CA.com resident DIY specialist..

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

Word of advice: buy your amp first and practice on your current set of speakers by yanking the passives out. IME those speakers are great to practice on. Once you move to Seas or Scan (as mentioned) you are SEVERLY limited by the environment, critical listening skills, install skills, tuning, etc. This is what makes or breaks DIY...not selecting drivers based on some other member's fantasy of which set up would be the best for you. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

"Going active" in this sense is not something you up and do, it's something you practice..for a long time.

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

....scary

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

i still think i should just ditch the rainbows while i have someone offering me $600 for them and the amp...and start working from scratch again....

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

Word of advice: buy your amp first and practice on your current set of speakers by yanking the passives out. IME those speakers are great to practice on. Once you move to Seas or Scan (as mentioned) you are SEVERLY limited by the environment, critical listening skills, install skills, tuning, etc. This is what makes or breaks DIY...not selecting drivers based on some other member's fantasy of which set up would be the best for you. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif
"Going active" in this sense is not something you up and do, it's something you practice..for a long time.

I completely agree.

I think you'd be surprised at the results simply going active with good settings can yield. Of course, your install has to be reflective of what you expect to get. Get that aced, and then you can focus on tuning.

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

i think im ready though....i have nothing but time on my hands here at school till around febuary, i take one class a day and the rest of the time is spent sitting around....i would love to go sit in the car and tweak things for hours on end....

and im not pleased with the current setup i have...i dont know what other direction to go....

 

[80INCHES 5,000+ posts]

start with basic stuff

get some decent midbass speakers

decent tweets decent midrange speakers

and no rearfill...cuz it will pull ur staging back..in some cases it will sound like the music is behind u and notin front where it suppose to be

80

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

Seas CA18RNX + seas neo tweets (27TAFNCG)

and a PG200.4

sound alright?

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

start with basic stuff
get some decent midbass speakers

decent tweets decent midrange speakers

and no rearfill...cuz it will pull ur staging back..in some cases it will sound like the music is behind u and notin front where it suppose to be

80

He's going 2 way active not 3 way.

Seas CA18RNX + seas neo tweets (27TAFNCG)
and a PG200.4

sound alright?

Try it out, you may or may not like it. For some people it might be fine for others maybe not.

 

[redcalimp5 10+ year member]

Seas CA18RNX + seas neo tweets (27TAFNCG)
and a PG200.4

sound alright?

Instead of the PG200.4, check out this DD amp. It's a 4 channel, 100x2 to the front channels, and 200x2 to the rear channels. Plenty of features, too. Just something else to consider for your future setup.

http://www.ddaudio.com/dd/amp/amp.asp?series=S

 

[Brian_smith06 10+ year member]

im not talking trash or trying to act like i know a lot about car audio, but could it just be your current amp you have right now. i mean you do have rainbow speakers(how could you not be happy) i have a pair of the us xt2000D's and i just know that the xt line are not the greatest amps.

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

Which will make you happier...

a) adjusting the sound you are currently used to hearing and making it better

b) starting over with an unfamiliar set of UNMATCHED drivers that must be made to sound coherent in amplitude, phase, and time.

??????????

Are you better with a pistol or a shotgun?

Do you like to pull your hair out or punch your dash?

I'm not an expert but I've used the speakers (or their sister's) you're looking at and they are no "better" than what you have currently. If you truly want better speakers, you must invest in knowing how to use them better, not what other's say is "better" for you.

All the potential is present in your car already. Buying new drivers is going to get you different "ok" sound. Buying a more powerful amp is just going to get you louder, yet limited sound. Anyone who's ever set up a "SQ" system properly will tell you this till they choke on their own tongue.

Scary? No, just the truth. (well as I see it anyway) //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

He's going 2 way active not 3 way.

I see a 15" sub in his sig. Did he say he was dropping it?

2-way = 4 channels = 2 tweeter + 2 midrange

3-way = 5 channels = 2 tweeter + 2 midrange + 1 sub (channel, could have 10,929,393 subwoofers on it)

3-way = 5 channels = 2 tweeter + 2 midrange + 1 center

3-way = 6 channels = 2 tweeter + 2 midrange + 2 sub (channels, could have 2 or 10,929,393 subwoofers on it)

Just how I personally look at it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

maybe everyone is taking the SQ thing to far....i think that i may have just made the wrong choice of components....i need louder while sounding good....does it have to be great...no

these speakers i have now sound AMAZING at moderate volumes they put out amazing midbass, amazing clarity and are a wonderful all around speaker. I would just like to be able to get that sound out of a speaker that can hang with 140+ decibels....these unfortunately cannot....unless that is your willing to sacrifice what they are meant for...which is to sound amazing

 

[redcalimp5 10+ year member]

maybe everyone is taking the SQ thing to far....i think that i may have just made the wrong choice of components....i need louder while sounding good....does it have to be great...no
these speakers i have now sound AMAZING at moderate volumes they put out amazing midbass, amazing clarity and are a wonderful all around speaker. I would just like to be able to get that sound out of a speaker that can hang with 140+ decibels....these unfortunately cannot....unless that is your willing to sacrifice what they are meant for...which is to sound amazing

I'd have to agree with the lack of output/aggressiveness notion of the phase plug set.

I've owned a set myself, and ran them active for a few weeks, and they didn't seem to like to be pushed too hard.....even when I fluctuated the crossover slopes to ease the load on the mids, they still seemed to become strained when I wanted to really jam them loud.

I'm now running a set of CMX Kicks active, and I don't have any output problems like I did with the phase plugs. The CMX's can take loud, agressive music, and still sound great doing it. The Vanadium phase plugs simply can't.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

maybe everyone is taking the SQ thing to far....i think that i may have just made the wrong choice of components....i need louder while sounding good....does it have to be great...no
these speakers i have now sound AMAZING at moderate volumes they put out amazing midbass, amazing clarity and are a wonderful all around speaker. I would just like to be able to get that sound out of a speaker that can hang with 140+ decibels....these unfortunately cannot....unless that is your willing to sacrifice what they are meant for...which is to sound amazing

In that case, have you tried simply raising the gains? Going with a good active setup with processing power will allow you to tame harshness, thus allowing you to raise the volume level a bit. It's the method I take, at least. Get gains until I hear harshness, EQ it down a bit, raise gains a bit more... continue until sound is pretty good, then continue EQ'ing.