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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 33 Registered: Jul-04 | I have a 2003 GMC Sonoma and there are places for dash speakers and for door speakers. Would it sound better to have four speakers up front or just two. And if just two, where? Door or dash. The door fits 6.5" and the dash I think 4x6". I'm not actually sure on either of these yet. In my opinion, right now with the stock speakers it sounds better with all four than with only fading to the front or the back. But with an amp and some quality speakers I would like to have the best setup. I can adjust for timing because I have the eclipse cd8454 if that matters. Can anybody give me a professional opinion please? |
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Silver Member Username: CarguyPost Number: 464 Registered: Nov-04 | Hey James, if you have the space for 4 speakers then do it. Although I didn't have space, I made one. You will notice that with 4 speakers, it'll sound louder at the same time, the highs and the mids will sound more chrisp. If you like the highs, install those 1" tweeters near your dashboard. They will help bring out all the notes in classical music (not that I listen to them). My HU has built in equalizer so I can adjust the levels according to the music. Four channel amp is your solution for a balanced sound in the car. |
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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 35 Registered: Jul-04 | Thanks. Also, if I get a set of coaxials for the dash and a set of components for the door, will the combination with the coaxials make the overall sound worse? Do you know what I mean? And what about kick panels? Would adding those sound better than using the door or the dash? The kick panels are right here http://www.cardomain.com/item/QLCQLK1004B11 and can accomodate up to 6 1/2" speakers but another website says that it will be too small for a 6 1/2". Anyway, what do you audiophiles think? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. |
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Silver Member Username: CarguyPost Number: 496 Registered: Nov-04 | Hey James, if you balance it right, it'll always sound better as long as you buy quality speakers. You know that mid and highs are directional right? Although the speakers by the kick panel sounds like a good idea, wait till winter. When you wear boots and drive the car, you'll find that the speakers down there will be blocked. It'll muffle the sound. I personally think dash or the door panel will be better cause of less obstruction and is closer to your ears. |
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NappyDugout Unregistered guest | Kick panels in a Sonoma? Where is your chick going to put her feet in that tiny cab? Not good, dude...stick to the doors and go for replacing all four. It'll sound awesome. Try driving them with your Eclipse HU first. You can always go back and have an amp installed. The difference between STOCK HU & STOCK Sh** toilet roll cardboard speakers and Eclipse driven after market (infinity?) speakers is pretty large! Set a budget and run with it. |
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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 37 Registered: Jul-04 | Thanks guys. I am going shopping. I'm 6'4" so I need all the space I can get so I'll probably forget the kick panels. And I usually drive with two or three chicks so they need a lot of leg room as well. And they usually like to make out with each other and me at the same time so the more room the better. Seriously though, I'm thinking of dynaudio, focal or infinity kappa. Hey here's a thought. If I buy the three way dynaudio or focal, could I put one of the drivers in the dash, the big one in the door, the tweet somewhere in the door? Or is that ridiculous? And nappy, why don't you register? I always see you around here. |
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Gold Member Username: Jonathan_fGA USA Post Number: 2659 Registered: May-04 | Kicks don't work well in trucks simply because they are so low, and those Q logics don't work well with 6.5" drivers (they can't fit most 6.5" anyway) because they're too small to produce enough airspace for midbass, and they're open-backed. Usually low to mid door works best in trucks, it all depends though. Personally, I'd stick to 2 ways and forget the coaxials in the dash. Dash locations suck for both imaging and sound quality because of the windshield's resonance and the huge pathlength difference between the left and right channels. You could do a 6.5" in the mid door region and the tweets up a little higher such as A-pillars or higher door, and reverse polarity of tweets to balance it out a little better. The 3 way idea isn't the best, you're better off with 2 ways in a cramped space like that. 3 ways work best in vehicles with the space to aim them properly. Less is better for sound quality purposes usually. That's why you see most IASCA competitors using 2 ways and a sub or 2 subs, and that's it. You won't see as many three way setups and more because it affects acoustic phase, the pathlengths are thrown out of whack and the image is hard to produce accurately. Plus, with quality 2 ways and 100+ RMS watts per channel, it'll get loud enough to satisfy most any user. |
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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 39 Registered: Jul-04 | Thanks a lot. That really helps me decide. Thanks for the honesty and the quick responses. My poor Eclipse has only stock speakers to power. Poor little guy. I need to hurry up and get him some friends, like a 300/2 or a little Zapco buddy. Maybe some Infinity Kappas or some JL XRs. He'll be happy soon. |
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Gold Member Username: Jonathan_fGA USA Post Number: 2667 Registered: May-04 | With an Eclipse 8454, you could run active components and use Pro mode, I forgot to mention that. It allows you to adjust time correction and such, so you can balance out mid and tweeter levels etc. near perfectly. |
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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 40 Registered: Jul-04 | What are active components? |
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Silver Member Username: BlownrivOH USA Post Number: 103 Registered: Nov-04 | i think he means bi-amping the components. this lets you power the tweeter and midwoofer separately for more control over crossover points, levels, and phase adjustments. |
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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 41 Registered: Jul-04 | Oh, I could do that. Does that mean with a 3 way system or a two way component system? Or does it matter? Could I still "balance out mid and tweeter levels etc. near perfectly" with two speakers (mid and tweet)? |
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Silver Member Username: BlownrivOH USA Post Number: 104 Registered: Nov-04 | you could do either 2 or 3 way, it doesn't matter (but 2 way is simpler and probably will work better). i don't for sure how the eclipse head works, but i've run an active system before. it's a better system if you know how to set it up for your components. |
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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 42 Registered: Jul-04 | 2 way would be much easier so I am going to do that. And I'm going try to research the active component thing that still baffles me. Thanks for all y'alls help. |
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Gold Member Username: Jonathan_fGA USA Post Number: 2674 Registered: May-04 | Yeah I meant to type active crossover above. The 8454 is designed mainly for 2 ways and a sub, so yes you'd be good to go. Make sure the Eclipse has the crossover points that your components require. The 8454 has a crossover built in, you'd use the preouts as low, mid, and high, then you'd run a 4 channel (or 2 2 channel) amp(s) to power the front components. Then the sub would have it's own amp. |
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Bronze Member Username: StanleycPost Number: 90 Registered: Oct-04 | Well according to the PDF manual of the 8454, the eclipse HU can handle 3-way components in pro mode. If he were to use a 3-way set like the Dynaudio 360, how would he go about amping it? Would he need 3 amps to utilize active crossover? PS. I have no idea what active crossover is, but from the name i'm guessing its using the adjustable crossover in the HU instead of the crossovers that come with a component set. Is this correct? |
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Bronze Member Username: StanleycPost Number: 92 Registered: Oct-04 | O yea, I forgot to ask. How much did you get that 8454 for? |
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Silver Member Username: BlownrivOH USA Post Number: 110 Registered: Nov-04 | quote: "If he were to use a 3-way set like the Dynaudio 360, how would he go about amping it? Would he need 3 amps to utilize active crossover?" yep, three 2-channel amps. or he could use a 6-channel amp like the a/d/s 6.25 powerplate i use in my system. an active crossover is one that does the filtering before the amplification stage. one advantage is being able to program the cut-off and slope values. another is efficiency - passive crossovers waste a little bit of power from the amp, active systems don't. |
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Bronze Member Username: BananakrillBenicia, California Post Number: 44 Registered: Jul-04 | I got the 8454 for $500 plus tax at a local shop. |
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Gold Member Username: Jonathan_fGA USA Post Number: 2695 Registered: May-04 | Yes, the Eclipse could do 3 ways, but that would pretty much kill having a sub. It has three outputs, low, mid, and high(only in Pro mode though). Low output has a low pass filter, mid has a bandpass filter for midrange, and high has a HPF for the tweeter. A 3 way system would work, but all the 3 way systems such as the Dynaudio 360s and such usually have 8" or smaller woofers with so-so low bass response (good, just not a true subwoofer), and while it will work with the Eclipse head unit, you'd really be better off with a true 12" subwoofer than an 8" from a 3 way setup. Even the 8" 3 ways usually don't go far below 50 hz. With the 3 way sets run active, you'll still be missing some bottom end. That's why I personally think they work better with 2 ways and a sub. Active crossovers are exactly the same as passives, except they're before amplification instead of after. You have more options with them like Aaron said, crossover slope, crossover points, driver levels (via gain or a preamp) can be adjusted. Any efficiency lost by an active system is simple to get back because you just turn the gain to the amps up. |