Re: Audio nuts only

[Andrew Holmes <aholmes@chubb.com>]

Don't you find that without rear speakers it is very difficult to get a good
volume/bass combination bearing in mind the front aperture is 6*4 only. I use
custom Pioneer 6*4 midrange and custom 1" Pioneer tweeters running at 80hz + and
40w per channel pure (100wRMS). I found that using just the fronts would give a
good soundstage but no depth and a lack of bass. If i allow a lower frequency
say 50hz to run through the fronts then i get depth at the expense of power
handling as the 6*4 units struggle to deliver any bass/volume combination and at
motorway speeds (85mph) the bass disappears as the road/wind/engine noises drown
it completely.
I appreciate the back speakers provide your back seat passengers with excellent
sound but the purpose of a quality car audio is to balance the sound against the
deficiences of the enviroment (a steel box not being the best acoustic platform)
so ideally you should centre the sound and imaging approxiamately above the
gearstick/slightly to your front and to do this including a reasonable (not
neceesarily thumping) bass will require the back speakers.
You are quite correct about the hatch creating a "megaphone" effect as my JBL
6*9's can if i provoke them quite comfortably match my friends twin 10"
Rockfords in a box in the back of his 325i but i generally like to end my
journey without my ears bleeding and ringing.
However if you are careful in selecting your components, use decent cabling
(this is very important and can make a huge difference) and are prepared to
spend time on a careful installation and setup then you can obtain a very high
quality sound without resorting to subs.
In my humble opinion this can be acheived with the minimum of
Head Unit
4 channel amp(with built in crossover)
4 quality speakers
Good quality interconnect and speaker cables

Lastly if you are running your'e power directly from the battery do put an in
line fuse on the cable as close to the battery as possible (mine is strapped to
the battery) which will probably save you a lot of cash in the event of you
making an error on installation or a short within the set up.

Please note all of the above is based on my personal experience with a UK spec
vehicle and may or may not be applicable to US or other specs.
I hope some of the above gives some background info which maybe useful but a
word of warning. Once you start upgrading the in car audio you are taking the
first step on a path where every upgrade will show up the weakest link in your
system thus prompting another upgrade and so on and so forth

Enjoy
Andy
91 Scala 8v


Mike wrote:

> Well as far as the ba ck speakers get rid of them...a good system only
> eliminates sounds from behind you anyways...I like to think of it this
> way...Where do you hear voices from? In front of you right? Well every
> single voice you hear from the back you wil have to over power from the
> front. So why have rear? Only reason to ever have rear is if you have an
> audiance in the back. Actually another reason would be if you were goig to
> add a center channel but it does not look like you are about to do that. If
> you don't want thump stay away from a sub altogether. I think a good set of
> speakers up front will help your sound alot but I am not sure how you are
> going to avoid thump. Our cars have whats refurred to as a megaphone affect
> with the rear hatch reflecting alot of sound off of the glass and actually
> enhancing the sound pressure forward in the cab which makes any bass
> produced from te rear sound like thump. I have had people ask me what size
> subs I had me when I only had part of my system installed in my car (4,5 1/4
> Mb Quarts in the rear deck before I knew better than to put them there).
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Brad Sterling <bgsterling@earthlink.net>
> To: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 1999 12:21 PM
> Subject: RE: Audio nuts only
>
> > As long as this is a thread for newbie questions...
> >
> > I'm wanting to add a small subwoofer and amp to the stock system in my 16V
> > for a little for power (unh! Unh! Unh! (in your best Tim Allen voice)).
> >  From my research, it sounds like I need a 4 channel amp with low level
> > inputs (so I can connect the speaker wires in) and low/high crossovers.
> >  The idea is send the front speaker wires into the amp, two channels out
> > through a low filter to the front speakers and two channels bridged
> through
> > a high filter to the subwoofer.  The end result should be the front
> > speakers handle the midrange/treble duties and the subwoofer handle the
> > bass.  Actually, now that I put this in writing, what do I do with the
> rear
> > speakers?  If I connect them to the same channels as the front speakers, I
> > lose fader function and if I connect them to the subwoofer channels, I'll
> > have the wrong filter in place.  Okay, I give up.  How can I put some more
> > power through the stock system without creating a car that thumps?  Should
> > I just get an amplified bass tube and some inline low filters for the
> > speakers?
> >
> > -Brad
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: William J Erikson [SMTP:williamjosiah@juno.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 1999 12:25 PM
> > To: CAPTIANBR@aol.com
> > Cc: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > Subject: Re: Audio nuts only
> >
> > I'd say your best bet is to get an amp that has a built-in crossover and
> > is bridgeable. Crossovers filter out certain frequencies. Most
> > bridegeable amps with built-in crossovers and designed to be used with
> > one subwoofer, like you're planning on doing, so their crossovers filter
> > out high frequencies and send only the low frequencies to the subwoofer.
> > Bridgeable means you can send both channels, mono, to one subwoofer.
> > Usually it's done by hooking the speaker to R- and L+ or something like
> > that - it varies. Some have a "bridged" switch, like my POS Legacy.
> > Anyone have any opinions on Legacy, BTW? I bought one brand new for $80
> > and it worked great while it worked. 300W (150RMS), bridegeable, built-in
> > crossover, hey, sounded great. It died, but I guess that was because I
> > mounted it to my rear deck and my speakers were mounted there too.
> > Someone told me this will kill an amp. Yes? No? Sounds quite plausible to
> > me - vibration and all.
> > HTH! (I don't know that much about audio either, really)
> > -Josiah
> > '84 GTI
> > '87 QSW
> > '86 Golf
> > http://bork.hampshire.edu
> > self-employed VW mech
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, 9 Jun 1999 10:29:28 EDT CAPTIANBR@aol.com writes:
> > >I have just inherited a JBL 12" subwoofer and box. But I don't no what
> > >type
> > >of amp to get for it or how to hook it up in the rocco.  I currently
> > >have six
> > >speakers off of a Clarion CD player.  JBL componants in the front and
> > >pioneer
> > >5 1/4 in the rear.  But I also have two rca outputs that are not being
> > >used,
> > >Shoud I use these for the subwoofer?  What is a crossover and do I
> > >need it?
> > >As you can tell I don't have much experience with audio besides
> > >changing
> > >speakers. I have two rca's but only one subwoofer how will this work.
> > >Thanks
> > >in advance for any help.
> > >
> > >Brian 86 16v
> > >
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