My Audio Install
- Thread starter RyanJayG
- Start date
I have heard an install with the Rear-view mirror center channel also..and wasn't impressed. I don't think either of the center channels mentioned here can compete with the Focal speakers...I was just throwing it out there as an option since you will have that extra din location to play with.
But anyway, stop and think about the purpose of a center channel. In a theater, it takes the dialog and centers it on the screen where the actor's mouths are whether you are sitting to the far left, to the far right, or dead center. The people who sit in the center don't really need that center channel. The voices would be centered by placing equal volume on the left and right speakers. But without that channel the people on the sides would not be able to match up the actors mouths to the sound they are hearing.
Then there is your home theater. Usually your left and right speakers are set far apart and the seating is not usually optimal (unless you are the one sitting on the center cushon on the couch or you place an easy chair directly in front of the TV). The center channel again, pulls the voices of actors back to the screen which is small relative to the distance between the left and right speakers.
Now on to your car. Again the same principle applies. You have a wide sound stage but the screen is very small. Installing a large woofer on top of the dash will not help pull the sound to that screen but instead it will put the sound out on the hood somewhere. A din-sized speaker enclosure will do the job perfectly, but the SQ will be sacrificed. Really, the best solution is to use a phantom center channel setup. Let the speakers in the doors do the work. If you angle them properly the center stage will be about as close to the screen as you can get anyway. Maybe a small tweeter in the dash could compliment it but that is all.
But anyway, stop and think about the purpose of a center channel. In a theater, it takes the dialog and centers it on the screen where the actor's mouths are whether you are sitting to the far left, to the far right, or dead center. The people who sit in the center don't really need that center channel. The voices would be centered by placing equal volume on the left and right speakers. But without that channel the people on the sides would not be able to match up the actors mouths to the sound they are hearing.
Then there is your home theater. Usually your left and right speakers are set far apart and the seating is not usually optimal (unless you are the one sitting on the center cushon on the couch or you place an easy chair directly in front of the TV). The center channel again, pulls the voices of actors back to the screen which is small relative to the distance between the left and right speakers.
Now on to your car. Again the same principle applies. You have a wide sound stage but the screen is very small. Installing a large woofer on top of the dash will not help pull the sound to that screen but instead it will put the sound out on the hood somewhere. A din-sized speaker enclosure will do the job perfectly, but the SQ will be sacrificed. Really, the best solution is to use a phantom center channel setup. Let the speakers in the doors do the work. If you angle them properly the center stage will be about as close to the screen as you can get anyway. Maybe a small tweeter in the dash could compliment it but that is all.
yeah, in my home theatre, I AM that center cushion hogging bastard... I'm anal about imaging.chuyler1 said:
I just want something that will produce the vocal range accurately and smoothly. it would by no means have to compete with the focals because who in their right mind listens to a movie at FULL volume in a car. you gotta do that while parked, so the volume would be much lower, giving the center channel a chance.
in my imaging software I have has distance factors for each speaker (though I'm not sure if its just volume adjustment or time alignment as well) and the center channel will be off completely or WAY down for music reproduction... the only possible problem there is when I play a DVD-Audio disc, which I CAN do with my software... multi channel audio might be a little flat with a single DIN speaker or array.
I might just bite the bullet on the alpine, and maybe over power it till its as clean as it can be.
eh... first I'll try doing without it and making a phantom cneter channel... see if it even works on a car where noone can sit in the direct center.
If you're using a tweeter or fairly highpassed setup for center chanel, make sure that your source is going to be able to spread some of that love tothe front L&R as well because alot of times it doesn't. I'm not sure what software you're using, if this is something you'll be able to control or not, but it would indeed seem to be ideal to have the focals handle the brunt of it, and then use say a pair of tweeters or something mounted right by the screen to help pull things in a bit. It'd be good if you had alot of time alignment capability for this aswell seeing as the screen's like 1/3 the distance of your L&R
well there is another option... removing the ash tray, and sig lighter... since I dont smoke and its off limits in the car anyways... its quite a bit lower than the screen, but the creative software allows for some variation in center channel placement. (above or below screen)
this space give me the ability to possibly mount a single component set (either a pait of 4" woofers or a single 6". down there and a single or pair of tweeters in the second DIN... even though some of the sound would be produced a foot below the screen a lot of the VERY directional sound would come from right below it. we might play around with this idea, and see if it works or simply screws it up.
I'll keep you guys posted.
this space give me the ability to possibly mount a single component set (either a pait of 4" woofers or a single 6". down there and a single or pair of tweeters in the second DIN... even though some of the sound would be produced a foot below the screen a lot of the VERY directional sound would come from right below it. we might play around with this idea, and see if it works or simply screws it up.
I'll keep you guys posted.
if you're concerned about duttinginto your dash, take a look at it, the ciglighter/ashtray area is a part of the full dash piece. If you cut thatmuch you're into it all. I'd see what it's like running 4.1 first. if you've got your focals setup decently you might not be too bad off.
yeh.. we're deffinitely going to play before cutting anything...
another suggestion is mounting a coax speaker (or two) behind the dash, about level with the lower DIN, bu the one on the passenger side, facing the driverside, and vice versa. then covering the lower DIN with a custom fabric grill. it would end up looking a lot like the Alpine single DIN unit. but the speakers would be relatively deep into the dash... then maybe putting some kind of deflection plate in there to angle the sound outward. and obviously getting some coaxes with angled tweeters... but I'm afraid that we'd never get them to aim right and if you used 2 coaxes that you'd have to seperate them to avoid canceling eachother's waves out.
eh.. i'm sure we'll figure it out. I'll probably go without for a while though till we do, unless the lower cig lighter area sounds great.
another suggestion is mounting a coax speaker (or two) behind the dash, about level with the lower DIN, bu the one on the passenger side, facing the driverside, and vice versa. then covering the lower DIN with a custom fabric grill. it would end up looking a lot like the Alpine single DIN unit. but the speakers would be relatively deep into the dash... then maybe putting some kind of deflection plate in there to angle the sound outward. and obviously getting some coaxes with angled tweeters... but I'm afraid that we'd never get them to aim right and if you used 2 coaxes that you'd have to seperate them to avoid canceling eachother's waves out.
eh.. i'm sure we'll figure it out. I'll probably go without for a while though till we do, unless the lower cig lighter area sounds great.
its been done for over a week, and I've been on the road, away from home. but I'm headed that way now. I should be able to pick it up monday or tuesday, then I'll throw a slew of pics on here for you guys to check out.
I've been told by the owner of the shop that it sounds fantastic. He is a 3rd and 5th place finisher in USCAi from a few years ago, so I'd imagine it does sound pretty damn nice.
they tell me that they got the door enclosures to a little more than a 3rd of a cube, and the sub enclosure I forget, but I'll ask again. I think they went with 2.5 cubes tuned 30hz. I'll know for sure when I pick it up. The tweeters are mounted low on the kick panels in a spot that was practically designed for them, and they are pretty much on-axis. its a good thing I can attenuate them up to -db's with the focal's crossovers. We'll see if I need to though, it might be just right.
pictures soon, I promise.
I've been told by the owner of the shop that it sounds fantastic. He is a 3rd and 5th place finisher in USCAi from a few years ago, so I'd imagine it does sound pretty damn nice.
they tell me that they got the door enclosures to a little more than a 3rd of a cube, and the sub enclosure I forget, but I'll ask again. I think they went with 2.5 cubes tuned 30hz. I'll know for sure when I pick it up. The tweeters are mounted low on the kick panels in a spot that was practically designed for them, and they are pretty much on-axis. its a good thing I can attenuate them up to -db's with the focal's crossovers. We'll see if I need to though, it might be just right.
pictures soon, I promise.
jrodhotrod
Contributor
- :
- 2003 Mazda Protege5 (Mine) 2002 Nissan Sentra GXE (Wife's)
about time. I have been waiting for this update 
(bump)
its most of the way there... the shop is done with it and some pics have been updated.
I will show more pics after I take some of the tweeter locations, the screen install and the carputer integration when I get the time soon. I'm going to be busy installing a lot of other car parts though (i.e sleeper turbo kit, complete GT Spec lineup, etc.)
but for now, it sounds INCREDIBLE!!!
you should hear this with a "DVD-A" disc in the computer... multichannel 96KHz audio baby!
its most of the way there... the shop is done with it and some pics have been updated.
I will show more pics after I take some of the tweeter locations, the screen install and the carputer integration when I get the time soon. I'm going to be busy installing a lot of other car parts though (i.e sleeper turbo kit, complete GT Spec lineup, etc.)
but for now, it sounds INCREDIBLE!!!
you should hear this with a "DVD-A" disc in the computer... multichannel 96KHz audio baby!
jrodhotrod
Contributor
- :
- 2003 Mazda Protege5 (Mine) 2002 Nissan Sentra GXE (Wife's)
Looking good. 
Looking forward to pics of tweeter placement.
EDIT: Where did they mount the crossovers for the Focals?
Looking forward to pics of tweeter placement.
EDIT: Where did they mount the crossovers for the Focals?
Nice. If the baffle is well sealed, you could try IB... That's what I would recommend. It might not get loud enough for you though. Nice looking system. I've always loved how your car looks, and now you've got a killer system to match it.
I hope you didn't get the Focal's because the mids match the car...
I hope you didn't get the Focal's because the mids match the car...
jrodhotrod said:Looking good.
Looking forward to pics of tweeter placement.
EDIT: Where did they mount the crossovers for the Focals?
tweeter location sounded best in the updated post #4 location.
the crossovers are up under the dash, securely in place, its impossible to take a pic though. sorry.
Scott D. said:
if I were ever to give a thought to IB, I'd have to seal the entire trunk, which is WAY more work than it sounds like. besides, the W6's sound pretty damn good ported as well as well as sealed (of course). I'll get exact specs of the box, tomorrow when I talk to the builder.
thanks for checking it out.
I'll get a few more pics later on of the amp, and how its installed. pretty basic really though, offset to the passenger side, so I can add a 300/2 later on, to run the fronts, , and the 100/2 (from the 500/5) will power the future center channel.
or I could go with a 300/4, run the rears and the center off of it and biamp the focals with the front and rear channels of the 500/5. 100W to the woofer, and 25W to the tweet... I'll decide later on, but the 300/2 and the 300/4 are identical in size anyways.
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jrodhotrod
Contributor
- :
- 2003 Mazda Protege5 (Mine) 2002 Nissan Sentra GXE (Wife's)
Looks good. I'll bet it sounds good too.RyanJayG said:
