New Stereo Install -Pics inside

[huge1day 10+ year member]

AcidicDreams: Thank you for your response. A little more information if you can. I am not opposed to spending more money. It does not grow trees for me but I know what I want my stereo to sound like. I am not a teenager that only wants to shake the neighbor's windows 3 blocks away with bass. I am looking for sound quality first then quantity.

I have never had a sound processor. What is the specific purpose and what would be your recommendations for brand/model(s). I have not found any 6 channel amps that will fit under my seat. I really like the stock look (I know the headunit and tweeters don't look stock, but compared to most...) Are there any quality 6 channel amps that are small enough to fit under one seat? Are there any quality amps that would be small enough to have two 4 channel amps under the seat? I know I ultimately want to go to an active crossover system. Just need the correct amps to do it.

I love my Focal. I just want a little more. If I add a 4" and make it a 3 way, my assumption is that it will be better than a 2 way. If I was to change my speaker brand, I most likely would go with one of Dynaudio's 3 way system 360 or 362. That would allow me to have the 8" in the door instead of the 6.5" that I have now.

Extra tweeters probably have to go unless I can figure out a way to have an additional 6.5" in the door...(and if I add a 4" in the dash, I would need 2 setsof them also.) Most likely not going to happen.

The 6.5" mids are very close to the door panel. There is approximately a 1/2" ring to bring the speakers closer to the door panel. I don't think there is any problem with the quality of the sound coming from the doors.

So where I am today -the easiest thing to do is to change the 2nd pair of tweeters in the dash to 4" speakers and get a 3 way crossover. (I can do this relatively quickly) Then start trying to figure out what my next step is. a sound processor that will work with my Kenwood dnx7100 and what amps to get to make a active crossover.

 

[troy_audi0 10+ year member]

Nice install gotta love the Focals..

Keep it up..

Troy

 

[dkmesa 10+ year member]

Looks nice. My dad has the same setup in his '06 Mega Cab except with navigation...how hard was the head unit install?

 

[huge1day 10+ year member]

I had it installed, but the installer did not act like it was bad. Mine has navigation also.

Bart

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

Ok first off I would like to point you towards another forum that handles more complex questions in a more adult fashion. It's address is http://www.diymobileaudio.com (click forum at the top). There are many people on that forum that have both more knowledge and experience than I do by far. Plus the forum never really seems to devolve into a ***** fight... however they are a little slower with the answers since there are fewer users, most of which have real lives....

Now to your questions and a better explanation of what and why I said sound processor and 6ch amp...

A) The sound processor - It appears that you are a bit of a perfectionist, have a little money, and you are not afraid to dig into a complex install. This makes me think you might want to go with active crossovers on a 3-way + sub configuration. I know that you can't get any head unit that does a 4-way setup so you'll need a separate piece of equipment to do processing for the 4-way crossover. Now I don't have experience with 4way setups or any individual processor but I have run active and researched going to a 4way setup. From what I gather the most user friendly and powerful way to do this is by utilizing the Alpine H701/C701 combo which you can find here:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-GR6GAONY6S2/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=168450

You need both the $250 and the $500 units though you can find the combo cheaper used or on ebay. The reason I personally like this unit is not only the flexibility but the fact that the controller uses the Alpine menu system (I already have alpine gear so it'd be natural) and that it looks like a headunit. You could hide the controller away so it doesn't make your dash fugly but placement is up to you...

B) The reason I suggest an active system is you can mix/match the speakers until you find a set you want. Plus once the first system is in place you can drop another mid or woofer in place for like $100 and spend a month auditing it rather than swapping the whole **** component system....

C) The 6ch amp was recommended because you need amplification for all channels when you run active... so in a 3way system you need 6 ch of amplification plus the sub. You could do a 4ch and a 2ch as well... I'm not sure off the top of my head what a good 6ch with a small footprint would be but I do have some suggestions.

The old school soundstream rubicon amps provide alot of power in a small foorprint.

Tweeters can run fine on very little power. So you could do a normal sized 4ch amp with 100+w per channel then do a very small 2ch amp of the tweeters... I had looked into doing the same thing but I wanted to bridge a 4ch for my woofers, and I managed to find a couple very small footprint 2ch amps...

My suggestion would be to drop over to diyma and chat with them. They have lots of experience with these types of setups and with much nicer equipment than the kids you find here. Many of the more experienced users here also spend time there...

Also one final note of clarification. In a non-active setup the signal goes from HU->amp->crossover->speaker... in an active setup it's HU->Crossover->amp->speakers... so in an active setup the amplifiers capabilities as far as processing controls are ignored, you just want good clean amplification, and as mentioned above you need separate amplification for each driver.

 

[huge1day 10+ year member]

thanks. your observations are very astute and seem very logical. Will start doing more homework on my end. Thanks for giving me a good headstart.

Bart

 

[huge1day 10+ year member]

Just found a Dynaudio 362 set without the 8" woofers. I really would like a 3" or 4" for my dash and a 3 way crossover for the time being in my truck. What is the opinion of mix and matching different brands of speakers?? This would allow me to see if I like the Dynaudio tweeter better than the Focal. But I would for sure be using my existing 6.5" Focal in the door with a Dynaudio crossover and their 3".

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

Mix and matching is no prob as long as you can build your own crossovers or you can run the 3-way's on active... people mix/match all the time...

 

[6spdcoupe 5,000+ posts]

Nice clean install on the truck. I think Acidic already addressed the majority of things I would have as well.

With your trial&error testing on different drivers/apps it can be very time consuming,tedious,expensive and even exhausting although the end result will pay off ten fold. To do this a processor whther analog or digital is a Must. Just mixing and matching drivers off of current passives will typically yield poor results and will not benefit the driver or the listener at all.

Set aside a budget for each component of the job .. tweets/midbass/midrange/processing/amplification/etc and aproach it that way.You will be able to keep more accurate track as to what your putting where and what your flexibles are. This will help minimize when changing/auditioning different drivers.

If you feel like chatting more in depth feel free to PM me or respond further here.. I absolutely love seeing people progress into the dark side of active based systems.

 

[huge1day 10+ year member]

Now that I have purchased the dynaudio 362, I don't guess I need to discuss speakers for a while. (Unless I think I can get the mh180/182 in the door) I have not had much success in narrowing my options for sound processors so I am going towards amps. I have done more research. Couple of questions: I am looking for big sq in a small footprint. Is the Alpine PDX 4.100 or 4.150 considered to be quality amps? They have a very small footprint. I think I might even get 2 of them under one seat. Second question. If I am considered a perfectionist by my friends would the Mcintosh, Tru, Sinfoni or a couple more be considered better quality than the alpine? I know some of them don't have the small footprint but I guess I could get to the back wall if I am willing to make some wiring changes in the truck.

 

[huge1day 10+ year member]

As far as sound processors, I feel like I have hit my head against the wall over and over with little results. I really don't understand what to do. Knowing that I have the Kenwood DNX7100 and I want to keep it. That means I do not have any optical outputs...

 

[ZeroGuage 10+ year member]

I prolly made your inner door pannel for your truck where i work. Next time you have your door panel off look for a small sticker, kinda like a grocery store price tag and give me the numbers...lol ill be able to tell u if i made those doors or not //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[huge1day 10+ year member]

AcidicDreams: Been doing some homework over the last week. I am not sure if I learned much more than I am now confused //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I have purchased Dynaudio 362 3 way component set.

I have not found any 6 channel amps that are considered good quality that will under my seat. If it doesn't fit I have some major rewiring and trying to determine how to mount to the back wall with the back seats sitting up against that wall. I have seen it done but it looks like a lot of work...

Might end up using adding a smaller amp and keep the 300/4, maybe Alpine PDX has a small footprint, just don't know what the quality is?? I also have seen a couple Audison that might work?? They are just a little bigger than the Alpine. Have not seen anything small enough in the lines of Mcintosh, Tru, Arc, Genesis and a couple other. Their foot print is too large? Any ideas? Anything you have seen that might work?

My major roadblock is the sound processor/crossover to go active. Still looking at everything, but no decisions...

bart

 

[BASSMEKANIK 10+ year member]

throw away tha cap...

 

[huge1day 10+ year member]

A) The sound processor - It appears that you are a bit of a perfectionist, have a little money, and you are not afraid to dig into a complex install. This makes me think you might want to go with active crossovers on a 3-way + sub configuration. I know that you can't get any head unit that does a 4-way setup so you'll need a separate piece of equipment to do processing for the 4-way crossover. Now I don't have experience with 4way setups or any individual processor but I have run active and researched going to a 4way setup. From what I gather the most user friendly and powerful way to do this is by utilizing the Alpine H701/C701 combo which you can find here:http://www.crutchfield.com/S-GR6GAON...p.asp?g=168450

 

You need both the $250 and the $500 units though you can find the combo cheaper used or on ebay. The reason I personally like this unit is not only the flexibility but the fact that the controller uses the Alpine menu system (I already have alpine gear so it'd be natural) and that it looks like a headunit. You could hide the controller away so it doesn't make your dash fugly but placement is up to you...

Did I understand that you have this processor? Would it work with my dnx 7100? I don't have optical outputs, only rca.