amp suggestions been looking at american bass, zeds, and PPI

 

[chefzane]

I ******* hate computers sorry about the over post

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

I think that may be the record for double post. ZED, JL, Audison sr, MMATs, Brax, Hertz.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

So all that being said, again I say amp suggestions been looking at american bass, zeds, and PPI

You know I recommend Precision Power. Either the Phantom series or the Black Ice series will do well for your needs. The Black Ice series has many more models to choose from, which helps since you don't need 145W per tweeter, for example, like with the P900.4.