newbie ice questions

[ReekieVR 0]

I am just installing my super new Audioscape pods and generally sorting some better sounds. FYI: I have Focal Poly 130 V2s in the pods and tweeters hidden in dash. I have a bog standard Sony stere ( XRc300RDS - 30W x 4 ) and a couple of simple questions:

 

1. Should i bother taking the sponge off the door card and dynamating it, or just concentrate on the door skin and structure?

 

2. I have a small 30w alpine amp and was going to bridge it to drive something like this velcroed into the boot. The stereo has a line out. If i then disconnect the rear speakers with the Alpine running the sub, then will i be able to increase the volume on the head unit more before distortion occurs?

 

3. Do i need a crossover for the sub?

 

4. Is this setup - well - a bit crap?

 

I dont want banging loud chaver tunes or anything, and i dont want to spend any more money ( the pods and speakers are enough for me ! ). Also i dont really want to change the head unit as its got a 10 disc changer attached to it and i will be into £££s to get a new similar.

[bristolbaron 10]

I am just installing my super new Audioscape pods and generally sorting some better sounds. FYI: I have Focal Poly 130 V2s in the pods and tweeters hidden in dash. I have a bog standard Sony stere ( XRc300RDS - 30W x 4 ) and a couple of simple questions:

 

1. Should i bother taking the sponge off the door card and dynamating it, or just concentrate on the door skin and structure?

 

Concentrate on the door skin and structure, if you hear vibrations from the door cards then do them after.

 

2. I have a small 30w alpine amp and was going to bridge it to drive something like this velcroed into the boot. The stereo has a line out. If i then disconnect the rear speakers with the Alpine running the sub, then will i be able to increase the volume on the head unit more before distortion occurs?

 

You'l not get a lot out of an amp that size by the way of power to the sub. You may be better off using the amp to power your comps and getting a slightly bigger amp for the sub.

If your stereo had a sub output, you should be able to control the sub volume via a h/u control. I would get rid of the rears and concentrate on power using just the comps.

 

3. Do i need a crossover for the sub?

 

You should have a high/low crossover built into the amp.

 

4. Is this setup - well - a bit crap?

 

The sub/amp are 'a bit crap', but should give you some rear fill. The fronts are very good, but would definately benefit from amping.

 

I dont want banging loud chaver tunes or anything, and i dont want to spend any more money ( the pods and speakers are enough for me ! ). Also i dont really want to change the head unit as its got a 10 disc changer attached to it and i will be into £££s to get a new similar.

[gaz the geezer 0]

ReekieVR, hate to say it mate but the sub and amp are not going to cut it !!! you are really throwing money away, i`ve got a matched kenwood 10" sub and amp ( 450w ) c/w a ported box, it`s something i`ve inherited from an old car and i dont want it , nowt wrong with it tho....seeing as i`m in a good mood you can have it for £30 .. total bargain, and the best bit is that i will be in edinburgh in about a week or so no postage to worry about.... just an option for you mate, give us a pm if your interested :thumbleft:

[bristolbaron 10]

gaz the geezer, blimey!

 

Thats gotta be the better option then ReekieVR, !

[chrishill 0]

1. concentrate on the door skin itself, the most noticeable differences I found were in dynamatting the inside of the outer doorskin, behind the speaker hole (if that makes sense?) since its directly behind where the speaker will sit. Make sure the windows not going to foul on any soundproofing you add, and using one of those narrow wallpaper rollers to flatten it down helps save skinned knuckles as its tight in there.

 

2. With better speakers up front and the standard rears disconnected you should be able to crank it up a bit further without distortion, my only reservations are about the power output of the amp, it seems a bit low. It should still work but keep in mind that the amp will have to work alot harder to drive the sub unless you can find a sub that runs at 30w RMS (assuming the amp is 30w RMS?). The sub you linked to is rated 100w RMS so the amp is pretty underpowered for that, you'll end up turning up the gain on it to pretty high levels in order to keep the volume consistant across the setup.

 

3. If the amp doesnt have a built in low pass filter then yes, you'd be best off investing in a crossover, or alternativly you can buy little low pass resistor packs from halfords which provide a fixed frequency cut off, you wire them into the line-in for the amp, so all it processes are the lows.

 

4. not really! the audioscape pods are great as are the focals, the only thing I think you should really invest in is an amp with a bit more punch to drive the sub, I know you dont want thumping bass, but a low powered amp turned up full in order to drive a higher powered sub will disapoint, since its operating at the top of its capabilities so signal/noise will be worse.

 

hope that helps some!

[ReekieVR 0]

Thanks for the tips people.

I wanged most of the posh stuff on the skin and other structures behind the speaker. I had purchased a load of roofing stuff too which i put elswhere in the door ( it will probably end up dripping out of the drainage holes during the summer !)

 

I knew the 8" and little amp setup was going to be crap in my heart. Just needed someone to tell me!

 

I agree Bristolb ! Gaz - yhm.