Sixbanger's non-ML audio slow and low(budget) stereo build
#17
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Last edited by sixbanger; 12-19-18 at 06:57 PM. Reason: edit
#19
Driver School Candidate
This is a great thread. I order the MB quartz 4” for my center. And (2) alpine type S for the corner dash speaker. I’m in the middle of having my local shop install my sub , processor and amps. I’ll be installing the new speakers so really
enjoy reading this stuff
enjoy reading this stuff
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sixbanger (12-19-18)
#21
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Pioneer is a good brand, but dual 2 ohm you will have a choice to run in parallel which would be close to 1 ohm and could put too much load on the amplifier. If you run the voicecoils in series you end up with 4 ohms. that is higher than the 2.5 ohm stock sub so it may be a little quieter and also get less power. Many aftermarket amps you may be able to run a 1 ohm load, but I don't think the factory amp will be very happy.
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ajpe007 (03-28-19)
#22
Driver School Candidate
@sixbanger - I was following your first posts on this in osiriskidd's "Non Mark Levinson sound..." thread.
Registered here to say "thanks" for starting this thread.
Based on input from your posts I ordered a pair of Infinity REF-4022cfx for the dash L & R. $40 on Amazon - looks like they were recently discontinued and are reduced because of the replacement 4032cfx. They are 3 ohm, but pretty efficient at 92 dB. I'll update this thread with install notes and sound quality once I put them in.
I'm most interested though in your thoughts on the Polk subwoofer after you've had a few more hours with it. Wired into the stock amp I'm wondering if you have enough control over the output to balance it reasonably well with the rest of the system. Thoughts on adding a small mono-block with controls for gain and bass boost?
Registered here to say "thanks" for starting this thread.
Based on input from your posts I ordered a pair of Infinity REF-4022cfx for the dash L & R. $40 on Amazon - looks like they were recently discontinued and are reduced because of the replacement 4032cfx. They are 3 ohm, but pretty efficient at 92 dB. I'll update this thread with install notes and sound quality once I put them in.
I'm most interested though in your thoughts on the Polk subwoofer after you've had a few more hours with it. Wired into the stock amp I'm wondering if you have enough control over the output to balance it reasonably well with the rest of the system. Thoughts on adding a small mono-block with controls for gain and bass boost?
Last edited by Mitch1979; 12-19-18 at 10:14 PM. Reason: corrected reference to other author/thread
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sixbanger (12-20-18)
#23
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
@sixbanger - I was following your first posts on this in osiriskidd's "Non Mark Levinson sound..." thread.
Registered here to say "thanks" for starting this thread.
Based on input from your posts I ordered a pair of Infinity REF-4022cfx for the dash L & R. $40 on Amazon - looks like they were recently discontinued and are reduced because of the replacement 4032cfx. They are 3 ohm, but pretty efficient at 92 dB. I'll update this thread with install notes and sound quality once I put them in.
I'm most interested though in your thoughts on the Polk subwoofer after you've had a few more hours with it. Wired into the stock amp I'm wondering if you have enough control over the output to balance it reasonably well with the rest of the system. Thoughts on adding a small mono-block with controls for gain and bass boost?
Registered here to say "thanks" for starting this thread.
Based on input from your posts I ordered a pair of Infinity REF-4022cfx for the dash L & R. $40 on Amazon - looks like they were recently discontinued and are reduced because of the replacement 4032cfx. They are 3 ohm, but pretty efficient at 92 dB. I'll update this thread with install notes and sound quality once I put them in.
I'm most interested though in your thoughts on the Polk subwoofer after you've had a few more hours with it. Wired into the stock amp I'm wondering if you have enough control over the output to balance it reasonably well with the rest of the system. Thoughts on adding a small mono-block with controls for gain and bass boost?
so far (1 hour of testing) the 8" sounds great and fairly balanced with the system. I am shocked at the output. I have eq settings flat and faded to the back +1. Not sure if it is the crossover in the factory amp, but the sub sounds good and rolls off at 50hz or so (I'm guessing). good= It does not distort, bad=it doesn't play some super low frequencies.
I'll say it again, sound deadening and rattle chasing/fixing is key to this!!
Because I am used to a little heavier bass from my other car with a sealed 10" sub enclosure, I do find myself wanting more volume out of the sub.
I plan to add a dedicated subwoofer amp as another one of my small improvement steps. I have a leftover mtx 2 channel amp with remote bass boost ****. I think I paid $100 for it. So yes, I think it is a great idea! highly recommend!!
Last edited by sixbanger; 12-22-18 at 06:12 AM.
#24
Instructor
iTrader: (1)
Pioneer is a good brand, but dual 2 ohm you will have a choice to run in parallel which would be close to 1 ohm and could put too much load on the amplifier. If you run the voicecoils in series you end up with 4 ohms. that is higher than the 2.5 ohm stock sub so it may be a little quieter and also get less power. Many aftermarket amps you may be able to run a 1 ohm load, but I don't think the factory amp will be very happy.
thank you for your help
#25
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
#26
Driver School Candidate
sixbanger , I ordered the 72-7400 adapters. What modification did you have to do in order to make it work. Thank you
#27
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
#29
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
#30
Driver School Candidate
REF-4022cfx
Update: I now have a pair of REF-4022cfx installed at the Left & Right dash positions. I used Metra 72-4568 "Speaker Harness for General Motor Vehicles" and cut all the plastic off for the receptacle down to the base of the pins.
Install required a lot more material to be removed than I thought. On the driver side I carved off a bunch of plastic on the windshield side of the opening, and a little on the steering wheel side. See pic.
Front Left
The passenger side required more modifications. I carved off plastic on the windshield side of the opening and also had to create a new mounting hole to pivot the speaker towards the front just a little - without this change the magnet of the speaker was interfering with the side-window defrost duct work inside the speaker cavity. To cut the new mounting hole I started the hole with a dremel burr, then opened it up turning a step drill by hand.
I also had to cut the 2 unused mounting tabs off of the speaker (dremel w cutoff wheel).
Pic below shows plastic at windshield side of opening removed, and red circle indicating where the new mounting hole was drilled. Metal bolt-retainer clip was replaced over the new hole location.
Front Right
Sound: I'm glad this upgrade has been suggested. These speakers bring a big improvement to sound clarity and detail.
Now I feel like the stock center speaker is a little too obvious sitting between the REF-4022s. Next I will replace the center dash w a Pioneer TSG1045R - I went with a 4 ohm lower sensitivity speaker for the center so that it remains quieter than the dash L & R positions.
I ran a before and after sweep using Room EQ Wizard - see image below. I am a *basic* user of this software. I am not running a calibrated mic, soundcard, or even an SPL meter. My goal was only to get a sweep measurement of before and after as a straight comparison. I have no idea what the actual true freq. response curve looks like.
Measurement is taken with bass/mid/treble at 0. Fade & balance centered. Microphone is resting on top of the driver's seat at right shoulder (used the Audyssey setup mic that came with my Marantz home audio receiver). Curves are smoothed (1/6 octave)
Light green is stock speakers.
Dark green is after install of the REF-4022.
Note the substantial difference between 9k & 15k.
Also, for anyone interested I took a couple sweeps while the stock speakers were still installed with each of the equalizer settings maxed out, just to visualize which frequencies were most affected by each setting.
For each curve all things are the same except the EQ setting.
Blue: flat
Green: max treble
Yellow: max mid
Red: max bass
Install required a lot more material to be removed than I thought. On the driver side I carved off a bunch of plastic on the windshield side of the opening, and a little on the steering wheel side. See pic.
Front Left
The passenger side required more modifications. I carved off plastic on the windshield side of the opening and also had to create a new mounting hole to pivot the speaker towards the front just a little - without this change the magnet of the speaker was interfering with the side-window defrost duct work inside the speaker cavity. To cut the new mounting hole I started the hole with a dremel burr, then opened it up turning a step drill by hand.
I also had to cut the 2 unused mounting tabs off of the speaker (dremel w cutoff wheel).
Pic below shows plastic at windshield side of opening removed, and red circle indicating where the new mounting hole was drilled. Metal bolt-retainer clip was replaced over the new hole location.
Front Right
Sound: I'm glad this upgrade has been suggested. These speakers bring a big improvement to sound clarity and detail.
Now I feel like the stock center speaker is a little too obvious sitting between the REF-4022s. Next I will replace the center dash w a Pioneer TSG1045R - I went with a 4 ohm lower sensitivity speaker for the center so that it remains quieter than the dash L & R positions.
I ran a before and after sweep using Room EQ Wizard - see image below. I am a *basic* user of this software. I am not running a calibrated mic, soundcard, or even an SPL meter. My goal was only to get a sweep measurement of before and after as a straight comparison. I have no idea what the actual true freq. response curve looks like.
Measurement is taken with bass/mid/treble at 0. Fade & balance centered. Microphone is resting on top of the driver's seat at right shoulder (used the Audyssey setup mic that came with my Marantz home audio receiver). Curves are smoothed (1/6 octave)
Light green is stock speakers.
Dark green is after install of the REF-4022.
Note the substantial difference between 9k & 15k.
Also, for anyone interested I took a couple sweeps while the stock speakers were still installed with each of the equalizer settings maxed out, just to visualize which frequencies were most affected by each setting.
For each curve all things are the same except the EQ setting.
Blue: flat
Green: max treble
Yellow: max mid
Red: max bass
The following users liked this post:
sixbanger (12-27-18)