altoncustomtech

You could, technically, but it just won't do the speakers as much justice. I couldn't believe the difference when I hooked them up in the Jimmy. It was night & day and they really didn't even sound like the same speakers that were on the desk.

Yep, this is getting out of hand quick, lol. I got lucky, I already had what I needed to do all this. FWIW the Clarion CZ702 is a decent and inexpensive deck for breaking into a fully active setup. Real processors like the Bit One, MS8, and DSP Z8 are much more powerful and better than any deck. As far as decks go the Pioneer 80PRS has a better EQ but also costs several dollars more than the Clarion which is why it generally gets my vote. SonicElectronix generally has the HU for $150 shipped, including the accessories to install it.

Yeah, even for a simple listening test you're better off finding a way to power them with something that can give them a HPF and at least a little EQ work. I know Sean's just trying to get you set right but I think he's referring more to the end result than the listening test. As I stated, even for a listening test you'll need crossover control and some EQ and some decent power. I had listened to all three sets on the desk in my office connected to a simple little POS amp with about 10w of power and it did NONE of them any justice at all. It was an entirely different listening experience when I hooked them up in the Jimmy. On the desk setup the Faital's would win, partially due to their output capability, and also just because of the response I heard. However, in the Jimmy it was a whole other story and while it improved the response from all of them I quickly found the Fountek's to be the pack leaders. I wonder what it would cost to ship them all to you and ship them back. I sure wouldn't have a problem with letting you borrow them, or if you were close enough to let you hear them for yourself in person.

I don't mind the 8 ohms, from a power vs. distortion vs. damping standpoint it's a good thing, but on an amp that's rated 125wrms per channel into 4 ohms I could only expect about half that into 8. I just wasn't sure it would be enough to run them properly for the intended application. Though I suppose using them IB they don't need as much to move to their limit so it may all be a moot point anyway.

That's no problem, though I'm not sure it would be beneficial to either of us to do so. Parts Express sells the FE85's brand new for $13.25 each and after shipping it's just under $38. Even if I sold mine for $5 each it wouldn't save you that much. Plus with their 12wrms rating and the playing around I've done on them with a 125.2 powering them even though they're 8 ohm I couldn't give any guarantee on life expectancy.

The doors are already pretty well deadened, though considering the upcoming application more may very well be necessary. How much power are you running to yours? I'm fairly certain the 125.2 on them at 8 ohms just won't be enough to get the midbass job done as well as it could or should be done.

Well, it is kind of a play on the word considering the programming ability it takes to create these. I've always wanted to be good enough at programming to do stuff like this.

I recently did a comparison of sets of Faital Pro 3FE25's, Aura NS3's and a Fountek FE85's for pretty much the same purpose. You can read my thoughts and miniature reviews on the third page HERE. It's all a matter of personal preference but I don't see how a pair of full range speakers can be easily beat. The FE85's provide quite good response all the way up high enough to catch enough of the sparkle to make me more than happy with them. So much so I ordered a pair of the even better FR89EX's last night to use permanently in my install. I've not lost any noticeable output at all going from the components to the full ranges and as a matter of fact, due to the proximity of the speakers to the listening position and the direct on axis aiming it's probably louder in all reality. The difference in response, stage and imaging are well worth losing a little output.

Beautiful....

Well, all that work to mount the Solid 2 is for nothing. On the path to sonic perfection I'm now going straight to using Peerless SLS 8's for the midbass duty and in doing so am now going to have to change out the 125.2 for one of the JBL GTO1004's I have on hand. That means a bunch more work and all the work thus far to use the Solid 2 is pointless as I've also ordered a set of the Fountek FR89EX's and will probably just use the 125.2 to power them. I'll have to figure out how to bracket up the GTO above the 1500 then do it again to get the 125.2 above that. I have a friend of mine who told me about some easy set fiberglass that comes with the resin, hardener, etc. already in the fabric, basically. All you have to do is mold it around whatever it is you're doing and wait for it to set up. I'm gonna get all the information on it and if it's reasonably affordable and available and will do the job exactly as he's described then I'll likely give that a shot to try on the sail panels for the full ranges. I'm thinking if I go the same route on the 8's as I did the 6.5's, for now, that I can get them in with minimal hassle and just build new baffles and trim a little plastic. I've got a lot of work ahead of me, again, but I'm really looking forward to what it does for the SQ in the truck. It went from "eh, this'll work fine for what I need" to "I'd like to play around and see what I can do to make it a little better" to "Shit's getting real now!" LOL..... If I don't watch it I'm going to be a great deal more money and work into this than I had ever originally planned........ LMAO!!

Still surprised there's been no comments at all on this.... I guess not everyone finds it as cool as I do...

I should probably elaborate, I ordered the Peerless 830667 which was the only one I could find in an 8" size that touted the SLS designation. If there's another one I should have ordered or be looking at then let me know what the model/part number is so I can find where they're sold and order them.

Now in my true fashion I've just pulled the trigger on a pair of the FR89EX's and a pair of the Peerless SLS 8's. The only problem is the SLS 8's only seem to come in 8 ohm so now it looks like I'll eventually have to rework the amp rack, again, to accommodate one of the GTO1004's to run bridged on the SLS 8's. Yay, more work for me!!! LOL....

Well I wasn't going to build any enclosures for the 6.5's, only the 8's. I was just going to use the 6.5's until I had more done to other things, but yeah, I may as well just skip to the end and go with what I know I'm looking to do in the long run.

I kinda figured the door wouldn't hold up to the abuse and IB in the door wouldn't be the best way to run them. I suppose it would be the best way to start out though. I guess it doesn't make much sense to just beat around the bush with 6.5's that will likely never live up to what is needed.

I didn't think the Anarchy's were available anymore. When you pull up the product page on DIYCable's website it shows as no product found. Unless you already have some it kind of makes it a one sided choice.

Try this again this morning...

to the forum! The Sundown and Fi combination is going to perform really well for you. Make sure you build, or have it built, the box to spec and that BL will amaze you.

Do your RCA's run under/through where your seat is opening at? The way the noise is changing when you open/close the seat or move the amp sounds to me like the RCA's are bad. Try temporarily running another set of RCA's back to your amp to verify it's not an issue. Otherwise as stated above you're probably looking at a pico fuse issue although I've never seen the whine change or go away with that issue from moving the amp, RCA's, etc. so you might get real lucky this time around.

I got to show off the temporary test setup to the only member who's even remotely "local" to me. Even though I still don't have any dedicated midbass going, just the XCON and Fountek's, I think he was impressed. I think what really impressed him was the $13.25 price tag on the Fountek's and the performance they can give for that price. From the passenger seat I detected some slight distortion from the FE85's at high listening levels from the 160hz crossover point. With their super small XMAX I'm positive they were simply being driven beyond their linear limits but for a 12 watt RMS rated speaker they're taking some incredible abuse. I've never touched the gain on the 125.2 and even though all these little full ranges are 8 ohm I'm still giving them a crap load of power relative to their ratings. They've all held up really well but the FE85's have the lowest power rating and are still taking the same abuse the other two were. I think that says a lot for the quality of the brand as a whole. As a matter of fact if the FW168 looked like a good candidate for a dedicated midbass (it doesn't seem to) I would try them out just for the sake of trying more products from the brand. I'm thinking about going ahead and ordering the FR89EX's and the Peerless 6.5" SLS woofers to use until I get the door hinges repaired in the truck to support the added weight of the enclosures for the 8" SLS woofers. It's not that much money and I can turn around and use the 6.5's on another project or sell them.

anyone on?

Thanks. It came out okay. I can't hardly weld for shit, just not enough experience, but I can do good enough for little stuff like this. I was fortunate enough to have gotten all the math right on the lengths and things, plus getting it square to get the holes to line up. All in all I couldn't have asked for it to work out any better. Thanks. Not too shabby for a dumb redneck I suppose.

Here's a decent little update. Got the speaker and RCA wires for the Solid 2 ran back to the amp rack. While I was at it I trimmed some more on the interior panel that hides the wires in hopes that it fits in place a little better than after the last time. I built a small frame for the Solid 2 to mount to and adapt it to the mounting pattern of the 125.2 while still allowing plenty of ventilation for it. Then I used the same standoffs to lift the 125.2 up to hold up the frame and got all that mounted. Now I just need to find some 1/4-20 screws and cut them to the right length to screw into the tapped holes in the frame and mount the Solid 2 down. Then it's gravy from there hooking up the amp and working on getting it tuned in. I designed the amp rack to be secure yet easy to remove in the event I needed to move or remove it for some reason. That, thankfully, worked like a charm to get this little project underway. Here's the beginnings of the frame for the Solid 2. I found some 3/16" x 3/4" flat stock in a junk pile here at work. I cut it to the lengths I needed for the frame and welded them together. I suck at welding but it should be plenty strong enough for this little job. Working to make sure it's square and true. All finished welding it up and cleaning up the welds. Here's the frame with the holes drilled that will mount it to the stand offs above the 125.2 Shot it with some primer. Here's the additional speaker wires and RCA's ran for the Solid 2. The first of the stand offs for the frame attached to the 125.2 I got these great and awesome bits that drill, tap and bevel the hole all in one great little bit from GreenLee. Used the 1/4-20 to drill and tap these all at once. Here's the frame ready to be tightened down onto the standoffs. Finally, this is basically what it will look like when the Solid 2 is mounted down and into place on the frame. All I lack now is the bolts to mount the Solid 2 down to the frame, hooking it up and putting the truck back together, lol. I can't wait to get to tuning everything.

Yep, I was already on that track which is the premise behind my last post. The RS180's I've bought from a forum member when I was looking at doing a new tweeter and mid active. Since I'm moving past that point I thought I might try out the 180's for the hell of it and then sell them on here again. I look at is as just adding more experience with different drivers, sound and tuning.

That's understandable. Of course I will be running them active so there's no problems with worrying about anything passive. I will admit the RS180 and 225 were early considerations but I've recently began to look at a more subwoofer oriented driver for the midbass duty. Kind of like the way Jared used the Aura NS 10" and then 12" for the midbasses in his Honda the RSS210HO subwoofer, I thought, looked like a decent fit for what I'm gearing up for. I've devised a way (in theory and on paper) to build ported enclosure inside the doors of my Jimmy. As it looks now I won't likely get more than .75cuft of space out of them but for midbass duty I see that as about right for most 8" drivers. I'll know with more certainty whether it will work and exactly what kind of space I'll get when I get to that step but die grinder wheels be damned I'm going to make an attempt at making enough space in the sheet metal to stuff some kind of enclosure in there even if it only ends up being sealed.