Alright, so after much reading and a useful from rovin (thank you) mid basses are allowed to be used to fill in the back as long as they are in mono. What would be other recommendations.
Forgot to mention front is set for 80hz+ split between midbass, midrange, tweets. Rear is set 20-80hz right now. I want to set this up so it affects my range the least possible. I understand that usually this is a nono but i would like to add another level of bass from the back without changing settings for my sub.
while im on the subject how come there are no surround sound comps in iasca or other large competitions?
I run with no rear fill...I don't sit in the back after all. My 3 ways Morel are all in the front, subs in the rear, and nothing in the rear doors... I can't tell there's nothing there as the subs are crossed over at 125Hz to "fill" the rear.
I run a flat EQ on a spectrum analyzer at comps all the time...
I guess there's a great deal of variables in this. I've heard systems without rear fill that needed them and ones that sounded great without...I'll attribute part of this to the caliber of the front speaker, vehicle type, and placement. Personally I like to use the stock speaker locations, which admittedly don't always give you the best sound stage. So I've found that rear fills can be a real life saver. Again, this can change with variables.
I've never understood the concept of no rear fill. I know when I play certain songs or types of music there is all kinds of sound coming from the rear speakers that the front are not producing. For example, on a rock type song, they may fade the guitar riff from the front to back speakers. If there are no rear speakers youre missing all that sound. This doesnt make sense to me.
Well the whole point of no rear fill is because it kind of screws up the soundstage in front as you dont a guitar to be playing in the back and the front as instrument placement would be difficult. But again like shawn said i believe that some music need a rear fill i just believe that people say that rear fill should consist of only midbass speakers to prevent misplacement of speakers. Today with 5.1 surround i thought that most competitions would have evolved to 5.1 but no since music is technically stereo (2.1). I would like more opinions on this since im redoing my setup and might want to to do some sound competitions since my car was a former iasca sq champion.
On the budget systems I've built consisting of components and/or coaxials costing less than $125, I've found that rear fill is almost always needed. Front "budget" speakers just plain cannot handle the lower freq. like a rear 6x9...and I'm only talking about under 150hz...these systems usually require a high cutoff (150-200hz) on the fronts while allowing the rears to "pick up" where they cannot. Now there are some really good audiophile grade components that would make you think you have a sub in your door, and given that they are placed correctly, amped correctly, and the whole system has been setup right they sound outstanding without rear fill...like I said earlier: variables.
well I have a three way setup, type x component system my midbasses are located in custom fiberglass kickplates, and I have focal 5.25midranges, my tweeters are mounted in custom posts near the front of the windshield. so this is in no way a "budget system".
Andy is dead on when he says there are many variables; speaker and sound stage being a large part. It is extremely hard to say what will work without fill and what will or how to set the XOs, etc... Unfortunately, there is not a universal manual out there that can tell everyone what works and doesn't in every car in existence (let alone have 100% accurate information) Ultimately, this is something you will have to play with and see what works best for your equipment, your vehicle, and most importantly, your ears.