Corey

iTrader: (1)

The FJamer headunit when I had it made the stock paper speakers with their wimpy magnets sound terrible.
The headunit was underpowered.

Now that I have a nice Pioneer AVIC-D3 headunit, the stock speakers sound much better, but if course the headunit runs out of power when you want to crank it, and the speakers buzz.

Was at Cartoys earlier today and I asked what type of speakers they recommended, and of course Focal was mentioned.
I have heard great things about them.

They can install the Focal 165V2s in the front doors, and mount the tweeters that go with them up in the dash where a set of cheap stock speakers now reside.

http://www.cartoys.com/Default.cfm/p/165V2/#



In the rear are 4" speakers, and another set of smaller Focals will go there.
I did not get the model name of them though.

A new line of Alpine amps that are smaller and more powerful has hit the market.
They suggested the PDX-4.100 which is 100 wattsx4.
http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/prod...odel=PDX-4.100





They would also use 4 gauge wire throughout, and they can also utilize my old Phoenix Gold 100 amp circuit breaker instead of a fuse setup.
I ran the Phoenix Gold circuit breaker in the 4Runner.

The factory 6x9s in the door seems to have some tight bass since they are amped by the Pioneer headunit, and I may lose some bass by going with the better Focal 6.5s in the door, or again I may not.

I will hold off doing a subwoofer until I hear how this sounds first.
If I do go with a sub, they can do a nice 10" in a custom glass box to go on the left rear panel on the side.

The doors will also be dynomatted.
I had that done in the 4Runner, and it made a big difference in sound.

Has anyone heard of these amps, and what is your opinion on them?
Any thoughts on the Focal 165V2s also?

Whitey13

A good friend of mine has a pair of them in his diesel Ram. So far he is very pleased with their performance.

Greg_Canada

Focal's are usually very nice, they should sound great. if you dont get those go for the Pioneer PRS 720 components, they are a VERY nice set and will play very low (40-50hz) and can handle big power (most people run 150wrms each to them)
Amp, i've heard good things about them, but since they are D-class, they wont have the SQ of a AB class amp. For a D, they are still nice.
And yes, i would for sure ditch those 6x9's for a set of 6.5 components anyday...

Also, will you be wiring active or passive on teh crossovers?
Personally i would wire them active using the 4 channels on the amp, and run the rears off the deck. You might not even want rear speakers after going active. (will give you a great soundstage and great SQ)
id only put in rear speakers if you regularly have rear passengers, but the fronts will be able to get so loud, you might not even need it.
That's what i would do IMHO....


EDIT $429's for those focals? DEFINATELY get there instead. http://woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuse...roduct_id=4985 (you dont have to buy from there)
And for Amp, i would go with the best Audison amp you can afford. They are fantastic.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guy's.

Greg, I gotta go with what Cartoys has in stock since they are doing the install.
They installed my Pioneer DVD-NAV system last spring (phase one), so this is phase two of that.

Phase three (not sure of the date yet) will be my old school Rockford Fosgate 500a2 amp they will put in to power a 1x10 or a 1x12 is a custom glass box to go in the left rear quarter.

Greg_Canada

Oh alright, it will sound great either way, im just trying to save you some money.
But yea, ask about wiring the front components active, the sound would be amazing. If theyre a reputeable shop, they would give you a good answer.
Again tell them to run the rears off the deck and fronts wired active. I think you'd like it alot.

Greg

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Greg.
I will mention that to them when I call them up to confirm my appointment this weekend.

Let me get this straight.
The Alpine amp is 4 channel.
So the Focals in the doors and the tweets that they will put up in the dash to replace the cheap speakers there now will only require two of the channels on the amp.

If the run the rear speakers off the deck which has good power by the way, that will leave two channels open.
Can those two be bridged to power a 10" sub, or I am still better off later having them wire in my old 500a2 amp?

Also there are those two speakers in the roof, but they are more for feel I think than sound.
I am not sure how they will wire them back up.

It is funny though how this Pioneer AVIC-D3 headunit makes the cheap factory speakers sound half way decent when the factory headunit hardly had any headroom to push them.

MP3s and Sirius sound darn good now with it up loud, I can not wait to hear the better sound quality of the Focals.

In the old rig all I had was a set of Infinity 6.5" comps in the front doors and my 15" JL W6 run off of the 500a2 and a 200a4 amp for the doors, and that system was crystal clear and loud.

That 15" would give you a back massage and it felt like the seat was moving in its tracks.

Greg_Canada

Lol 15 is HUGE... 12 is more than big enough for me at 800 watts... 15's are nuts...
No active is 1 channel for every speaker. the front two channels will be tweeters, and the rear two will be the mid's. It gives u very accurate crossover adjustment and gain adjustment, and just crazy SQ. It will use up all 4 channels on a 4 channel amp.
Passive crossovers, are what come stock with components, and while "safer" (it's just easier to tune/hook up) you are losing power, clarity, etc etc with the extra filters and noise in the system.
Here, read this thread,
http://customtacos.com/forum/showthr...active+passive

Greg_Canada

Reading your other post i see you got it done passive.... did you ask the guy why he wouldnt want to do an active set up?
The way i think of it, you have all the parts to do it (maybe you'll need a notch crossover)... why let it go to waste?

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I asked the manager at Cartoys about it, and he said this is the way they do it.

They have been working on my rigs for 10 years, and I have been happy with the outcome.

It sounds awesome Greg the way it is now.
I am very happy with the outcome.

Maybe in the future I will monkey with it, but for now I am 100% pleased.

Greg_Canada

No prob bud, it's just good you bought a system that can be upgraded in the future, and isnt a dead end.... (aka good choice)
Cheers,
Greg

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Greg, I do need the sub though.
The Focals are great for mid range, but the bass department is not their forte being only a 6.5" driver.

I had to go into the menu on the deck and turn on the HF I think it is called, and make it block low frequencies from going to it.

The choices were 60, 80, and 125 I think.
I set it on 125 so less bass goes to them, and went to the EQ and set it to "living room" mode and that brought up the highs.
Man those Focal tweeters sound nice.

I still need to spend some time though making a custom EQ setting.
One thing that ticks me off about the headunit is when they pull the fuse to it like they did this weekend I loose my custom EQ settings, and only have the Pioneer ones which are a little to strong or weak for my taste.

The other settings though such as the NAV address book of places I want to go to are still there, as that gets written to memory somewhere.

So yeah, I will be looking into a JL W6 10" sub, and the Alpine PDX-1.600 mono amp to push it.

That will be my final phase of the system.

Greg_Canada

Ok you adjusted the HPF. For your style pioneer deck (mid-end) the crossover is a simple 50/80/125hz.
I like to set my high power fronts anywhere from 50-80hz (if they can handle it) but im still running stock fronts in my 99' and i had to set the hpf to 125hz...
(89' is set to 50hz)


According to the spec sheet on your focals:
Specifications
* Woofer: 165mm.
* Voice Coil: 25mm.
* Magnet: 72mm.
* Tweeter: Tioxyd TN 47.
* Crossover: 2-way 12dB/octave (with adjustable tweeter level).
* Max. power handling: 120W.
* Nom. power handling .: 60W.
* Sensitivity: (2,83 V/1m) : 92dB.
* Frequency response: 60Hz-20KHz.
* Grilles supplied.

They are good at 60hz and up, so i would lower your HPF to that. Since you can do 60hz on your deck, use the amp's built in crossover and adjust it to where you dont get any clipping at high volumes.

I know what you mean about the EQ settings, on my old Pioneer deck i had to re-adjust them all everytime i pulled the battery cable.
On my new Deh-P880PRS it saves it in the memory (very nice!) as it's so adjustable you dont want to lose your settings, as it would take hours to put them back in.

As for adjusting, i like to do every band seperate (well you have f/r) so do the fronts first, adjust the HPF and gain and such (if you can) then adjust the backs, then fade to where it sounds great. You gotta play with it a bit,
good luck,
Greg