I am looking at the following system:

AVIC-Z1
JL W7 10 inch sub
Subthump W7 box
Focal or MB Quart 3 way components

Here is the big question, my brother upgraded his subs in his car and gave me the following for a good price:

RF Thump P8002 and P8004.

Obviously I would run the P8002 for the sub and the P8004 for the components. Is this too much power for the speakers or is this ok. Also, these are pretty large amps, looking for mounting suggestions.

Also, any recommended changes and modifications to the proposed system are welcomed.

 

Those amps should be fine in terms of power. Just make sure they are at the proper ohm load for the sub as they have a protect and thermal feature that will kick in if it gets too hot or wiring is incorrect. As far as mounting goes. I believe they are the same dimensions (not looking a the amps right now)but you could do a stairstep like configurations with one above the other to reduce the footprint.

Sounds like you got some good music coming your way regardless. Good Luck

 

Sounds like a nice system set up. There is rarely a thing as "too much power" when it comes to audio stuff. As long as you have it tuned and set up properly you sould be doing just fine with that set up. What your speakers actually see vs your max watts your amp will put out are usually not anywhere near each other. Example would be on a 45hz big bass note your sub MIGHT see 350 watts in a quick transient but it is generally only seeing 80-125 watts during normal music playback of say a max of 500 watts. This concept is known as "headroom" and the basic idea is to give the amp the ability to handle any large "spike" (known as a transient) with a smaller percentage of its max power, therefore decreasing the chance of distortion and/or damage.

IE 200 watt amp
Normal music uses 80-125 watts
Transient uses 160-200 watts (or 80-100% of max)

500 watt amp
Normal music uses 80-125
Transient uses 160-300 watts (or 32-60% of max)

This operating range (example 2) is less likely to push the amp into distortion vs example 1.

*disclaimer: these numbers are for reference and are not necessarily accurate*

Keep your gains down, your volume on your headunit in the 75-80% of max range and get your crossover points set up and you will be golden.

Fej

 

Thanks Fej, I realise with the speakers I am going for the top line name brand expensive stuff. I want realy clear osunding music, are there better alternatives that are not going to cost so much. I am willing to buy the expensive items for top quality, but if the same quality can be achieved at a lower price point, all the better.

I have been looking at the JL XR653-CS 3-Way Component System as an alternative for the components, that gives me an all JL speaker set up.

 

I personally do not have any real listening experience with the JL 3 ways. Does that set come 6/4/tweet? In the c5 doors you will loose a bit of sound from the 4" midrange getting blocked behind the factory door panel. Vrumvrum could make you a mounting plate for that 3 way set up no problem and I bet you could request that he mount the 2 speakers as low as possible to help with the blocking problem.

I have a 7", 3", and tweet in my car now (the 3" is really almost a 4"). I am a big fan of Focal myself, especially the Polykevlar line. Check out Zalytron.com as Elliott has some of the best prices on their drivers I have found, and they are legitimate, serial numbered, and warrantied.

Clear requires good power, and frequency management between the speakers. You need to consider either a headunit with a built in crossover function, or an external crossover as most amps will not give you the flexibility and accuracy you need to get things dialed in in a 3 way system.

One more thing, I would throw the DLS Iridium 3 way set up into your choices of 3 way systems. I am VERY impressed with their 3" dome mid that I added to my Focal polykevlar 7"/tweet and will look into their speakers for my next system. They make an 8"/3"/tweet and a 6.5"/3"/ tweet. The midrange has its own independent crossover which is a nice quality feature.

Fej

 

The RF amps have a built in cross over, and the 3 ways I though come with cross overs. I was anticipating using the VrumVrum set up, and I like you tweeters in the door pulls. Are the focals 3 way?

 

DLS Iridium -- those look amazing, but wow...expensive

 

a subthump box will be way too small for a w7, stick with the w6, the tone and sound is better. a w7 is for spl mostly.

the w6 will rattle my car to the point where the back tail lights move about 1/8 of an inch in and out.

 

Thanks Evil - Subthump makes a specific box for the W7 - but I will take your recommendation.

Since I am putting a sub in, do I need a 3 way component system, I thought the best sound quality would come out of a 3 way system, although I dont want the base to overpower all the other music.

 

Two ways to look at three ways .. how important is accuracy in your stereo system? How about tonality? How about imaging? Have you thought much about midbass in your front stage?

For most people, a QUALITY 2 way component set will satisfy most of the above, and be far easier to tune/set up and have sound good. With a 2 way system you only need to concern yourself basically with 3 things:

1) where does the tweeter go
2) what is the high pass point for the front midbass
3) what is the low pass point for the sub

The passive crossovers take care of the rest of the system for you, and you are able to handle the rest of the crossover points with the built in units on the amps. The problem from this is that MOST amps only come with a 12db roll off crossover which often is too shallow a slope to allow a nice low crossover point on your midbass speakers. You will be forced to run a higher point (say 80 to 100hz) with a 12db slope because the speaker will still see some output down around 60hz and even a bit below, albeit one with a lower db (volume). In order to correct this you really need an 18db or even 24db slope crossover point to eliminate the bleedover from lower frequencies and causing your midbass to both work too hard and become "muddy". Hence the reason I mention HU crossovers and/or external units with higher slopes.

I posted several threads in the FAQ about crossover points and slopes and tuning and frequncies and octaves etc etc. Check them out before you decide what you want to do.

With a 3 way system you have to concern yourself with the following:

1) where does the tweeter go?
2) where does the tweeter start playing? What slope?
3) Where does the mid start and stop playing? What slopes?
4) where does the midbass start and stop playing? What slopes?
5) where does the sub start playing? what slope?

Some of this can be "auto" handled via the passive crossovers that come with the component sets, often times there are better options with some adjustability that the passive crossovers do not allow that can take into account your vehicle acoustics, resonance, and peaks and valleys in your frequency response.

You CAN run your system with a standard headunit, passive and built in amp crossovers, and a 3 way component/sub set up, but you will honestly NOT be getting the best from it regardless of how much you spend until you go with some sort of "active" crossover and tuning.

My current set up still getting tuned:

Eclipse 8053 headunit with built in 3 way 24db crossover, 13 band PEQ
Focal Polykevlar 7" midbass playing 63hz (24db) to 400hz (24db)
DLS Iridium 3" dome midrange playing 400hz (24db) to 3.5k (18db)
Focal Tn51 tweet playing 3.5k and up (12db passive) {really need to move this up}
Image Dynamics IDQ 12" playing 63hz and down (18db)



Fej

 

Fej - I must say you utterly confused me. I am still unsure what to do - 2 way or 3 way component set up. I read here the thread about 6" subs in the door with a 4 inch component set. I assume that he is not running a sub in the back. This looks like an interesting setup.

I dont need exceeding loud music, but I do need crisp clear sound at higher volumes. I dont need super base thumping, but I do need clear lows that accentuate the music well. I know what I want, I dont know how to get there.

The frequency on the corssovers on the amps are 40 - 400.

I have scrapped the nav idea and will go with the Pioneer DEH-P980BT when it is released next month.

To save a couple bucks I am also considering the JL XR653-CS 3 way component instead of the Focal, and the JL W6 instead of the W7. The W7 seemed a bit much for my needs.

 

Yep the w7 is a MONSTER!!! I have one in my car and love it.. The subthump box is 1.1 vs the 1.25 it asks for.. I dont know how big of a difference is but I built mine to the 1.25

 

I have the W7 in a 10W7 Subthump box and it sounds terrific. I definately reccomend. Maybe more bass that you need, but always better too much than too little...you can always turn it down.

 

Howdy
You have picked out some nice equipment. If you want the best sound up front I recommend doing a custom set up. This will involve building new kick panels. Put the 6" mid-bass in the stock door location (as low and front as possible) and the 4" mid and 1" tweeter in the kick panels. For sound quality, the Focals are hard to beat. The JL 3-ways are good too. They are not as good as the Focals as far as sound quality but the JLs will get louder than the Focals.
Check out my cars for ideas, esp the Corvette and the white Talon

http://www.cardomain.com/id/knewblewkorvette

 

Dude, who cares about your car when there are so many chicks around it.....? lol

 

I'll second that one! If building an awesome system in my Vette brings on those ladies, I guess I can suffer.

 

:o

 

I have MB Quart 3 way components in my C5 doors right now. 6.5" midbass driver (Premium Series PWD 160), 4" midrange and tweeter (RKC 110), 3 way crossover(MCX 328). I'm going for a different set up due to my taste in music. I'll sell them at a good price if you're interested.

 

Interested