[itr sol]

Hello everyone. So, I'm trying to go active and am in the middle of getting my system together. I'm in need of some advice on what I have right, what needs to be added, and what needs to be replaced. Please keep in mind, this is a N00B typing this, so short and easy answers would be the most helpful. Thank.

The car this is all going into is a "94 Honda Del Sol. Here's my current equipment list:

Alpine iDA-X305 Digital media receiver
Alpine PXA-H100 IMPRINT Audio Processor
Alpine TUA-T550HD Add-on HD Radio tuner
Alpine KCE-250BT Bluetooth® Adapter

JL Audio M800/8v2: 8 Ch. Class D Full-Range Marine Amplifier
JL Audio XD600/1v2: Monoblock Class D Subwoofer Amplifier

C5-653: 6.5-inch (165 mm) 3-Way Component Speaker System (Front)
C5-650x: 6.5-inch (165 mm) Coaxial Speaker System (Rear)

JL Audio Stealthbox for Honda Del Sol w/ 2x 8W3v3-4

1) Can I run the front speakers (with a dedicated channel to each component) AND the rear coaxials (with a dedicated channel for each speaker but powering both the woofer and tweeter off the same channel) off the 8 channel amp, and run the subs with the other mono amp?

2) Will the head unit I have work with the processor, or would I need to buy another head unit or add-on processor?

3) If my head unit won't work, what would be the advisable replacement?

I know some of this is highly subjective, but I'm asking for opinions. I don't want to spend $1k on a new head unit or processor, since I'm already pretty heavily invested here. Most of the items above are brand new in the box, aside from the head unit and accessories that is. Before anyone just tells me to do a search, I did, but it didn't give me specific information that I could use for my situation. Thanks guys.

 

[Roper215]

Have you already purchased the listed equipment or is that what you intend to purchase?

 

[eldondo]

Have you already purchased the listed equipment or is that what you intend to purchase?

he said it was all new in the box except the hu

 

[Roper215]

No, he said most. I didn't know if that meant purchased or repurposed from a previous install. I assumed it was purchased, but was trying to clarify.

 

[Huckleberry Sound]

Hilarious!!! Back to the corners gentlemen. We dont want to run the young blood out the building already!

 

[Jepalan]

OP -
What are you hoping to achieve by going active? What are you trying to get out of your system? By knowing this we can guide you better.

You cannot easily run everything active plus take advantage of the Imprint auto-tuning using only the pieces you list above. Tuning would be an absolute nightmare without an advanced DSP and then the Imprint system wouldn't be needed.

With the pieces you listed, you can use the Imprint and built-in crossovers in your HU in one of two different modes. Alpine calls them "2.2' or "4.2"

In "2.2" mode you could run your 3-way fronts active plus the sub (using amp crossovers). No rears. Integrating the sub would be a little tricky, but doable.

In "4.2" mode you could run fronts and rears with their passive crossovers plus the sub. You would probably want to bridge your 8 channels down to 4 channels for the fronts and rears in this setup.

 

[eldondo]

Hilarious!!! Back to the corners gentlemen. We dont want to run the young blood out the building already!

so huck what are you some kinda **** starter eh!

 

[Huckleberry Sound]

Naaaa I come in peace.

 

[itr sol]

OK, let me clarify.

"Have you already purchased the listed equipment or is that what you intend to purchase?"

I already own all of these things. I'm willing to purchase additional / replacement pieces if necessary to make this work.

"What are you hoping to achieve by going active? What are you trying to get out of your system? By knowing this we can guide you better."

I'm going for SQ, and am going active because of the trouble I've had with getting my system to perform.


So, I had the HU, and HD Radio in the previous build, which included:

4x JL Audio C5-650: 6.5-inch (165 mm) 2-Way Component Speakers (front & back)

JL Audio Stealthbox for Honda Del Sol w/ 2x 8W3v3-4

Alpine MRP – F450 Amp 70w x 4 @ 4 ohms
Alpine MRP – M500 Amp 300w @ 4 ohms

The sound was great at first, but kept getting worse. No matter who I took it to, or what I did, I couldn't get it to stay sounding the way it could / should. The sound was muddy and the fronts were barely audible compared to the rears. I had literally 3 shops (the first couple of shops botched the install and it had to be completely redone) and 2 mobile installers tweak it to get it to sound "ok" but after a day or two it would sound horrible again (no, I wasn't messing with anything). At the end, the fronts were only playing music out of the tweeters, and at least one of the subs was blown. I had thousands in this system in labor alone, so I was pretty pissed. I took everything out of the car and vowed to start again. I commute 2 - 3 hours per day, so music is kind of a must have in my car, and now I don't have anything but my iPod and some headphones.

Now, I've purchased replacements for all the speakers, even the subs. I realized they were probably underpowered, and was told by several people that my amps were too anemic to push them properly. A guy on another forum suggested I look into going active, and after reading about it, it seemed the way to go, so I bought the bigger amps to handle the increased channel demand. At first I thought the processor would allow me to run active, but I'm realizing now that I'll probably either need a different processor or a replacement HU with a built-in. I'm ok with doing one or the other, but I'd prefer not to spend over $300 - $400 on whichever turns out to be the better option.

I was looking into the Pioneer HU's, and am considering the DEH-80PRS, but I'm not sure if it will run everything or not. I'd like to get my hands on a DEX-P99RS, but again I don't want to spend $1k on another HU. Simple has to be the key here. I don't want to have to go through a technical trade program just to learn how to tune my system. I'm somewhat tech-savvy but I'm not very informed about these things.

I hope this helps, thanks for the quick replies.

 

[itr sol]

Sorry, but I've left out some details that may or may not be important, so I'll share. The music I listen to is primarily Rock / Alternative, and the source is usually my iPod. I do listen to the radio occasionally, but almost never carry CD's (that's why I have an iPod).

Before any of this is to be done, I'll be stripping the interior and having the whole inside lined with RAAMmat and Ensolite from RAAMAudio. When this happens, I'll be hitting any potential leak spot with 3M Seam Sealer. A friend and I will be doing the sound deadening, but we won't be handling the install. I'll have a professional handle that, but I'll be camped out watching like a hawk the entire time. I actually had to replace various parts of my car's wire harnesses from the hack job the previous installers did.

For wiring everything up, I have speaker wires and a dual amp install kit from KNUKonceptz, and I grabbed a Big 3 Kit from XS Power. I'd like to keep it as close to 14.4V at the amps as possible, so I'm looking into either a new Kinetik or XS Power Cell / 5 Farad Cap / or maybe both. I wouldn't mind some input on this.

Back to the Head Unit issue, I can grab the Pioneer DEH-80PRS for about $250, and the JBL MS-8 is going for about $400 right now. Will either of these be an optimal choice? Also, will my current amp selection work, or should I look into something else? Since they're new, I can probably return or sell them if I need something else. It's the HU / Processor cost that I'm more concerned about.

That's probably WAY more details than were needed, but I'm trying to make sure you all have everything you need in order to advise me to the best of your ability.

 

[itr sol]

So, four people reply out of the gate, with only two actually addressing me instead of bantering. Then, when I clarify, nothing whatsoever? Ummm....ok...? I didn't think my thread was that ridiculous.

 

[Roper215]

I think you should lose the rear fill, especially in a two seater and get a helix dsp, I like them better than the ms8 or alpine. Just my opinion. It will also simplify your install. I believe if you lose the rears your alpine processor will work though.

Knu wires are plenty adequate, I just hope you didn't get the ones in the thick pvc jacket, look like a big cylinder. It will add 3 hours to your install, bc of stripping them.

 

[sqnut]

The speakers sub and amps are fine. But you need better dsp than the h100. The p80 offers enough processing to get the sound to a good level and runs a 2 way plus sub active. Don't run rears. Once you have installed the equipment and done basics like deadening your door etc, good sound in the car is all down to tuning from the p80.

 

[Viggen]

As stated ditch the rears, waste of time... Money.... And power

Bridge two channels if the amp and feed that to your midbass.....more power is always a good thing

I have never done a active setup thus zero opinions on which processor etc..... I have the alpine imprint and as stated.... It will not work for what you want to do.

 

[itr sol]

So, you guys think the DEH-80PRS has enough channels to run a 3-way front stage AND the subs? Would the 4" and 6.5" components have to share frequency coming from the HU?I considered ditching the rear fill, I just was hoping to not take a loss on the speakers. If I do that, run the 800/8 with two channels to the tweets, two to the 4" and four bridged to two to the 6.5"? Then run the subs off the other amp? That's still 4 channels of frequency unless the 4" and 6.5" share an out from the HU as that one only has 3 outs that I'm aware of. Unless I missed something...?

 

[bugsplat]

The DEH-80prs does not have enough to do a 3 way front with sub. I was in the same boat and am just setting up my active system this weekend. I decided to keep my hu and buy a DSP-88R. It's about as simple as a dsp gets without losing function. They go for about $225 and fyi the soundstream Harmony is the same thing with different case. Both are made by Minidsp, a well respected company. I think the model it's based on is the 2x8.

 

[Theslaking]

I like rear fill. Not necessary in a two seated. The 80prs will run 2 way active + sub or 3 way and no sub. For simplicity 80prs, no rears, no h100. It will surprise you once properly tuned. If you run this system for a while after being correctly setup and still want more, you will need a new DSP.

 

[itr sol]

I'm definitely keeping the 3 way front stage, that's not negotiable. So if the 80prs won't handle that and the subs, then I guess it's a DSP for me.

So if I buy an 8 channel DSP, it will run the 3 way fronts and the subs yes? I'm paying attention to the brands people are throwing out. The Matrix seems a bit more expensive, but I'll look into it. The PPI DSP-88r has some really mixed reviews online, way too many negatives for my taste. I'm definitely going to need some help navigating this course.