3-way components

 

Silver Member
Username: Scubasteve

Annapolis, MD

Post Number: 253
Registered: May-05
To any SQ gurus out there, what would be a few good options for mounting 3 way components. I was thinking mounting the 8" driver in the door in a glassed and expanded stock location and mounting the midrange and tweeter in kickpods. Of course it vairies greatly based on the car, so I was just hoping to get some widely accepted thoughts on locations that will produce the best stage in an average car.
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

Wisteria, Lane USA

Post Number: 8573
Registered: Dec-03
3 ways are tricky.
positioning makes or breaks their performance.
you'll want to move them around looking for the best position, using cardboard to hold them in various spots.
I'd suggest fiberglass for the mid/tweeter in the door and midbass in the kickpod, or all 3 in the doors.. it really depends on the car as you said.
the higher the frequency, the more important the imaging.. so the midbass isn't *as* vital as the mid/tweeter are
 

Gold Member
Username: Jonathan_f

GA USA

Post Number: 4317
Registered: May-04
Midbass in door and midrange and tweets in kick is the more common 3 way install. There are competitors that even put the mid and tweets in the dash and the midbass in kicks, it's more rare, though. What kind of components, and what kind of car?
 

Silver Member
Username: Scubasteve

Annapolis, MD

Post Number: 255
Registered: May-05
Car is a stock (so far) 2002 Volvo 850. Its my friend's. He has a budget of (what he says is) 5 grand and was going to put some SPL garbage in there to compete with but i've convinced him to go with an all out sq setup. I've been thinking Dynadudio or Morel as those are easily the most pleasing speakers I've heard, although i've yet to hear anything by rainbow before. I especialy like the smooth sounding 3" soft dome mid offered by Dynaudio. He has factory locations on the dash for 3.5s and 5.25" in the doors. Amp will probably be a TRU or Zapco, and I'm goning to audition a US tube amp. I've never done 3-ways, and I thought it would be fun to work on, but if will take 100+ hours to get them to image right, I'll probably end up sticking with 2-ways. For the HU, I was thinking high end eclipse and a 1/3 octave EQ for the trunk but if I could convice him the F1 status was worth the investment he'd probably go for it.
 

Silver Member
Username: Mikechec9

Chicago/atlanta

Post Number: 589
Registered: May-05
Upload
this is my 3-way set up. with the mids in the doors, you're prone to run into side-biasing that will require additional time alignment. if optional, the key is to get your locations as perfect as possible before you start tuning w/processors. the kicks, as jonathan alluded to, offer the least amount of difference in path-lengths between the two respective channels. high in the dash is also good for imaging.

here is an article on one of the greats (influenced my setup anyway). he runs the same 6.3 and makes some pretty important points (some of which i severely failed to follow).
http://www.roadgearmag.com/article.asp?section_id=11&article_id=485&page_number=1

also, here is a more technical breakdown.
http://buwaldahybrids.com/Project%20Altima.htm
 

Silver Member
Username: Mikechec9

Chicago/atlanta

Post Number: 590
Registered: May-05
as for the F1, be sure to explain to whomever that this is the only option available to utilize the optical inputs on the Alpine PXA-H701 processor unit.
wouldn't ever work for me, but heyy..
 

Gold Member
Username: Jonathan_f

GA USA

Post Number: 4319
Registered: May-04
Dynaudio and Morel both make excellent 3 way systems, but if you want an easier install, DLS Iridiums would be better suited to you. Similar in sound, the DLS are a bit more lively, still neutral and balanced, just a tad more punch to them in the bass/midbass region, not quite as airy. X-over points are 350hz for the mid and 7khz for the tweeter, which is near perfect for driver blending as the midrange covers the important range. It'll give you the freedom to put the tweeter higher since 7khz is further out of crucial vocal region and more for presence, the midrange will cover the crucial region without having to worry about a crossover point in there, the midbass will give great off axis performance up to 300hz, overall it's not too bad to get the install right for a 3 way set, the midrange isn't too deep and fits well in most any kick panel. Midbasses go in doors, tweeters are your choice. The Dynaudios and Morels are excellent performers, but with a 700hz and 4khz, they're more tricky to get the drivers to blend together well.
 

Silver Member
Username: Scubasteve

Annapolis, MD

Post Number: 262
Registered: May-05
Mike, thanks for the help and for those links. Both are very informative articles.

Jonathan, what you said makes perfect sense. If the midrange is handling most/all of the vocals, it should open up some mounting possibilites. Thanks guys.
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