I got my goods finally. All I can say is WOW! The Tarantula has to be hands down the best looking amp I have ever seen. Its so damm good looking i was contemplating removing my passenger seat and mounting it there. LOL. Anyways that thing is a beast, and its heavy too. The Focals are simply amazing looking too, and heavy little monsters. I cant wait to start the install. I still need the DCI and I have to make the baffles for the Focals and figure out a way to mount the amp gracefully. Too bad I am going out of town for two weeks, otherwise i would start the install this weekend. Oat how is your install coming along. I will post pics of mine when i start.

 

My install is pretty much done. Tracked down a problem I was having on an xover, set both tweeters on focals to -4db and my ears don't ring as much - which means I can turn it up louder and I have found the limits of bass. Don't get me wrong - the bass is GREAT but I can see how I might want more. I may be going for a sub sooner or later anyhow - but I am just not ready to lose trunk space yet...

I am thinking about putting 136w's or BA procomps in my S-pods and see if that can take me to the next level instead.


-JD

 

OK, another tip - even after dumping my tweeters to -4db, the midrange just wasn't there, it wass still all high and low. I used Alpine's limited parametric EQ to bump up midrange at 5 different points to balance it out. Getting better but I still am working on it. So the Focals kick A$$ at the highs and lows, but need to be reigned in in the highs and need help in midrange.

Now that I have shifted focus off the bass (where at higher volumes the woofer would THWAP wetly against the door liner), I can also tell that I am using the full 180wpc now - I turn it up any higher and the amp distorts. No problems yet with the Focals, and I have pumped this power level through it for hours. Tempted to bump it up to one of Zapco's 250wpc amps in the future to see how they do, but for now I am just trying to wipe that big-a$$ smile off my face.

-JD

 

I'm surprised no one recommended TRU amps...

 

[QUOTE=Toxis,Sep 13 2004, 02:15 AM] I'm surprised no one recommended TRU amps...

 

JD, are you thinking about an 8" sub? When I listened to Focal Utopias on a soundboard they sounded like the crossovers dropped the sub frequencies and only handled midbass, as the MB Quart Q series do. That is really what you want for best sound quality anyway. My guess is that if you hook up a single 8 you'll get a huge improvement in sound quality and you'll want to level out your EQ on the HU for best sound. This sounds just like what I experienced before I got my ED subs after that painful 4 month wait. You'll also notice a huge improvement in fill (inc. rear fill) because the sub frequencies are less directional. It still doesn't make sense to my brain, but my ears don't lie -- getting subs increased the quality of my midrange (and bass) tremendously. And if you're wondering, my crossovers are set very low -- 23.5 hz, I think, so it's not a signal separation thing.

When you heard my system did you think it needed SPODS? I have been wondering if I needed them for some time now, but after the subs were broken in I haven't really been left wanting for a larger soundstage.

 

Hey Josiah!

Somehow I missed your response on this yesterday... Anyhow, it ties in nicely to my new question. I am still not ready to give up trunk space or the tool space or the space above it that is filled in with travel necessities held in by a cargo net... Still looking for substitutes.

I am actually pondering mounting a pair of Focal 5WS subs in my rear panels, Lucid style. They handle 80/160 watts each, go down to 45hz which is just a little lower than the 165w's. As of yet I am not worried about going lower, I just want to add to the bump.

Obviously this would require a more substatiantial soundboard than the factory panels to mount them on, but it might be doable. They require 2.9" of mounting depth and 4" of width, do you think there is that much space back there?

http://www.focal-america.com/catalog/utopia/5ws.htm
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/car/utopia/5ws.htm

When you mentioned the way the sub I was thinking that afterwards you raised the crossover on your front speakers, freeing them more power (remember the washed out mid/highs effect I was talking about), but if your xover is all the way down to 23.5k on your front speakers I'd guess that isn't it. Although after experiencing your MONSTER sub setup you have going I'd also suspect it is just shaking a few brain cells loose .

As far as listening to them on the soundboard goes - did you only hear them at Super Autobachs like I did? I don't know WHAT was up with that display, but other than the clear highs, the speakers did not perform anything like these do. There is ton of low end, which was non-existant there. They were also quiet there, maybe I am juicing them with more power in my car, but they ROCK here the way they really didn't there.

I don't know about the SPODs, I was pretty distracted by your subs at the time! My sPods helped a lot when I was running both the factory HU and Alpine because alone they just didn't have the power to make enough sound to carry, so the spods brought the sound to my ears. Now with the Focals and the amp I have more treble/mid than I can handle, I don't know if I really need the pods... Plus the crystal mobilesounds in my Spods sound completely gravelly compared to the Utopias (given $1200 msrp vs $200 msrp).

However, I do like the fill, I like being surround with sound. Plus the standard Spod install permanently damages your hoops so I can't take them out - if I had simply drilled a hole in my hoops instead of "cracking" them per the directions it would have been fine. So I am half inclined to buy a set of Focal Utopia 136Ws, replace the front of the spods with something solid, and put them in there with a smaller amp under the driver's seat for the low and the Alpine HU for the high. Or just put some utopia tweets in there instead, and go with the 5WS mini subs instead. Guess I'll see what comes up on ebay

You should come to the next Starbucks meet, we could demo for each other again.

-JD

 

oatnet,

I Highly recomend the Focal 5WS.

I installed 4 in my 740 iL in the stock location powered by a Audison VRx 2.250 giving them about 130 watts apeice. I swear it sounds like i have 2 10's in the trunk.

Here is the setup.

Front Doors: Focal Utopia 136 W
Rear Doors: Focal Utopia 136 W
Rear Deck: Focal 5 WS
Main Amp: Audison VRx 4.300.2
Sub Amp: Audison VRx 2.250.2

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/652272/2

 

Thanks Ross!

I appreciate your experienced response. That is a GREAT setup, good pics too - I checked the pics before reading fully so I was wondering what was going on with that back deck...

I am almost ready to pull the trigger and just see how I can make 'em fit. Don't think I can squeeze 4 of them in there but I think it will work

-JD

 

Have you considered a 8-10" sub in the passenger footwell? You lose 2.5" of space at the end of the footwell and gain the purest bass (rattle-free too!) of any mounting location.

I haven't tried anything in that rear panel, but on other Hondas (including my last car) I've always hated the rattles of mounting subs near thin plastic. Maybe I'm missing something... Sounds pretty crazy to me

And 45 hz?! That's high midbass -- that's not a sub, my Quarts go lower than that!! How about this one? http://www.soundstream.com/sub/products_subs_SPLX.html