umm a hi-lo converter..right percy? i think its like 8 bucks or somethin..

 

Sasha,

According to the links that you posted on sounddomain.com, those focal subs are not recommended for FREE air use and I thought that was what you were only considering!

Manuel

 

Sasha - After speaking with my Focal rep, he told me that they design their subs for optimium performance in a ported enclosure & with alot of power. He said that a sealed box would actually be holding them back & that he'd never recommend them for use in an infinite baffle configuration ( although I've seen it done & it didn't sound good at all! ). If U're stuck on a free-air design, I'll keep going back to JL's IB model but because it's an 8 ohm woofer, U'll need lots of power. My original setup had a JL IB4 with a bridged RF 360a2 on it ( 500 wrms into a 2 ohm mono load which turned into only about 125 wrms into a single 8 ohm load ). The sub's quite efficient so that small amount of power went a long way. If U want another choice, Pioneer makes a 4 ohm free-air so U could get away with a smaller amp if necessary. There R surely other good choices but these R the only 2 with which I have "hands-on" experience with. Choose well & enjoy!

 

damn.. i was hoping the focals would work out, yea i did see that but i though i read here someone used it and it wasgood in free-air setup... ok so then i guess ill have to do the full trunk system, ported... and thats not for a while... maybe ill get dyns for now.. what amp do you guys recomend for the front speakers and tweeters, stock amp can push the rear and sub.. thanks guys

 

Even though they don't recommend having the focal in a free-air setup, I think it sounds pretty good in my car and in Alan's GS300.
Don't knock it till you hear them, I am currently using a tube driver amp to power it and I am happy with it so far. I love focal subs. I have been using them for the past 5 years and had them in my previous car (92 ES300) and wouldn't use anything less in my lexus.

 

Alan's car sounds real good. Actually Image Dynamics subs are not made for free air. However, in some applications it works out wonderful. Lexus has a really well sealed trunk. Focal subs are no Velodynes, but they are dam good.

 

how much have u guys spent on ur stereo systems(and any other I.C.E. stuff you got)?
i just want to get an idea of how much im gonna spend.
thanks

 

Not a typical system. 22 grand in components alone, NOT including installation. But, that I do myself so I save money.

Percy
Krell, McIntosh, Dynaudio, Velodyne, Monster M Series, Sony ES, Optima, Deflex

Sound quality Supercarrier

 

I haven't estimated all the sounddeadening and installation labour but components alone would cost me around 6 grand.
ARC Audio, Rainbow, Image Dynamics, Stinger, RAAMmat.

How do you calculate the labour costs?

 

whoa!!! $22 grand
u got any pics?

 

Stay away from the cheapo converters. You'll definitely get what you pay for. The good ones are from PAC. (I hope I have the name right!)

Percy

 

Retro,

I think most shops around here are charging something like 65 to 125 an hour. Very wide ranging. Hey, that means I saved myself 500+ dollars installing my own sub! Took a while to get the rear deck all apart...

Percy

 

percy 22K?? wow i didnt think you spent THAT much! do you have one of those 10K mcintosh amps???

please post pics! if you've spent 22K or car audio surly you've spent at least 200 on a digi cam right?? haha jks man but i hope u got pics!!!

 

Sasha,

I do have pics but they're on the old EZBoard. There will be some new ones that I'll be integrating in the "book".

The Mc amps are valued at close to 6 grand stock. Processor is around 2 grand. That's before mods and as you well know, mine are fairly well modded with very expensive components. Most of the mods being in the processor. 25 cent caps have been replaced with 12 dollar ones and quite a few of them are needed for filtering.

Percy

 

cool, dude can you mod an amp good for more RMS power?