? for Purple about your sound system

[m3f_eXpLiCiT_4_fb030f9c5e]

I noticed you got the JL XR components on your car. I was thinking of upgrading to these but how much of an improvement was it over the HK speakers? Also what did you put in the rear deck? I recently installed a Alpine 7894 HU along with a 10"W7, and JL 500/1 amp. My HK speakers sound really loud and start to distort midway throught the volume. I can't even hear my bass. I had to turn up the bass boost all the way on the amp to hear it. So after searching through numerous threads I've come to the conclusion that the only way of fixing this is to get rid of the HK system. So basically what are your overall thoughts on your components? Would you recomend them? Thanks

[m3f_97BLKM3COU_0f375e15e2]

Purple has pulled out the rear speakers completely. You don't really need rear fill if your fronts are done well. If your bass boost is all of the way up on the amp, what about the sensitivity, is that pretty high too? If so, your sub is probably distorting and you can not hear it. Turn those down a bit and remove the rear speakers.



Purple's front speakers sound really nice, but if your bass can't keep up with the rest of the system, that sounds like the first area that needs some work. My single 10 sounds just fine with the HK and there is only 150 watts going to it. Then again, I am not looking for a huge amount of bass.



You have a nice amp, but the trunk is sealed very well and it may be tough for one 10 to get through to the cabin.



Purple has about 350 clean RMS watts to each sub so that sounds very nice.



Putting nice front speakers and a seperate amp in the car for them will give you a bit cleaner sound, and allow them to get a bit louder, but if you can't hear the bass now over the fronts, then new fronts will not really help that.



Pull the rear speaker and see if it sounds any better. If you have a sedan, then you could also cut out the ski hole, which is a nice option as it give a pretty large hole into the trunk. If you have a coupe put the rear seats down and see how much louder it gets.

[m3f_PurpleM3Pursuit]

what he said.. lol.. 97blk is my stereo guru... :thumbsup:

[m3f_eXpLiCiT_4_fb030f9c5e]

Well the reason my HK sounds so loud is because I think they are being "double amplified" or something like that. The Alpine HU is sending more watts to the HK amp than the stock HU was. So by getting new components I would use the RCA's from my HU and run that to a aftermarket amp which I could adjust the gain on, for the components. Actually the HK's don't sound that bad to me its just they are so freakin loud. I wish there was a way to adjust the gain on the stock amp. I tried splicing RCA's and hooking them up to the Stock amp but they sounded too soft.

[m3f_eXpLiCiT_4_fb030f9c5e]

Hey purple where did you put the crossovers for the JL XR's?

[m3f_97BLKM3COU_0f375e15e2]

The alpine head unit is sending a bit stronger signal than the factory head unit would send, so you are correct, the speakers will be a bit louder at "the same volume level". Although, if the fronts are louder than the subs, then turn the sensitivity up on the subs more. Maybe you can adjust the output on the head unit somehow?

[m3f_Sirius_880bd69485]

Oh yeah? My alpines sub ciruits blew up on me. One day smoke billowed out of the head... cauing me to cuss a storm. I am too lazy to fix it. As of right now, I am satisified with how the car sounds, at least I got the factory subs to fall back on for some bass. Over time Ill put a better system back together :P

[m3f_m3-dude]

Do you think future buyers would care about the "ski hole" thing gone? I took it out of my old 7 series, but it killed me to do it. Mainly the ruff edge that it left, I never could find any rubber trim to go around it.

[m3f_97BLKM3COU_0f375e15e2]

Maybe find some generic moulding that would go around it, then get some speaker fabric, or some other type of fabric to cover and dress it up a bit.

[m3f_PurpleM3Pursuit]

my crossovers are mounted where the stock amp was.. i used a few pieces of doublesided tape.. it looks pretty tight.. i should take a pick of it..

[m3f_m3-dude]

Where did you guys run your RCA's and power cables?

[m3f_98technovlt]

Your W7 should BUMP! even with the, slghtly inderpowered, 500/1 amp. You might want to check the enclosure to make sure that it is sealed properly. Also, as suggested above, check your amp gain and use it to match your front stage. I disagree with 97blk somewhat, adding a decent rear stage will help dimensionalize the sound, especially if you have some digital processing front to rear as your Alpine has (BBE?). Also, as indicated above, the stock amp uses "high level inputs" which takes an already amp'ed signal and amplifies it further, as opposed to using a preamp output. That is why your H/K speakers are louder, but also why they are distorting....I think your H/U output is 60X4, probably about 25 RMS. But your H/U amp is based on a chip and does not have the transient response or headroom that a stand alone amp would.

You would be much happier to get decent front (and rear) stage speakers and use the preamp outputs from your H/U and a good 4 channel amp to complement your nice sub set-up.



I currently use for the front stage:

MBQuart premium reference components, the 5.25" in the kick panel, tweet in the door and a CDT CA-50 5.25" component set with the 5.25" in the door, slightly lower than the old mid-tweet, and the tweet in the corners of the dash.

MBQuart two way 6 x 9's in the deck with the scorpion adaptors.

Two Memphis Belle Power Reference (extremly effecient! - I don't need a lot of bass and don't want to use 1000 watts to drive them) 12"s in a box in the trunk.

All driven by an MTX 5 channel amp (cheap but effective) 50 X 4 and 490 x 1.



With the rear seats folded I hit 130 db @ 30 HZ <10% THD - more than I will ever use.

More to the point, this set-up delivers excellent sound quality and a nice high and deep soundstage. My most annoying limitation is that the crossovers on the amp are fixed at 80 HZ for both low and high pass limiting tweekability.

Also I run a crank pulley and was worried that the underdriven alternator would underpower my amp - so far no problems, no light dimming at, or anything - even w/o a capacitor.



Piont of the story, not sure why you are not achieving the bass levels that your W7 is capable of, surely it should rock, but you will be amazed hom much more you will enjoy your music with good mid/high speakers and amplification.