*PICS* My DIY Active Component Setup - Page 2

sr20de4evr · 04-29-2005, 10:52 PM

Not to mention that passives can't account for pathlength differences, which is one of the best things about an active setup. If your tweets are in the a-pillar or top of the door panel and the mids down low in the door, passives basically suck 99% of the time. Going active can let you delay the tweets a few ms to account for the pathlength differences, and if you want you can increase the cutoff slope and lower the cutoff frequency to help raise the soundstage.

And yes those mids will be a bitch to mount in most cars, but there's no way around that. You can't get 1" p-p linear excursion out of a 6.5 and have it be less than 3" deep...it just can't be done, even by DEI.

ngsm13 · 04-29-2005, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sr20de4evr

Not to mention that passives can't account for pathlength differences, which is one of the best things about an active setup. If your tweets are in the a-pillar or top of the door panel and the mids down low in the door, passives basically suck 99% of the time. Going active can let you delay the tweets a few ms to account for the pathlength differences, and if you want you can increase the cutoff slope and lower the cutoff frequency to help raise the soundstage.

And yes those mids will be a bitch to mount in most cars, but there's no way around that. You can't get 1" p-p linear excursion out of a 6.5 and have it be less than 3" deep...it just can't be done, even by DEI.

MY are going into my custom fiberglassed door pods...look down in the forum and find my thread if you haven't seen it already

NG

CBFryman · 04-30-2005, 07:33 AM

naw dawg, dont you know. DEI is coming out with thoes new "extended excursion" 6.5's they have no back plate and an invisible extramagnet so the you can get like 2" P2P with a 1.5" deep speaker...lol

PaulD · 04-30-2005, 08:53 AM

I mounted my tweets like right next to the mids - within an inch or two, so I don't think I really need all that time delay compensation.

sr20de4evr · 04-30-2005, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulD

I mounted my tweets like right next to the mids - within an inch or two, so I don't think I really need all that time delay compensation.

nah, if they're mounted together then there's not too much to be gained by going active. You could still do it to increase headroom, and you could try increasing the cutoff slopes to help with blending, but that's about it.

ponchonutty · 04-30-2005, 04:52 PM

OK you guys bit on it. Do you think I would make a statement like that on purpose? What simpletons you are. I guess that's to be expected since you are all wet behind the ears yet.

It's great to see that you are going active on these. Unfortunately, I don't get to do that much anymore these days. Most predone sets are actually pretty darn good so the extra time and expense, well people don't want to get into it. Also, punks mostly are in the bass and that's about it. Only when someone drops $5k down and lets me have their ride for about a week do I get into the fun stuff.

Actually, on some of the better componet sets out there, they have internal adjustable crossover points that you can use. Then of course the amps have their own. Even if the componets don't have adjustable cross overs, it is easily adjusted with a solder gun and different chokes and such on hand.

Another point I like on the sets is it leaves the guessing out from idiots. This is where I really plug DEI. On their new line of amps I can program the crossover points, gains, and just about anything else via a laptop. Then, if the idiot decided to play with the gains, it won't change. Also, if you have one of their alarms with ESP, you can hook the amps and alarm together. If the system loses power or is triggered from the alarm, it completely shuts off and won't work until I hook it up to my Tech2 programmer or laptop.

Some people love this idea while many hate the thought of not having "control" over thier system. Well, 99% of the time when there is a problem with something, it is because the owners fingers were all over it.

Back on the "active" setup. I still suggest using a choke or coil just above where you are tuning at. It's just a little piece of mind incase something happens with your crossover or something and it sends a loud 50htz signal through the tweets!

CBFryman · 04-30-2005, 04:57 PM

im not familure with top of the line DEI but i doubt they have any 6.5's with 1" P2P. and i think it is kool that DEI amps can be programed like that, to shut off and not work if the alarm has ben triggered. but, like you said, i would rather have 100% controll over my system. if the installer set the gain to not clip at all, i may want some clipping so i can get more "volume" on the low lows.

UndercoverPunk · 04-30-2005, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBFryman

if the installer set the gain to not clip at all, i may want some clipping so i can get more "volume" on the low lows.

CUZ CLIPPING IS TEH ROXXORZ!!!

Diceman83 · 04-30-2005, 09:53 PM

Wow, it's really hard to tell when you guys are being sarcastic.

GSteg · 05-01-2005, 02:19 AM

if the passive xovers are very well made that has every variable integrated into it (like high end home audio passive xovers), then i would pick it. but since the car is so unpredictable, i chose to go with active.

i don't think there is an xover for the xxx right now, unless RE already has them? Even so, i would still go active just so i can tune it to my likings.

i am jealous of the xxx. my doors are whimpy. i had to do a lot of modification just to fit my 6.5" seas lotus performance midbass in there. If only....

CBFryman · 05-01-2005, 07:17 AM

hmmm... some people like a little but of clipping so when the woofer begins to go down deep into the low 20's the distortion makes it seem like you are actually hearing the wave a little louder. a little bit of clipping never hurt any woofer.

ponchonutty · 05-01-2005, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBFryman

hmmm... some people like a little but of clipping so when the woofer begins to go down deep into the low 20's the distortion makes it seem like you are actually hearing the wave a little louder. a little bit of clipping never hurt any woofer.

Yep but even for high end tweets, distortion can be disasterious.

That little cross-over has time delay on it too? None of the crossovers that I stock can do that unless your way up in price. They are always completely digital too.

This is the kind of componets I like. They are made to be used passive or active. DEI's are very simular to these but they don't have an online manual yet. http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/data/manuals/MSS650om.pdf

I love the ones from A/D/S. There are already more controls built into the crossovers plus things like thermal cutoff switches that you shouldn't be without. http://www.directed.com/guides/manua...1.06_04-04.pdf

Diceman83 · 05-01-2005, 12:37 PM

Why don't manufacturers just build the cross overs right into the speakers/tweets? It'd only be a little extra bulk, but it would take the guesswork out for many consumers... I'm not saying all of them should have them built in, and I know coaxials basically do this, but for entry level componet sets this might sell.

GSteg · 05-01-2005, 12:46 PM

because the required component to make the xover slope a specific freq at a specific slope will take up space. not to mention, on a coaxial. most of them will only have a small capacitor to highpass the tweeter at 6db. on a component setup, you'll want at least 12db octave highpass (because you'll probably send more power) and a low pass for the mid. More power is going to be used so parts that are needed to handle the power are going to be bigger.

I believe MB quart has a set that has a very small xover network. i forgot the series, but its the lower line. Not sure what the exact specs are, but they are components.

bumpinstang77 · 05-01-2005, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBFryman

hmmm... some people like a little but of clipping so when the woofer begins to go down deep into the low 20's the distortion makes it seem like you are actually hearing the wave a little louder. a little bit of clipping never hurt any woofer.

Are you an idiot? The lower you go the cleaner the power needs to be to still be loud..... trust me.... go throw a 100 watt amp on whatever sub you got and turn the gains all the way up listen NO lows. Then put clean power on it and the lowlows come alive.... not to mention that the whole bass spectrum sounds much cleaner, has definition, and won't have any resonances in ported applications (caused by distortion).

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