Recomendations of Focal Tweeter Levels and High Pass Crossover Points...
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Recomendations of Focal Tweeter Levels and High Pass Crossover Points...
New System is currently getting installed in my 04 WRX Wagon...
Looking for some initial recommendations on Tweeter Level and High Pass Freq's for the Focal Separates. I am not a car audio freak but definetly am a home audio nut. I don't want overlly bright highs. I want something like my sweet Mirage M3si's I have in my living room....
Here's the system:
Factory Head unit
Front: Focal 165KP with ADS PS5.2 AMP
Rear : Focal 130CA with ADS PS5 AMP
Sub: Bazooka Marine Tube (wanted small)
Alphasonic Parametric EQ and Active Crossover. Separate controls from front, rear, etc...
XM Roady via FM Modulator mounted near ash tray.
Sub Level for the Bazooka in the little fuse panel left and under the steerting wheel....
Misc: V1 hardwire, cellphone hardwire, extra 12V power hardwire, 400 watt power inverter hardwire...
nice cables. re-stringing the doors. Dynamat Extreme in all doors, rear hatch area, etc...
Any suggestions or experiences from Focal owners would be appreciated...
Thanks,
Sean Smith
Looking for some initial recommendations on Tweeter Level and High Pass Freq's for the Focal Separates. I am not a car audio freak but definetly am a home audio nut. I don't want overlly bright highs. I want something like my sweet Mirage M3si's I have in my living room....
Here's the system:
Factory Head unit
Front: Focal 165KP with ADS PS5.2 AMP
Rear : Focal 130CA with ADS PS5 AMP
Sub: Bazooka Marine Tube (wanted small)
Alphasonic Parametric EQ and Active Crossover. Separate controls from front, rear, etc...
XM Roady via FM Modulator mounted near ash tray.
Sub Level for the Bazooka in the little fuse panel left and under the steerting wheel....
Misc: V1 hardwire, cellphone hardwire, extra 12V power hardwire, 400 watt power inverter hardwire...
nice cables. re-stringing the doors. Dynamat Extreme in all doors, rear hatch area, etc...
Any suggestions or experiences from Focal owners would be appreciated...
Thanks,
Sean Smith
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Another Question...
Anyone have problems fitting these speakers.. I bought the big IA performance spacers and the installer was still saying he was going to have to mod the doors to fit them. To the tune of $160 to install the fronts and $40 for the rears... Sounds a little extreme to me but these guys seem to do really great work. I would have bought Utopias if I had known if was going to still require custom fab work. They said the issue is not the depth but getting the door panel to fit back on once the speaker is mounted?
Any similar experiences here?
Seam
Anyone have problems fitting these speakers.. I bought the big IA performance spacers and the installer was still saying he was going to have to mod the doors to fit them. To the tune of $160 to install the fronts and $40 for the rears... Sounds a little extreme to me but these guys seem to do really great work. I would have bought Utopias if I had known if was going to still require custom fab work. They said the issue is not the depth but getting the door panel to fit back on once the speaker is mounted?
Any similar experiences here?
Seam
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 167
From: Los Angeles
Car Info: 1999 OBS
The Focal 165KP you got sound better than the utopia line right now. The only problem with those speaker are they 71mm / 2.84". I think they fit with a 3/4" spacer or more, plus adjusting the window tracks inside the doors. I think 160 is just right, $80 per door. As long as the make it fit without hitting the door panel and window, be sure they do this.
You are going to install an external amp right. The KP's needs atleast 80 w rms and the 130ca 50 w rms.
Personally i dont like having the rear fills, i have one right now but its hooked up straight to my HU and most of the time its turned off. So i only have the front stage and a mono sub.
If your looking for nice amps the brands to check out are
TRU Technology, Arc Audio, Zapco, Xtant, PPI, US Amps and so on.... these are high end amps that are good for an SQ system.
Go to ECA forum, you will learn a lot from the members there.
http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/index.php
These speakers will be happy with like a 100 rms amp.
Regarding the crossover points, i cant help you on that one, im using my passive xovers with the focal comps i have. You have to find someone who has experience with focal in the ECA forum. One of them is dingingaling aka leon shing, he has used the utopias with active xovers. I bet he can help you out. Have you tried the passives already? I bet those xovers are really good, but i know going active is better.
good luck
You are going to install an external amp right. The KP's needs atleast 80 w rms and the 130ca 50 w rms.
Personally i dont like having the rear fills, i have one right now but its hooked up straight to my HU and most of the time its turned off. So i only have the front stage and a mono sub.
If your looking for nice amps the brands to check out are
TRU Technology, Arc Audio, Zapco, Xtant, PPI, US Amps and so on.... these are high end amps that are good for an SQ system.
Go to ECA forum, you will learn a lot from the members there.
http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/index.php
These speakers will be happy with like a 100 rms amp.
Regarding the crossover points, i cant help you on that one, im using my passive xovers with the focal comps i have. You have to find someone who has experience with focal in the ECA forum. One of them is dingingaling aka leon shing, he has used the utopias with active xovers. I bet he can help you out. Have you tried the passives already? I bet those xovers are really good, but i know going active is better.
good luck
Last edited by jobs99; Feb 17, 2004 at 04:21 PM.
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Thanks....
no comments on the tweeter level settings. They set em at the factory levels and they are way to bright. Actually the mids sound dull.... I bumped the mids on the parametric EQ and its much better. I am going to take the doors off wednesday and tone down the tweeters...
I am driving the fronts with an ADS Amp 45 RMS x 2
and rears with ADS Amp 35x2
Tonal balance is good but overall the image sucks pretty bad. Not sure why.... worse speakers in other cars image better. I'm guesing its due to the poor placement of the mids very low in the doors.... Any Suggestions here...
Sean
no comments on the tweeter level settings. They set em at the factory levels and they are way to bright. Actually the mids sound dull.... I bumped the mids on the parametric EQ and its much better. I am going to take the doors off wednesday and tone down the tweeters...
I am driving the fronts with an ADS Amp 45 RMS x 2
and rears with ADS Amp 35x2
Tonal balance is good but overall the image sucks pretty bad. Not sure why.... worse speakers in other cars image better. I'm guesing its due to the poor placement of the mids very low in the doors.... Any Suggestions here...
Sean
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 167
From: Los Angeles
Car Info: 1999 OBS
Have you tried the tweeter level & mid settings on your passives?
I think you have 3 selections. I'm not sure though.
How are you powering the fronts? Don't you need 2 amps or a 4 channel amp for the four speakers, 2 tweeters & 2 mids.
Try to lower the tweeter level to -3db or -6db. The factory setting is good if you install the tweeter near the mids. If you place it higher on the door, a pillar (sails pods) or dash you need to lower its settings. Play with them and maybe you'll get it right.
I think you have 3 selections. I'm not sure though.
How are you powering the fronts? Don't you need 2 amps or a 4 channel amp for the four speakers, 2 tweeters & 2 mids.
Try to lower the tweeter level to -3db or -6db. The factory setting is good if you install the tweeter near the mids. If you place it higher on the door, a pillar (sails pods) or dash you need to lower its settings. Play with them and maybe you'll get it right.
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I am running 2 channels on the fronts using the passive crossovers from focal. and 2 chanels on the rear. so I am not using an active crossover and biamping the front components... Car is back at the installer today to complete the dynmamatting, lower the tweeter levels 3db and build a better mount for the xm roady. Also need to turn up the gains on the rear amp. Sitting in the back seat you can't even hear the rears. I want to have ability to have some volume in the rears if desired but mostly biased heavly toward the front for a strong sound stage. Still adjusting the high pass on the focals trying to get the balance just right. The shop who installed my stuff doesn't have a spectrum analyzer. I need to find a local shop here in SLC that has one and do more tuning with pink noise...
Thanks for the feedback...
Its coming along nicely...
Sean
Thanks for the feedback...
Its coming along nicely...
Sean
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