Ascendant Audio and Zed Audio Pics

[JazzScreamer 1]

So I thought I would post some pics of my sub boxes, amp rack, and door pods. I'm still a slight newbie at this (especially fiberglassing, but I think things came out quite nice considering I did this in my apartment. The sub boxes have an AA Arsenal 10" sealed, the amp is my Zed Draconia with the BurrBrown chip and the doorpods have a pair of AA POLYS. Sounds awesome!!] Some of you may have seen these pics before.. My screenname used to be Texas Edition.

[topgun 262]

Dang, you do some good work man. Nicely done!

[Acidburn 10]

the CF accents are sexilicious

[JazzScreamer 1]

I do Like the CB accents to it. I ordered way too much of the stuff and just started putting it where I could. I thought it would tie everything together. The Subs are running off a pair of Zed Mini's. I was thinking of putting some LED's between the AA logo (to light up just the AA logo)for a bit of bling, but I'm still not sure. Thanks for the compliments.

[///M5 2,833]

Looks great. What are you using for a crossover?

[JazzScreamer 1]

I'm using the active crossover on the Draconia. It's great to have a bandpass mode on the amp. It's crossoved over at 3K with a 4th order slope. AA Polys are running at 60hz at the low end.

[Audio Junkies 3]

The CF covers on the Zed looks awesome. I'm diggin the rings on the AA Polys as well. Very nice work!

How much would you want to do one of those CF rings for a 15"?

[JazzScreamer 1]

If you throw me some pics of what you want done, I can probably help you out.

[Godsmack 361]

Lovin' it!!!!!

Inspires me alot.

J

[flakko 1]

how are those AA's playin at 3k? does the music sound liek its missing something? or is it nice and full

[JazzScreamer 1]

Everything sounds great with them. I have them bumped up just a tad at 80hz and notched down a tiny bit at 1k ,but over all I like the sound of them. I assume that you might be having some problems with yours. If so, tell me. I'd be very interested in what you have to say. Thanks!

[mrray13 30]

looks very, very nice indeed! a build worthy of being proud of. i would't do the LEDs, but that's just me. i'm not much on bling....

kicks the shit outa my silverado, lol...

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[///M5 2,833]

Where and what tweeters are you using? I would think those AA's should play lower than 60, did you go that high because of over excursion?

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Wow very nice!!

[flakko 1]

Everything sounds great with them. I have them bumped up just a tad at 80hz and notched down a tiny bit at 1k ,but over all I like the sound of them. I assume that you might be having some problems with yours. If so, tell me. I'd be very interested in what you have to say. Thanks!

well actually not really...i did have a problem with them when they played at 4.5khz the music sounded empty and it was just terrible. lol but then i gota 2.5khz passive and everything was all good except my tweeter cant play that low lol (CAL25 AK)...now when i play piano music i get this awful static noise coming from my tweeter. maybe if i bump them up to 3khz everything will be all good to go.

[///M5 2,833]

Everything sounds great with them. I have them bumped up just a tad at 80hz and notched down a tiny bit at 1k ,but over all I like the sound of them. I assume that you might be having some problems with yours. If so, tell me. I'd be very interested in what you have to say. Thanks!

well actually not really...i did have a problem with them when they played at 4.5khz the music sounded empty and it was just terrible. lol but then i gota 2.5khz passive and everything was all good except my tweeter cant play that low lol (CAL25 AK)...now when i play piano music i get this awful static noise coming from my tweeter. maybe if i bump them up to 3khz everything will be all good to go.

You have other problems Flakko, get rid of those ill fitting passives and go active.

[JazzScreamer 1]

Where and what tweeters are you using? I would think those AA's should play lower than 60, did you go that high because of over excursion?

The tweeters I'm using are CDT's ES-100 and TW24/LP. The 100's are in the doors just above the AA's andt eh TW24 is in my A-pillar. I wasn't sure about this set up. I previously had the Vifa XT25 in the doors and them moved them into the A-pillars. Problem with them being in the door was that the sound stage was just below my chest and when I moved them to the A pillars, I felt like I knew where the sound was coming from (as if there were a gap). So I went with pair of CDT's to fix the problem. I'm really liking it so far. The ES-100's are a bit mellow and the TW-24 are a bit brighter adding a bit of space and airy ness to the soundstage along with bringing it up and out in front of me. The L-pad for the TW24 is nice. I can really tune into the sound and presence I want in the sound stage.

As far as the HP at 60hz on the AA's, I would go lower but I have my subs crossed over at that point and not sure if I will get some cancellation issues or not. I'm not to worried about overexcusion with the POLY's. They are just mid/midbass speakers. I guess I'll mess around with them some more later this week and give an update.

[JazzScreamer 1]

Flakko,

I think the 3k -3.5k range is best for these speakers if your going with a 2 or 3 way set-up. I've discussed this with Chad a few times and he suggested to me a crossover point between the 3-3.5k with a 18db slope. Now this was with his Vifa XT's combined with it, so this would vary with you tweeter choice. As far as the 4.5k problem, I don't know. I do know that Chad builds the POLY's with a slight dip at around 1k. That 's around the range where things can sound a bit tinny (like you talking into a metal trash can).

[flakko 1]

You have other problems Flakko, get rid of those ill fitting passives and go active.

believe me... i would if i could. next time i tear my seats out ill run an extra set of speaker wires, but right now, going through all the crazy trouble of taking the seats out and punching through my gas tank just isnt right... or should i...

Flakko,

I think the 3k -3.5k range is best for these speakers if your going with a 2 or 3 way set-up. I've discussed this with Chad a few times and he suggested to me a crossover point between the 3-3.5k with a 18db slope. Now this was with his Vifa XT's combined with it, so this would vary with you tweeter choice. As far as the 4.5k problem, I don't know. I do know that Chad builds the POLY's with a slight dip at around 1k. That 's around the range where things can sound a bit tinny (like you talking into a metal trash can).

i need to find some 3khz crossovers lol thanks for the advice man, you confirmed my worries so to speak. i honestly dont hear the tinnyness actually.

[2kchevy 3]

yeah that def puts my silverado to shame. lol

I love the front speakers. Beautiful install.

[///M5 2,833]

i need to find some 3khz crossovers lol thanks for the advice man, you confirmed my worries so to speak. i honestly dont hear the tinnyness actually.

Not find, either make or run speaker wire and go active.

[///M5 2,833]

As far as the HP at 60hz on the AA's, I would go lower but I have my subs crossed over at that point and not sure if I will get some cancellation issues or not. I'm not to worried about overexcusion with the POLY's. They are just mid/midbass speakers. I guess I'll mess around with them some more later this week and give an update.

At 60Hz the wavelength of sound is almost 19ft. I'd worry a heck of a lot more about mid to mid cancellation than sub to mid. To cure or check that I'd try to swap out the polarity on one pair of mids and see if it is better or worse. Turn down that crossover until they can't take it anymore and then turn it up just a hair. Easy to check sub cancellation too, turn it on and off and see what is different. While you are doing it swap the polarity as well.

[JazzScreamer 1]

I will definatly give it a shot. I know that I have the Subs polarity swithched on one. When I spoke to Steve at Zed he suggested that (not sure exactly why). Could you explain? I 'll let you know what I find out about the mids.

[JazzScreamer 1]

I will definatly give it a shot. I know that I have the Subs polarity swithched on one. When I spoke to Steve at Zed he suggested that (not sure exactly why). Could you explain? I 'll let you know what I find out about the mids.

Well, I messed around with the polarity on the system.

Switched the mids polarity and sound bad

Switched the subs polarity to match and it sounded bad.

So basically everything stayed the same.

I did mess with the crossover point with the AA's. Man these things can get low. I now have them at around 50hz and like the front stage even beter. Seemed to blend in the whole system even better than what it was. I may have to adjust the EQ on the subs now and pull the Q a bit lower now. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

[///M5 2,833]

Glad it helped. I really prefer midbass to subbass, but you definitely need them both! Now go play some Dave Holland, Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, Stanley Clarke, Oscar Pettiford or whomever you jazz bassist of choice is and hear how much smoother the lower registers are. In my truck, my mids play down to 40hz and it keeps the bassist up front. Personally I hate localized rear bass so anything I can do to be rid of it helps.