PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

96C220 · #8 07-01-2005, 01:00 PM

Ok now that we are on a different level, lets talk. My previous comments were directed more towards a basic or "amateur" setup. Most people arent that into audio, especially in a car.

24db / octave is too steep for anything but a sub. Dont forget the listed xover frequency is the 50% power point, you are also attenuating frequencies higher than that, with that steep a slope the cutoff is going to sound unnatural. Especially with multiple drivers mounted off axis from each other. I agree with the 12-18db an octave slope. I also wouldn't use head unit power. I run 220w RMS per channel to my front stage with the gain at 1/8. Its all about headroom. My sub theoretically gets 1100 watts. Do I ever use it? No.

Have you considered thinking outside the box? Using a driver not really intended for car audio. There arent many car speakers of decent quality in that size. I run a Focal / Audax setup, with handbuilt crossovers. I selected from their raw driver line and pieced together my setup. I hate metal dome tweeters as well, they are really only a slight step above piezo tweeters. I have a w202 so I have a more flexible tweeter mount provision. I'm running a set of audax ribbon tweeters in the dash, and a 6.5" focal kevlar midbass. For now its running on a linkwitz reiley based 12db an octave crossover setup. I was planning to biamp the system, and use electronic crossovers all around, but honestly im happy with it. The only caveat here is that most drivers are 8 ohm, if you have sufficient power, this isnt a problem, but the higher impedance cuts the amplifiers current (and output power) in half, as well as the distortion though

The 6.5 in the door will help, as long as its crossed over low, it fires almost directly into the seat bolster, so its hard to localize it. Say 1000hz for that, 1000hz - 3.5k or so for the mid, and the tweeter handling anything about that. The other option is custom kick panels.