Do I really need a Processor??

[Spencerk 4]

I have a Pioneer Premier DEH-P800PRS High Fidelity head unit. I was thinking about getting a processor. Since I have never owned any type of sound processor. my question is. Am I going to put this thing in line with my amps and make 19000db on the mic or will that 300$ investment barely be noticed?? My deck already has t/a, 16 band eq, 3 way active set up, I can adjust each individual speaker for gain and eq, so what will a processor do for me. is it really worth the money?

[sound=vibration 34]

I have a Pioneer Premier DEH-P800PRS High Fidelity head unit. I was thinking about getting a processor. Since I have never owned any type of sound processor. my question is. Am I going to put this thing in line with my amps and make 19000db on the mic or will that 300$ investment barely be noticed?? My deck already has t/a, 16 band eq, 3 way active set up, I can adjust each individual speaker for gain and eq, so what will a processor do for me. is it really worth the money?

i thought it was more for eqing but i could be wrong

[Duran 387]

A processor wouldn't do anything for you.

[Adrian_D 520]

And you want to use the processor for ?

I bet you aren't using all the processing capability of the 800.

[johnecon2001 82]

You have everything you need in that head unit already. Don't muck up the signal chain by adding some random processor.

[///M5 2,833]

Not needed, the 800 has one hell of a processor built right in. In fact IMO it is the only real reason to buy that headunit.

Generically speaking about proc's though the question is always what do you want to do that you cannot currently do. Adding anything else for the reason of adding is always the bad idea, unless you have a very specific goal.

[Spencerk 4]

Well as I get older my years of high school are dwindling away and I am not so much impressed by that fact that someone can shake there car and flex the roof. I am slowly making the transition to the SQ world. So when I was reading online about processors, they said they can make your system sound more full and rich with greater depth and width, so naturally i was interested. Is their anything that I could do with the equipment I have to obtain more depth width etc. Simple tips for a beginner like myself...... I don't know much about the world of SQ

[///M5 2,833]

You can get rid of the passives you are running and switch the 800 to Network mode and take advantage of its proc.

[Spencerk 4]

OK I messed with the network mode and I turned it back bc it moved all the mid rage to the front and the highs to the back. Which was fine but all I could hear was highs no voice at all the mid range was non existent, plus I had tweeters up front that were doing nothing.... Pardon my ignorance but what do you mean my passives??? Speakers I assume??? If its not too much to ask what would be the ideal set up be for speaker placement in my car (placement, size, number of them) I had a local shop tell me I would benefit from losing my back speaker and moving all 4 ch to the front of the car. any truth to this??

[///M5 2,833]

Woah, be careful. Without re-wiring you can't use Network mode. Read the manual and then ask some questions.

Basically you are going to need an amplifier channel for each driver. Meaning you need one for each mid and one for each tweeter. So just in the front alone you are going to need 4 channels. Once this is setup you will have access to 16 bands of Left and 16 bands of Right Eq.

I wouldn't recommend doing anything until you let us hear your plan, you could severely damage your stuff otherwise.

[Spencerk 4]

Ok well I sat in the owner of the local shops car and I was hooked, he had 8's in each door 4'' speakers and tweets on the A pillar and it sounded SWEET. If I closed my eyes you could hear every instrument and its location on the stage it was the next best thing to being their live.. after I got back in my car to leave I was totally not in love with my sound anymore. SO now I come to you guys for advice and insight on how to achieve Beethoven's symphony in my car. With a CH for each speaker would I ditch my crossovers and use the amps to tune each speaker to that frequency range

[Duran 387]

Ok well I sat in the owner of the local shops car and I was hooked, he had 8's in each door 4'' speakers and tweets on the A pillar and it sounded SWEET. If I closed my eyes you could hear every instrument and its location on the stage it was the next best thing to being their live.. after I got back in my car to leave I was totally not in love with my sound anymore. SO now I come to you guys for advice and insight on how to achieve Beethoven's symphony in my car. With a CH for each speaker would I ditch my crossovers and use the amps to tune each speaker to that frequency range

You would ditch the crossovers but your head unit will take care of every speakers frequency range.

[///M5 2,833]

8's up front make a huge difference though. It now depends on how far you want to go.

[Spencerk 4]

Well I am prepared to go pretty far seeing as I already have some equipment all Im going to need is about 6 new speakers and I have already hacked hols in my doors, I did this my self bc I thought it would help to separate the front and rear waves from each other and it did somewhat but still dint make my car sound like The owners car though. Hope this link works for ya........ http://radioactivecc.ning.com/photo/dscf44...?context=latest

Edited June 12, 2009 by 144dbFiBl15

[///M5 2,833]

Before doing anything drastic and replacing drivers, I'd play around with what you have active.

Reason being, if you are prepared to "go pretty far" that will mean a 3 way and WAY more can go wrong in a 3 way so you should try a 2 way setup first. Do a little searching on Active Crossovers, read the manual of the 880, and then ask some questions and we can steer you in the right direction.

[Spencerk 4]

OK I took your advice (M5) and read this site front to backhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_crossover I am going to change the set up in the car too 2-way active set up for now to feel things out..... I have never been one to do things half ass so I really want to go 3-way active eventually, but I how is that?? if I have 6 speakers all on their own CH the what RCA outputs do I use from the deck bc the only 4 will already be used... where do I get the other inputs for the other two CH

Edited June 12, 2009 by 144dbFiBl15

[///M5 2,833]

You will need a processor with 2 more channels, whether it be an offboard proc or an amp either way.

Do not jump into 3 way right away as it will sound like hell. Actually I'd bet for the first month or so active your 2 way will sound worse. It takes time and fiddling to get things right and there are way too many variables when you have 7 drivers as 5 is hard enough.