Upgrading Stereo - Active?

ard · 05-30-2013, 11:09 PM

hi all, i recently picked up a touring Z without nav. i'm going to be going with a single din head unit, i ordered the alpine hd149bt

i have the following amps from the stereo in my previous car:
RF T400-4 and an RF T500-1bd that used to power a 10w6v2

i'm looking to sell my existing sub and i'm going to be picking up the JL stealthbox (purely based on aesthetics) that i believe will have two 10w3's. first question is will my T500-1bd be ok to power these subs?

as far as powering the speakers, i've noticed a couple people promoting not using rear speakers. this is the first i've heard of this but i'm willing to give it a shot. if i do that i do have a 4 channel amp... does that mean i can go "active" with one channel per driver? and just because i can, should i? i would need an audison bitone or something to do that right? i admit that i have trouble maximizing the audio quality using a full parametric eq. i'm not so good at tuning but i know good sound (to me) when i hear it.

on to speakers, i guess i can fit 6.5's up front. could i get some recommendations? i can tell you that in my previous car i put focal 165 k2p's in the front and i never really liked them. i had polk db6501's in the back and honesty i always thought those sounded better than the focals. what does that tell you? I'd like to get great speakers but i'm afraid that great speakers might just not sound good with mp3/aac music which is primarily what i listen to. Even before the 165 k2p's I had a fairly expensive set of focal 3ways that I didn't like either. They sounded great in the store but crap in my car. So you'd say oh they need to breakin...well to me they never did.

lastly, if i get z enclosures speaker rings, how do i determine what size opening do i want to get the speaker rings in? same question for the tweeter adapters, what size opening?

thanks for reading!

H2O_Doc · 05-30-2013, 11:16 PM

I did polk 6501s in the front and 351s in the back. Very pleased with the results. Very good w/o subwoofer; great with subs.

bigaudiofanat · 05-31-2013, 06:44 AM

Going active ins't as simple as just doing it, you would need either a sound processor or a head unit capable of setting its on crossover frequencies as well as oct levels. If I were you I would simply keep running passive, otherwise its a deep rabbit hole with cost and a lot of time tuning to get it sounding right.

You should be concerned with how a higher end speaker would not sound right with lower quality compression. I have had countless customers come back telling me they are now ripping cd's in flac or getting much higher bit rate audio because they hear the difference. There is a big write up I did under car audio 101 going more in detail about this. Personally I never compress my music.

ard · 05-31-2013, 08:31 AM

Thanks. Most/all of my audio is 256k or 320k.... is that still an issue?

Can you recommend something outside of focal speaker that might be more forgiving to non-flac audio?

I realize that active requires some tuning but what I had read is that it will produce better sound just by running active because you don't have the passive crossover changing the impedance??

If i ran a bitone with my current deck would I lose volume and sub control on primary deck?

Cbtech · 05-31-2013, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ard

Thanks. Most/all of my audio is 256k or 320k.... is that still an issue?

Can you recommend something outside of focal speaker that might be more forgiving to non-flac audio?

I realize that active requires some tuning but what I had read is that it will produce better sound just by running active because you don't have the passive crossover changing the impedance??

If i ran a bitone with my current deck would I lose volume and sub control on primary deck?

I went with the Polk Audio DXi6500 6.5's and they produce a nice clean mid-bass. one thing i did notice is that the speakers take about a week or 2 to break in. they were very bright at first but eased up after time. Careful how much of a spacer you have on the factory speaker as the panel will press against the edge of the woofer.

bigaudiofanat · 05-31-2013, 08:35 PM

Any good set of speakers you will be able to hear a difference, the only way you will not is if you go cheaper and with a lower quality speakers. What your asking is sort of crazy, you want a higher end setup and want to go active but want to use compressed music? I do not get it. 320 should be ok but the less you compress your audio the better it will be always.

RonRizz · 06-01-2013, 04:43 AM

I agree with the above statement......you've got to remember that a speaker will only sound as good as what you put into it. even the finest high end set will sound like trash if you put a poor signal into it. I have alot of music on thumb drives that I play in the car, and they sound fine to me, but switching to a Disc is like night and day.
Either way, however, you still cant beat an active setup if you are willing to take the time to do the research, and spend the coin.

05-30-2013, 11:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
ard Base Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Hartford Posts: 12 Drives: 2013 370z Rep Power: 14	Upgrading Stereo - Active? hi all, i recently picked up a touring Z without nav. i'm going to be going with a single din head unit, i ordered the alpine hd149bt i have the following amps from the stereo in my previous car: RF T400-4 and an RF T500-1bd that used to power a 10w6v2 i'm looking to sell my existing sub and i'm going to be picking up the JL stealthbox (purely based on aesthetics) that i believe will have two 10w3's. first question is will my T500-1bd be ok to power these subs? as far as powering the speakers, i've noticed a couple people promoting not using rear speakers. this is the first i've heard of this but i'm willing to give it a shot. if i do that i do have a 4 channel amp... does that mean i can go "active" with one channel per driver? and just because i can, should i? i would need an audison bitone or something to do that right? i admit that i have trouble maximizing the audio quality using a full parametric eq. i'm not so good at tuning but i know good sound (to me) when i hear it. on to speakers, i guess i can fit 6.5's up front. could i get some recommendations? i can tell you that in my previous car i put focal 165 k2p's in the front and i never really liked them. i had polk db6501's in the back and honesty i always thought those sounded better than the focals. what does that tell you? I'd like to get great speakers but i'm afraid that great speakers might just not sound good with mp3/aac music which is primarily what i listen to. Even before the 165 k2p's I had a fairly expensive set of focal 3ways that I didn't like either. They sounded great in the store but crap in my car. So you'd say oh they need to breakin...well to me they never did. lastly, if i get z enclosures speaker rings, how do i determine what size opening do i want to get the speaker rings in? same question for the tweeter adapters, what size opening? thanks for reading! Last edited by ard; 05-30-2013 at 11:44 PM.

05-31-2013, 06:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	Going active ins't as simple as just doing it, you would need either a sound processor or a head unit capable of setting its on crossover frequencies as well as oct levels. If I were you I would simply keep running passive, otherwise its a deep rabbit hole with cost and a lot of time tuning to get it sounding right. You should be concerned with how a higher end speaker would not sound right with lower quality compression. I have had countless customers come back telling me they are now ripping cd's in flac or getting much higher bit rate audio because they hear the difference. There is a big write up I did under car audio 101 going more in detail about this. Personally I never compress my music. blackcherry20 likes this. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/

05-31-2013, 08:35 PM	#6 (permalink)
bigaudiofanat Car Audio Installer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Magnolia DE Posts: 8,342 Drives: 2012 Infiniti G37x Rep Power: 853	Any good set of speakers you will be able to hear a difference, the only way you will not is if you go cheaper and with a lower quality speakers. What your asking is sort of crazy, you want a higher end setup and want to go active but want to use compressed music? I do not get it. 320 should be ok but the less you compress your audio the better it will be always. __________________ Need help with car audio or electronics? Let me know!! Need Help Let Me Know Direct email address reimermatt@gmail.com Owner of: Dynamic Mobile Audio Follow me below https://www.facebook.com/Dynamicmobileaudio/

06-01-2013, 04:43 AM	#7 (permalink)
RonRizz A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Pine grove, Pa Posts: 2,136 Drives: 2 feet, 3 pedals Rep Power: 6775	I agree with the above statement......you've got to remember that a speaker will only sound as good as what you put into it. even the finest high end set will sound like trash if you put a poor signal into it. I have alot of music on thumb drives that I play in the car, and they sound fine to me, but switching to a Disc is like night and day. Either way, however, you still cant beat an active setup if you are willing to take the time to do the research, and spend the coin. __________________ P99rs Head Unit--- Amps- 2 Pioneer Prs800d --- Zapco ST1000MX---Zapco ST-4XSQ---- SI BM mk5 Subs---SI TM65v2 Midbass--- SI M3 mids--- SI M25 xbl2 tweeters ----- 2016 MECA street class 3rd place at world finals

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05-30-2013, 11:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
H2O_Doc A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Northern VA Posts: 1,083 Drives: '14 370Z, '12 4Runr Rep Power: 14	I did polk 6501s in the front and 351s in the back. Very pleased with the results. Very good w/o subwoofer; great with subs.

05-31-2013, 08:31 AM	#4 (permalink)
ard Base Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Hartford Posts: 12 Drives: 2013 370z Rep Power: 14	Thanks. Most/all of my audio is 256k or 320k.... is that still an issue? Can you recommend something outside of focal speaker that might be more forgiving to non-flac audio? I realize that active requires some tuning but what I had read is that it will produce better sound just by running active because you don't have the passive crossover changing the impedance?? If i ran a bitone with my current deck would I lose volume and sub control on primary deck?