Posuers new install

Nowthen, I'm really feeling the need to purge my audio setup and re-equip my poor car with something more worthwhile that I won't have to cringe when someone asks me about.

I'm thinking of a full new system here kids. I'm very interested in Brahmas and such, but amd fairly non-versed. Basically i'm looking for a decent SQoriented sub that'll get down and boogie when I feel like it. I need nothing spectacular, but my current setup is a 12" e12a.22 running off of a tsunami db1100. we're all intimately familiar with my frontstage, butyes. I'm pretty set on trying to get some new mids and hooking them up with my xovers and tweets.

I currently have my sub in a 1.27cuf before displacement sealed fiberglassed box that occupies the rear corner of my Protege 5 wagon (measured the volume by howmany 1litre cokebottles it took to fill it and then did the math) It fills the area behind the rear wheel well, and I'm quite satisfied with it's lack of space-invasion. I'm hesitant to build a new box as it was a rather lengthe process and labor-of-love, but I've also been looking for the excuse to seeingas it was my first-attempt and is somewhat different than I'd initially imagined. I would not be against going with a 10" sub and have also toyed with the idea of making a sub-floor slot-port setup while retaining the f/g blob in the rear corner. I'm hoping for a clean start here and am entirely open to suggestions.

 

I've sorta sniffed around at it all, but honestly I've never really had any discontent with this sub. thatsaid I very honestly could just not know what I'm missing. I DO know that it was quite an improvement over the various kickers I've had previously but that's about it. I really should make a trip over to my cousin's house and then down the street to adire perhaps, if they're hip to that kind of thing I guess. (My cousin seriously lives VERY close to them) At ay rate my take on subs is this; boom boom is good, but I'm not willing to sacrifice valued bike and boardgear space, so 1'ish sealed in a fiberglass box is what I have to work with. Soudns like a brahma 12 would be a good choice I'll have to see if I can put my ears to one.

Nowthen that aside. Amps are my next venture as well. They're not elemental branded but I did purchase them through eD and in general amps that myself and many others have had to send back for warranty repair aren't exactly high on my worthwhile list. I'm not against spending a bit of money, but I'm not exactly rich, I've bene pondering the new PG xenons. I guess I'll first ned to solidify what I'm looking for. If I wind up going to a 3-way setup I'm pretty sure I'll want a 4x100+w amp, ifnot many things would suffice. Infact I'll likely default to eclipse as they've got a 130w amp that I know I like and can seriously afford.

As far as a sub-amp goes. I'm really not that picky and it sounds like a brahma will need less power than I've currently got which is fine by me as well. I'm not a HUGE basshead, but I can't say I mind it Thatsaid, I'm well aware that 1.6kw is not necessary

 

Okay, so what kind of sealed volume and power would I be ideally wanting for a brahma? I honestly have no problem building anotehr FG box. this whole fresh start idea's really appealing, whynot just re-do everything.?

 

Okay, so I think I might want to try taking a stab at replacing my mids with something, anything else. I'm ideally looking for something similar to the units I SHOULD have been sold previously. Namely I'll want at least 150w power handeling. (which I WILL indeed likely over-drive eventually after I've regained faith in my abilities to use my own damn ears and judgement) I'm looking for 6-7" midrange drivers, actually up to 8 is okay as long as they cna keep up with the tweets, I wish I knew where the CDT crossovers are set, I'd assume somewhere in the 3khz range. I'd like these to sound decent down to about 60hz if at all possible, but I can bump that up if need-be. Obviously I won't have a ton of money to work with here, so let's just say I'd spend $100 on the pair.

ANother idea that I've been toying with ALOT lately anyways is a bi-amped 3-way setup in which case I'd possibly look for an 8"midbass and a 4" midrange or something. Oh, I'd also much like these to be capable of sounding decent IB as my doors are deadened fairly heavily, and skinned, but of course not 100% airtight, and that's be a huge enclosure anyway. I've tossed around the thought of making fiberglass "bubbles" to sit inside my doors and provide a sealed chamber for mids, but that's a whole hell of alot of effor that I'm not sure I cna talk myself into at the moment, prettymuch I jsut want to get somethign that sounds decent.

At anyrate I'm WAY too scattered to sit down and lookinto specs for everything, I'm sure you guys have done some research, etc yourselves, anyone mind sharing their findings? any possible reccomendations for me???

 

*sigh* If only caraudio was based around 8ohm, there would be WAY more options.

 

So far from my previous sources, etc, I've got offers for a set of JL vr's for fairly cheap, as well as a helpful vendor friend guy who's willing to get me a deal on real CDT HD's I'm still thinking I could do better for less though.

 

Actually that's kinda my same impressions.

VR's are sorta a nice refrence speaker I find when comparing speakers, they'r ejust like vanilla, nothing special, but not entirely offensive. Hd's DO interest me a good bit, however because I've heared them before and liked them (though they were installed in a car and I didn't have any comparison handy) I'm not TOO concerned about cdt's really, because noone's realyl disputed my claims that the ed's are an entirely different speaker. They certainly look different aside from the basket. Magnets are much weaker on eD's version, and the cones are quite flimsy feeling.

I'm sorta excited about the ability to mix/match As I've stated elsewhere I was REALLY impressed with the tweeters, everyhting else was just kinda lacking. even the sheep's reviews of eDi's seems to point to their being kind of flat and lacking any low-end punch. (I've been comparing them to VR's but with a nicer tweeter actually) For mids, I'd LOVE to get ahold of set of Boston pro's going by what I've previously heared that I like, but I know for a fact those sets are designed to run 3ohms which would draw more power and eventhough they're supposedly a bit less efficient to theoretically make up for the difference. And really this may be optimal since my only gripe with bostons is their tweet that tends towards being a bit bright for my tastes. of course, bostons can't possibly be cheap. and It seems as though anything that I havne't heared already would really jsut kinda be a grab-bag.

I guess in the end I just don't want to have to go through and guess at things, etc. I just want some decent speakers so I can make my kickpanels and start tuning. I keep defaulting to the HD thing, thatway if I don't like them, I've got a set of HD's to sell or whatever.

 

y'kno that vifa looks an AWEFUL lot like the eDi I just had except for it's got more of a magnet on it. cutout diameter's about the same as well, hmm.... I'm not kidding, the eDi's are pretty whimpy for magnets. Definately NOT the same as the HD's that I've seen.

I think I might look into getting some koda mids perhaps. I'll poke around a bit more. Who knows, I might just buy a complete system. This may depend on how good of a cdt deal I get, I've honestly not lost much cdt faith, I'm about 90% sure that the eD mids are simply CDT's baskets and that's about it, eD's cost-saving construction tookover from there. but I've also got a decent net-friend running HD's with generally a similar ear to mine who thinks they're a little flat for midbass as well.

Or y'kno maybe I'll just have a rich relative I didn't know of die drop me a huge inheritance, and then I'll buy a set of 3-way boston pro's *G* I need to kick myself, but I've got the 3-way setup thing just stuck in my head. Actually, that vifa might be a good midbass for a 3-way setup, I could run that and some form of 4" midrange. Ack, the more I think about it, the longer it'll take til I have something.

 

7's are quite alright with me, I'm already oversized without issue, and there's room to spare. I need to make baffles anyways to fit these in my doors. If this is the route I go, I'll likely endup just doing it 3-way style and getting some 5's as well to mount in kickpods. I figure I'll just bi-amp and use my hu's controls for starters I should be able to send 400hz up to the front channels and then bandpass 400-60 or so with my "rear"channels. of course I'd play with those points and slopes, but I figure it to be a decent starting point.

Mostly, though I've got an option to play with things, yes but in reality I don't want to have to, I'd like to be able to just have decent speakers so I can go about mounting and aiming and all of that wonderful stuff.