SQ Setup for Mids and Highs

[BlackMaxima 10+ year member]

no one said you cannot have a SQ system with 1400W for a substage. I would put them in a sealed box and turn the bass down a little if needed it and for the front just put one set of comps not two sets.

 

[BlackMaxima 10+ year member]

Dude read the thread.


But he does have a point. Have you factored in deadening and wiring? That being said, the Focal Access comps are for very budgeted installs. They're pretty crappy IMO. Honestly just go for a set of SR6500 in front, and some of the Momo coaxs in the rear. Pick up a matching MB Quart 4ch and you'll be good. The Momo line used to be pretty decent, but idk about the current stuff. You won't be using your head unit to it's full potential not running active, but this will be a great set up to get you going for a while.

thats what i was going to say , upgrade to a SR6500 in the front .

 

[LaserRed38 10+ year member]

Coaxials are speakers that have the tweeter mounted on top of the mid so they both fit in the same location as one unit. Most people who run rear speakers just throw some coaxs in back because it's less work and if you power the front comps properly, you shouldn't even hear the rears anyway. That's why I've been saying don't bother, because you being the driver, you want your subs to blend in with your front stage so that they're more of a lower extension of your mids, if that makes sense. If you tune your system this way, having rear speakers will throw this off because it will pull the sound behind you. And a properly powered/aimed/installed front stage will be clearly audible from the rear seats.

But...if you are set on running rear speakers, just throw some decent coaxials back there with a little bit of deadener and see how you like it.

 

[Bandieramonte 10+ year member]

I like your advice of just running a very nice set of comp in the front, like the SR6500, being sufficiently powered and well aimed.

However, I'm concerned on whether if the 2 subs will overpower the single SR comp or not, even if the comp is fully powered. I remember that in your posts #12 and #14 you explained that I should sell one SR sub and go with one SR comp. However, I would really want to find a way to have a balanced system working with the two subs (even if that means sacrificing some little SQ). That's why the idea of rear coaxials was brought to the table. If the set of comp is enough, I would leave it like that, without coaxials in the rear.

I hope I'm not asking too much when trying to fit a SQ system with those subs, I'm just trying to achieve a really good sounding system, and at the same time being balanced without any speaker overpowering the other.

 

[Bandieramonte 10+ year member]

This is almost solved, please help me with the last issue in my previous post.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

There is no danger of "overpower" the subs with the front stage. That's why you have an adjustment in your headunit. If it's too much bass, just turn it down or vise versa.

Just add the best front stage componets you can afford. Install them really well and learn how to adjust your settings. You will adjust them frequently for different songs, albums or when you turn the volume up or down. The loudness curve will force you to adjust the lows and highs down when you turn up the volume, and up when you turn the volume down. That's normal.

 

[Bandieramonte 10+ year member]

Ok, I've decided I would definitely go with only the SR6500 comp front stage. Now, I'm trying to see which is the best amp setup for powering them. A polk specialist informed that the mids from that comp can handle 150 rms, while the tweeters 80 rms. I would like to power the comp to their max potential. So I'm trying to find an amp setup that would do this. Also, please remember that SQ is the main focus, so the amp setup must be SQ oriented. Since I don't have much availability here, these are the choices I have:

- 1 Focal Solid 4 to power the tweeters, leaving 2 channels free. 1 Kenwood KAC-7203 to power the mids.

- 1 Mb Quart Dsc-2150 to power the mids, 1 Mb Quart Dsc-280 to power the tweeters. According to the official manual, this amps only manage a frequency range of 10hz-1.2khz, which I'm not sure whether if this would sound horrible with mids and tweeters, considering they are in higher frequencies. Please help me clear this.

- 1 JBL GTO1004 bi amped to the SR6500

- 1 Focal Solid 4 bi amped to the SR6500

-1 Kicker Zx 850.4

Which one do you think would be better?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

- 1 Focal Solid 4 bi amped to the SR6500

That.

I would like to power the comp to their max potential.

Which has really nothing to do with power ratings. If you sent them that much power, I doubt you'd be able to sit in the car, it'd sound so hideous //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[FJF 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/banghead.gif.8606515f668c74f6de0281deb475b6fd.gif

If you read the review that I link'd, the methodology should be pretty clear.

 

[Bandieramonte 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/banghead.gif.8606515f668c74f6de0281deb475b6fd.gif
If you read the review that I link'd, the methodology should be pretty clear.

Yes, I read that so a pair of days ago and didn't remember. I see you had the Zapco AG 350 amp to move the mids, and the ARC mini amp to move the tweeters. I quote:

The bass dynamics were unprecedented IME with car speakers, helped in no small part by the Zapco pushing the drivers

I attribute much of the dynamic contrast to the synergistic relationship between the SR mids and the AG350 driving them.

So it seems it's really worth it to amp the mids and tweeters separately. In that case, which of the amp setups I posted would you recommend me more? (Also, please help me clear whether if the Mb Quart amps cap on the highest possible frequency range of 1.2khz would actually greatly limit the potential for the mids and tweeters)

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Go with JimJ's suggestion.

1 Focal Solid 4 bi amped to the SR6500

Add lots of Second Skin to both inner and outer panels, MDF rings and good wiring (power, speaker and RCA).

 

[Bandieramonte 10+ year member]

And how does the Focal Solid 4 compares to JBL's GTO 1004? The later has more power, and their quality seem to be similar.

Their parameters for THD and Signal/Noise are very good. So if the JBL has more power, shouldn't I go with it?

 

[BlackMaxima 10+ year member]

Ok, I've decided I would definitely go with only the SR6500 comp front stage. Now, I'm trying to see which is the best amp setup for powering them. A polk specialist informed that the mids from that comp can handle 150 rms, while the tweeters 80 rms. I would like to power the comp to their max potential. So I'm trying to find an amp setup that would do this. Also, please remember that SQ is the main focus, so the amp setup must be SQ oriented. Since I don't have much availability here, these are the choices I have:
- 1 Focal Solid 4 to power the tweeters, leaving 2 channels free. 1 Kenwood KAC-7203 to power the mids.

- 1 Mb Quart Dsc-2150 to power the mids, 1 Mb Quart Dsc-280 to power the tweeters. According to the official manual, this amps only manage a frequency range of 10hz-1.2khz, which I'm not sure whether if this would sound horrible with mids and tweeters, considering they are in higher frequencies. Please help me clear this.

- 1 JBL GTO1004 bi amped to the SR6500

- 1 Focal Solid 4 bi amped to the SR6500

-1 Kicker Zx 850.4

Which one do you think would be better?

My vote would go to Arc audio KS 300.4. if you had that up there with the other choices lol. for the price the Focal Solid 4 looks good. But i still go with a Arc audio KS 300.4 given the choice //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif

 

[FJF 10+ year member]

Yes, I read that so a pair of days ago and didn't remember. I see you had the Zapco AG 350 amp to move the mids, and the ARC mini amp to move the tweeters. I quote:The bass dynamics were unprecedented IME with car speakers, helped in no small part by the Zapco pushing the drivers

I attribute much of the dynamic contrast to the synergistic relationship between the SR mids and the AG350 driving them.

I've since upgraded the amplification to a Zapco Ref200.2 for the tweeters and a (bridged) pair of Zapco AG350s on the mids. The tweeters are very revealing, which drove the need for better amplification. As I'm sure that your car doesn't generate and transmit as much noise as mine, you probably won't need this much power.

So it seems it's really worth it to amp the mids and tweeters separately. In that case, which of the amp setups I posted would you recommend me more? (Also, please help me clear whether if the Mb Quart amps cap on the highest possible frequency range of 1.2khz would actually greatly limit the potential for the mids and tweeters)

Could you post a link for the MBQ amp?

You most definitely want to amplify the mids and the tweeters separately. I'm assuming that you want to use the stock crosovers. As I went over in the review in some detail, the x-overs don't offer much of an adjustment range for the tweeters. Installed as described, the speakers sound overly bright - an understatement to be sure. Bi-amping the setup would give you an easy way of controlling the tweeter level, regardless, and would allow for much easier tuning of the system as a whole.

As I haven't heard any of the amps you mentioned in my system, I can't recommend one over another.

 

[Bandieramonte 10+ year member]

I've since upgraded the amplification to a Zapco Ref200.2 for the tweeters and a (bridged) pair of Zapco AG350s on the mids. The tweeters are very revealing, which drove the need for better amplification. As I'm sure that your car doesn't generate and transmit as much noise as mine, you probably won't need this much power.


Could you post a link for the MBQ amp?

You most definitely want to amplify the mids and the tweeters separately. I'm assuming that you want to use the stock crosovers. As I went over in the review in some detail, the x-overs don't offer much of an adjustment range for the tweeters. Installed as described, the speakers sound overly bright - an understatement to be sure. Bi-amping the setup would give you an easy way of controlling the tweeter level, regardless, and would allow for much easier tuning of the system as a whole.

As I haven't heard any of the amps you mentioned in my system, I can't recommend one over another.

The spec sheet for those Mb Quart amps can be found here. Almost everyone recommends me to bi amp with the Focal Solid 4, but my concern with it is that it will only send 80 rms to the mids, and I want more power for them!! So that has got me undecided still, and that's why I asked post #42, still left without answer. I don't know if I can bi amp with the JBL amp but sending 90 rms to all channels so as to avoid blowing the tweeters, or send 100 rms on two channels to the mids, and 80 rms on the rest two channels to the tweeters.

And about going two amps separately, I still got no insights onto this! The only good powerful and affordable two channel amp for powering the mids I got available here is the KAC-7203, and I don't know whether if it's a good option to power the mids. The other way is with the MB Quarts I posted, but still don't know because of its frequency response cap it specifies.

So I really would want to do something similar like bi amping with the focal solid 4, but with more power and still preserving the same quality SQ level. May that be possible with any of the other amps I posted?