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Please critique my planned setup, advise on amp?

2K views 13 replies 4 participants last post by  Isaradia 
#1 ·
Hi, complete audio noob here but have been trying to educate myself. Would love to hear thoughts/critiques on my planned setup for my '87 BMW 325i vert. I listen to many different genres of music but quite a bit is bass-heavy. Consider road/wind noise when top is down.

RECEIVER: Pioneer MVH-S522BS (4 volt, 3-way network mode crossover, 6-channel pre-amp outputs, compatible with Pioneer microphone auto eq, fits my car...)

SPEAKERS: either 6.5" Polk DB 6502 or Morel Maximo 6 installed in front kick panels (not doors) with tweeters in oem tweeters pods in doors. Open to other suggestions in this price range or even a bit higher that offer strong midbass frequency.

SUBWOOFER: I prefer to put the sub in the cabin rather than the trunk for a couple reasons and I rarely carry rear-seat passengers, looks like I can fit a very shallow wedge-shaped custom-fabbed (by someone else) enclosure in the rear passenger-side footwell with 0.4-0.45 cubic ft volume sealed, with some form of quick-disconnect mount. (I am too tall to fit a similar enclosure behind the driver seat.) JL 10TW3-D4 requires too much volume and probably has lower output than I need, and the Sundown SD-4 is too big...

SOOOOO, I am trying to decide between the Kicker 10" L7T10 solo-baric (square, 500 RMS, 86 db sens, 25-100hz, 2 ohm, DVC), and the new Kicker 10" CompRT 48CWRT102 (round, 400 RMS, 25-500hz, 85 db sens, 2 ohm, DVC). Very hard to decide between the two because I THINK they should both fit and would have adequate enclosure volume...

The other alternative is TWO powered Kicker Hideaway HS-10s (10", 180 RMS each but 400 at 4 ohms, 25-120hz) mounted vertically in each rear footwell, as they don't fit under the seats.

AMP:??? Seeking recommendations as I am a bit lost here. I figured I could get away with a lower powered/less expensive amp by going with a efficient 2 ohm DVC sub? Unless I go with the dual Hideaway powered subs...? Not sure what features I need.

Thanks in advance!
 
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#2 ·
if you're going with a small enclosure, kiss that efficiency goodbye. for a small enclosure, thert 10" is better than the L7T 10, it has smaller Vas (as to be expected, due to it having a smaller cone) lower Qts (meaning you can run a smaller box in relation to its already lower vas to achieve the same Qtc) and lower Fs, meaning that roll off will naturally start a little lower, all else being equal. Given all this, it makes the right choice quite clear, the Dayton HO 10". It has lower Vas, Qts, and Fs than the rt. It also has more xmax, and one of the lowest voice coil inductances in the low budget sub game, making it more "transient". oh, and it has a higher sensitivity, for those of you who don't live in the age of class D amps. (or those that play loud enough and long enough to be concerned with thermal compression, which is a reasonable concern)
also the dayton i'm referring to is a D4, meaning you'll wire it to 2ohm. Plenty of decent 500wrms@2ohm amps out there, and if you use big enough wire it'll give you a better practical damping factor, on top of already being lower inductance, this means more "sq" points.
 
#3 ·
as for components, I'd run the DB drive euphoria es3 components, but the polks are good too, at the price. no experience with the morels. run it all off of an D'amore E660.5. Don't worry too much about getting midbass out of the 6.5"s, focus on blending the sub into them, and you'll get all the midbass you need.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the replies. I will look at the Euphoria speakers; never heard of those.

The Dayton sub was somewhat on my radar, did not realize it would be so superior to the kickers for my application. Would you recommend the same specs for the amp if I can swing 0.5 cubic feet for the JL sub?
 
#8 ·
Just realized I am an idiot and didn't account for wood or even fiberglass thickness, or subwoofer displacement in my volume calculation. Don't even have enough volume for the 8in JL. Looks like I will have to go with 1 or 2 of the powered 10in kicker hideaways. At least the are well-reviewed! Not sure howor if hey interact with an amp at all.
 
#12 ·
I would be curious to compare a pair of Kicker 46HS10 ($700 for both) to a single JL ACS110LG-TW1 ($520)
The JL is rated at 400W and is ported ... methinks it would outperform the pair of Kickers, but that's just a guess
Not too large either, 18.5 x 11.125 x 5 (compared to 14.5 x 9.875 x 3.3125) ... not sure if the extra 4" of length is a deal-breaker though
 
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