^^^Me too.

...and I agree with your first paragraph.

The only intrinsic value car audio gear imparts is the enjoyment of music IMO. Everything else is ego related.

I'll admit to being intoxicated by both.

Adam

I just finished putting together a little Impreza to go down to the IAS show in New Jersey. A simple three-way system. 6 and tweet in the doors, and a pair of fifteens where the back seats used to be. A pair of two channels bridged on the woofers and a four-channel on the front end, all active off the deck.

Awesome. I'd take active filtering any day.

Note 2 - Having directly compared active vs passive filtering with the same crossover points, you loose about 3dB of output with the passives - this cuts your systems current consumption in half for the same output level - important since most people don't know how to size power and ground cables properly.

Note 3 - Focal speakers are awesome. I basically get giddy when a set shows up at the lab to review - I have yet to be dissapointed. BUT, they must be operated within the frequency range they were designed for. The midranges go funny on the top end if you push them too far.

That being said, I am just completing a speaker project that uses a similar expanded foam core and fiber top layer, and I am experiencing the same problem - so, it's the nature of the beasty.

What I've found (as others have I'm sure) is that with dedicated amplification in actively divided networks it is possible to get a more dynamic result with given amplification since the amp can work very efficiently by only focussing on the specific task (or frequency set) it is given, especially with mid-high frequencies.

Also, it would seem the amp has an easier time controlling the speaker (causing the speaker to more accurately follow the waveform) when the amount of drivers hooked up to the amp is kept to a minimum. I'd like to try and give each driver it's own powersupply by-way-of bridging an amp to each driver just to see the difference in dynamics & headroom.

Oh Dukk.... with all due respect, this gear u speak of giving 5x performance to price ratio...

Care to give us a list of this stuff (specific model #'s etc) ???

[ May 21, 2005, 03:03 AM: Message edited by: islandphile ]

Is there a rule as to what percentage of power goes to each component? Obviously it will vary as the x-over points and driver efficiency change, but is there a starting point?
Most power ratings for tweeters seem to be quite high, and I assume when they say "100 watts" they're assuming that you'll be using their passive x-over.

With a fully active setup running a tweeter low to lets say 2.5khz, it will be lucky to see anything over 20 watts. Most of the time, a tweeter sees around 5 watts of power with moderate volumes. People, including myself, massively overpower tweeters.

The acoustic spikes generated by applying 100 or more watts to a tweeter DO NOT occure in music naturally. This is usually a lab scenario with either sine wave or pink noise bursts.

About a year and a half ago, there were some very good discussions on this forum about the differences between active and passive filtering.

Personally, I prefer active filtering done in the digital domain before the source signal is EVER converted by a D/A converter to analogue.

Adam

pei, your last paragraph, i couldnt agree more

islandphile, i too would like to see dukk's 5x's list

Defro doesn't Alpine have a DVD-Audio head unit coming out in the fall with all processing done in the digital domain b/f D/A conversion?

I'll have a look....

yess the new f#1 will be dvd audio, that will be the upgrade in my car when it becomes available

What an interesting thread...

I would venture that I know of a certain tweeter found in speakers costing from $100/pr. up to $20,000/pr. and another tweeter in speakers costing from $700 pr. up to $40,000/pr. (all prices US retail) I am not a math wiz; however, I think that is greater than 5x.

I would also venture to say that I must box to the concept of active filtering -- an automobile is a difficult environment to tame.

As far as Adam's change in gear -- I think he is playing in a bigger sandbox than many of us and is chasing a much more lofty goal, which requires superior equipment to acheive than "nice tunes". ;)