lithium

marking on the amp are never accurate. start somewhere around the 80hz marking and go up or down until it sounds right you.

mounting the mid to the door trim like that is a terrible idea. make some baffles and mount them properly.

you're right that the minidsp has far more features than a active capable hu but thats not to say you necessarily need them. limited features simply mean you need to take more time with installation. correcting problems by changing aiming or position rather than try to mask issues with EQ. making changes on the fly with a deck is much more intuitive. unless you want to sit in your driveway for hours on end. when you're actually driving, road noise, engine noise, wind, etc will come into play. fiddling with the HU at a stop light is much more appropriate in those circumstances. 48k sampling rate is plenty, guaranteed you're not hearing a difference between that and 96k in a car. i have two 2x4 units, wasn't aware you could do this. pretty sure you can only use one at a time. that's why its a pain. you might also need a line driver with the 2x4 units if you run into thermal noise.. i run a mix of amps... 3 kickers, US acoustic, and a large 2channel cadence for my sub. really want to upgrade/simplify to a pair of ppi900.4 or one of its "knock offs" (polk, hertz, etc). they're super small and built pretty well.

list of the active capable headunits. http://www.caraudioclassifieds.org/forum/sound-quality-area/38473-active-hus-list.html if you're really against swapping out your hu just stick on of these in your glove box. still easier to use than a minidsp. edit: not sure they they mean by "3 way no sub".. they probably mean full 3 way... i own the clarion 785usb

a sub would still benefit from EQ and TA. if you're just experimenting with it then its up to you. could use it for an active HT design or something later. the minidc is for car audio installs, it has a delay turn -on and does some filtering. your idea that a minidsp and computer being easier to tune than a deck is completely backwards. the minidsp is an absolute pain, imo. personally i would just pick up an old 3 way capable headunit for 50-100 bucks instead. super easy to install and sell it off later. get the volume pot just to have. you wouldn't exactly need to use the pot with a headunit already controlling volume but there might be a reason to use it anyways. i sacrificed a cheap pair of rcas to wire mine up.

keep in mind that the 2x4 unit is only a 2 way processor. so it will not cover the sub. also, if you get it, make sure you get the miniDC and volume pot.

anyone have a preference on external hard drives? just need an 1tb drive for backing shit up. http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Ultra-Portable-External-Backup/dp/B00E83X9P8/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1393621265&sr=1-1

car audio drivers are typically designed for IB. other drivers not necessarily. i really hope you're not lazy enough to just screw the woofer into the door panel without a baffle? i know shops do this and its so fucking sad. i know everyone doesn't understand what deadening accomplishes but in a serious install you should never skimp on that either. i really doubt your ability to install a basic pair of components if this is the extent of your understanding. again, more rule of thumb bullshit. no reason at all to use a 7" midbass in an 3 way. any decent 7" that can be used in a 2 way gains nothing from adding a midrange driver to the mix. If you want a strict midbass driver than you should be looking at a 8"+ which would mate well with a 3" fullrange (while also leaving a door open down the road for a 3 way) as I was suggesting before. just to clarify, m5 was discussing why your experience with your home sound system is misleading you into thinking a 3 way is required for good sound. A 2 way with a good 7" and tweeter will blow the fucking doors off your home setup. And your comment on different types of the tweeters: horn loaded tweeters and bullet tweeters should never be used in a car. there might be some advantages to using other types of tweeter, dome, ribbon, ring radiator, etc. The problem I see is that if you go with a 3 way you will have no idea how to even evaluate its performance because you lack a reference point. This should be make perfect sense to anyone. walk before you run, print before cursive, algebra before calculus...

both damaged in shipping? dam

you could try uploading your pics to SSA

a 3 way with a 6.5 that can play well into the midrange seems overkill. not even sure what drivers you're talking about. or what processing you have available. if you want to try active out then try it first with the 2 way comps.

try the sundowns active and see how it goes. active is not for everyone.

Interesting ...My 49 Ford has a factory Center Channel area that you could almost fit a 8" driver and reinstall the factory Grille ... I have new 8" fullrange driver that I'm not using at the moment. We were considering a sealed 8 in the center channel area for a sub stage location, so it might be something cool to experiment and just see how much stage width and depth I could get out of it ... i wasn't suggesting that those things would be a good idea. just trying to point out that OP has a fixation on a 3 way front stage for no reason. I also don't see how a center channel in a vehicle would improve anything. what is it suppose to accomplish? i doubt anyone can really get an 8" fullrange to work in a car. the only installs i've seen involved giant modifications to the dash. Personally, I really like the idea of using one driver that can cover the majority of the spectrum and then a midbass to back up the low end (same applied to a 3 way with a tweeter covering the very top).

weird, what browser?

Its almost as if he's saying a 3 way front stage is the pinnacle of SQ. Why not a 4 way? What about a center channel or rear fill? I don't understand the fixation. A single driver (point source) that could reproduce the entire spectrum accurately would be the most ideal driver ever.

you wont learn how to do it correctly by jumping in that deep. its like asking an infant to run

this pic?

friend of mine just got into script based mining. hope btc recovers.

the net volume of the sealed enclosure is likely too small to simply add an external port. how volume would need to be added for the port to work out? check out the box size requirements for a ported and sealed box for the icon.

the net volume of the sealed enclosure is likely too small to simply add an external port.

well that's what I was asking what kind of amp would be needed and go active. I wasn't planning on going passive.if you're having trouble with properly installing a passive set i doubt you're ready to handle active. you would also need to invest in more than just an amp for an active install. ok so just limit my self to mediocre installs. Because I can't learn new things, and some were born knowing everything. your instinct to buy new gear is a terrible idea given you've have yet to diagnose your current issues. start there. i'm trying to save you time and money.

well that's what I was asking what kind of amp would be needed and go active. I wasn't planning on going passive. if you're having trouble with properly installing a passive set i doubt you're ready to handle active. you would also need to invest in more than just an amp for an active install.

what make year and model?also what steering wheel module? 01 buick century. i'll be doing a tablet install and i have a unit that taps of the steering wheel controls. Is that a bus or resistive? hopefully resistive? not sure, just bought the joycon unit and assumed it will work From the diagram it looks like it is a bus. There is a bus converter to Joyconn though. I don't remember the name as that part I haven't bought yet. I'll need one myself. i'm still not sure if its bus or resistive. having a hard time finding info. most domestic vehicles seem to be resistive. maybe bose is the exception. it will probably be a while till i'm installing the tablet. my re-install plan: 0. rip all my equipment out of the old car 1. run all wiring 2. sound deaden trunk 3. install amp rack/false floor/Infinite baffle sub combo! 4. install sound deadening in the front doors and install the sls 8s 5. install tablet 6. play around with aiming midrange and tweets 6.5. maybe build temporary pods for the midrange 7. wait till spring to do fiberglass

Pretty sure he has a PhD in acoustics. haha ya i was being sarcastic.