[XtremeRevolution]

here is the spec sheet for the Seas tweeter:

H1189-06 27TDFC

I really don't think you'll cross that at 1k. 1500hz is possible with a steep slope. Yes, the resonant frequency is low, but the frequency response begins to drop very quickly after 2khz. You're down to -3db (lost half your output) by 1300hz. It will need some equalizing even at 1500hz. All that said, it is a very nice tweeter with excellent harmonic distortion characteristics.

I didn't know you lived in the UK. Nice to see you on this board. Postage unfortunately would be a tad too expensive. Maybe you can find someone local with a speaker tester?

 

[Builder Brad]

cheers XR,

The internets gr8 isnt it? you are across the atlantic and probably juat finishing work and Im about to go to bed. its dark here right now and we are still waiting for winter to end.

Although that tweeter looked quite small in my hand, its a bit of a lump with the faceplate. When I took it to the car I realised that I am going to have to butcher the faceplate before I can even consider using it. This is not a problem as the tweeters are surplus.

I may need to cut my dash and mount them so that they are in the front corners of the car, firing up at the windscreen so that I will be hearing reflected sounds. not sure if this is a good idea. I could put them so that they are pointing towards the cabin, but they will not exactly be stealth.

I might be better with the Aura 2" drivers. From my calculations, I should be able to fit them in the factory location, which is in the door next to the handles. With the good off axis response that the Aura shows this may work quite well. The JL audio tweeters are currently in this position. I can pick up a pair of Aura drivers for c£20.00 each and should be able to sell the JL Audio tweeters for quite a bit more.

Only other thought would be that I would need to create some kind of enclosure behind the Aura drivers, to get the best performance from them.

Brad

 

[Builder Brad]

hey XR,

Been thinking about using Arta to properly measure the Harmonic Distortion of my tweeters first, before I start trying other tweeters, so that I can make an imformed choice regards their x-over frequency and see how that sounds.

Back in 2012 you offered to provide a brief tutorial on this process with Arta. I have looked at the Arta manual - all 178 pages, and came running back here, to follow up on your offer.

I would be happy to add my experiences and observation to your tutorial as well.

Brad

 

[XtremeRevolution]

cheers XR,

The internets gr8 isnt it? you are across the atlantic and probably juat finishing work and Im about to go to bed. its dark here right now and we are still waiting for winter to end.

Although that tweeter looked quite small in my hand, its a bit of a lump with the faceplate. When I took it to the car I realised that I am going to have to butcher the faceplate before I can even consider using it. This is not a problem as the tweeters are surplus.

I may need to cut my dash and mount them so that they are in the front corners of the car, firing up at the windscreen so that I will be hearing reflected sounds. not sure if this is a good idea. I could put them so that they are pointing towards the cabin, but they will not exactly be stealth.

I might be better with the Aura 2" drivers. From my calculations, I should be able to fit them in the factory location, which is in the door next to the handles. With the good off axis response that the Aura shows this may work quite well. The JL audio tweeters are currently in this position. I can pick up a pair of Aura drivers for c£20.00 each and should be able to sell the JL Audio tweeters for quite a bit more.

Only other thought would be that I would need to create some kind of enclosure behind the Aura drivers, to get the best performance from them.

Brad

I would not rely on reflections for your high frequency sound. Tweeters need to be as on-axis as possible. Definitely go with the Aura driver.

hey XR,

Been thinking about using Arta to properly measure the Harmonic Distortion of my tweeters first, before I start trying other tweeters, so that I can make an imformed choice regards their x-over frequency and see how that sounds.

Back in 2012 you offered to provide a brief tutorial on this process with Arta. I have looked at the Arta manual - all 178 pages, and came running back here, to follow up on your offer.

I would be happy to add my experiences and observation to your tutorial as well.

Brad

I'll have to look at ARTA again as I haven't used it in a little while. Might be a while till I can sit down and write a tutorial on it as I've been pretty busy with other things, but I'll see what I can do.

 

[hificruzer226]

XtremeRevolution I would love to see you squeeze those morels in. I have the matched pair in a set 1/4 wave tls I built.

 

[XtremeRevolution]

XtremeRevolution I would love to see you squeeze those morels in. I have the matched pair in a set 1/4 wave tls I built.

Which ones, the MDT-44s? Already done. I posted pictures earlier in this thread. It's a few pages to go back, so I'll post a few of them again.

Making the rear chamber smaller raised resonant frequency a very small amount (50-100hz) according to my woofer tester, which is not a problem since I'm crossing far away from that range anyway with a very steep (48db/octave) slope.

 

[2ltCruzer]

Hello X,
I haven't been on here in a couple of months, but I am now ready to start my SQ build. I was going to buy a set of your mdf door baffles, but I found a router and a bunch of bits cheap at a yard sale and I think I'm gonna give it a go on my own. I was wondering if you would be willing to share your demensions for the baffles? I will be running Silver Flute 6.5" 4ohm in all four doors. The rears will be mid-bass only. I bought two MiniDSP kits and will be using one for mids and tweets, and the other for mid-bass and sub. Tweeters will be a pair of Vifa soft domes (the ones you recommended,) and the sub an Alpine SWS-15D2.

Everything will be powered by a pair of NVX 800.4 amps (probably a bit more power than I need.) I've never ran NVX before, but was impressed with their specs, and failed to find a single bad review on them. They are class D and are really tiny, only about 7" x 10.5". I should have no trouble mounting both amps to the back of the sub box.

The sub box (which I already built) is 2 cubic ft, sealed, 3/4" mdf with a double thick front baffle and bracing inside.

I am going to build my own rca cables using double shielded cat5e and cast Amphenol connectors that I got from Parts Express. The primary power cable is 1/0 pure copper welding cable which will split into two 4 awg welding cables in the trunk at the dist block. The welding cable will also be used for amp grounds, and a new chassis ground at the battery.

I got CLD tiles, MLV and CCF from Don and will be installing that soon.

Anyway, I'm taking lots of pictures and will be posting some soon. Again, I am wondering if you will share the baffle demensions, Xtreme? I don't have much experience with routers yet, but I think I can do ok if I start out with the right meaurements.

More to come....

 

[XtremeRevolution]

PM incoming with Baffle dimensions.

 

[hificruzer226]

Holy Slope Batman!

 

[XtremeRevolution]

Holy Slope Batman!

Welcome to the miniDSP. Set your own Butterworth slope in increments of 6db up to 48db per octave, your own crossover point in increments of 1hz (pretty useful when you're measuring your tweeters for harmonic distortion to raise your sound stage as high as possible). LR filters are also available but in larger increments. My pre-built Silver Flute + Vifa tweeter on a miniDSP combination is the best sound you can get out of your car for $250 or less.

 

[DieB4u]

I'm new here on this site and came across your thread, I'm pretty sure I have gone thru and read every single page here as this is a great thread. I haven't done anything yet to my Cruze but so far I bought the PAC AA-GM44 to keep the factory radio and add amps. Question is and forgive me if this seems like a dumb question but I have never used a LOC, but the PAC only has 4 rca hookups, if I wanted to use these 4 for an amp for the inside speaker and also wanted an amp for the sub (future purchase) how do I make I work when I only have 4 rca's? is it as simple as using a rca male to female y splitter and splitting the rear signals to add 2nd amp?

 

[XtremeRevolution]

I'm new here on this site and came across your thread, I'm pretty sure I have gone thru and read every single page here as this is a great thread. I haven't done anything yet to my Cruze but so far I bought the PAC AA-GM44 to keep the factory radio and add amps. Question is and forgive me if this seems like a dumb question but I have never used a LOC, but the PAC only has 4 rca hookups, if I wanted to use these 4 for an amp for the inside speaker and also wanted an amp for the sub (future purchase) how do I make I work when I only have 4 rca's? is it as simple as using a rca male to female y splitter and splitting the rear signals to add 2 amp?

There are a few ways to do this.

1. You can remove the back door speakers. If you don't carry many passengers, you'll never know they're missing. The sound coming from down there is terrible anyway. Many people have gone this route.
2. You can leave the stock rear door speakers alone and run them off of the factory head unit. It adds a tad bit more tuning effort as you'll have to gain-match the front and rear channels, but it's possible.
3. If using two or more amps, you will often find that an amplifier has an input and an output. You can output from one amp to the input of another.
4. If using a single 5-channel amp, you will often find the capability of having inputs for only 4 channels and having those channels automatically feed the 5th channel with the bass signal.
5. You can use a "Y" adapter, but I don't know what your results will be. You may have to increase the gains on the amplifier for those channels.

 

[DieB4u]

Ok Thanks, for now I am just going to use the 4ch amp on the 4 speakers, and as I upgrade things I like the idea of getting rid of the back door speakers and just adding a quality sub. Second question is the PAC has some pretty bad directions! If I am reading this right the "T" harness plugs in between the stock wiring and stock radio, then to the "Output" on the PAC unit (with toggle switch set to wired), then the rca's are connected to the input on the PAC unit (with toggle switch set to RCA). Does the PAC unit itself need to be powered to work thru the Blue/Yellow/Blue-Black cables? I was planning on using a add a circuit for the remote line of the amp.

 

[XtremeRevolution]

Ok Thanks, for now I am just going to use the 4ch amp on the 4 speakers, and as I upgrade things I like the idea of getting rid of the back door speakers and just adding a quality sub. Second question is the PAC has some pretty bad directions! If I am reading this right the "T" harness plugs in between the stock wiring and stock radio, then to the "Output" on the PAC unit (with toggle switch set to wired), then the rca's are connected to the input on the PAC unit (with toggle switch set to RCA). Does the PAC unit itself need to be powered to work thru the Blue/Yellow/Blue-Black cables? I was planning on using a add a circuit for the remote line of the amp.

You have it correct!

I had previously believed that the unit does need to be powered to work, but was recently told in another thread that it does not need to be powered. I used the remote power wire from the AA-GM44 to start my amps, and I did power my AA-GM44 using the same power wire that goes into the factory radio.

 

[DieB4u]

So where do you connect the speaker wires back from the amp to the 4 doors? I have the PAC installed all my power connections are set, just having a difficult time finding a place to connect the amp speaker wires to original lines?

 

[XtremeRevolution]

So where do you connect the speaker wires back from the amp to the 4 doors? I have the PAC installed all my power connections are set, just having a difficult time finding a place to connect the amp speaker wires to original lines?

You don't use the original wires, unless you want to cut them right at the door opening and know what color you're looking for. You run new wires. For this reason, I recommend 18 gauge as it's plenty thick for even the most powerful 6.5" drivers you can fit in the doors, and it's far easier to run through the car.

 

[DieB4u]

Thanks that does seem a lot easier and it makes complete sense to use a thicker cable for better quality. so besides turning the gain down on the front channel anybody figure a way to stop the loud dings out of the front left speaker

 

[XtremeRevolution]

Thanks that does seem a lot easier and it makes complete sense to use a thicker cable for better quality. so besides turning the gain down on the front channel anybody figure a way to stop the loud dings out of the front left speaker

Turn the gains down on the PAC harness and turn them up on the amps. Then adjust amp gains to suit how loud you can tolerate the chimes.

Sent from AutoGuide.com App

 

[DieB4u]

alright I turned adjusted the gains accordingly and I'm ok with the level of the chimes, what I have noticed now is that when my lights are on I can hear some static/feedback (not sure what the proper term is) thru the speakers, only when the headlights come on. Second for some reason my rear parking assist doesn't seem to beep anymore, I have verified that the parking assist is still turned on but it doesn't beep when I'm going in reverse. Any ideas?

 

[XtremeRevolution]

alright I turned adjusted the gains accordingly and I'm ok with the level of the chimes, what I have noticed now is that when my lights are on I can hear some static/feedback (not sure what the proper term is) thru the speakers, only when the headlights come on. Second for some reason my rear parking assist doesn't seem to beep anymore, I have verified that the parking assist is still turned on but it doesn't beep when I'm going in reverse. Any ideas?

I'm not sure what speakers the parking assist is supposed to go through.

A few others of us have noticed the static too. I'm still not sure what the solution to it will be. It may be coming from the PAC harness, or it may be coming from the radio, but is more pronounced now that you have better speakers and higher gains on the amplifier. I'll be doing some experimenting later this year to see if I can make it go away.