My first "Active" "SQ'ish" build attempt.

[ThxOne Premium Member]

I’d run the Ultimax because I think it’s sexy and a better woofer than the P3. Then I’d look into selling the Prime amp and upgrading there.

That Prime amp I think is the only component in my car that has given me absolutely no issues ever. It's ugly, sure but it is a beast of a little amp. I only paid like $125 for it at a pawn shop not knowing its history of abuse and have had it for a couple years now and it's still strong. One day I will have another sub amp but it will be one of the last upgrades I think.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

I think I have a loose connection on my driver door Silverflute. Looks like the door panel will come off tomorrow. Dammit.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

A few days back I went into the GUI for the DSP and disabled the delay for all the speakers. The drivers door is louder but it sounds strange after being so used to having time alignment.

No rain is forecast for tomorrow so I want to hook up my RCA cables. I only had one pair hooked up when I had my temporary pioneer single din hooked up and for some reason I only have one set hooked up now from the Kenwood into the DSP. My Knu Koncepts Krystal RCA's are still in the dash and still run all the way to the back. They are a 4 channel set that I had going directly to the US Acoustics at one time. Plus the single pair running currently to the DSP for a total of all 6 channels of RCA's. Again, no idea why they are not all hooked up.

I am still trying to figure out gains. What messes me up is the DSP in the middle. I can get my head units max clean volume with no EQ or BASS Boost or Loudness. Now insert the DSP... No EQ, all Flat, crossovers set roughly, Delays set, All Volume Outputs Full?? - Amplifiers, everything full pass, no bass boost, bass knob max, set gains to max unclipped output with appropriate -??Db tones. Do I now go back to the DSP, lower all the levels and bust out the RTA with pink noise? What do I set the volumes for in the DSP? They go up to 0db. If I set the highs (tweeters) amp with a -5db tone, the mids with a -10db and the sub with a -15db.... where do I set the DSP volume for each speaker set? Do I set them at 0db (max) and just cut via the EQ's??? I am still so confused.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Well, I did it anyway. I hooked up all the RCA's and made the Kenwood full active 3-way.

The RF DSP is chillin...

 

[SkizeR 10+ year member]

dumb

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Sounds ok to me... no hooking up a laptop to make adjustments. Everything is adjustable at my finger tips at all times. It still does the same thing, time alignment, levels, crossovers. I am not upset about it... worked out the way I wanted it to. Full DSP without the laptop. One less item in the signal chain.

 

[SkizeR 10+ year member]

Sounds ok to me... no hooking up a laptop to make adjustments. Everything is adjustable at my finger tips at all times. It still does the same thing, time alignment, levels, crossovers. I am not upset about it... worked out the way I wanted it to. Full DSP without the laptop. One less item in the signal chain.

all this tells me is you weren't making even half use of the DSP

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

all this tells me is you weren't making even half use of the DSP

I am sure I wasn't. Kind of hard to teach myself how to properly use it. It's fine though, I don't compete and if it is loud, clear and has enough bass... I am happy. I always have my home gear if I want more "quality" sound. If nobody buys it, I will use it in the second vehicle. If I had an expert here to advise me or help me set it up in person, no way I would take it out of the car. Like I said, with it in the middle I don't know what levels are supposed to be and nobody was willing to advise me on the signal chain.

 

[Clifff150 10+ year member]

Does it sound better after you removed the DSP?

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Does it sound better after you removed the DSP?

It doesn't sound worse. Better, no... different, definitely. The RF DSP does something for sure.

 

[Clifff150 10+ year member]

Fair enough. I would have kept the RF and just slowly learned what works and what doesn’t to tune it. I think you should give it another shot

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Fair enough. I would have kept the RF and just slowly learned what works and what doesn’t to tune it. I think you should give it another shot

I am not against it. As mentioned before... I got the max head unit volume - I go into the DSP - I go to the amps.

If I am in the DSP, what do I do in here before I set the gains on the amps? Like settings and shiet. I hear so much conflicting instruction.

My brain says that all outputs should be maxed in the DSP so the amp is getting a full signal, then I can set the gains on the amps, right? If I do this, it is going to be hella loud.

My next brain fart is, is there a reference volume I now need to bring the settings down to in the DSP before I start adjusting the EQ's and or crossovers and time alignment? Or is it a matter of using pink noise at max volume?

If someone could just let me know this missing piece of the puzzle, I'd put the thing back in on my next day off.

 

[Clifff150 10+ year member]

I’m still green when it comes to dsp’s but I always set my gains with a flat signal and then eq, time align, etc from there. I could be wrong but I don’t see the point in dialing in eq before gains are set appropriately

 

[SkizeR 10+ year member]

set input gain, and set output gain. The manual should cover that. I am not the most familiar with it on that specific dsp.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

set input gain, and set output gain. The manual should cover that. I am not the most familiar with it on that specific dsp.

I read this PDF manual 3 times... how I missed this 3 times, I don't know. They have this under the heading "EQ Sample Setup" which may be how I missed it....
Level Setting The System NOTE: Remove all speaker leads from all the amplifier(s) to ensure the speakers are not damaged during setup. An equivalent resistive load can be used on each channel as you are measuring for clipping for increased accuracy. If no resistive load is available the measurement can be taken across the open channels.Main Input Setup Using the test tones at various gain overlap levels provided on the 3Sixty.3 setup disk, level set all your amplifier(s) channels per your amplifier manufactures instructions. (Generally -5dB of Gain Overlap is used for SQ type systems and -10dB for SPL type systems).

So I obtain the max head unit output through the DSP. It looks for and makes it 2v which is why it tells me my max volume on my head unit is 35 and not 40. So I have a very clean 2v output from my head unit at volume 35 of 40 which makes the outputs in the DSP 8v. The DSP automatically goes to max output at 0db on the levels (0db - -40db). Now I follow these instructions above in bold.

The rest I think I have a pretty good handle on (Crossovers, EQ's). I have my MIC now too and an O-Scope.

If any good has come of this it is that I removed the head unit and hooked up ALL 6 channels of my RCA's that I can now put into the DSP as apposed to the single RCA pair I had before. You guys **** lol. Ok, Back in Tuesday.