Questions about new LOC (LC7i)

[Chrisrizzy]

Was waiting to buy a better LOC for my mono and 2 channel until I actually bought the 2 channel, but I actually found a pretty good deal on an AudioControl LC7i. It won't be put in until January, most likely. I also will not be doing the install myself since I'm not confident in doing a full amp install myself. Anyway, here are the questions:

-Would an installer charge extra to put this in and integrate it with channels for the mono and 2 channel over just doing a simple LOC for the 2 channel?

-This has internal signal summing, supposedly is there to give you a full range signal. What exactly does this do? How would neglecting to use this feature affect my system in total?

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[blazian87 10+ year member]

No I don't think they should charge you for adding the LOC in your amp install. The amp cannot be installed without one anyway. It goes hand in hand with each other (Assuming you don't have an aftermarket headunit). Even if they do charge extra, it shouldn't be much.

And this is what the manual says for the LC6i. It looks like for summing up multiple crossovers from Factory into one full range signal if your car is set up that way. Depends on how your factory speakers are set up to determine whether you're gonna use this feature or not.

Internal Channel Summing

The LC6i has the unique ability to internally sum together multiple (4

or 6) input channels from the factory source unit into 2 channels. This

is particularly handy when using the LC6i with a factory system that has

multiple, actively crossed-over signals being sent from the OEM source

unit or amplifier(s). For example, in some vehicles there is an actively

crossed-over tweeter, midrange, and woofer all in the front of the vehicle.

The LC6i lets you take all of those signals and sum them together

to get a high-quality, full-range, pre-amp signal without the use of any

additional cables or hardware.

 

[Chrisrizzy]

Thank you! My vehicle is a 2007 Acura TL. The factory ELS system has 2 tweeters in the dash corners and 2 6.5 mids in the doors (I have installed a pair of JBL components here with crossovers mounted in the doors), a 3.5 in the dash (turned this all the way down in the HU), two 5.25 or 6.5 Coaxs in the rear deck plus an 8 in sub (all faded out pretty well). I would assume everything up front was actively crossed over from the factory then?

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

Thank you! My vehicle is a 2007 Acura TL. The factory ELS system has 2 tweeters in the dash corners and 2 6.5 mids in the doors (I have installed a pair of JBL components here with crossovers mounted in the doors), a 3.5 in the dash (turned this all the way down in the HU), two 5.25 or 6.5 Coaxs in the rear deck plus an 8 in sub (all faded out pretty well). I would assume everything up front was actively crossed over from the factory then?

I doubt it is actively crossed over in the front from factory. It is most likely run thru a passive crossover or some kind of bass blocker. Nonetheless, the internal channel summing should work well with your system. I would ditch the rear deck speakers altogether if you can and focus on your front stage. I think you would really benefit from a nice DSP but depends how far you wanna get into this. Are you planning to do any other future upgrades? Like subs or new 3.5" midrange driver? or even a whole new 3 way set and go fully active? Have you done any deadening or door treatment?

 

[Chrisrizzy]

I doubt it is actively crossed over in the front from factory. It is most likely run thru a passive crossover or some kind of bass blocker. Nonetheless, the internal channel summing should work well with your system. I would ditch the rear deck speakers altogether if you can and focus on your front stage. I think you would really benefit from a nice DSP but depends how far you wanna get into this. Are you planning to do any other future upgrades? Like subs or new 3.5" midrange driver? or even a whole new 3 way set and go fully active? Have you done any deadening or door treatment?

I am focusing on my front stage, that is why I am planning to add a 2 channel Zapco amp. The rears really aren't important and I don't really hear them. Fading them completely would prevent me from hearing my sub, which has its signal tapped in there. I am running a 12 in Infinity Kappa that I picked up for $110 and while it does sound pretty good my system does need work. My RF Prime mono went bad recently, so I swapped it out for a Kenwood Excelon X501-1, decent increase in SQ right there. DSPs are out of my budget (college life lol). Instead of investing in one, I am planning on deadening, which I definitely need. NVX trunk kit that I will apply myself and Stinger Roadkill door kit. I won't do the doors, but I hope my installer will do them for under $75 since he'll already be in there doing the amp... I gotta wait till after Xmas before I spend the $ on this project haha

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

I am focusing on my front stage, that is why I am planning to add a 2 channel Zapco amp. The rears really aren't important and I don't really hear them. Fading them completely would prevent me from hearing my sub, which has its signal tapped in there. I am running a 12 in Infinity Kappa that I picked up for $110 and while it does sound pretty good my system does need work. My RF Prime mono went bad recently, so I swapped it out for a Kenwood Excelon X501-1, decent increase in SQ right there. DSPs are out of my budget (college life lol). Instead of investing in one, I am planning on deadening, which I definitely need. NVX trunk kit that I will apply myself and Stinger Roadkill door kit. I won't do the doors, but I hope my installer will do them for under $75 since he'll already be in there doing the amp... I gotta wait till after Xmas before I spend the $ on this project haha

Ok I'm starting to get the picture now. You need to check out the classified section man. Some real good deals come by every once in a while. I don't mean fading the rears. I mean completely remove them or disconnect them. Wait, so are you running your 8" factory sub AND a 12" sub in the trunk? If so, I would disconnect the factory sub as well. It's just a hindrance IMO. Might have some cancellation and wasting power that could potentially go to your sub amp. In fact, removing all your rear speakers and stock sub will overall be better for your sub stage as it brings more sound inside thru the big open holes. The kappa sub is not too bad actually but I would suggest investing in a custom box to really fill the void. The installer doesn't need to open up the doors to install the amp so he might charge you a good amount for that. It's actually not that hard to take apart a door. You can find tutorial on your specific car in a lot of places online, sometimes youtube, or you can buy the mastersheet guide from crutchfield for $10 or free if you purchase something from them. You just need some very basic tools and you can do it all in an afternoon. If you're planning to replace speakers then yea he would need to take out the doors. Otherwise there's gonna be an extra charge on that for sure. The RF amp and kenwood amp are about the same power. Looks as if the RF is a bit beefier tho but I still wouldn't trust them considering their build quality is not as good as they used to be back in the day. How much did you get them for? You can easily find 1k amps for dirt cheap nowadays. Just depends if you're satisfied with the current sub setup or not. I have a feeling you clipped your RF amp hard and didn't know it. This especially happens when you're running a prefab sealed box with low wattage bc the output is so low that it makes you wanna turn it up to hear it. That's one of the most common reasons why people blow their equipment.

 

[Chrisrizzy]

Trust me, I've been wanting to take out the rears and factory sub for a while. According to the forums, both back seats need to come out... That scares me beyond belief haha. I have been thinking of a ported box, and I was wondering how hard it'd be for a first timer. Im looking for a good mix of SPL and SQ. I listen to a good amount of rap and electronic, I want the lows and the oomph for rap, but want that nice punchiness for the fast techno songs and metal. Yes, the RF and Kenwood were the same power, but the RF def put out a little more. Overall, the Excelon makes the sub sound cleaner imo. Idk what the problem was because I never run bass boost and I set gain at just a hair over half. It actually kept throwing itself in protect, an issue I had with my last subs.

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

Trust me, I've been wanting to take out the rears and factory sub for a while. According to the forums, both back seats need to come out... That scares me beyond belief haha. I have been thinking of a ported box, and I was wondering how hard it'd be for a first timer. Im looking for a good mix of SPL and SQ. I listen to a good amount of rap and electronic, I want the lows and the oomph for rap, but want that nice punchiness for the fast techno songs and metal. Yes, the RF and Kenwood were the same power, but the RF def put out a little more. Overall, the Excelon makes the sub sound cleaner imo. Idk what the problem was because I never run bass boost and I set gain at just a hair over half. It actually kept throwing itself in protect, an issue I had with my last subs.

You don't wanna just set your gains to "half". More than likely half is actually too much unless you're running a very low pre-out voltage. If it kept going into protect and your last amp blew then yea, I'm pretty positive you were clipping hard. You're running too little power for sealed. Sealed requires more power than ported in general. Do you know if the sub was wired to 4 ohms or 2 ohms? A custom ported box can make your sub sound so much better and louder even with as little as 300w rms. If you want the lows and oomph, then yea you needa go ported for sure. It can be done at home but you have to do your best to make sure the cuts are straight and the edges are aligned properly. You can find free box plans online plenty of places. I think it's worth the money to get it built from a professional tho. I recently had to rip out the backseats for my mercedes and my friend's lexus. It wasn't that bad. Just two latches on the bottom of the seat, then a few screws you gotta take out. You might need a helping hand to get the backseat out cleanly without scratching it up. The mercedes has annoying rear headrests that you have to take out in a certain way. That was a bitc h but the rest was pretty simple.

 

[Chrisrizzy]

You don't wanna just set your gains to "half". More than likely half is actually too much unless you're running a very low pre-out voltage. If it kept going into protect and your last amp blew then yea, I'm pretty positive you were clipping hard. You're running too little power for sealed. Sealed requires more power than ported in general. Do you know if the sub was wired to 4 ohms or 2 ohms? A custom ported box can make your sub sound so much better and louder even with as little as 300w rms. If you want the lows and oomph, then yea you needa go ported for sure. It can be done at home but you have to do your best to make sure the cuts are straight and the edges are aligned properly. You can find free box plans online plenty of places. I think it's worth the money to get it built from a professional tho. I recently had to rip out the backseats for my mercedes and my friend's lexus. It wasn't that bad. Just two latches on the bottom of the seat, then a few screws you gotta take out. You might need a helping hand to get the backseat out cleanly without scratching it up. The mercedes has annoying rear headrests that you have to take out in a certain way. That was a bitc h but the rest was pretty simple.

Well ****, I always heard running the gains at about halfway ie 5/10, was just fine. What is the cost for a custom built box? $150? I could do that, but then the LC7I wouldn't be an option. The sub is 350w RMS and wired at 2 ohms.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I am focusing on my front stage, that is why I am planning to add a 2 channel Zapco amp. The rears really aren't important and I don't really hear them. Fading them completely would prevent me from hearing my sub, which has its signal tapped in there. I am running a 12 in Infinity Kappa that I picked up for $110 and while it does sound pretty good my system does need work. My RF Prime mono went bad recently, so I swapped it out for a Kenwood Excelon X501-1, decent increase in SQ right there. DSPs are out of my budget (college life lol). Instead of investing in one, I am planning on deadening, which I definitely need. NVX trunk kit that I will apply myself and Stinger Roadkill door kit. I won't do the doors, but I hope my installer will do them for under $75 since he'll already be in there doing the amp... I gotta wait till after Xmas before I spend the $ on this project haha

Id say you could have done everything from the get go. However could have definitely done things way better.

1 you should attempt the install yourself. Sounds like your current installer is nickel-and-diming you for everything. there is no excuse we have all been in your shoes where we were broke and had no knowledge on how install stuff but we still attempted it anyways. This leads to much better knowledge about your system install so if there are any errors you can always trace it down very easily vs trying to find the mess that your installer does. this also leads to a lot more money in your pocket to spend on actual proper equipment vs buying dinosaur aged audio control units they are basically very obsolete this day and age.

An 8 channel DSP nowadays can be had for between 150 to $200. if you get them use you'll find them less than $100

We have been in your shoes thinking a cheap solution would be worth it temporarily. However it just leads to you spending bunch of money and junk and getting less than mediocre results and overall wasting more money than you needed to waste than if you bought proper gear from the start

 

[Chrisrizzy]

My installer has been pretty good price wise... I haven't gotten quotes yet, I was just asking for ideas. And I know, I should be installing myself. While it worries me doing alot of this, I do want to build the box and deaden the trunk myself. My biggest problem is that I'm only 18 haha and my dad would flip **** if he saw my car taken a part in the driveway... The rule pretty much is that for an amp or speaker install, it can only be done by someone else, not me... I can't control that lol. At least I have learned to find a decent installer since the start. I hope I'm not being a John Kuthe...