New system - pics and impressions

[idiot 10+ year member]

Brief history:

I had a set of Focal 165K2P installed for three years. Then after I moved from CT to AL, my sound deadening fell onto the back of my Focal woofers, killing them. So I had to replace them.

Pioneer P880PRS

Usher 8945P

Peerless HDS Tweeter

PG Xenon x200.4

Soundsplinter Rl-p15

Avionixx AXT1200.1

Tweeters

HP: 2kHz@18dB

Mids

HP: 63Hz@24dB LP: 1.6kHz@12dB

Sub

LP: 50Hz@18dB

The tweeter aiming is off a bit: they point a little too low and a little too far forward. They're hitting the windows about 2-3 inches forward of my shoulder. I hope that I'll be able to do a better job whenever I try this again, hopefully with a bit more freedom to work in (a garage would be nice!). Fortunately, the HDS tweeters have fantastic off-axis response, so I'm not sweating this too much. It's certainly not dramatic enough for me to re-make my a-pillars, but then again, I'm not quite as hardcore as some of you guys here. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif Obviously, they're not painted yet.

I had to cut up my door panels to make room for the Ushers and their huge magnet, but at least the windows still roll all the way down. I made another thread on DIYMA about making a grill and got some great ideas, so eventually I'll cover these up with something. But I'm not sure when I'll get around to that. They're fine for the moment, as long as I keep reminding every passenger that I will tear off their face if they kick my speaker. The second picture is at a bad angle; the hole is centered around the speaker, but the bottom part of the surround and frame stick through the hole in the panel.

Howard Shore - The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack

This was the first CD I popped in. I skipped ahead to to "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" and didn't realize that my sub was unplugged until I checked at the end of the song. One word to describe these Ushers is powerful. My mirrors were shaking half an inch each direction, my doors were moving like I've never felt before, and the opening part of the song was kicking in my chest. So first impressions were pretty **** good. I'd never felt that kind of bass from my K2Ps, which were getting (presumably, see post below) the same amount of power from the same location. Further, "The Breaking of the Fellowship" demonstrated the absolute smoothest top-end response I've heard in my vehicle. Ever. And despite being separated by several feet, the mid and tweeter blend tremendously. The Focals were pretty good about this when I used the built-in crossover correction, but it was still evident at certain times. Granted, I've only been listening for a few hours, but I think the crossover point helps greatly here (the K2P crosses over at ~3.8kHz).

The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute

For those unfamiliar with TMV, they are the ultimate test of any tweeter. Between the vocals, guitar, and effects, any possible peaking of your systems response in the high frequencies WILL be exposed. With my un-EQed TN52, this band was honestly painful at certain parts, and that was after I had attenuated -7dB. Now, these HDS tweeters still peak in specific parts and admittedly brought a cringe or two throughout the album, so obviously there's some adjustments needed in my future. But overall, the response was so much smoother than my Focals that I can't really compare them--hell, I made it through the whole CD without touching the volume once... which is the first time that's happened. Vocals are now awesomely crisp, with a kind of clarity I never had with the K2Ps. Also, the low HP on my tweeters really helps to raise the soundstage. I can certainly see why these are such popular tweeters--they sound fantastic. And when "L'Via L'Viaquez" started, the midbass was outstanding--I've never heard so much upfront low-end on that song.

I was just about to audition Tool - Lateralus, but I only got through one song before I was called away to barbeque. I didn't even get to break out Meshuggah for some double-kick goodness. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

To summarize, I cannot find one area thus far that hasn't seen an improvement over the Focals. And that's somewhat disheartening seeing as how the K2Ps were... well, much more than I paid for the four drivers I'm using now.

Click to read more...

 

[idiot 10+ year member]

On another note, wierd things were happening with my x200.4 when I was setting gains. The Ushers are 8ohm drivers, so if I wanted to give them ~100W, I should be looking for ~28V on the multimeter. Gain setting went well with my sub, which is running off an Avionixx amp. But even when the Xenon gains were turned all the way up, I was only reading a little over 2V on the multimeter. Now, the Ushers were still getting pretty freaking loud, so I just matched my other speakers to it's volume and called it a day, but this really bothers me, and I'll need to address this.

The higher-powered Xenons have two sets of power/ground inputs, but my distribution block only has two connections. I'm using both, so I just hooked up a single set of power/ground wires. Presumably, this is my problem. But the manual only lists a single fuse size for the x200.4: 120A. So does this mean that I can drop to a pair of lower-guage wire (I'm running 2ga, while the manual calls for 4ga) and run off my single fuse, or should I get a new distribution block and slap a 60A fuse on both inputs? Sorry for the silly questions, but I've never run into an amp that had two sets of power/ground like this.

And this is an excuse for two more pictures. One of my old, dirty sub, and my messy amp rack under the floorboard. On that note, I've heard that you can clean up a nasty sub with Armor-all... is that true?

 

[willya745 10+ year member]

where you at in al?

 

[idiot 10+ year member]

Tuscaloosa

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

If you're going to use anything to clean the rubber, use tire shine stuff and NOT armor all. Armor all is actually really bad for rubbers and plastic and can ruin your dash; it dries up plastics and rubbers.

 

[idiot 10+ year member]

I've heard that before, but I thought I remember Mike from Soundsplinter recommending Armor-all to clean his subs. In fact, I think he even used to wipe each one down before shipping them out to customers.

Guess I'll have to ask him.

 

[bass_lover1 10+ year member]

Armor-all use to contain alcohol, which obviously can dry out whatever it touches. This is not the case anymore, most of the time it will say alcohol free on the front, this way your dash will not dry out, or whatever you're using the stuff on will not dry out.