SQ setup in my car
 

Okay everyone

I have narrowed down the following list of equipment to be used in my new car for an SQ setup:

1. Alpine 9887 HU
2. Polk's SR6500 components (no rear fill)
3. Polk SR124 sub

I need the following from the experts please:
1. What amp setup should I follow? I was thinking on getting a 2 way Polk Momo for the fronts and the monoblock for the sub or maybe the 400.4 MOMO for the fronts and two channels bridged for the sub...any better options than this without using a lot more money (maybe upto 200$ in price difference versus what I am looking at for amps versus the 400.4 setup)
2. Anything (HU or sub or components) you would want to change in favour of better SQ with not more than $300 additional spent on the setup? (I have an option of getting the Premium series MB Quarts installed as well)
3. Ideas/pointers/advice on installation? (My car is a 2006 Honda Accord). I really need the setup to shine through in SQ

My current small car has a pioneer 880PRS HU and MB Quart Reference front components with Punch series Rockford Fosgate amp and sub (10"). What I am looking at is a 'significant' increase in SQ. There was no special installation done on the 1000 cc car I had except the tweeters which were mounted on the A pillars and sub was in an infinite baffle config.

Take care

How about sound deadener?

Can you post some photos of your install?

You already have a great base to work from, especially the 880PRS. I bet a "significant" improvement in SQ could be achieved with install improvements and tuning.

I am looking at sound deadening, although do not have any clue of how to do it properly in my accord. One more thing that is bothering me is the change in SQ my HU will bring versus the 880 prs. Will it be noticeable? what about the speakers, should i go with the MB quarts premiums or the polks?

Also looking at suggestions for the amp(s) please

Worry less about components and more about install. Speaker position is going to have a way greater effect on SQ than anything else.

Can you explain a little more? the speakers (6.5" woofers in the front) will be mounted in the door panels in the standard location, whereas I am thinking of mounting the tweeters on the A pillars...any suggestions to better this?

Tweeters in the A pillar is a good plan. If you can get tweeters that handle a lower crossover point that will help bring the sound stage up higher.

switching 880 for alpine deck will not introduce any dramatic effects on your sq. save your money and spend it on deadening and proper install.

I use auto ta and eq with the 880prs, and I like it very much (never tuned an HU myself and no tuners here). Is the imprint calibration result better in SQ than the 880prs auto ta and eq?
Would also like to ask if any of you has any comments on the kenwood kdc-x991 (especially what about the auto ta and eq...does it have them?)

Thanks

I don't know much about the imprint system, but I think you won't get a dramatic gain in quality from swapping headunits. Deaden the heck out of your car, work a lot with your speaker positioning. Try out different placements for your tweeters, different aiming, and find what's best. If you can angle your mids towards you rather than facing each other, that might help out with staging too.

I just did a small adjustment to my kickpanels (about 10~15 degrees to the orientation of the speaker) this weekend and the stage went up about 6 inches and the depth increased a lot. When listening to Sara K.'s If I could sing your blues, the trumpet sounds really far in the back.

Sound deaden your car and when you've finished do it again.

Doors could do with a layer or two on the outer skin (but inside the car) and seal the inner skin with another layer or two. We use dynamatt extreme over here and then spray everything you can't get the matt on. If you can't afford to do the whole car make shore you do the doors, large floor panels, roof panel, and next is the bulkhead, gear box tunnel, Boot/trunk.

I like to book customers cars in for two or three days strip the whole car down and give the engineer as many boxes of dynamatt as needed.
After that install the front speaker as far away from the driver as possible and facing the driver with tweeter close to the mid. I try not to put tweeters in the a-pillar. If the mids are in the doors try the tweeters in the kick panel. The tweeters must be facing to the listening position even if the mids aren't.
Next add sub system in the best box you can build for it with plenty of bracing to make it nice and strong.
Put car back together with modifications to make it all fit, sit back listen and adjust as needed.
As every one has said SQ comes from the install and then the equipment.

Thanks for the advice. Is there any website/thread that could guide me to the 'right' way of doing sound deadening? I tried to search for it but could not find it. No one here is an expert on sound deadening and the only material available is by stinger. Any suggestions/pointers?

Also, I need your opinion on whether to put the polk sr6500 set in my car for the front or the premium line mb quarts. Which one is better and how? If i put in the polks i will probably use their sub and amps as well, and if i go with mb quarts i will go completely with their setup.

The 9887 is made to work in a 3 way system.
Since you're not using rear speakers, get a 4 channel or two 2 channel amps for the front components. Throw away the pasive crosover and let the deck do all the crosover/time alignment and equalizing, just like its meant to do.

Then get it set up with the Imprint system.

Then you can play for hours, trying to get it to sound better than the alpine imprint setiings. :)

So, the sr6500 should 'not' be used as the only speakers since they are 2way? or do you mean I should connect the tweeters, mid bass and the sub "directly" via amps to the alpine hu and let the imprint system set the crossovers etc? I currently have the 880prs with mb quarts up front using the STD setting with a stereo setting going to the speakers via an amp using the passive crossovers that came with the components. Would plugging the components directly to the hu via amp (removing the passive x overs) improve the auto ta and eq result?

By your comment above, I assume you are saying I should connect directly with the HU and put the amp in between only, and then use the imprint to set the crossover frequencies and slopes....is that right? please guide me a bit here

and what exactly (how exactly) do you mean to 'improve' on the imprint sound? :) I would certainly like to know how that is even possible

Well, basicaly, the "imprint" sound is set by engineers to a certain way. It'll probably try to go for a perfectly flat response from your speakers. But, that's probably not what you enjoy soundwise. Most people enjoy having a bit more bass in their sound. The end result shouldn't be what Alpine tells you to enjoy, but should be set to how you find it to sound best.

And, for the active setup, you basicaly have the right idea here. You'll probably need to set the crossover points yourself though. But, getting individual time alignement to each driver really helps. If you set your time alignement for a complete component set via passive crossover, what happens is you may have 2 speakers of those speakers setup properly (most likely the tweeters), but your mids won't have the right T/A since they aren't necessarily at the same spot as your tweeters. This will cause your sound to loose a bit of focus and precision.

Hope this helps.

Yeah thanks, it helps a lot. I would really appreciate it if someone could guide me on manual tuning of my car, since I am relatively new to this and of course I 'know' when my music sounds good or better but when it comes to tuning cannot really tell what exactly am I looking for with each frequency change and/or how to tell if everything is going okay..I want to do it right the first time around, instead of making mistakes and learning just from experience. Do not have a lot of time to spend on tuning my car, but id like it to sound as good as it can

No disrespect intended, but have you actually used IMPRINT and listened to the results, or are you just assuming this?

I like the Imprint settings, and it gives you a choice of 3 curves and you can save 2. I saved the Reference and Linear. Forget what they called the 3rd choice, but it cranked the midbass, might be good for hiphop or disco or something. I don't dance, especially while driving. :)

What I was refering to is; I've played with all the EQ, XO, TA and levels and I can't get it to match the impint. I can make it sound pretty dam good, but not as good.

And as to the Active set-up, I have the MB Quart reference running active and they really came alive compared to the passive crossover. I don't use 3 way from the deck because i like my rear fill (big car), but I use a PhoenixGold active crossover.

That is not surprising considering that IMPRINT provides FAR more correction processing that is accessible using your HU's controls. Which is both impressive and disappointing at the same time. :ohwell:

No disrespect taken.... I just assumed it would be something like that, hence my using the word "Probably". It was just a guess, and regardless to what the imprint system sets an EQ curve to be, it might not represent what the user likes soundwise.

Now, the fact that it offers 3 sound curves I find is pretty nice. Should get it to appeal to a wider variety of tastes. But again, there's always room for changes to get it to suit the users ear more.

That was just the point I was trying to make, regardless of the curve it gives in the end.

As for personal tastes and the Imprint, It still lets you use very easy to use, sub level, bass and trebble to adjust it to personal taste.
I often use bas/trebble to make up for poor/old CD's, especially stuff that was recorded from old analog.

Tom.F.1, did you notice the positive elements of the Imprint system immediately, or did it take some getting used to?

From what I have read, it takes about 30 minutes worth of setup, but the results after the setup is immediately noticable.

IMMEDIATELY!!

I got in the car while it was still in the shop, turned on a song I like, and as I turned it up to test, I screamed YAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Almost as good as sex!!

nice...