Hey all

I'm from South Africa and have been bussy with sound installs in my own
cars for about 9 years now. I have always had the best sounding car
between all my friends and family. I don't like big base SPl type
installs and all mine have been for sound quality. I have never
competed, but I want to start now. My brother in-law has also started
installing sound in his car and his car is beginning to sound better than
mine, so this prompted me to rebuild my system. I'm turning to you guys
for some help and advice so I can kick his ass and do well in the
competitions.

What I have:
Stock head unit CD/Tape Deck
MB Quartz 5 1/4" Discuss Split set
MB Quartz 12" Discuss sub (model 300.92 I think)
or Boschmann BOZ 12-AL 12" Sub (This is my choice.)
I have both subs by the way.
2ch BASS 250 Amp used to run the sub at 250rms mono or bridged.
2ch Kenwood 60rms amp to run splits.
Kenwood active Xover to split the signal.
Stinger RCA's and interconnects.

I am in the process of rebuilding the system into my car and doing a very
thurough job this time. The aim is to use the car for sound quality
competitions and everyday use. Before this I used the stock mids infront
and stock 6x9's at the back with the MB Quartz sub and tweaters. The MB
Quartz was in a 1.1 cu.ft enclosure. The system used to sound alright
and the stock mids impressed me a lot.

Now I have stripped out the 6x9 to allow base to get into the passenger
area. I have vibrosealed the boot area, and the front doors. The
virbroseal was used to seal all the holes in the door to form an
enclosure for the mids. I installed the MB-Quartz mids into the door and
was very disapointed with the base it delivered.

Now for the questions!
1.) Would it be advisable to build the rear stock 6x9 mid into the front
door together with the MB Quart tweaters and passive xover?
2.) Would I lose imaging due to the bigger cone of the 6x9?
3.) Would it help the MB Quartz mids with base if I filled the door with
hard spounge to make the door enclosure size smaller?
4.) I'm using a Stinger high-to-low convertor to drop the speaker outputs
to line level outputs for the amps. Why does this reduce the quality of
the sound? What can I do to minimize this drop in sound quality? I
don't have the money for another headunit.
5.) Do you get better quality high-to-low convertors?
6.) After playing around with my tweeter placement I found the best
imaging when each tweeter is right infront of the listener. ie. left
tweeter infront of passanger seat facing up and right tweeter infront of
driver facing up and a little to the front. The image is also increased
when the dash top is removed and the tweeters are droppped lower.
Another increase in imaging is obtaned when you place some rags around
the tweeter. What I am worried about is the width of the sound stage.
How can I test the width and depth of the sound stage? What music tracks
can I use to test this?

Okay this is enough for now....I have a lot more findings and a lot more
questions about the install, but I will leave it at this for now.

Hope you guys can respond soon.

In article 42,
Kelvin Cline wrote:

Now for the questions!
1.) Would it be advisable to build the rear stock 6x9 mid into the front
door together with the MB Quart tweaters and passive xover?

not sure how much bass response you would get from the 6x9, especially
stock ones but you could try it. the enclosure for each speaker should
be small, basically something that separates the speaker from the
airspace in the door, probably could be form fitting covering the entire
basket

3.) Would it help the MB Quartz mids with base if I filled the door with
hard spounge to make the door enclosure size smaller?

see above.

4.) I'm using a Stinger high-to-low convertor to drop the speaker outputs
to line level outputs for the amps. Why does this reduce the quality of
the sound? What can I do to minimize this drop in sound quality? I
don't have the money for another headunit.

this is your weakest link, using stock unit and output converter. save
up for a decent unit with 4v output, even an older one from eBay will be
head and shoulders above the stock unit.

5.) Do you get better quality high-to-low convertors?

you could try using an equalizer/line driver to boost the signal quality
and tweak the sound from the stock unit also. this can be cheaper than
buying a head unit.

6.) After playing around with my tweeter placement I found the best
imaging when each tweeter is right infront of the listener. ie. left
tweeter infront of passanger seat facing up and right tweeter infront of
driver facing up and a little to the front. The image is also increased
when the dash top is removed and the tweeters are droppped lower.
Another increase in imaging is obtaned when you place some rags around
the tweeter. What I am worried about is the width of the sound stage.
How can I test the width and depth of the sound stage? What music tracks
can I use to test this?

most sound quality installs get the best imaging with the tweeters and
midbass placed in the kickpanels with the speakers pointed towards the
dome light or thereabouts. speakers by your feet aimed at your head,
sort of.

Okay this is enough for now....I have a lot more findings and a lot more
questions about the install, but I will leave it at this for now.

keep testing and good luck!

-Adrion

--
"Ya'll done got me out here in this desert tempting me with this sweet
crack smell you call Graboid waste. I been tracking this smell for you
for two days. Two days! When am I gonna get mine, Bert? I'm a fiend and
I am fiending. What's a Graboid anyway? Uhh, why is the groung shaking?"

Tyrone Biggums wrote in
:

Thanks for the response....I'll keep all updated about the install.

I fitted the 6x9 last night....punctured my finger with a
screwdriver....and in the end could not fit the door panels back because
the speaker pressed against the door panel. But no fear....I'm working
on the problem...I'll make them fit.

I'm also thinking of mounting the 6x9 a bit further back in the door and
then putting the MB Quart in the stock position as it seems I'm getting
better imaging from them than the standard unit. Then I'll use the 6x9
for mid base in the front only.....should be harder to fit the 6x9 a bit
back, but it can be done.

A lesson I have learned is that you should not cover your doors with
vibroseal, before you know what you are going to do with your speaker
mountings....I have to remove some of it now.

I would like to mount the speakers in kick pannels, but there's no room
on the drivers side of the car. Even if you remove the stock kick panel.
I also experimented with the teaters in the kick panel area and against
the doors (next to the speakers) and found that the imaging was good, but
it lost a lot of the finer musical details. Things like the intake of a
breath, footsteps, ambiant sounds and strings being plucked. The best
place is still on the dash....but I'll have to cut the dash to make them
fit there. Still thinking of how to do it without it looking out of
place.

Next question.....
1.) Does it help sound quality by mounting a carpeted board under your
dash just above your feet....to cover all the holes under the dash?

Thanks
Cheers
KingAqua

--
"Ya'll done got me out here in this desert tempting me with this
sweet
crack smell you call Graboid waste. I been tracking this smell for you
for two days. Two days! When am I gonna get mine, Bert? I'm a fiend
and I am fiending. What's a Graboid anyway? Uhh, why is the groung
shaking?"