Thinking about going active. What to do?

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Understood. I just want the rear passengers, when i have them, to enjoy the "music" as much as the front passenger.

My friends and I talk. They're not impressed by my stereo as much as I am. And the ones who are appreciate a quality front stage.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

They don't like the sound in general or is it just a complaint from the back seat?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

What bikinpunk said basically. You wont get your stereo to image and stage properly in the front, and the back, the passenger side, the driv.... you get the point. So going active front AND rear would only realistically be done for one reason, more output.

There is simply no way to have a rear sound stage for rear passengers, front sound stage for people in the front, and not have them interfere with each other drastically. But then, some people prefer that nightclub type quasi-surround sound. Its not SQ though.

How often do you have 4 people in your car who all care about, or even notice, a proper sound stage? Make the women sit in back, and tell them the sound is abit muffled because they have too much clothing on.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

They don't like the sound in general or is it just a complaint from the back seat?

No, I'm saying most of my friends simply aren't into that. And the few that are know that a proper front stage is more important than rear fill.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

I guess I used the term SQ too loosely. What I want is a front stage that sounds good and will be loud enough to hear over the subs. I considered active becasue I do know that people who know SQ go active. Output is what I really need but not at the cost of sounding good. That is why I wanted rears. Not because I want to somehow stage for the rear passengers. No question the subs are going to be loud. Louder than any I've had before. So I need fronts that can keep up but the last thing I want is to just throw a lot of power at a set or 4 sets of comps and have them sound like *** because of distortion. I want them to be loud and sound good. That is why I used the term SQ and why I believe I need rears.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Again, forget "staging" for one minute...

Do your rear passengers really care for loud music? How often are you driving around with 3 or 4 friends with music blaring? If you answer a lot, then just go full passives everywhere and call it a day.

My point is that my friends and I talk in the car. My stereo system is for me or my wife. That's it.

 

[redcalimp5 10+ year member]

Understood. I just want the rear passengers, when i have them, to enjoy the "music" as much as the front passenger. If I chose to go with just fronts how would that affect the sound from the rear? I'ver never used a truly superior set of components. I have infinitys in my car (not the vehicle I'm working on now) now and I can tell you that without the rears a rear passenger wouldn't hear much. I will say that if I decided that I didn't want rears then that leaves me roughly 1500 dollars to spend on a set of fronts.

$1500 for a set of comps in the front? Man, I'm running a set of CMX Kicks active in my ride, with no rearfill, and when people ride in my back seat, they say my system sounds awesome, and that it's so loud and clean.

You, my friend, should consider ditching the rearfill idea altogether, and buying a brand new authorized set of Rainbow Powerline CS components for your front stage. For just under $1,000 shipped, you'll be SET. PM one of the Rainbow authorized dealers on here for pricing and details.

 

[redcalimp5 10+ year member]

Went searching for the CS 465.25 Germs. Can't find them for sale in the states anywhere. Anyone know where to get them or have an answer to my previous post?

Man! Somebody on this forum just sold two new sets of those a couple months back for $400 and $500 shipped....you just(kinda) missed out.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Oh, and my stereo system gets PLENTY loud while retaining excellent quality. If I do crank it for my friends (or my nephew who loves the loud music) they enjoy it, and that's an understatement, I'm sure.

But, you can't just throw the speakers in. You need to dedicate time & money to the install.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

Again, forget "staging" for one minute...
Do your rear passengers really care for loud music? How often are you driving around with 3 or 4 friends with music blaring? If you answer a lot, then just go full passives everywhere and call it a day.

My point is that my friends and I talk in the car. My stereo system is for me or my wife. That's it.

I guess not that much but sometimes I do the Meade thing. When I find someone that hasnt' heard my setup I like to put them in it and see what they think. I don't think I've ever heard and active setup. If I have then I didn't know it. So I don't have that to compare to my passive or any passive I've heard. But I trust the opinions of people here when it comes to SQ. I see what you mean about the stereo being for and not your friends. I suppose my friends don't really care about the fronts anyway. Most people tend to only care about the subs. I could always let them sit in the driver seat if they are concerned with the fronts.

So i've decieded then to go with fronts only, active. I'm set on the 880 PRS but comps and amps are needed. I haven't purchased the Rainbow stuff yet and will still likely go with a 2 way set of Rainbow comps but drop the Germs since I'll have more money now and go for something better. How about amps. It would be nice to use a couple more Autotek MMs. Any ideas?

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

Rainbow Powerline CS components for your front stage. For just under $1,000 shipped, you'll be SET. PM one of the Rainbow authorized dealers on here for pricing and details.

noted, thanks

 

[redcalimp5 10+ year member]

noted, thanks

No problem, just trying to help out. I'm running active with the 'poor man's' version of the Powerline CS set, and I'm pretty happy with my sound.

If I had 1K to spend on a set of two ways, I'd sell my CMX Kicks for a blowout deal in a second for the Powerline CS set.

 

[gijoe 10+ year member]

Germanyt, I think you have mislead some people with the sq statement. I think you are aiming for a nice, loud, clean system, but not an sq system. You want rears and don't care about staging, so this tells me that you aren't going for a real sq sytem. This isn't a bad thing at all, just understand that there is a difference, especially when talking to a bunch of hardcore car audio gurus. I think you can accomplish what you are looking for with a decent set of comps run passive in the front and a set of coax's or even another passive set in the back for your goals I probably wouldn't worry about all of the hassles of an active setup, passive setups can sound very good, active isn't always a necessity.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

Perhaps. I wish there was an active setup that I could hear. I don't know what to do.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Perhaps. I wish there was an active setup that I could hear. I don't know what to do.

IMO, if the active and the passive setups have the exact same x-over & slopes, you're not going to hear a difference.

The benefit lies in everything I laid out in the first page: user control on the fly. That's worth it in my case.