alpine f#1 status
500 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 884
Originally Posted by defro13
icon, i heard 2 cars at finals that had the focal be's in them, one was marinally impressive and the othe was quite impressive, niether were were in my top 5 cars at finals. are they nice yes, could i live without them and be happy, yes, could i live without the alpine f#1 components, yes but i would be sad.
On the soundboard.. I find the Be sounding smooth and detail, but lacks life and dynamics. and overall sounding like a Hi Fi stereo playback instead of real.
50 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 125
well then don't be shy lay it down man 
What did you see as the components strong points?
I was hoping for a side by side comparison, after a few min you really can not fairly judge 2 different sets @ that level, both sound great I’m sure.
Just figured if Dave had 2 board setup side by side he would know the differences between the 2.
So what ya got James…
What did you see as the components strong points?
I was hoping for a side by side comparison, after a few min you really can not fairly judge 2 different sets @ that level, both sound great I’m sure.
Just figured if Dave had 2 board setup side by side he would know the differences between the 2.
So what ya got James…
Yankee
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,599
Originally Posted by Dukk
IMO the way a speaker performs is 70% install, 20% the driver itself, and 10% the hype that surrounds it..
Inexpensive speakers can out perform the better drivers, if the install takes advantage of what the drivers can do (location, design, x-over, air volume, equalize driver distance to the ear, etc.) and don’t try to make them do too much they don’t do well.
I am agreeing with the Dukk but not entirely with the %
I find the biggest problem with conponent sets, is that people tend to think that by spending more money, it will make up for the lack luster install, or lack of knowledge to install them correctly.
I have had great success with DIY components, that were fairly inexpensive, from the likes of Aura, LPG, and Seas... just to name a few
regards, Mark
I have had great success with DIY components, that were fairly inexpensive, from the likes of Aura, LPG, and Seas... just to name a few
regards, Mark
50 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 125
^ Why do you care? You're the Macrom Man.
IMO the way a speaker performs is 70% install, 20% the driver itself, and 10% the hype that surrounds it..
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IMO the way a speaker performs is 70% install, 20% the driver itself, and 10% the hype that surrounds it..
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Driver is at least 50%, more like 65% install can be 45% so a shitty install will make or break you, but if you buy a driver that’s made to play off axis and you mount it off axis then your in a good position.. However if you buy one that’s made to be played facing you and don't mount those things in the kicks at just such an angle look out.
Why do I care? That’s elementary dear Watson elementary.
Apparently these are the best drivers out there at any cost ( 3G’s and up I just want to know just how good they are, I mean if there that good maybe I’ll buy some
I agree with most of the statements about install being a huge part of how it sounds but...also understanding how the manufacture wishes the driver to be used. Is it an off axis or on axis driver etc.
For example I used the EXT-4.0 Macrom drivers (here's a plug for John), and noticed that the "FS" of the driver is extremely low, so I could cross it over at 80hz highpass. Which is unique is this driver...
Understanding that some speakers strengths and weaknesses is also key to making the application of the driver optimum...IMO
For example I used the EXT-4.0 Macrom drivers (here's a plug for John), and noticed that the "FS" of the driver is extremely low, so I could cross it over at 80hz highpass. Which is unique is this driver...
Understanding that some speakers strengths and weaknesses is also key to making the application of the driver optimum...IMO
Guest
Posts: n/a
as critical as install is, there are some pretty kickass bandaids out there for some vehicles that are just plain hard to get to sound good for various reasons. with likes of eclipse and alpine having these cd players with 3 way electronic crossovers, parametric eq's and time correction its alot easire to get a car with entry level speakers in a run of the mill install sound pretty damn good from 1 seat and for the vast majority of people thats all that matters
the pxah900 or 701 isnt for everyone and is maybe best left for a more advanced listener but its very hard to discount what they can do in practically every system out there to make it better. having nsaid that i use a pxah900 and 7990, and i dont use 1 band of eqalization and time correction only on my tweeters, some may call it a waste but at least i have the abilities of the best processor ever built for car audio at my disposal, i like it so much i actually own 2 and will use one in my house 1 day
sweetnlowjoe, in one of the cars the mid was in the floor with tweeters in the pillar(civic)and in the other the mids were in the doo and tweeters in the pillar(jetta). the civic had decent depth wth a narrow soundstage with excellent focus and very little image drifting but lacked the tonality characteristics that i would have liked. the jetta had a disasterous soundsatge with very little focus with no real center that i could identify with but had great tonality and was nice to listen to. i liked the sound of the jetta but the civic was a more fundamentally good sounding car, if i had to drive 1000 k on a road trip and could have chosen either to drive in, i would have chosen the jetta. everything sounded right they just werent where they were supposed to be
the pxah900 or 701 isnt for everyone and is maybe best left for a more advanced listener but its very hard to discount what they can do in practically every system out there to make it better. having nsaid that i use a pxah900 and 7990, and i dont use 1 band of eqalization and time correction only on my tweeters, some may call it a waste but at least i have the abilities of the best processor ever built for car audio at my disposal, i like it so much i actually own 2 and will use one in my house 1 day
sweetnlowjoe, in one of the cars the mid was in the floor with tweeters in the pillar(civic)and in the other the mids were in the doo and tweeters in the pillar(jetta). the civic had decent depth wth a narrow soundstage with excellent focus and very little image drifting but lacked the tonality characteristics that i would have liked. the jetta had a disasterous soundsatge with very little focus with no real center that i could identify with but had great tonality and was nice to listen to. i liked the sound of the jetta but the civic was a more fundamentally good sounding car, if i had to drive 1000 k on a road trip and could have chosen either to drive in, i would have chosen the jetta. everything sounded right they just werent where they were supposed to be
Administrator
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 16,860
Originally Posted by The Icon
Disagree strongly with that statement dukk.
Driver is at least 50%, more like 65% install can be 45% so a shitty install will make or break you, but if you buy a driver that’s made to play off axis and you mount it off axis then your in a good position.. However if you buy one that’s made to be played facing you and don't mount those things in the kicks at just such an angle look out.
Why do I care? That’s elementary dear Watson elementary.
Apparently these are the best drivers out there at any cost ( 3G’s and up I just want to know just how good they are, I mean if there that good maybe I’ll buy some
Driver is at least 50%, more like 65% install can be 45% so a shitty install will make or break you, but if you buy a driver that’s made to play off axis and you mount it off axis then your in a good position.. However if you buy one that’s made to be played facing you and don't mount those things in the kicks at just such an angle look out.
Why do I care? That’s elementary dear Watson elementary.
Apparently these are the best drivers out there at any cost ( 3G’s and up I just want to know just how good they are, I mean if there that good maybe I’ll buy some
lol - you strongly disagree but then all you talk about is install...
This is where I am coming from - in the realm of "decent components", ie those costing say between $500-2000 for a 2way or 800-3000 for a 3way, while the speakers will certainly all have their own sonic signatures, the biggest thing that will make them be awesome or crap is the install. IMO it still gets 70%
And my personal opinion is that one-seat cars are copouts and a car should be 95%+ before that awesome bandaid is applied.
