HoneyBadgerRy
Member
Price isn't limited to $500 but I threw that number in to get a ballpark. The doors have a 8" hole for the woofers. Currently looking at Alpine X-S65C, morel virtus 602, Hertz HSK 165, and a few others.
Cdt has a 3way set with 8” mids
How does the HD series compare to the MX series? I want plug and play for now, but I love the idea that if down the road I decide its not enough I can later find a way to mount the 4" in the door uppers (I have an idea already), and mount the (2"?) tweeters on the dash or maybe the A pilers...If you want plug and play the cdt is good plus you can upgrade the mids and tweeters as well as xover.
$140 of speakers, and a processor could be better than $500-800 component sets? I like the idea of using a processor, but I have to be looking up the wrong drivers, because I can't fathom drivers that cheap would be worthwhile.Id do some silverflute 8s and some xt 25 tweeters with the rest of your budget spent on processing and door treatments
Processing and good budget drivers will outright destroy high dollar sets with weak processing all day any day. With passive component sets you cant adjust the crossover point and slope nor the output level of the mid and tweet. This is important because every vehicle has different acoustics and surface reflections and the crossover point on the passive crossover most of the times doesnt work, its rare to have a set work well off the batt and its not something EQ alone can fix. Also going active means 100% better soundstage hands down, you can time align the mid and tweet individually compared to a blob of mess soundstage with passive components. Not to mention you get more power to your drivers directly allowing more clean output.$140 of speakers, and a processor could be better than $500-800 component sets? I like the idea of using a processor, but I have to be looking up the wrong drivers, because I can't fathom drivers that cheap would be worthwhile.
So ELI5, what all would be included in a setup like that. Say for a head unit I chose the Pioneer AVH-2300NEX, which I assume would send 6 sets of preouts to a DSP like a Zapco DSP-Z8 or an Alpine PXA-H800 without much adjustment of eq on the head unit itself (or would it) from there I would run the preouts on the DSP to whatever amp setup say a PDX-F6 or a Z-150.4 SP or maybe something cheaper, (I assume I leave all the hpf lpf turned off on the amp) and then just run speaker wire to the speakers (some 8" driver and a nice set of tweeters which I'm sure could get argued about forever on the forum). Then spend some money putting sound deadener inside the doors and behind the doors cards. (I see alot of people with these cars like to take those foam speaker baffles and cut the bottom half out for airflow on these doors, I assume I'd do the same with any speakers.)Processing and good budget drivers will outright destroy high dollar sets with weak processing all day any day. With passive component sets you cant adjust the crossover point and slope nor the output level of the mid and tweet. This is important because every vehicle has different acoustics and surface reflections and the crossover point on the passive crossover most of the times doesnt work, its rare to have a set work well off the batt and its not something EQ alone can fix. Also going active means 100% better soundstage hands down, you can time align the mid and tweet individually compared to a blob of mess soundstage with passive components. Not to mention you get more power to your drivers directly allowing more clean output.
Its the install and tune which is important. There are cheap drivers that offer basically the same performance or better than high dollar sets
Yes you got all that right. Id look into fast rings instead of those foam baffles. For your door, deadening alone wont be good enough, you'd want to get some sheet metal to seal off the big gaps in the door. Then deaden both the metal portions of the door and the plastic door panel. If you want less road noise then you can do a layer of mass loaded vinyl with a layer of closed cell foam as well to decouple. The mlv and cld is optional but depending on how much midbass you get from sealing the gaps, you might still need to do ccf to prevent rattles.So ELI5, what all would be included in a setup like that. Say for a head unit I chose the Pioneer AVH-2300NEX, which I assume would send 6 sets of preouts to a DSP like a Zapco DSP-Z8 or an Alpine PXA-H800 without much adjustment of eq on the head unit itself (or would it) from there I would run the preouts on the DSP to whatever amp setup say a PDX-F6 or a Z-150.4 SP or maybe something cheaper, (I assume I leave all the hpf lpf turned off on the amp) and then just run speaker wire to the speakers (some 8" driver and a nice set of tweeters which I'm sure could get argued about forever on the forum). Then spend some money putting sound deadener inside the doors and behind the doors cards. (I see alot of people with these cars like to take those foam speaker baffles and cut the bottom half out for airflow on these doors, I assume I'd do the same with any speakers.)
Is there something I'm missing on acoustically tunning the car? What about tuning the DSP, can I use a microphone to get me pretty ballpark, then just tweak to taste, because all that adjustability is intimidating.
I'm under the impression that fast rings and door baffles do two different jobs, the baffles work like sound deadening, and they also help protect the speaker from water. The fast rings help direct the sound out of the speaker grill. I see no reason to chose just one or the other.Yes you got all that right. Id look into fast rings instead of those foam baffles. For your door, deadening alone wont be good enough, you'd want to get some sheet metal to seal off the big gaps in the door. Then deaden both the metal portions of the door and the plastic door panel. If you want less road noise then you can do a layer of mass loaded vinyl with a layer of closed cell foam as well to decouple. The mlv and cld is optional but depending on how much midbass you get from sealing the gaps, you might still need to do ccf to prevent rattles.
Its pretty fun to tune especially if you have an RTA.
Both the HD and mMX are similar. They are good drivers that don't need much eq with the proper install.How does the HD series compare to the MX series? I want plug and play for now, but I love the idea that if down the road I decide its not enough I can later find a way to mount the 4" in the door uppers (I have an idea already), and mount the (2"?) tweeters on the dash or maybe the A pilers...
Obviously its going to be something I will have to take one step at a time, but with the 8" woofers I probably would be happy with the system to wait to add a sub, so I'm not sweating the $690 price tag for the 2 way set.
I’ve had both the hd and MX series. Both are pretty good. But I bumped up to the Es series. Much betterHow does the HD series compare to the MX series? I want plug and play for now, but I love the idea that if down the road I decide its not enough I can later find a way to mount the 4" in the door uppers (I have an idea already), and mount the (2"?) tweeters on the dash or maybe the A pilers...
Obviously its going to be something I will have to take one step at a time, but with the 8" woofers I probably would be happy with the system to wait to add a sub, so I'm not sweating the $690 price tag for the 2 way set.