Maybe goin active... need advice

[cx-7heaven 7]

I'm just about ready to buy a H-701. I have a pair of sundown sax-100.2's running dual mono to my Diamond d-971 components(~400 rms per side). I wonder if I should stay with the passive xover or go active... I have the capability to easily switch between the 2 when I get the processor. Also, I just got off the phone with Diamond, found out that the tweet is crossed at 850 hz, but he said that the woofer has no upper cutoff freq. If I do go active, Where should I set the freqs, I want to try and keep the tweet as low as possible to bring my stage up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ANeonRider 3]

1) I will always recommend active over passive if you are able to.

2) You will also need at minimum the C701 controller for the H701, other option is one of the Alpine headunits capable of controlling the H701.

3) Can't say until you get it in, then use your ears. Every vehicle/install/equipment & person is different.

4) Stage height is a function of install, not how low the tweeter plays. Too many people crossover their tweeters much too low, which is why you see so many blown tweeters. At the very very lowest, a tweeter can go only as low as 2x its Fs safely.

[///M5 2,833]

I agree with Neon; however, I will point out that there is NO WAY that Diamond is actually crossed at 850hz. If you cross it there actively it will blow. Start at 2500hz if not higher and work your way down.

[cx-7heaven 7]

Yeah Neon, I'm getting the controller too. I was thinking about starting high and going down. As far as the xover frq is concerned, it freaked me out a little as well when the tech told me that. I even asked him if he was sure, and he said yes, that is where the tweet is highpassed at. I'll probably end up somewhere in the 1.2-2k range on it. Should I let the woofer roll off naturally, or play with the low pass on it too? Thanks for any help guys.

Edited January 10, 2008 by cx-7heaven

[cx-7heaven 7]

Also Fs on the tweet is 850hz, so I should maybe look at ~1700 hz for my xover point?

[///M5 2,833]

If the Fs is 850 there is NO way they are crossed there. I'd start at 2500hz as even 2x can be too close.

I'd also bandpass the mid. Where will depend on a lot of things but again start conservative at least on the HP portion and work your way down. The goal of course is to get it to play as low as possible without hurting the driver.

[cx-7heaven 7]

I just pulled the trigger and the 701 and the controller are on the way. Wiring wise, I should only need to get a fiber optic cable, right? I have 5 sets of nice rca's, so I'm covered with that I think.

Edited January 12, 2008 by cx-7heaven

[ANeonRider 3]

Get the toslink cable from monoprice.com

[cx-7heaven 7]

Well, the 701 is in, and I am amazed at the control I have. I still have some tuning to do, probably for the next month or so! Found some nasty rattles in my doors (gotta love that eq). One question that I think I know the answer to. I have a fiber optic running from my h/u to the 701, and it plays fine on cd(havent tried dvd, but I will assume it works good too). When I switch to FM, no sound. Do I have to run an rca for the radio too?

Also, on time alignment: I am running 2way active fronts. The way I read the manual is that I measure distances between the closest and farthest to my head, and then add time alignment only to the closest side... does that sound right? As it stands, I have 1.15 ms to my left tweet, and 1.10ms to my left woofer. I ran out of time tonight, but I think I may add a few ms to the right tweet as well.

Any advice would be appreciated.

BTW, thanks Neon for the tip on monoprice, awesome deal.. $4.73 for a 12ft fiber optic cable!!

Edited January 21, 2008 by cx-7heaven

[BassBaller5 2]

I belive the optic cable only works for the cd player, the included Ai-net cable that was included with the h701 sends the signal from the radio, mp3, etc.

[ANeonRider 3]

Yep, Ai-net is used for the analog signals, and the toslink is for the digital.

[ragnaroksq 0]

as for the fm not working, i have the same problem. i called alpine tech support, and he told me that on the h701 processor there is a switch that has to be put on "ai-net" since i'm running fiber optic. well, i have another h701 processor that is not installed and I don't see any "ai-net" switch on it. if someone can find it, let me know lol

[cx-7heaven 7]

Ok, update time. I ran an rca, and it works, I just have to go into the setup menu and switch inputs if I want to listen to radio. I think I'm REAL close on my eq/xover ass well. My stage is up in the middle of the windshield from the upper 1/4 of the dash, and hardly drops all the way to the sides. My sub blends very nicely now, overall I am very impressed with this thing. I have only one problem. When I had my 2 100.2's running dual mono, I had very little hiss. Now that I am running each in stereo, which in turn dropped the power, I have alot more hissing. My gains are not very high(maybe 1/3 of the way up), it's not rca related, I think it's just my amps. My thought is to get another pair of 100.2's and run 1 amp to each speaker, unless there is some kind of noise filter/ component that will help me out. Any advice guys?? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Edited January 22, 2008 by cx-7heaven

[ANeonRider 3]

The H701 has been known to hiss when the RCA input is used. I don't have any noise, but I used the toslink.

Maybe have a look around DIYMA to see if anyone has a fix.

[cx-7heaven 7]

The hissing is coming from the toslink.

[///M5 2,833]

Sounds strange, I would expect it to be nice and quiet. I'd recheck your cabling.

[cx-7heaven 7]

Yeah, I'll look at it tonight. The pioneer decks are famous for that stuff from what Ive heard. I understand the fix is to ground the rcas to the chassis. Do you think that would work for the 701? BTW the hiss is loud to me, but you can only hear it when volume is up quite a ways, and I found it when I was listening to the iasca sq disc, the track where the music fades away.

[Howlowd 0]

Yeah, I'll look at it tonight. The pioneer decks are famous for that stuff from what Ive heard. I understand the fix is to ground the rcas to the chassis. Do you think that would work for the 701? BTW the hiss is loud to me, but you can only hear it when volume is up quite a ways, and I found it when I was listening to the iasca sq disc, the track where the music fades away.

my usual course is to ground the rca's anyway. i would recommend trying that off the top. good luck.

[cx-7heaven 7]

Should I ground every rca to the chassis then?