YADMST (Yet Another Design My System Thread)
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From: Vilano Beach, FL
I may have _just_ been convinced to try the new Hybrid Audio Tech Imagine 6.5 Comp/Coax system. The sound from the couple of reviews sound perfect, the power, price, etc., are all outstanding.
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Tellin ya man...$275 separates from Madisound... You don't need any crossovers, they're built into the SAX and running active is, perhaps, the single biggest improvement in sound quality you can get.
$275 buys you far better quality of speaker than you'll get elsewhere since you aren't putting any of that toward the (cheap) crossovers.
As for a sub...I honestly think a 10" is too small for true SQ. I've run IDQ 10's (a pair), and while they sound great...they're no match, whatsoever, for a quality 12.
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Originally Posted by ace123,Feb 2 2010, 01:45 PM
On the mids, I left them behind the stock grills just to keep things looking nice. I would guess it sounds a little bit better out, but I don't have any experience there. The tweeters are probably much more sensitive there because the higher frequencies reflect more and our ears are more directionally sensitive to them as well.
I would say go for it with Imprint. Since it's always reported to be better than the Auto-EQ on my deck, I would bet it will be one of the best investments you make in sound quality. Also, after equalization, I'm not sure if your preference for any one brand of speaker will necessarily be the same... it seems reasonable to assume that different parameters would dominate what sounds the best on an equalized setup vs an uncontrolled one.
And I drive my speakers with the 100.4, no sub, no crossovers. It sounds great, given the obvious lack of a subwoofer.
I find myself filtering music a lot by the recording quality now, sometimes even more than by the genre, and cheap electric beats sound 10x poorer than a decently recorded one from a real drum set or other instrument because I can now hear all the harmonics (or lack thereof). I really like it I still haven't finished up the install or even put things back together all the way though--I'll have to get on that, but I have a class that's just sucking up all my spare time. My ground noise is annoying, the door panels aren't bolted together.... ugh I need to get it fixed, but it's still, even with the car torn apart, it's a dramatic improvement.
I would say go for it with Imprint. Since it's always reported to be better than the Auto-EQ on my deck, I would bet it will be one of the best investments you make in sound quality. Also, after equalization, I'm not sure if your preference for any one brand of speaker will necessarily be the same... it seems reasonable to assume that different parameters would dominate what sounds the best on an equalized setup vs an uncontrolled one.
And I drive my speakers with the 100.4, no sub, no crossovers. It sounds great, given the obvious lack of a subwoofer.
I find myself filtering music a lot by the recording quality now, sometimes even more than by the genre, and cheap electric beats sound 10x poorer than a decently recorded one from a real drum set or other instrument because I can now hear all the harmonics (or lack thereof). I really like it I still haven't finished up the install or even put things back together all the way though--I'll have to get on that, but I have a class that's just sucking up all my spare time. My ground noise is annoying, the door panels aren't bolted together.... ugh I need to get it fixed, but it's still, even with the car torn apart, it's a dramatic improvement. I do the same thing in my S. I don't even use the USB input anymore. Stick to CD's - CDRW's are great because you can burn full quality audio to a CD and then change the line up when you want. No more chucking CD's b/c you're tired of them 
You should look into 70's/80's classic rock as well as blues-rock (older, newer, whichever). One of my favorite tracks to listen to is Steve Vai - Somewhere Over the Rainbow. If you can find a high quality recording of it...OMGSEX...
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From: Vilano Beach, FL
Originally Posted by Neutered Sputniks,Feb 2 2010, 06:51 PM
As for a sub...I honestly think a 10" is too small for true SQ. I've run IDQ 10's (a pair), and while they sound great...they're no match, whatsoever, for a quality 12.
*If* there was a way to get a 12" out of the way, and not lose the spare or anything, I'd seriously consider it. I know you've got something planned that sounds interesting.
This past weekend we went down to Daytona for the 24 Hour race and I needed my trunk space. Losing the center well (and/or introducing an audio component that can get easily wrecked by a suitcase or something) is a no go.
Hell, I'm tempted to go active and call it a day without a sub (even though I realize I'd be missing out...).
We were listening to some Stevie Ray on the way down, and I was thinking how great it sounds in the house and how sad it sounded in the car
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Originally Posted by Neutered Sputniks,Feb 2 2010, 05:54 PM
I do the same thing in my S. I don't even use the USB input anymore. Stick to CD's - CDRW's are great because you can burn full quality audio to a CD and then change the line up when you want. No more chucking CD's b/c you're tired of them You should look into 70's/80's classic rock as well as blues-rock (older, newer, whichever). One of my favorite tracks to listen to is Steve Vai - Somewhere Over the Rainbow. If you can find a high quality recording of it...OMGSEX...
Originally Posted by DT,Feb 2 2010, 06:19 PM
Hell, I'm tempted to go active and call it a day without a sub (even though I realize I'd be missing out...).
We were listening to some Stevie Ray on the way down, and I was thinking how great it sounds in the house and how sad it sounded in the car
We were listening to some Stevie Ray on the way down, and I was thinking how great it sounds in the house and how sad it sounded in the car
But then you'll never want to go back to passive
I love the control. I can really dial in how the speakers sound because I can control where the tweeters start and the mids stop, how much overlap there is, etc., and I know I'm not losing several dB of signal (rather, increasing the noise floor several dB by turning it up to compensate) due to the dropoff in the crossovers, so I make a lot more quality sound than my speakers would make otherwise. I'll probably really dial it in when it gets warmer and more fun to work on the car. But it's great
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Originally Posted by [DT
,Feb 2 2010, 07:19 PM] I'm not totally convinced on the 10" just yet. The box/mounting is _very_ enticing with the corner options.
*If* there was a way to get a 12" out of the way, and not lose the spare or anything, I'd seriously consider it. I know you've got something planned that sounds interesting.
This past weekend we went down to Daytona for the 24 Hour race and I needed my trunk space. Losing the center well (and/or introducing an audio component that can get easily wrecked by a suitcase or something) is a no go.
Hell, I'm tempted to go active and call it a day without a sub (even though I realize I'd be missing out...).
We were listening to some Stevie Ray on the way down, and I was thinking how great it sounds in the house and how sad it sounded in the car
*If* there was a way to get a 12" out of the way, and not lose the spare or anything, I'd seriously consider it. I know you've got something planned that sounds interesting.
This past weekend we went down to Daytona for the 24 Hour race and I needed my trunk space. Losing the center well (and/or introducing an audio component that can get easily wrecked by a suitcase or something) is a no go.
Hell, I'm tempted to go active and call it a day without a sub (even though I realize I'd be missing out...).
We were listening to some Stevie Ray on the way down, and I was thinking how great it sounds in the house and how sad it sounded in the car
See, here's the deal though...I've taken cross-country week-long trips in my S with my +1 and never had a problem with the sub in the well. And that's without a cover for it, so I pack around the edges of the trunk.
Look, the car has a weight limit (400lbs including passengers). The sub is a great excuse to turn to your wife (significant other) and say: "Honey, I love you...but we can't take all this. There isn't room in the trunk. You'll have to pack less."
It's so successful that my +1 doesn't even try to really stuff the trunk/bags anymore...she waits for me to throw my stuff in the duffel, and then throws in as much as she can fit in whatever space the duffel has left .ACE: I'd really like to get the Eclipse CD changer. I believe it's 8-disc. So I can put in over 100 songs in high quality, controlled from the HU. That's, honestly, more music than you'd listen to over the 2hrs between fuel/restroom breaks on a long haul. So swapping in another batch of 8 CDs at each gas station...plenty of high quality music on tap
Before I'd upgraded the woofers in my S from the Diamonds to the Revs...moving from driving the truck to driving the S would bum me out on music. I actually pretty much stopped listening to music in my S because it just sounded so horrid. It's amazing how much better the sound is after the upgrade.
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From: Vilano Beach, FL
I figured I'd bump _this_ thread, and maybe you could post the pics of your behind the seat install here (vs. the other thread since it's somebody elses).
I did a fitment checks with the 100.4 behind the seat - if you notched out the outer plastic, it would go longways-right-to-left instead of having to stand it on one end.
Then I rechecked the trunk. The space between the driver side trunk hinge and where the spare sticks out is just about perfect for a SAX-100.4. It would also keep it pretty much out of the way - I recall someone had an amp rack for sale that went across the rear trunk wall. I'll have to find that post and see if the pics are still up. That seems like a solid location with some airpace and direct access to the amp.
I did a fitment checks with the 100.4 behind the seat - if you notched out the outer plastic, it would go longways-right-to-left instead of having to stand it on one end.
Then I rechecked the trunk. The space between the driver side trunk hinge and where the spare sticks out is just about perfect for a SAX-100.4. It would also keep it pretty much out of the way - I recall someone had an amp rack for sale that went across the rear trunk wall. I'll have to find that post and see if the pics are still up. That seems like a solid location with some airpace and direct access to the amp.
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Originally Posted by [DT
,Feb 10 2010, 09:16 AM] I figured I'd bump _this_ thread, and maybe you could post the pics of your behind the seat install here (vs. the other thread since it's somebody elses).
I did a fitment checks with the 100.4 behind the seat - if you notched out the outer plastic, it would go longways-right-to-left instead of having to stand it on one end.
Then I rechecked the trunk. The space between the driver side trunk hinge and where the spare sticks out is just about perfect for a SAX-100.4. It would also keep it pretty much out of the way - I recall someone had an amp rack for sale that went across the rear trunk wall. I'll have to find that post and see if the pics are still up. That seems like a solid location with some airpace and direct access to the amp.
I did a fitment checks with the 100.4 behind the seat - if you notched out the outer plastic, it would go longways-right-to-left instead of having to stand it on one end.
Then I rechecked the trunk. The space between the driver side trunk hinge and where the spare sticks out is just about perfect for a SAX-100.4. It would also keep it pretty much out of the way - I recall someone had an amp rack for sale that went across the rear trunk wall. I'll have to find that post and see if the pics are still up. That seems like a solid location with some airpace and direct access to the amp.
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From: Vilano Beach, FL
Yeah, I see there's a vendor on there that makes a board that goes across the entire rear "wall" of the trunk, however, it sits flush and requires the spare to be removed.
In a thread I saw a guy who had kind of "boxed in" his spare, and cut out the top, which looked pretty solid (I _think_ his spare was still there based on the protrusion). Really dug on that too.
In a thread I saw a guy who had kind of "boxed in" his spare, and cut out the top, which looked pretty solid (I _think_ his spare was still there based on the protrusion). Really dug on that too.
