Front Comps

[Shogen 325]

These fit within your budget Scan-Speak and might be worth a look.

For some reason I love all of the options on their autokits... Just don't know how to find out people's opinion on them since there is no "review" function on their site... It would be a great investment for them if madisound offered that.... Have you heard any of them personally 98???

[95Honda 486]

I don't think you can go wrong with ScanSpeak, they are just very expensive. I have used literally 100s of thier drivers since the early 90s, so I am quite familiar with thier product....

Would I install ScanSpeak in my own car? Probably not anymore, unless I was going for a no-budget limited install. The thing is, these days, with the Chinese pretty much getting the driver QC in check and actually building a decent product, you can do Usher for much less if you like ScanSpeak. The Dayton reference drivers are scary close in performance at much less cost also. The ScanSpeaks (especially revelators) are some of the best drivers out there, you just pay for it.

Also Focal can be debatable now, they haven't changed much in thier technology since I first bought some of my first 8V4412s back in 1991..... They make a good product, one of the best back in the day, but they don't warrant the high price anymore, just my opinion though...

I would really look into some tweeters by Dayton Reference, Usher, Morel (They take much abuse, good in a car audio environment) Tangband, LPG, etc... For woofers I would look into the same brands, also look into picking up some extremists used, they show up here all the time. When Dan Wiggins designed those he targeted the Scanspeak 7" and I think he beat it very well, with the bottom end extension hands down....

[RichyMitch925 3]

Buy a set of my mids !

[///M5 2,833]

The Exodus Anarchy "could" make a great replacement for the Extremis as well. I only say could because I haven't held, seen, or listened to one but if you are concerned about midbass they should easily solve that concern. To be safe if you go that route I'd make sure to get a tweeter that plays nice and low.

Another option I regularly prefer in car is to use a midbass and a 3" full range driver and no tweet. In order to make that work the best you HAVE to get the 3" driver on axis. Off axis response will leave you wanting more and more. The nice part for you is if you truly felt that you were missing the top end sparkle you could add a tweeter later. With good aiming and mounting on the mid though that shouldn't be necessary. If you go this route you have to be a little more careful in your processing choices as your frequencies won't fit the standard 2 way configuration.

Sort of comes back to your mounting locations, how much work you are willing to do, and what compromise you want to make. In all setups there are some, the only questions are which ones to minimize.

Buy a set of my mids !

Umm, no. Won't fit his needs at all.

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Have you heard any of them personally 98???

Not these personally, but have heard various Scan-Speak drivers in some very nice DIY home projects.

If I were in the market for a passive kit I would look into this as an option.

[ATF 4]

I was looking at a 3" tangband full range. The full range and midbass woofer idea is starting to sound like the best for me. But there are so many to choose from. What's a good full range that can play high and play midrange? And a good midbass 7" woofer ? Aiming the full range on axis, in the pillars, is what i'm thinking of doing. But instead of aiming the drivers side to myself and passenger to passenger side, would it be better to aim the pass. to me and the drivers side to pass. side? Or as long as they are both aiming correctly and directly? There are literally so many drivers to choose from. And i don't know what to look for as far as most of the specs go.

[REVpuggie 23]

I like my Peerless 830987 drivers , but it will take some EQing to get the top end to sparkle

[///M5 2,833]

I was looking at a 3" tangband full range. The full range and midbass woofer idea is starting to sound like the best for me. But there are so many to choose from. What's a good full range that can play high and play midrange? And a good midbass 7" woofer ? Aiming the full range on axis, in the pillars, is what i'm thinking of doing. But instead of aiming the drivers side to myself and passenger to passenger side, would it be better to aim the pass. to me and the drivers side to pass. side? Or as long as they are both aiming correctly and directly? There are literally so many drivers to choose from. And i don't know what to look for as far as most of the specs go.

They HAVE to be on axis, ie you will not have a good sounding stage for your passenger and if you do you will have a steep roll off yourself. Obviously 'screwing' the passenger is a better idea and in all reality most will still think they sound amazing. Yelling have was a bit extreme, but without knowing exactly which driver it could surely be the case. Off axis & large driver = large roll off. And anything more than an 1" is large.

There are a ton of good full rangers. Depends on your preferences and what you are willing to spend once you buy your processing. I would also add some of them will require more processing. Case and point the Tang 4" Titaniums are wonderful drivers, but would NEVER work with crossovers on an amplifier as you will need some serious eq to tame them for full range use. There are other extremes as well, so recommendations have to be more complete than a single driver and need to include the rest of your setup and installation.

First things first. Are you willing to give up a front seat stage for a drivers seat stage? If not, then you'll need a tweeter...

[95Honda 486]

Not only is off-axis response going to be an issue like Sean pointed out, and it is a big issue really, but you also have to be aware of the output capabilites.... What I mean by this is, you need to be honest with your self how loud you are going to be listening... If you are going to be demoing your system for extended times at high volume, it is easy to cook these small full-range drivers... Especially when you are using them over a very wide bandwidth... They just aren't made for higher SPLs....

I think you should stick to a 2-way, active set with a full size tweeter and a 7" ish driver... You can't go wrong, it will sound better than almost any "car audio" set at any price and have the output capability you may need...

As a starting point, I would look at these tweeters-

Vifa Ring Radiator

Usher

Dayton Reference

And these woofers-

Dayton Reference

Dayton Reference 4 ohm, higher Q than 8 ohm, better for in door use...

Usher w/phase plug. Godd off-axis response. Lower Q will be OK in door...

Of course this isn't an inclusive list. Just be aware when looking at midbass drivers that if they have a very low Qts (in the .2-.3 region) you may have response problems in the bottom octave if you just simple mount them in a door with no type of enclosure... Doesn't mean they won't work great, just means they migh seem a little thin on the bottom...

Edited March 9, 2011 by 95Honda

[95Honda 486]

As for a crossover, the last few active 2-way systems I have done used Audio Control 2XS crossovers. I think I paid $25 or so each, used on E-bay. You solder in resistors for exact frequency setting and they have very high quality components and probably better SQ than anything made today....

[ATF 4]

Okay well i actually would be demoing my car probably have the volume on the head unit like 3/4 up.. And i wouldn't want to mess up the full ranges if they'd be sensitive at high volumes.. As for some 1" tweeters then, i would still make pods and try to aim them on-axis . Now how about tweeters that can play lower? As for crossovers, should i be using the head unit as the crossover, that's if it were a dex-p99rs or deh-p800prs ? With the head unit i might just go big and get the dex. So later on i can run fully active with it.

[Impious 1,476]

All 3 of the tweeters 95Honda linked should be able to play pretty low (relatively speaking). All of them have an Fs in the 500-600hz range, so they should be able to handle 2khz or so so with ease. General rule of thumb is that you don't want to run a tweeter lower than 2x it's Fs. Obviously there's more to how low it will play than only it's Fs, but it's a good rule of thumb to use as a "quick reference" when comparing tweeters. If you have a shallower slope, plan on crossing the tweeter a little higher. Generally large format tweeters are going to be able to play lower than compact tweeters.

As for crossovers.....yes, the crossover in the headunit would be fine as long as it's has the appropriate xover slope and frequencies that you need.

[///M5 2,833]

Okay well i actually would be demoing my car probably have the volume on the head unit like 3/4 up..

Definitely not a full ranger buyer then. Glad you pointed that out.

The Premier PRS units crossovers are stellar for a 2 way and my personal choice.

[ATF 4]

Okay so i have been looking at a few tweets and woofers that can possibly work for me.

Tweeters: Scan Speak 7100; 602010. Peerless 830987; 810921

Woofers: Seas P18RNXP; L18 (H1224), Usher 8945P, TangBand W6-1721, Dayton RS180

Read some reviews on each of these, and tried to find some tweets that work well on the lower end and all around good woofers. Let me know what you guys think. This isn't a narrowed down list but just a starting point i suppose. A few of the tweets prices vary from high to low. But i am prepared to pay more for better performance. Considering that i would install them all correctly. lol

[///M5 2,833]

While all of those drivers have different sonic capabilities, install indeed will make the difference. They also each have different compromises, have you thought about your preferences there?

[ATF 4]

preferences?

[REVpuggie 23]

Okay well i actually would be demoing my car probably have the volume on the head unit like 3/4 up..

Definitely not a full ranger buyer then. Glad you pointed that out.

The Premier PRS units crossovers are stellar for a 2 way and my personal choice.

@M5 : could you elaborate on why a 3inch full-ranger would not do wel on high volume playing paired with a 7 or 8 inch bassdriver, would depend on the full-range driver and x-over settings would't it ?

There are quite a bit full-rangers that can take a fair amount of power crossed at 200 / 250hz

[///M5 2,833]

Okay well i actually would be demoing my car probably have the volume on the head unit like 3/4 up..

Definitely not a full ranger buyer then. Glad you pointed that out.

The Premier PRS units crossovers are stellar for a 2 way and my personal choice.

@M5 : could you elaborate on why a 3inch full-ranger would not do wel on high volume playing paired with a 7 or 8 inch bassdriver, would depend on the full-range driver and x-over settings would't it ?

There are quite a bit full-rangers that can take a fair amount of power crossed at 200 / 250hz

Like which ones? Even something "beefy" like the Tang Band W4-1337 can only handle 25wLook at their sensitivity, do some simple math, and then realize where the bottleneck will be in your system (25w and 87dB efficient isn't loud and that driver has a ton more capability than most). Full range and high output never really works. Doppler distortion is also something you have to worry about at high levels considering the excursion will color the rest of the frequency range. Tweeters in general are capable of getting way louder.

One other comment. Using a full ranger to me would mean using a serious midbass. Goal of having one driver play as much of the frequency range as possible means you can use a serious midbass (ie 8" or larger if space allows). Dynamic capability on that end is rather tough as well. Conveniently for most people that discussion never occurs because getting output out of a subwoofer is rather easy.