todd.brust

After being out of car audio for a couple years now, I got the bug again. I recently bought a 2004 Toyota 4Runner and have factory speakers all the way around. The only upgrade I have done is install an Alpine CDE-W265BT. The drivers door speaker is making noises, and there are some annoying rattles that need to be addressed. I figured while I try to find the annoying rattles and replace the blown speaker, I will do some proper deadening and install a new front stage. This system will be for casual listening. No competitions and I don't care a tone about getting really loud. Sound quality ismy number one priority. So here's what I have and my initial ideas. I have a Kenwood Excelon X801-5 5 channel amp. My plan is to purchase a MiniDSP 2x4 and use the 4 channel section of the amplifier to run the front stage active. I plan to use deck processing to do what I need to with the subwoofer channel. I have a set of JL Audio 8w3v3 subwoofers in a JL Microsub enclosure or I could use a single recently reconed 12" RE Audio SE. I'd prefer to use the JL Audio Microsub solution as it sacrifices less space, and I don't have to build an enclosure. Rear channels will remain factory, run off of deck power and be barely used under normal listening. This just leaves speakers to be used in my front doors. Woofers will stay in the factory location, and I will fab some adaptors to accomodate a 6.5" woofer. Woofers are in lower door panels towards the front of the door. Pretty standard. I would prefer to use factory tweeter locations. Tweeter locations are high on the doors towards the front of the doors. The aren't ideal, but I think if I find some tweeters with decent off axis response, I can make them work. So mainly, I am looking for suggestions for 6.5" woofers and tweeters. I have started browsing Parts Express, and will link a few possibilities. I am open to any suggestions and constructive criticism. The Peerless Woofer looked like it could be a good contender. Higher sensitivity than the other Peerless drivers in the price range and looks to have good off axis FR. https://www.parts-express.com/peerless-by-tymphany-830875-6-1-2-nomex-cone-hds-woofer--264-1092 I also have a set of Aura NS6-255-8A woofers. Those are set aside for a different project, but I could potentially use for this. They look like they would be suitable as well. Tweeters have a few good options. The first is a Dayton Audio Model. Has good off axis FR and off axis FR is very similar to on axis response. https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dc28ft-8-1-1-8-silk-dome-truncated-tweeter--275-076 There is a peerloss options. It will require some custom mounting, but doable. Again has good Off axis response, but looks to roll off in the HF a little steeper than the Dayton. Not a huge concern as I will probably roll off the high end slightly. https://www.parts-express.com/peerless-by-tymphany-d27tg35-06-1-silk-dome-tweeter--264-1022 I won't be doing the install until spring so I have lots of time to decide what I want to use. Any help is appreciated and want to say thanks in advance!

I was wondering about that. I hadn't planned on running them really low, maybe 80 hz with a 4th order filter. I did kind of forget how dirty and wet the inside of a door panel can be. I don't know if I could expect them to last more than a couple years probably. I should probaly just save them for my original project. I could probably do that since I am doing my own adapters. The adapter plate will have to be pretty large so I may be able to fit an 8" even. Would I run into major issues with beaming as frequency increases? I haven't done anything in the automotive environment with active crossovers and measurements. Most if not everything I have done is in within a speakers coverage pattern in medium to large rooms. The inside of a car and working this far off axis is kind of a new thing to me. I thought about seeing if I could try and get a slight angle with the adapters on the drivers door. I don't know if that is in my skill set, or if the little bit of angle would be worth any improvements I might achieve. Am I worrying too much about this? It should be an exciting endeavor. I should have done this in my last vehicle. Instead I drove around with an aftermarket Alpine and factory speakers for 4 years at least! Thanks for checking.

I may end up trying the Aura Drivers. They have been sitting their original packaging for a couple years now. Its one of the projects that got put on the back burner. I should really look at the tweeters I have as well as they may work. I think they are ring radiators, so that may not make them suitable for off axis use. I checked the stores here as well. Couple of new brands I am not super Familiar with. The SSA Evil 6.5" speaker seem to be in the right price range and look like pretty beefy drivers. I could not locate much beside TS parameters. Is there any additional documentation? I know it says the are usable up to 4500 hz, but is there anywhere I could get and LE value? Started to look more at the MiniDSPs and found that you have to pay for software! That's not a big deal to me, but each version of the software changes how the processor works. So if I ever decide to change what I use the Mini DSP is used for, I could end up having to purchase new software. Sorry just wanted to vent my frustrations with that. Either way, I'll probably be purchasing the MiniDSP to play around with. Looks pretty simple software though.

Not laughing. I was looking at a shelf at Target but that is more expensive and bigger as well. I think you made a good choice on the speakers. I have not been a fan of any of the Recent Deftechs. I don't mind the Energys (Energies?) and never heard the Bostons or any Kefs for that matter. I am definitely a stereo person for music, but I do use my 3.1 for Movies and Games.

Nice Car. I'm a fan of the Infinitys. I was going to recommend a Cleansweep, but Sean beat me to it. The other nice thing is that they have a dedicated AUX on the cleansweep so you can plug a source directly in without having to add a interface. As long as the amp outputs are full range, a cleansweep or other processor will do. If they are crossed over all fucky like Bose does, you will need a way to combine the high level signals (JL Audio CL-SSI). I'd be interested to see how Infinity did everything, but I am betting it is crossed over and the more pain in your ass way to integrate with.

Good God! Dump people on their phones are one of my pet peeves. Glad to see you walked away unharmed.

Very Nice! I was a fan of those Pioneers for the price. I have recommended them to friends in the market for some bufdget speakers I have been told those KEFs are some great speakers, However I have never had the pleasure of listening to a set. I like the coaxial design (I have to, I have the DC Tannoys) of the KEFs. Where did you find your vinyl record shelf? That looks like it would accommodate my record collection and not take a ton of space.

That's correct. Highpass (subsonic filter) at 40 hz and lowpass at 80. ElectroVoice spec sheet list the enclosure tuning at 40 hz with a usable LF response of 35 hz. Not the type of subwoofer people expect to see. It was pulled from an old church and it was the LF driver in a two way speech reinforcement system.

TV: Panasonic 54S1 Receiver: Onkyo NR818 Sub Amp: Crown XTi1002 Main Speakers : Tannoy i8 on Sanus Stands Center channel: Tannoy S8C Sub: ElectroVoice TL15-1 Sources: Xbox 360, Pansonic BD65 BluRay, Chromecast Planning on rears soon, but Not sure What to do yet. Would Like to find a set of Tannoy S8LR fo my mains and move the i8s to the rears but that is proving to be a challenge finding some. The Sub has grill cloth now and all the wiring is tied up and neat now Modem and Router is all hidden behind the Television. Love the system (girlfriend says its too loud sometimes), it boogies pretty well. The sub work fantastic on music, and despite having a highpass around 40hz on the sub,it digs down low for HT. My main concern with the sub was musicality and It was free as well Love the Tannoys as well.

The Dayton amps are great value and a solid product. I'll just add my positive opinion of Dayton/PE on top of everyone elses. What Sub are you going to use out of curiosity?

Let me start out by saying that I have been out of the car audio game for some time, and I have never been as concerned with SPL as much as I have been with overall sound quality. It has been a mystery to me for some time as to why no one uses high efficiency subwoofers: for example a pro audio subwoofer. If the main concern is to get loud, why is this option never mentioned or even discussed. Many car audio subwoofers I see are in the range of 85-90 dB at 1 watt measured at 1 meter. Maybe closer to low 90s for a large woofer. On the other hand, many pro audio speakers have much higher efficiency, 95dB+ for 1 watt at 1 meter. To me it seems that efficiency would be the name of the game for SPL. If a woofer A has an efficiency of 90dB and woofer B has an efficiency of 93dB, it would take woofer A 2x the power to get the same SPL as woofer B. Okay, power is cheap, but what if we are talking a 90dB efficiency woofer(Woofer A) vs. a 99dB efficiency woofer(Woofer C)? You would need roughly 8x the power the get the same SPL out of Woofer A vs. Woofer C. 1 watt vs 8 watts is no big deal, but what about 100 watts vs. 800 watts, or even better yet, 1000 watts vs. 8000 watts? This all plays out well on paper and in theory, but I do realize that there are real world considerations and variables to take into account (enclosure alignment size and tuning, cabin gain, frequency, power compression, etc), not to mention the lack of low frequency extension of many high efficiency woofers and subwoofers and power handling compared to some subwoofers. Maybe I am misguided by my own thoughts, but either way I am interested in what people have to say about this topic either way. I realize audio in general is a compromise, but I’m interested to see how people weight pro vs. con for this specific issue. Todd

I understand this, but in an environment where cabin gain plays a huge role in low frequency extension, is it necessary to reach lower than 30 hz for most music? I mean, not to everyone. Some people are content with prefab porteds, and that kind of tuning, even a little lower would probably be great for a pro driver. But my flavor is slowed, so I appreciate the <40hz violence Fair enough. There is hardly and argument for personal preference.

I think you just answered my question! Case closed

I understand this, but in an environment where cabin gain plays a huge role in low frequency extension, is it necessary to reach lower than 30 hz for most music?

Welcome to the club! I'm on Towncar #3. Not as new as yours however. Looks Nice

Well I have had my Brahma for quite a while, and has been putting off re-coning it. While inspecting it today, I noticed that the pole isn't perfectly centered so the gap is a bit uneven. Apparently it has been like that since I have owned it, even while it was previously working. It's not a huge difference, but it is noticeable. I tried to snap a quick picture I can't get a good one that illustrates how off center it is. My question is, how much will this affect performance, if at all? It worked perfectly fine before in this condition. The only reason it needs a re-cone is because it was re-coned right before Adire closed its doors, and they did a horseshit job. Spider came unglued all at once and rubbed the coil so bad. That was after fixing the surround coming unglued as well. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Todd

Do you mean plug in the door boot, like a molex plug? Sometimes if there is room, you can drill a spot big enough in the plug to sneak some wires through, but be carful no to hit any other wiring. Pain in the ass, but can be done. Or drill new hols and install aftermarket boots.

Just going by eye. I can tell the gap is off by how much of my finger will slip into the gap as well. I could probably borrow a caliper from a buddy and get an exact measurement.

It worked fine before with the pole as it sits. Is it nessessary that I fix it, or should I send it in for a repair/recone, and If I had to, How much would that run me?

Looks pretty awesome to say the least!

It's the same reason why people put Bose on a glorified level even though the product, in most cases is glorified garbage. The money the should spend on R&D goes into advertising. It has to cost a fortune to be the official audio company of the NFL, but you won't ever see Bose doing a sound system in a stadium or Arena (not that they have the ability to do so anyways)

I am surprised no one mentioned either earlier. I'd like to get my hands on either, but the Pro5100 has such high efficiency. Imagine the possibilities. I'm willing to bet nothing mention in this thread comes close in terms off efficiency. I didn't do my homework though so don't tear me apart if I'm Wrong.

I recently looked up noise ordinances in my area, more pertaining to exhaust, but it is all the same. It said that for a noise violation the officer must have a mic that is calibrated daily, the calibration results, and the measured level at the approximate distance. If they have all this information and it exceeds their standard for acceptable noise levels at specific distances, then they can give you a ticket. And from the cops I have talked to in my area, there isn't a cop who carries a single SPL meter in the county.

Looks good man. I need to work on my custom fab skills.