Component speakers

[expo5.0]

I don't run rears, and i haven't considered adding them. However, i do run a whole ton more speakers up front than just one set of components. You won't miss the rears at all. Particularly in an explorer where they are actualy closer to your head than the front speakers.


as for the power, that will be plenty of power. For example- my brother runs the focal access 5.25s off of his panasonic 903u hu and they are coupled with two 12"kicker L7s with 650 rms each. they have absolutely no problem keeping up and thats only with like 25 rms.


finally, i don't believe that bridging the amp will make a difference with that amp at all.

I personally run a class A/B amp for my two sets of components at a 2 ohm stereo load and it works beautifully. I even talked to a couple of techs at the factory with respect to doing so with components etc. and they assured me that in their lab they had found that the distortion added in wasn't effectively "bad". I see much more gain from the increased power (and he increase in surface area of the speakers i can power with it) than i see loss due to increased distortion.

 

[AnabolicFrolic]

Originally posted by Fixxer
You wouldn't notice a difference. As long as it's a class A/B amp it would be fine. It wouldn't however be ideal to run components on a class D or T amp.

You might want to audition those sets you mentioned as well if you can. Some of the ones you listed are considered to be pretty bright.


Edit: Oh, and yes... Don't run rear fill

I dont see any need to bridge the amp if the xovers for the components allow bi-amping. running 2 channels to each set of components: ie 75w to Mid 75 watt to tweeter will give the same power output as running them bridged. Except biamping them gives u independant gain control as well as cleaner power (noticeble or not). I beleive the focals allow bi-amping from the crossover as well, altho i cant remember because its been a while since i did all my research on this same subject when making my decision.

HotCtyPlaya: Its exactly that.. personal preference. The focals and diamonds are incredibly close and either one would be a fine choice in speakers. Its cool that u were able to listen to both Hexes and the 165K2P's. Its hard to find Diamond Audio stuff locally to be able to audition it, so most people dont get a chance to compare the Hexes to the 165k2's. But again this shows that its really matter of Opinion. The focals sound better to your ear and the Diamonds sound better to mine.

Harken: The 9811 is a good headunit. I see no reason to toss it out and replace it with a new one. While it lacks the features of the 9813 and the 9815, i feel that you will be plenty happy with it. It does have all the most important features: Time Correction and Xover adjustments.
I personally would suggest going with no rearfill and using both channels of the 300/4 amp to power the front stage. These high end speakers may sound great with 75W, but its a general concensus that they really come alive with more power. Ive got 110Wx2 to my front stage and they get louder than i could ever need, and sound great doing it. Having the headroom in the power department will help when i go in and tune my system with an RTA. Something you may consider doing once you get your system installed. Several Local Install shops near me will let u tune with the in-shop RTA and also give u a hand with the adjustments for a small fee (10$-20$ for an hours worth of tuning) Well worth it if you want the best sound possible out of your equipment.

 

[NaplesBill]

Originally posted by AnabolicFrolic
Dont bridge the amp because it will then be seeing a 2ohm load and will put out power that is "less" clean. Bridging channels should be reserved for use on subwoofers.

HOWEVER, what you can do is Biamp the front components (assuming your using the HEX speakers) because the X-over has a jumper inside that allows them to be bi-amped with a seperate amp (or amp channel) allowing the tweeter to be driven by one set of channels, and the midrange to be driven by a second set of channels.
The benefits are that you will now have independant control of the gains for the tweeter and the midrange, as well as more headroom on power. When you are listening at high volumes, the midbass will draw more power from the amp and often leave the highs suffering. Having them run of seperate channels will allow the tweet to operate independant of the mid on its own chunk of power.

With most amps you are correct. The JL amps, however, are different. They have triple voltage rails that allows them to put out the same power at any rated voltage(11-14volts) and any rated ohm. They will perform just as cleanly at 2 ohms as they will at 4 ohms. There are reasons for their cost. They also have some of the best crossover controls available on board with the amp.

 

[Harken]

New discovery!

Have any of you heard the Dynaudio 240MKII? And to add a bit more spice, powered by a Tube Driver Blue 275?

AWESOME, best decsribes the result. I just installed the JL 3004/4 and now wish I waited to buy the Tube Driver Blue. Anyone interested in buying my JL amp? $350.00 plus shipping takes it.

I have decided on the Dynaudio 240MKII speakers.

As soon as I sell the JL amp I'm getting my Tube Driver Blue....

 

[AnabolicFrolic]

Originally posted by NaplesBill
With most amps you are correct. The JL amps, however, are different. They have triple voltage rails that allows them to put out the same power at any rated voltage(11-14volts) and any rated ohm. They will perform just as cleanly at 2 ohms as they will at 4 ohms. There are reasons for their cost. They also have some of the best crossover controls available on board with the amp.

Im still not seeing why anybody would bridge a 4ch amp when powering a front set of components speakers that come equipped with a bi-amp'able crossover. I will point out, again, that dedicating 2 channels for the tweeters and 2 channels for the Mids will give the same power (150 watts total power to each set of speakers -1 mid and 1 tweet) than if u were to bridge the 75Wx4 into a 150Wx2 amp. By biamping the speakers u will give yerself a more flexible system by allowing u to have independant control of the gains as well as independant control of the mids and highs via the headunit. It will allow you to adjust the +/-db settings for the tweeters and mids independantly via the headunit. Bridging the channels is like cutting your arms off w/ respect to tunability of the system.

If any body is still confused about the benefits or reasons for bi-amping please read this article:
http://www.audiocontrol.com/techpapers/techpaper104.pdf

 

[AnabolicFrolic]

Re: New discovery!

Originally posted by Harken
Have any of you heard the Dynaudio 240MKII? And to add a bit more spice, powered by a Tube Driver Blue 275?

AWESOME, best decsribes the result. I just installed the JL 3004/4 and now wish I waited to buy the Tube Driver Blue. Anyone interested in buying my JL amp? $350.00 plus shipping takes it.

I have decided on the Dynaudio 240MKII speakers.

As soon as I sell the JL amp I'm getting my Tube Driver Blue....

i have no personal experiance with the dynaudio speakers. But im sure they sound great.
As for amps. You are getting quite exotic now. I beleive u r talking about the Butler Audio Tube driver, yes? or are u talking about one of the TRU technology tube amps. I mean, sure these are great amplifiers with thd's with gobs of zeros in front of them, but how much, in the end, is really going to be audible. Afterall, you are going to be running it off of a Alpine 9811 (a middle of the road headunit. I would say more things should/could be upgraded before u worry about needing a different amplfier. I think you will be just as satisfied powering the front stage with a good 150 watts via the JL amp using biamplification. The Butler tube amp is only going to give u 75 watts RMS. Sure people will praise the warmth that a tube amp adds to the music.. but again its subjective.
When you have a perfectly good amplifier right there in your truck now, i honestly see no need to upgrade it. Heck u havnt even heard how your front stage will sound with it yet.
Pick some speakers. DONT BUY untill you can listen to them. Even on the sound wall, as different as it may be than an actual vehicle installation, you can rest assured that the speaker set that sounds the best on the wall will most likely be the one that sounds the best installed in the vehicle.

Dont get bit by the "exotic" bug too hard. Next thing you know you will start looking up Brax, Zapco, TRU, McIntosh amps to go along with a set Rainbow Pros Components.

Keep in mind the LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS!

but it never hurts to check out:
www.trutechnology.com -> they make some nice amplifiers.

 

[Harken]

Yes I am talking about the Butler Audio Tube Driver Blue amplifier. AWESOME sound coupled with the Dynaudio 240MKII speakers.

My next purchase is the speakers then as soon as someone wants my JL amp, I'm gonna get the Tube Driver and be done with it.

 

[NaplesBill]

Originally posted by AnabolicFrolic
Im still not seeing why anybody would bridge a 4ch amp when powering a front set of components speakers that come equipped with a bi-amp'able crossover. I will point out, again, that dedicating 2 channels for the tweeters and 2 channels for the Mids will give the same power (150 watts total power to each set of speakers -1 mid and 1 tweet) than if u were to bridge the 75Wx4 into a 150Wx2 amp. By biamping the speakers u will give yerself a more flexible system by allowing u to have independant control of the gains as well as independant control of the mids and highs via the headunit. It will allow you to adjust the +/-db settings for the tweeters and mids independantly via the headunit. Bridging the channels is like cutting your arms off w/ respect to tunability of the system.

If any body is still confused about the benefits or reasons for bi-amping please read this article:
http://www.audiocontrol.com/techpapers/techpaper104.pdf

I totally agree about biamping, especially if you have a headunit designed to work that way. I was just pointing out that this particular amp can be run at 2ohms without consequence. I also agree with your next comment about getting a better HU. I seriously doubt getting that tru amp will be very noticable without an equivalent level HU.

 

[HotCtyPlaya]

Oh boy...its gettin real hot in here.....

Yeah I guess it is unique to listen to both sets at the same time and I know one of the only guys who deals Focal in NJ and he also does Diamond so I make good friends ...... Im not gonna touch on half the other stuff discussed because as i recall i think me naplesbill and expo already went through the whole JL amp thing....lol lets not revisit....lmao

 

[NaplesBill]

Originally posted by HotCtyPlaya
Im not gonna touch on half the other stuff discussed because as i recall i think me naplesbill and expo already went through the whole JL amp thing....lol lets not revisit....lmao

Agreed! I'm still waiting to hear the new RF stuff. The Stage 3 subs look interesting enough. I also can't wait to see how their new amps pan out in real world installs.

 

[AnabolicFrolic]

Originally posted by HotCtyPlaya
i think me naplesbill and expo already went through the whole JL amp thing....lol lets not revisit....lmao

I was never trynna argue the quality of the JL amps. They are great amps. I was just trynna get my point across about bi-amping over bridging.

Sooo.. Harken? ya goin with the Dyn's?

 

[HotCtyPlaya]

it wasn't just an arguement on quality it consisted of many things....it almost turned into all of us meeting up and beating each other senseless with our favorite amps....

 

[Harken]

AnabolicFrolic

I auditioned the Focal 165K2P, the Diamond Audio S600A and the Dynaudio 240MKII.

Of thos e three the Dynaudio 240 MKII sounded superb. Then looking a step higher I saw the prices of the Focal Utopia. Boy am I getting over my head or what? LOL

One of the mistakes I made was listening to someone elses music and NOT my own so today I picked out a couple CD's, "Tommy" by Who, Gold Master Edition and "Deuces Wild", BB King. Both excellent recording with varied charachteristics. I also have Pink Floyd "A Delicate Sound of Thunder" but thought too much electronic music might not give me an accurate measure of sound quality and natural feel.

So far in my mind I'm sold on the Dynaudio 240 MKII but I want to compare them to the Focal Utopia's.

As I mentioned before I will be using my JL 300/4 amp initially until I decide to splurge with my credit card and get the Butler Tube Drive 275 amp. I figure this amp will be a lot like my Teac X2000R open reel tape machine. I plan on keeping it forever. An amp that good is like my Teac, worth keeping forever.

The gentleman at Dynaudio says the 240 MKII blows away the Focal Utopia 165W. I like confidence and complimented him but I have to hear for myself.

So what do you predict my final decision to be?

 

[AnabolicFrolic]

I predict it to be whatever speakers sounds the best to yer ears. The most expensive isnt always the best. I would probably go with the dyn's - Less expensive the Utopias, plut they will be a little more elite because LOTS of people have heard of Focal, not as many have heard of the Dynaudios. Same with my Diamonds.. Lots of people have never heard of this company, so it sorta gives me an elite status.