when my fronts when out, i picked up some Pioneer speakers as thats what I replaced the sail panel speakers with and I like them. Went to put them in and the connection from the door had 4-wires and the Pioneers only have 2. Not knowing **** about audio, i went to the local place, told them to put it in, they said what i had wouldnt work and i had to buy some Focals (cheaper than the pioneers i bought so i didnt care). All said and done, they are quiet and distort when you turn it up, and with the cam i kinda have to have it loud.

basically, Focals suck.

 

Which CDT pieces did you install? I would like to hear your setup.

 

I have CDT CL-E6 in the doors and eD 7kv.2 subs in the sail panels with a Pioneer deck running through the Monsoon amp.

 

What model CDT tweeters?

 

Basically, no, you need an amp. You need an amp with the Pioneers, you need an amp with the Focals, and you need an amp period.

 

Focals suck though. At least if you ever should need to have them replaced.

 

So what you mean is "Focal's customer service sucks." Because the speakers sure don't. Sorry Ian, but the Focal speakers are definitely above CDT.

 

the pioneers i have in the sail panels sound just fine, i guess it could sound better with an amp, but i dont think i need it.

every car ive ever heard with Focals are too high pitched, they dont give off anything low, even the ones i have i hate, same problem

 

I had their top of the line 6x9's $300 and they fell apart. Two sets! Also the highs were as stated plus lows lacked. Horrible getting replacements!

 

They are bright, yes. They are definitely not known for lacking in lows, though. Definitely got more lows than Pioneer (other than perhaps the 720PRS set) or Alpine. That said, I don't run Focals either because my setup will obliterate them (except the REALLY expensive component sets they have)

 

Brings back memories:

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showth...t=focal&page=2

That 1st replacement had a busted tweet in the box when we got it. They had another sent in from NC. It was installed and two weeks later the lead wires fell off. I just unhooked the other one and haven't taken them out. It's been okay with no rear fill and no failures now! I am going to swap them out for M-6's and sell the 6x9's for parts on E-Bay. You can't get CV-690's anymore!

 

TW-25S silk 1" tweeters.

 

i have infinity kappa 60.7 cs in the doors and im very happy the highs are very crisp clear and loud. the mids aren't the best but a definite improvement over stock. with good mids in the sails and a sub in the hatch like me you'll not know and will need good highs to keep up with the rest of the system. the reason the mids in the kappas aren't impressive is because they're under powered with the factory amp.

if you have a TA you can adjust them with the equalizer and fade if it's to loud or "ear splitting" for you. they also come with crossovers which allows you to adjust the tweeters by 3db so there's flexibility. but the factory crossover can control them so this isn't necessary

i wouldn't bother putting them in the hatch though you wont here them up front and it'll be plenty loud in the rear.

also there isn't enough power to blow them unless incorrectly wired. i love numbing bass but i don't wanna miss anything else in the process....

 

No... equalizer doesn't solve everything. The woofers have approximately no Xmax, the tweeters distort at the lower end of the spectrum that they're used at, and the equalizers on our stock decks are nowhere NEAR good enough to do much of anything. If you had a good RTA and a deck with a few bands of parametric EQ, you can improve upon just about any speaker, but you can't make every speaker great.

 

I've also used Infinitys in other cars and have had great results. They do have bright highs, though.

 

when did i say the equalizer solves everything? all i know is they sound fantastic in my car and i can turn down the higher frequencies enough to please my ears. also i can fade towards the rear if needed which isn't necessary. i need the strong highs to level out my hard hitting bass. i have way less distortion than with the factory speakers. with a factory HU you can only get so far without distortion issues. the fix to that problem is in the mail..

i don't really care for your theoretical answers solves all mindset. you may know the technical aspects to every portion of an audio setup but until you hear it for yourself your calculations may be misleading. there are too many variables to know exactly how everything sounds. and please don't put words in mouth

 

I find that the Infinity speakers are a matter of personal taste. Some people love them while others complain that they are too bright. I recommend finding a way to listen to them before purchasing to see if you like them. Of course, hearing them on a stereo shop's sound board isn't the same as in a car so finding them in a friend's car would be a better way.

 

Whitebird,



So I am still trying to figure out how to set my car up but I am running out of time. I expect the window motors to arrive by next Monday. I can't remember the things you use to get a signal in the rear but that is what the audio shop is going to do for the 10" SE in the rear. Can that also be done for the front door speakers? I have a lot of pieces sitting around so tell me if this setup will work. I want to stay with the factory HU for appearance and wheel functions. Maybe not the best but what do you think:

- CDT M-6's in the door with TW-25's fed by QAA1000 amp. Two channels 250W per side. I need the one tweet and I have Z-250 2-way x-overs in a box somewhere. That work?
- Bazooka 6.5" subs I got off Kee in the sails fed by the other two channels of the QAA1000. 200W per side.
- Hifonics 1606D feeding the one SE-10" in stealth box
- Factory HU power to the Kappa setup in the hatch. If it doesn't sound right or kills the stage just disconnect.

I guess leave the factory wiring intact and run new wires to all this. If I can't do the doors with the stock HU and that QAA amp then I need another direction.

 

You shouldn't have gotten the Bazookas. They are a low end brand and will come nowhere NEAR the RE sub. You don't need sail panel speakers with a stealthbox. And if you're set on hatch speakers, at least keep the fade mostly up front. Besides just being a terrible location for a speaker, they will sound completely different from your CDTs.

 

I may need to do this in phases. It won't be the first time I had to play around with the setup to get what sounds best to me. I went through several changes until my Honda was right and still have some of the pieces left. She sounds extremely good now! Wouldn't change it at all.

What kind of complicates things is wanting to stay with the stock HU but it is what it is. I got the Bazookas to just do all swap-outs but now looking at a different direction.
Maybe the best plan of attack is get the Stealth in with it's amp and see how it plays. But I might as well do the doors too since I have to do window motors. If I can add the amp for the doors using the stock HU at that time I can either delete the sails totally and the hatch speakers if they don't blend in. Question is can I use the second amp for the doors the same way as the sub amp in the rear?