SQ on the cheap

[eharri3 10+ year member]

SQ to me means if I close my eyes and forget Im in my vehicle I could fool myself into thinking I could reach out and actually touch an instrument or a singer.

OR to be more objective I measure it specifically in relation to the exact length of the boner I get just by cranking my system near the max and playing good clean SQ music. I played jazz yesterday and scored a 8 out of 11 on the boner chart.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

SQ to me means if I close my eyes and forget Im in my vehicle I could fool myself into thinking I could reach out and actually touch an instrument or a singer.
OR to be more objective I measure it specifically in relation to the exact length of the boner I get just by cranking my system near the max and playing good clean SQ music. I played jazz yesterday and scored a 8 out of 11 on the boner chart.

mm?

 

[spentfromnz 10+ year member]

Please don't jump to conclusions, as you will find you are frequently wrong. Theyre not mismatched tweeters, they are 4 identical Infinity 1" silk domes, and of course I'm planning on amping the comps, probably with a Pioneer 3300T.

There can't be a great deal of variance between freq settings for most passive xover networks. So I don't foresee any problem with switching out the woofers. What could there possibly be about a tweeter that would make it a mismatch with any given woofer?

Dayton is not an option, nor is Profile, they don't sell here and I'm not about to pay postage from America. DJman was on the mark.

I'm thinking I might just buy both sets of woofers and see which sound best. Put the best up front and the others as rear fill off the HU, since I don't want any highs coming from behind me.

 

[spentfromnz 10+ year member]

Oh yeah decent and entry level is oxymoronic by the way.

Will be testing the speakers out in situ before installing them. If the tweets don't sound good they don't go in. Wiring will be 2/4 gauge.

Ehari how can my system be all bass with 4 tweets 4 mids and 1 sub? Also I do know how to strike a proper balance when it comes to tweaking.

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

If I do get the two Infinity sets I would end up with 4 tweeters, which should also run fine if I hook them up to the crossover in parallel right?

oh no.

you say you know how to balance, but with passive xovers you won't have much capabilities to do so.

 

[spentfromnz 10+ year member]

Correct there would be no way to adjust the tweeters independant of the front mids other than the inline 3db boosts on them. Perhaps a 4-ch amp would be a better choice?? Would need to butcher the passive xovers though to isolate each circuit, and that could get messy. Or worst comes to worst, just stick to two tweeters huh.

 

[spentfromnz 10+ year member]

The 4 tweeter issue aside, what is so crazy about the idea of marrying an infinity crossover and tweeter with a Pioneer premium reference series midwoofer. Sure it is not commonly done, but that is just because manufacturers don't sell their component cones separately.

 

[linvillegorge 10+ year member]

If your goal is SQ, why in the hell did you go with a Type R?! I know they get loud, but for SQ, they shouldn't make the list... ever.

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

In this thread alone, I've heard that SQ is subjective and that two amp kits are necessary to run two amps.

Stop it, CA.com!

OP,

You will not get anything near a true "SQ" setup with your kind of budget. Just look for solid entry-level equipment. A starting point could be a Pioneer component set, profile amplifiers, a JBL GTO subwoofer, and a good install.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

and that two amp kits are necessary to run two amps.

Since that was me, I'll respond. It's the cheapest, and simplest way to get what he needs. Ideally would be a distro system, and 4 channel kit (which is what I have), but that would cost more in parts than just the two seperate kits. Two kits is easier for a noob to understand, make sure he has everything he needs and set up right.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Correct there would be no way to adjust the tweeters independant of the front mids other than the inline 3db boosts on them. Perhaps a 4-ch amp would be a better choice?? Would need to butcher the passive xovers though to isolate each circuit, and that could get messy. Or worst comes to worst, just stick to two tweeters huh.

The 4 tweeter issue aside, what is so crazy about the idea of marrying an infinity crossover and tweeter with a Pioneer premium reference series midwoofer. Sure it is not commonly done, but that is just because manufacturers don't sell their component cones separately.

This is what I was saying about using the wrong gear and setting it up wrong. No. It won't work, you won't like the way it sounds because it will sound awful, and you'll get frustrated and then spend more money to fix it. Eventually spending far more than just getting an entry level set up. Or like most people give up and never really get decent sound.

You can't swap around componets and crossovers like silverwear. A fork from one set, a spoon from another and a knife from a third. It will sound like ***. Really. Trust us. We've been thru this before. Matching componets requires alot of engineering design and trial and error. Even the best speaker companies design their systems, then set up and listen to it. Then take it apart, redesign, change it and start all over and repeat till they get it to sound right. When they finally get a good "system" they package it and sell it. You benefit from thier trail and error by buying the set they've already done alot of development with.

You might get lucky and have it sound okay, and you might win the lottery the first time you buy a ticket, but the odds aren't good. Everyone else's experience says it's not likely to happen.

No. Do not use 4 tweeters. Do not swap around crossovers and drivers. Buy a complete factory set of $70-$150 6 1/2" component speakers and a budget amp to power them.

If you can't afford that, buy decent 6 1/2" coaxials and a budget amp. Dont' build a frankenstein set off fleabay.

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

Different mids and tweets depending on design, construction materials, and quality will play some frequencies better than others. A carefully designed active or prepackaged passive setup pairs a mid designed to play a certain range with a tweeter designed to play a certain range then crosses them over appropriately to minimize huge dips and peaks and keep a fairly flat frequency response. Once you start mixing and matching without going active if you don't know what you're looking at it becomes hit or miss. May sound like ***, may sound OK if you luck out.

 

[spentfromnz 10+ year member]

Wow man you have a very negative outlook on things. Have you heard a PRS cone and Infinity tweeter playing together? No you haven't, you may know a bit about car audio but you can't say with such certainty that it will sound crap. Plus as I said if it doesn't work I will sell them again, it's not frustrating, I love shopping for bargains on the auction sites. So it will not cost a fortune because I will recoup money on anything I don't end up using. And I could end up with a mint sounding system at less than entry level prices.

I was considering getting a 4 and an 8 kit at first as you suggest, but I think the Voodoo VDK2 dual amp 2/4 AWG digital kit will better fit my needs and allow for a bit of expansion should I want to.

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

No I haven't. Don't need to, Im not saying it will **** or it'll be great but it's a crapshoot and I wouldn't try it without knowing what the specific set of mids and tweets were designed to do and having an active crossover. You could very well find that your transitioning from mid to tweet at a spot that that's way too low for the tweeter or too high for the mid and there's really not much you can do about it with passive crossovers.

 

[spentfromnz 10+ year member]

That or I will get a simple 2 and a 4 kit, and a Lazar opti digtal fuse for my dash. It has current reading in addition to the volts, which would be very helpful.

To test the response of the system to see if I am getting the right curves I will us a studio mic and freely available audio analysis software.

But really it's not meant to be a competition system, so I doesn't matter if it's not perfect SQ. Hence R type instead of X type.