Quote:
Originally Posted by RonRizz
anxious to hear your thoughts on the SI's
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When Dean (the main installer) set up the amp, he set the built-in crossovers to 2 kHz for both the mid and tweeter as I requested, and IIRC, 40 Hz for the low end. This is perfectly fine and it works flawlessly! The head unit is still in Network Mode, so I still have crossover control in that as well, which I'll get to in a moment.
So far, I'm loving them. I've played a variety of music through them and they do a great job. I'm still running the EQ flat, though I have been noticing a bit of "chestiness" to vocals.
So to help tune that out some without resorting to the EQ, I adjusted the crossover in the head unit. Since the tweeter crossover can not bypassed in the head unit, Dean had it set at 2 kHz @ 6 dB, but had the mid bypassed both on top and bottom. I left the bottom end alone, but activated the crossover on the top end (bandpass) and set it to 2 kHz just as in the amp, and started increasing the slope to see if I could work out that chestiness. I ultimately ended up on the 24 dB slope. At 18 dB it sounded just as good, but you could definitely hear a phase shift there, hence why I went to 24 dB.
I have no clue what the crossover slope is in the Arc XDi amp, but I'm guessing probably 12 dB. So if that's the case, then theoretically I should be running at a 36 dB slope at 2 kHz on the mid, and 18 dB on the tweeter.
Doing this and running both crossovers in unison, I have removed nearly all of that chestiness in the sound. All of that without ever touching the EQ, which is the way it should be done. The less manipulation you do to the signal, the better. I always prefer using EQ as a last resort, using as little as possible, and almost always using it by subtracting, not boosting. However, sometimes you have no choice but to boost a little.
So back to your question, yes, I'm loving the SI's so far. Keep in mind they are brand new, and only have a few hours on them at medium volume, so they have a ways to go before they fully break in and I can really evaluate them. But things are sounding promising already.
There's a couple songs that I did play pretty loud, and the funny thing is, they sounded even better! Not only that, I am also pleased to say that from what I could hear, or rather not hear, there are no rattles or buzzes in the doors! Nice snappy bass, great attack in the mid-bass, vocals crisp and clear, treble silky and clean. Of course, having plenty of clean power to back them up helps!
