APPLEBONKER.. I'm stepping up my game a bit...

[rjdmmfl1]

OK, so I'm changin them up again...

I decided against the esotec 342's... for SQ, they sound amazing. I finally got into a local store that carries them, and they sound good... but for the type of music I listen to and the level at which I like to listen to it, we agreed that it wasn't the setup for me. The guy NOAH (install manager) at LaJolla Audio is apparently a west coast living legend in car audio... and this shop does super high end cars.. when I was there, there was a Ferari 599, two porsches, and a BMW 1 series getting super retrofitted...

anyway, I'm going back with the custom A pillars, tweets and midrange in the A pillars, 8" dynaudio midbass in floorboard, and the audio control DQXS to clean up the sound...

for me, I think this will give me a nice balance between SQ and SPL...

[Infantry1327]

Making me want to take a trip out to the west coast once you both have your stuff together. I'd love to hear and see both installs. I also really want to check out Blake's car in person. Very tempting... If only I had the money and vacation time to just up and head out there!

You will defenetly need to role out to the west coast. You will have plenty of time to save up some time and money. My project wont be done for a few months.

[AppleBonker]

anyway, I'm going back with the custom A pillars, tweets and midrange in the A pillars, 8" dynaudio midbass in floorboard, and the audio control DQXS to clean up the sound...

for me, I think this will give me a nice balance between SQ and SPL...

Going back to the MB tweets and mids? What kind of music do you listen to? That's what makes it tough for me, cause I really listen to everything.

[AppleBonker]

You will defenetly need to role out to the west coast. You will have plenty of time to save up some time and money. My project wont be done for a few months.

Believe me, I want to. I'm sure I could save up the cash, but I'm also trying to save up for some new wheels and other performance mods. I really need to get on this group buy for the Eibachs, plus I might as well do the RSB while I'm doing the springs (already have RL endlinks to go with the rest, just need to put them on). After the suspension and wheels, I really want a new exhaust and intake. Plus I want to work on fabbing my own projectors and LED tails. Add it all up and I'm gonna be broke forever!

[xXxCrumpsCoupexXx]

Applebonker hit the nail on the head, you my friend have obviously never done active crossovers before, but its cool, that's how we all learn....

the passive crossovers do the job, but very poorly SQ wise... in order to optimize sound, active crossovers are the way to go... I won't get too much in depth regarding this, but basicly, with passive crossover, you try to filter out the complete spectrum of frequencies AFTER they leave the amp... almost impossible to do cleanly

with active crossovers, the filtering, EQ, and crossover freq. occurs BEFORE the signal gets to the amp... thus, only the exact frequencies you want will go to each individual speaker... this cleans up the music and prodices more "studio quality" sound... that is what I was missing

So again, when going with an active crossover setup, you don't use the passive crosovers at all (neither the ones from the MB quart or the ones from the Boston Pro 60's)

Also, you will blow your stage 2 subs sky high with the T2000-1bd... that's WAAAYYYYY too much power for that sub... did you mean the T2 subwoofer or the P2 subwoofer.... most folks don't refer to the T2 as a stage 2, that terminology is reserved for the Punch line of subs... and no offense, but the punch line is not a very good line of sub! Not just regarding power handling, but the build , basket, spider, frame, are all sub par IMO... I've taken all of the Rockford punch subs apart and examined every last detail!

no its a power stage 2(sorry...just refer to it that way cause i'm used to the retail side) and i do know what an active crossover is, but why don't you use a 360 or cleansweep, etc. instead??? just not gonna give you the tuning control/flexibility you want???

[AppleBonker]

no its a power stage 2(sorry...just refer to it that way cause i'm used to the retail side) and i do know what an active crossover is, but why don't you use a 360 or cleansweep, etc. instead??? just not gonna give you the tuning control/flexibility you want???

Those two you mentioned don't offer near the amount of tuning that Doc will be able to utilize with what he plans on running. Actually, I don't even know how you'd run a 3-way active front soundstage off a 360 or cleansweep. You'd probably still have to control a lot of the input/outputs from the amps. It'd be doable, but for this case, the DQXS will make it a lot easier.

[rjdmmfl1]

no its a power stage 2(sorry...just refer to it that way cause i'm used to the retail side) and i do know what an active crossover is, but why don't you use a 360 or cleansweep, etc. instead??? just not gonna give you the tuning control/flexibility you want???

As Applebonker mentioned, the cleensweep plaes in comparison to the DQXS. Applebonker's H701 is widely regarded as the best EQ/active crossover on the market, but it really works best with Alpine headunits! Without that, I would need an extra Alpine controller, and then I would have two colume controls, and its just not worth it

The DQXS, IMO, come pretty close to the H701, ZABCO also makes a really good active EQ/crossover

The rockford 3sixty.2 would be fine for a 2 way component setup, but not a three way setup... with the DQXS, I have 6 RCA inputs (FL, FR, RL, RR, C, SUB) and EIGHT outputs.. this is what you need for a 3 way component setup!

[AppleBonker]

The rockford 3sixty.2 would be fine for a 2 way component setup, but not a three way setup... with the DQXS, I have 6 RCA inputs (FL, FR, RL, RR, C, SUB) and EIGHT outputs.. this is what you need for a 3 way component setup!

I'm already enjoying the amount of control you're going to have over your system. And I don't even get to enjoy it. This is gonna be fun!

[xXxCrumpsCoupexXx]

aight...gotcha

[rjdmmfl1]

OK, final setup, most folks won't really foloow this, but Apple, you can imagine what it sounds like:

Audio control DQXS w/ DDC controller

6 channel input, 8 channel output

Front high pass - tweeters: 3.5 KHzFront Bandpass - midrange: 160 HZ - 3.5KHzRear highpass (going to my midbass driver) : 90 HZ - 500HZ (I used the LP setting on this channel of the amp, and turned it all the way up to 500HZ, thus creating an artifical bandpass setup for me midbass drivers from 90 - 500Hz)

For rear fill, I split the signal leaving the deck going to the audio control unit, sending half the signal straight to the other channel on the t600-4 amp, then set the high pass filter on that to 100Hz, allowing full range to the rear 6 x 9 and the trunk components)

I have the T400-4 going to the front tweeters and 4" midrange, and the T600-4 going to the rear 6 x 9 and the midbass woofer...

For my midbass woofers, I accidentally blew my boston pro 60's, so I opted for the 6.5" JL audio W0 subwoofers, and am using those as midbass drivers.. surprisingly, they sound amazing

Also, we created the front A-pillars and fabbed the midrange and tweeters so that they are facing me... now that the sound is cleaned up, they sound AMAZING!!!

IMO, the DQXS is ALMOST as good as the Alpine H701, not as good, but close...

the control is amazing, everything, including the substage was cleaned up, and now I don't need to sell my T2 anymore...

For the guys coming to the meet Saturday, you'll here a cleaner system than what you heard at the Stillen meet

[AppleBonker]

Glad your happy. If you play around with the tuning a bit more, try crossing the midbass/sub a bit lower. I've got mine at 65Hz and it sounds amazing. I love the sound of the bass coming from up front.

Also, is there a reason you're taking the midbass up to 500 Hz? If the front midranges are dipping down to 160Hz, you've got a decent size frequency band that's being reproduced by two drivers. Every thing about going up to about 200 with the midbass and 200 to 3.5 with the midranges? Might make it sound a little cleaner. I could easily be wrong though...

[rjdmmfl1]

Glad your happy. If you play around with the tuning a bit more, try crossing the midbass/sub a bit lower. I've got mine at 65Hz and it sounds amazing. I love the sound of the bass coming from up front.

Also, is there a reason you're taking the midbass up to 500 Hz? If the front midranges are dipping down to 160Hz, you've got a decent size frequency band that's being reproduced by two drivers. Every thing about going up to about 200 with the midbass and 200 to 3.5 with the midranges? Might make it sound a little cleaner. I could easily be wrong though...

Naww man, I'm definately open to suggestions... my audio guy tuned them, but he has a different ear than me... I could definately go a bit lower with the midbass so that there's not as much overlap... still tweaking it , but that's where I left it right now.... will finish tweeking befor the meet tomorrow... I'm 1000% happeier with the sound!

[AppleBonker]

Yeah, dude. I'm just offering up some suggestions. I'm by no means telling you that you're wrong. Just giving some suggestions to try. Obviously stick with what sounds best to you!

I'm 1000% happeier with the sound!

And this is precisely my point. I'm glad that you are happier.

[rjdmmfl1]

Yeah, dude. I'm just offering up some suggestions. I'm by no means telling you that you're wrong. Just giving some suggestions to try. Obviously stick with what sounds best to you!

And this is precisely my point. I'm glad that you are happier.

I went back, adjusted the levels again, took the midbass down to 50 HZ (hell, its a subwoofer so why not) and cut it off at the amp at 300HZ...

WOW ... now when I play cash flow from Ace Hood , that sh*t bumps the heck out of those higher bass notes.... Active crossover w/ Digital EQ FTMFGDW ..... dam*it Applebonker, why didn't you tell me this system could sound so much better and cleaner????

[banshee08]

Doc,

Any chance I can see a picture of the A-Pillars?? I cannot wait to finish my setup now.

-Chan

[AppleBonker]

Active crossover w/ Digital EQ FTMFGDW ..... dam*it Applebonker, why didn't you tell me this system could sound so much better and cleaner????

Haha... welcome to the world of pure audio bliss. Having the ability to control stuff like that is wonderful. It will allow you to play with tuning the system in ways you never previously thought possible. Plus, keeping bass up front is awesome!