[Slipn n Slidn]

Car: Holden VE Ute, what you may call a Pontiac G8 "truck".

Firstly, I'm Australian, its not a truck, its a ute.

Secondly, yes I'm a young bloke but I'm keen to learn and have a fair idea of what i want in my system, what i generally need is knowledge of which drivers out there can produce what i want.

What i currently have:
Front end - Kicker KS Splits in factory woofer and tweet positions, fed by a Kicker ZX350.4 4 channel, soon to be running active (read on)
Amp - 60w RMS per channel
4 AWG

Rear fill - Hertz ECX 690s in purpose built towers the behind seats, fed by Hertz HCP 4D 4 channel
Amp - 290w RMS Bridged
4AWG

Sub - Kicker CVT124 Slimline sub mounted in a custom built 0.7cu sealed enclosure between seats, fed by a Kicker CX1200.1 monoblock
Amp - 600w RMS mono @ 4ohm (one day the 4 ohm sub will get the ass)
4AWG

I'm running with the OEM headunit as it includes the AC controls and its a prick of a job to go aftermarket. And stupidly expensive if you speak to Alpine, eughh.

So currently running hi level straight into the CX1200.1 with no LOC and daisy chaining from the signal from there, I'm over it and want more versatility.

Hence,

Signal Processor - Rockford 3Sixty.3 (in transit, ordered last night)

The Grand Plan
1. Install 3Sixty.3 and see what exactly i can get out of what i have with some time correction, equalising everything and better crossover point/slopes, I'm looking at those Kicker splits, they'll be the first to go as I'm dying for a strong front stage.

Stage two will be dependant on two factors, how the kickers perform in the high-mids and how the Hertz perform in the midbass range as i would like to see them performing with some punch down to the 100hz range

If both fail, I'll need to prioritise

2. New front stage, ill be needing some big help here as I've been racking my brain for weeks looking for an affordable solution. I've been looking at Focal Flax, Focal K2, Morel, SStream but open to suggestions. I'm keen for a 3 way active front stage, i know it will make install bigger and very important, I'll be running them through 6 channels of the 3Sixty so should have the tuning ability, it will just force me to learn what im doing to make sure they perform right. I'm not sure if ill be wasting money on their accompanying passives though, should i be buying single drivers?

2. In the case the 6x9s don't cut it, I'm thinking a good pair of 10s, either side the 12" right behind the driver and passenger seats, should have some punch.. i'd think. I'm liking the reviews on MB Quart 10s but not sure if everyones referring to the the later models, particularly the RWM 10 inch. Also heard good words for Image Dynamics, but not sure about accessing them in the world up upside down. Also other options?

Lastly I'm no millionaire, I'm an apprentice instead, so no Utopia Be for me.
Probably got $1500 to play with realistically

Anyway if anyone out there in the land of knowledge and experience in car audio has any opinions please fire away

Ps: I know its a lot of drivers in a small space, i love bass kicks you can REALLY feel through your chest but want a clear front stage, certainly not after SPL figures

 

[Slipn n Slidn]

3sixty arrived yesterday, seems to be going in really well, running fresh new rcas and have just wired into the hi level input for the unit

So seats are out and wires seem to be breeding, but keen to get all this working and praying for I don't have noise when it's all together


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[Coppertone]

Subscribed as it's a UTE lol..

 

[diy.phil]

Subscribed too! Nice ute from a nice bloke yeah!!

 

[[email protected]]

If you're not happy with the equipment you have, look for some Ground Zero Uraniums. The components are very Nice sounding and the subs blend very well. Great output from them and they aren't too expensive.

 

[Slipn n Slidn]

Cheers guys haha

I haven't looked at those Brandon but sure will.
Still playing with the 3sixty at the moment and also need to track down the source of my new found alternator whine.
Hoping its just the 3sixtys ground but that means seat out once again

But after some messing around the kicker splits REALLY do need to go. They're now running without they're passive xover and getting good power, and although I've got them performing better than they were they do leave a lot to be desired. The tweets are nasty.
So new splits will mean new amp/s too as I'm not running good gear through a middle of the range kicker 4ch.
I've also worked out I've probably got about 80mm mounting depth in the doors if I push them out with a spacer

From what I've done with the processor I'm pretty happy with how the hertz ecx perform at the moment, they just need some encouraging to really perform past the 150 mark, they're getting down to 80 with a good punch though. They'll never do what a pair of tens would though and im actually kinda bummed I don't NEED to upgrade haha


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[Slipn n Slidn]

Okay, so I've regrounded the 3 sixty which has fixed the majority of my noise problem, BUT.

There's always and but and this is a big one. Ive still got buzz/whine/ticking noise which is only coming through the left hand channal of each pair of speakers.
I've tracked it back down the line with a test speaker and its coming from the left hand speaker level out.

This actually makes some sense as I had a few friends complain of noise on the passenger side back when I still had the factory speakers in over a year ago. Though I haven't had an issue with it since the upgrade, until now.

So after hating the whole world and everything in it for nearly an hour after making this discovery while noise plagued my afternoon, I've come to a solution.

The Holden ute and the Holden commodore (4 door sedan) are in the same series of car, so as far as the sound system and head unit are concerned there is stuff all difference dispute the lack of rear speakers.
The head unit is the same so through the service menu I have enabled the rear two channels, effectively telling the oem headunit it's fitted in a sedan which would need rear audio outputs
I've found these pins in the side of the unit though understandably there are no wires. After running a test speaker off these outputs both left and right appear to be noise free

I'll tap into these tomorrow and run new lines to the 3sixty

Question, what sort of wires should I be using between my source and processor, shielded RCA type, just speaker wire?



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[Slipn n Slidn]

Also Brandon you've got me thinking after looking at ground zeros gear
Just last night I was thinking if there were any manufacturers making 7" mid bass woofers as by ditching the factory 6" speaker frames and building a new ones I think I could make it work.

I might start with a new two way split and leave myself open to add a pair of 3.5"-4" drivers if I feel the need to bridge the gap between the tweet and woofer after some tuning

I can't seem to find much info for buying GZ gear in aus though, I'll email a distributer tomorrow


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[Slipn n Slidn]

Ive been shopping. now the 3sixty is settled in nicely and i have played around with various slopes and points for all driver sets I've decided to replace the front end

The kickers were the weakest link of all, they were once a good upgrade on the factory system but just don't cut it anymore. The tweets aren't clear and are very tinny, the woofers have a limited range before they start to sound like crap, they can't produce the low end and they don't bridge the frequency range to meet with the tweet.

I have on order a set of Audison Voce AV 6.5 woofers, a set of AV 1.1 tweets as well as a new pack of roadkill deadener
I'm quite excited for these and will be back with pictures


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