///MDex

To Percy & Others - Need Some Advice On This Set Up

Disclaimer: this is my first car audio journey, so if you need to explain anything, please do so with oversimplified language

Hey Percy - I'm building a system, and I hear I should pick your brain first to get your blessing so to speak.

Here are my specs:

SPEAKERS ~$450 ea. set *I'll be doing both front and rears*
Bostons - 65 Pros
http://www.bostonacoustics.com/Produ...=4&SeriesID=20

SUB ~180
JL Audio - 10W3 - D4
http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/10w3.html

AMP ~450
Alpine V12 MRV-F357
http://www.alpine1.com/html/D2_n_1_n_n.html

I listened to this set up at the shop with DaveGS4 yesterday with a sampling of music that I enjoy. I was impressed with the Bostons, and what I really liked about the V12 was it has specific power for the sub. Again, forgive my terminology.

I'm not a super high end audiophile, but I do place an emphasis on quality and I know what sounds good to me. Price, also as a *ballpark figure*, should be about 2K out the door when all said and done, this includes installation; this is very acceptable.

Other items I need to address:
The mounting depts of all components - these measurements can be found at the webpages and the PDF files on them.

I plan on mounting the tweeters in line with the mid ranges for the rears - these Bostons, allow you to do that with a mounting brack they provide. Yep, I'm pretty sure I want tweeters in the rear.....

What else can I tell you?

Thanks!

Percy

Dexter,

The speakers look good. Boston usually has a very warm sound to them. I'd usually recommend Dynaudio but you're on a budget and I don't know how much the installation charges will be. Does the shop have any Dynaudio speakers to listen to? Or maybe you can upgrade later to these when the bucks come in!

The tweeters for the Bostons worry me. Are these going in the stock pillar location for the front area? I'm not sure if you can take them out of the housing for the "stealth"/stock grille installation.

Amp. 50 watts into the main channels and 150 into the sub. How loud do you listen to music? I'm lucky to break 200 watts total when listening loud but others will ride on the pain threshhold and ears bleeding. With "normal" listening, this should be plenty of power. It's better to have TOO much power rather than too little power. Reason being is that you can damage speakers more easily with too LITTLE power. If you crank the music up and have too little power, the waveforms start looking like little spikes...this is what burns out speakers.

The sub...is this going to be in a sealed box? If yes, then stick with the sub you've chosen. If not, then pick a different sub as this was meant to be used with a box. I do believe JL has a IB (infinite baffle) sub for non box use.

Any other questions, let me know!

Percy

///MDex

Originally posted by Percy
Dexter,

The speakers look good. Boston usually has a very warm sound to them. I'd usually recommend Dynaudio but you're on a budget and I don't know how much the installation charges will be. Does the shop have any Dynaudio speakers to listen to? Or maybe you can upgrade later to these when the bucks come in!

No Dynaudio in the geographic region, and again, I'm not sure I'd realize the return on investment.

The tweeters for the Bostons worry me. Are these going in the stock pillar location for the front area? I'm not sure if you can take them out of the housing for the "stealth"/stock grille installation.

Yes, they will be replacing the stock tweeters in the pillar location - all these components will be replacing stock with the least amount of modifications. Your concern is that the Boston tweeters are too big to fit?

Amp. 50 watts into the main channels and 150 into the sub. How loud do you listen to music? I'm lucky to break 200 watts total when listening loud but others will ride on the pain threshhold and ears bleeding. With "normal" listening, this should be plenty of power. It's better to have TOO much power rather than too little power. Reason being is that you can damage speakers more easily with too LITTLE power. If you crank the music up and have too little power, the waveforms start looking like little spikes...this is what burns out speakers.

I'm confused by your first statement 'break 200 watts' ?

How loud? Not deafening loud, but every once in a while, kinda. I know, thats a pretty subjective answer. I don't blast it all the time - usually not more than at 1/2 volume with the OEM setup. But I will pull a lot of bass out of my music.

Yeah, I'd rather err on the strong side; should I go up one step to a stronger AMP?


The sub...is this going to be in a sealed box? If yes, then stick with the sub you've chosen. If not, then pick a different sub as this was meant to be used with a box. I do believe JL has a IB (infinite baffle) sub for non box use.

OK, bear with me - I'm a little confused on the differences between free air and sealed. This sub will be going in the same space as the stock, and an enclosure will be built around it. Is that the info you need?

Any other questions, let me know!

Percy

Thanks a bunch - I appreciate your time and effort.

Percy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dexter


No Dynaudio in the geographic region, and again, I'm not sure I'd realize the return on investment.

***If you're after sound accuracy, nothing can really touch the Dynaudio speakers. They're a bit more expensive but IMO, well worth the money. Just depends on how you like to listen to your music.
--

Yes, they will be replacing the stock tweeters in the pillar location - all these components will be replacing stock with the least amount of modifications. Your concern is that the Boston tweeters are too big to fit?

***Yep. That's my concern.
--

[b][i]I'm confused by your first statement 'break 200 watts' ?

***200 watts total power listening at any one time. For me that's pretty loud.
--


How loud? Not deafening loud, but every once in a while, kinda. I know, thats a pretty subjective answer. I don't blast it all the time - usually not more than at 1/2 volume with the OEM setup. But I will pull a lot of bass out of my music.

***Actually, that's not too bad. I've heard of some guys blowing their speakers contantly at the 3 o'clock level.
--

Yeah, I'd rather err on the strong side; should I go up one step to a stronger AMP?

***That's what I would recommend. You can never have too much power.
--

OK, bear with me - I'm a little confused on the differences between free air and sealed. This sub will be going in the same space as the stock, and an enclosure will be built around it. Is that the info you need?

***If you are just using the stock trunk with no enclosure of box, that's an infinite baffle or free air configuration. Now if you're using a box or an enclosure, then that's a sealed or ported box.

Sealed box...it's just that. The box has no openings other than the one for the speaker.

Ported box...a box with a specially tuned port for louder bass. You lose in terms of accuracy but gain in terms of overall loudness.

Percy

///MDex

Whew, that's messy!

So, in summary:

Your concerns are -

1.) Need to double check the tweeter depth
2.) Go one step stronger amp
3.) My sub will be sealed, so stick with my selection

Cool - Thanks

///MDex

OK, I need another piece of advice.

The step up for the next 5 channel Alpine is almost twice as much.

The MRD-F752
http://ecominet2.alpine-usa.com:7777...=130&p_main=10

$480 vs. $900

What is another great 5 channel amp in the same ballpark of $500?

TIA

retrodrive

I would look into following amp brands: Zapco, PPI, ARC Audio. They are very good amps and you can get them for some descent prices online (Authorised).

Never trust anyone about the speakers. You need to go out and listen to them yourself. Everyone ear is different so no suggested speakers may sound good to you. The speakers worth listening are Focal, Dynaudio, CDT, MBQuart QSD (make sure they are QSD's), Rainbow Pro's (I doubt you will find them). There are other speakers out there that you will probably not be able to find for auditioning: Morel, Seas, Jordan, ScanSpeak etc. If you can find any of those to audition, that will give you a good idea about what sounds good to you.

Also remember, the most important thing in speaker sound is its tweeter.

Percy

Have to agree with retro on listening and deciding on speakers according to YOUR ear. If possible, make sure to audition them in the car since the acoustics are quite different than a demo board.

Retro,

Tweeters give the sense of height to a soundstage. Most important thing is the midrange as we hear more than 70% of the information there. But they all have to work together and work together well for them to sound good.

Percy

retrodrive

True, true. For the 3 way I agree that midrange is most important. Look at MBQ though. Great speakers, but no one from SQ crowd likes them. QSD is much better though.

///MDex

Thanks guys.

I've listened to this setup myself in the audio room only. I know its not teh same, but I was really impressed with the sound quality.

Now, I just have to find a stronger, similar or better quality, 5 channel amp that's around the same ballpark range.

I mean, I'm willing to pay more for quality, but I'd like to keep it all in the same price range - I don't want to pay $1.5K for an amp if my setup before was gong to be 2k out the door, y'know?

Thanks again guys for helping out a car audio pleeb.

zushwa

Dexter,

I've also been looking for a 5 channel amp. Unfortunately I haven't found them to be plentiful, or powerful. The Alpine amps you looked at have about the best ###'s I've seen. I would also like to stay in the $500 ball park and anything more than that I would go separate amps.