merc 93

So far, as I continue to redo my 93 touring FD, here is what I've got for my audio rebuild.

Rockford Fosgate RFX-8250

ESX Q1204 Amp - 120w X 4 into 4 ohms. I'll be using it as 120W X 2 plus 240W X 1. Lo Pass will be set at probably 80Hz.
These two components will be connected via mini-din balanced connectors.

I am considering the Alpinine SPX-F17T 3 way components speaker setup plus some sort of 8 or 10 inch subwoofer in a sealed .5 to .75 cf sealed box.

What speakers and sub in this config would work best, in your opinion or in your experience?

thanks!

ashokn225

get mb quart components and a focal 8" sub.....best combination in my opinion

MAZDASPEEDFD

iTrader: (1)

The focal components are pretty impressive too. Might as well match the high's with the sub. But at a retail of over $1500 for the components alone, that's a bit overkill.

merc 93

The Focals are out since my top budget for the speakers, not including the sub, is $600. With sub, I'd like to keep my speaker cost under $800 total.

YellowUFO

merc what are you going for as far as sound do you want loud. do you want durable. what kind of music do you listen to. and i recomend avioding the 3 way. due to the fact of the doors in an fd being horribly uneven it would be hard to make them look right together. try to stay around 800 is easy get a set of the jl xr comp. set. and the a 10w3v2 for a sub it woul be a great crisp clear set-up. but i could recomend a little different if i had some specifics. like what music you listen to.

merc 93

Yellow,

Usually we listen to pop/rock music like Aerosmith, Matchbox 20, Train, Stones, etc. However, we also like jazz and classical too. Does that help?

In the meantime, I've dug out an old MBQ 6.5 Q component set which I had used previously in this car with alot of EQ. If I can remember how to hook up the crossover, will I be happy with this speaker set without ANY EQ other than crossovers and hi/low pass?

OR... what do folks here think of the Adire Koda 6.1s in an FD?

SpeedKing

iTrader: (4)

merc93: Before you buy any speakers, make sure they will fit! The speaker enclosure on non-BOSE FDs are notorious for being shallow. Mounting depth is (I forget the exact number) something like 2.5". Just about any high end component speaker set (MB Quart, Focal, Adire, CDT Audio, et al.) will have a woofer with a big magnet and will intefere with the window. That said, I put in Boston Acoustics SL65 coaxials up front for a perfect drop-in over stock. I've read of someone here ("herblenny"?) installing Boston Acoustics Pro Series components in their FD but that would have had to have been an older model because I inquired at the shop that did my install and the woofers would not fit without some sort of rigging.

As for an 8" or 10" sub, you can go in a lot of directions. They all sound the same until you crank them up loud enough to go deaf. In a small car like the FD, personally I'd go with an 8" sub. And since you like jazz and classical, a sealed enclosure emphasizing tight bass would be perfect.

Hyperite

Mounting depth is right around 2.125" in the doors...that's slim!

ashokn225

http://www.woofersetc.com/product.as...0&1=293&3=1812

150 for the focal 8" sub that i was reccomending that u said was out of ur budget.....my friend got that sub from that site with mb quart components and im thinking of getting it too

SpeedKing

iTrader: (4)

Nope, you can go deeper than that. If you check the specs on the SL65 I linked to above, it has a mounting depth of 2 7/16". I quoted ~2.5" and that is roughly the same.

Hyperite

Hmm, alright I'll trust you since you've already installed those, but I put in some 2 1/8" speakers that cleared by a billionth of a milimeter, so I guess my enclosure must've been warped or something weird...

spyfish007

I've always spec'd the door speakers @ 2.5" .... 2 & 7/16" I'll buy that.

3-ways can be done by doing a kick panel install, but not worth it unless you are looking for the last 5 to 10% of sound quality. Get a nice 2-way system. First you need to decide what type of music listener you are. Do you like classical? Jazz? R&B, Rap, good old rock&roll? How loud do you want it? Windows up? down? How CLEAN do you want it? Do you want your dash to sound like a stage? (ie is imaging important?) How much money to be spent? One of the biggest factors for just speakers is the tweeter type. You have paper, silk/cotten, and metal. Everyone has their opinion on this one. Ignor everyone and find what you like. Go to MANY MANY shops and listen to the same 4 or 5 tracks from 4 or 5 different artist. I have my guesses on which speakers you would like based on your musical taste and I could point you in the write direction if you like. Also what type of sub and sub box can also come from what type of music you like and how you like to hear that music.

I personally love JL Audio subs and I have owned and still own them. However, Do NOT buy a V2 subwoofer. They have major issues with the voice coil slapping and do not meet the past JL Audio standards. JL reps are just finally starting to admit as much with the release of the V3 subwoofers. (W3s have V1, V2, & V3 just to clarify for you.)

rybrx7

just a sort of related question, while my interior is out of my car is it worth upgrading all the speaker wiring or is stock good enough to run upgraded speakers on without and noticable drop in quality?

Cheers
Ryan

merc 93

Thanks everyone, for your help and suggestions!

Previously, I had some MBQ 6.5" components in this car and found that they blocked the window from going down. So, then I built the speaker mount outward using exterior plywood, and it fit fine. Although I now have some nasty coaxes in there(since I was previously going to sell this car), I still have the speaker mounts.

As for music, as I mentioned we like good old rock and roll and popular music, as well as jazz and some classical too. With some few exceptions, we're not rap or techno music type folks.

Yes, I want to be able to hear the music easily with the windows down and the roof open.

As for subs, I liked the JL 8 and 10w6 but can't find them anymore. A friend suggested I check out the very inexpensive Dayton Quatro 8" sub in a sealed box. He makes home speakers and said that is a nice driver for a sealed application. It has an F3 of 76Hz in a auto sealed application.

Ryan, brought up another question though. This car used to have the bose system in it. How did you folks run new speaker cabling to the doors? Did you drill a new hole in the door or did you somehow use the existing Bose wiring, which are really thin, or did you somehow remove the wiring "harness" which is connected to the door frame and the car body frame which allows the wires to travel to the door through the rubber boot?

One again, thanks for your help!

spyfish007

Wiring can be done by slipping through wire in the stock MOLEX connector. A good audio shop should be familiar with how to do this.

Do not listen to a home audio guy for audio in your car UNLESS he is BIG time into car audio. They are drastically different and the goals of the lister are usually different. Most home guys freak out at how much bass comes out of a car.

On thing I didn't hear from you was a budget? How much are you going to spend on all the products alone?

So what did you think of your MB Quartz? Like? dislike? Too bright? Not bright enough? Which set did you have? With you saying you don't techno and rap, I surprised you owned MBQ. Do you play any instrument or music yourself?

Look for an amp that has 18 or even better 24 db/oct crossovers. You will be able to run your speakers down to 60 and in some cases 50 Hz! If you add some QTC baffles to your front door and at least one layer of sound dampening, then your bass from your 6.5" will be AWESOME. --- especially if you are thinking of giving over 100W RMS to them. I've done this same thing in this exact car with some Boston Acoustics so I know it works well. These are my normal tricks for good midbass up front. You will not need rear speakers unless you just have to have them. That much power up front and little car and the speakers will fill the entire cabin volume easily.

When you going to go listen to various speakers in the stores with your music? Still have to talk about bass .... but I'm holding off on that one.

SpeedKing

iTrader: (4)

OEM wiring is fine.

SpeedKing

iTrader: (4)

MB Quarts not bright enough? Their speakers are known to be notoriously sharp! Your dog would jump out the window if you had those speakers in your car! I bought a component set and was warned beforehand by a friend of mine who competes in IASCA sound competitions and had installed several sets of these speakers for himself and customers. I had to use the lowest attenuation setting on the crossover and turn my treble on the source unit to a negative setting because listening to music with any high frequencies was like sticking an icepick in my ear! I'll have to say one thing though, out of all the speakers I've ever owned (CDT Audio, Diamond Hex, Boston Pros, Infinity Kappas), the Quarts were my all-time favorite.

merc 93

Thanks again everybody!

Lots of questions... I hope I can answer them all.

First, Here is what I have and what my budget is.
Stuff I have from the old install:
ESX Q1204 Amp - 120w X 2 plus 240w X 1 into 4 ohms
ESX Balanced IC's connecting HU and ESX amp
MB Quart QM 218.03 - 6.5" two way component speakers w/ Musicomp crossovers

Here's my budget for what else:
$300 for the RF RFX-8250(Denon DCT-A1)
$250 for 8" sub driver and box construction
If I sell my MB Q's and buy new speakers, my budget for new speakers are under $600 total including install.

As for the MBQ's, when I last used them I also EQ'd them using AC EQTs, and de-emphasized the tweets since they were on the pillar/dash intersection. If I move them off axis down on the door, I don't mind them at all, even without Eq'ing.

Then again, I am considering going with the Adire Koda 6.1 speakers? Although $350 for the speakers is well within my budget, I have never heard them and won't be able to hear them before I buy them...?

As for the previously mentioned Alpine (Vifa) 3 ways, I've since read about fitment problems using a 3 way with a 6.5 and 5.25 mid woof in the same door... and I don't think I have room for pods under the dash?

So... what about JL Audio XL seried two ways? OR... should I just same some bucks and keep the MBQ's I already have?

merc 93

Other questions I missed in my last post.

The doors and parts of the passenger compartment were already damped during the previous install. But, I'll take a look at the QTC baffles, if I can find them. And yes, the front components will get 120w per channel into 4 ohms.

I am NOT going to use rear speakers in this setup except for my sub driver.

spyfish007

Are you going to try the low x-over point? I've never been a fan of the JL seperates, even though the XRs are ok. An interesting set from Memphis is "different" idea for you, but I think the cotton/silk tweeter would be too radical from your current taste. (They are the brightest silk tweeters I have heard for a car to date.) Two alternatives to your MBQ would be Boston Acoustics and Focal. I definately think your tweeter should go down low and then spend the time to locate them properely. Sounds like you have some nice equipment. The new Eclipse decks are nicely priced for the amount you get. You might want to take a look there. The new Pioneer Premier 860 is great, but higher than you had budgetted. (Forget the rest of the lower Pioneer line up.) Nakamichi always had nice head units in that price range.

On a side note, I've known a couple of friends who wanted MULTIPLE sets of MBQ tweeters. They are techno freaks or drummers almost EVERYTIME. I myself am a drummer, but I perfer the Boston's ironically enough because of the detail in guitars (such as Dave Matthews). The Dynaudio's sound much better for drums (tom toms) but need more help on the high end in my opinion.

SpeedKing

iTrader: (4)

spyfish007: I'm a drummer as well and I posted on this recent thread in the Lounge:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...postid=2968817

Curious you mention this about drummers, techno freaks (I listen to techno), and MB Quart speakers. Wonder what the connection is?

spyfish007

I think you are making a statement rather than a question ... but none the less.

Those MBQ are very BRIGHT and VIVID. The funny thing is I can almost set my watch by that rule!!! Between taking my friends around to various shop and having them tell we what they like and what they hear and selling car audio on and off at my friend's shop, I've gotten pretty good at putting listeners in categories. The funny thing is that MBQ has it's own category! I do think that some listener's should be in a different set of speakers, but that happens all the time where people buy on name alone .....