'01 S60 Speakers

[chlngr1970]

So, I picked up a set of Focal 165 V3E speakers at Car Toys for a ripping $351. I think I blew my Head Unit money for these, as I understand that they were kinda expensive to begin with. I'll just have to wait till this fall for the HU

Any opinions on what I should match the rest of the systm up with? Rear Door/Deck...Subs? Amps? I am thinking of Alpine or Infinity...or maybe spring for Fosgate...

sugestions?

j

[paulr]

Well firstoff you'd be putting such speakers to shame if you planned on powering them with a HU... I'd consider around a 200w X 2ch amp for running them, more power wouldn't hurt but might be diminishing returns.

I haven't been inside a S60 so I don't know how the soundstage works out, but I've never really heard rear fill I liked. I'd put rear speakers down on the list, and start with a good amp for the focals, something with decent SQ. Look for 2ch amps from ED, Alpine, JL if you want brands... otherwise just do research for ones people think sound good/ have good specs. I'm running a SoundStream VanGogh and I love it, but soundstream's newer stuff is supposed to be stuff. Get a 4CH amp if you plan on doing powerful rear speakers, or surround sound... you could run your rears off your HU, but it might be harder to level everything.

After that I'd do subs, It seems you're after SQ going with focals, so I'd suggest a sealed box with a driver that can go real low. You'll probably get enough midbass / high bass from the components. I'd suggest against a ported box, because you'll be limited by your port frequency, and if you don't tune the box exactly right you'll lose SQ. I'm of the mindset where *if* a sealed box doesn't add enough boom, just add another sealed setup, but many people just assume go ported. To each his own, I guess.

Finally, once you have your front speakes on an amp, and a sub, then you can worry about surround sound (if you do DVD) or rear fill for a regular setup, and a HU. If you use an amp, the stock HU's will end up sounding much better (although a HU with a better preamp will still sound better). What you do will depend on what you want, and how your system ends up sounding. But I say do the amp and sub first.

Hopefully that sort of response is what you were looking for?

[chlngr1970]

So, here is what I am thinking of doing.

Pioneer AVIC D3

Speakers

• Focal 165V3E Front Doors
• Focal 165CV1 Rear Doors
• Focal 21V2 8.25" for the Rear Deck ( stock is 8" ) X2
• Focal 33V2 in the trunk X2

Amps

• Alpine MRP-F450 X 3 ( Front/Rear Doors/Rear Deck )
• Alpine MRP-F850 ( X2? ) Subs

j

[paulr]

Well,

If you have the space and money for 5 amps, an AVIC, and those speakers, then yeah, it will probably turn OK. However, I think you could get equal if not better performance for less money and headache.

Most people agree that running rear deck speakers (or in your case subs) as well as subs in the trunk limits the potential of both. I would suggest you either do the rear deck speakers (and fabricate basket enclosures of some sort so they don't run IB), OR leave the holes open for access to the two 13s in the trunk, NOT both.

Also, I think running 3 alpine amps like that (which are 350x2 at 4 ohms) for components is also pretty serious overkill. While using one amp for both the front and rears might not be quite enough power to bring out their full potential (as it's only 70x4 at 4 ohm, not sure why), you could jump up to one slightly more powerful and run both from one amp. However, 75x4 would still be rather good, much better than a HU, and would probably make you happy for a while.

I'm sure if you did everything on your list it would sound pretty decent, but it seems like you're throwing money and watts (2800 if I read the amp specs & did the math right) at this system. That much power is pretty absurd, and would require electrical system work as well: bigger/second alternator (2800W = 233 Amps, or 2.3 times the output of the stock alternator), second battery, etc, etc.

Other people may have different opinions, but I'd say stick the speakers you purchased up front, purchase an amp like the MRP-250 for your fronts (or find something over 100 watts per channel at 4 ohms on a 4CH and use that for fronts and rear doors). After that, either put the 8s in the back (with custom rigged sealed isolation enclosures on the back of them) OR put the 13s in the trunk, but NOT both. The 8s will provide more mid/midbass "punch" (as you could probably run them up to 150Hz-200Hz, if you set them up right), whereas the 13s will be much better at going low (they'd probably go down to 20 Hz whereas the 8s would crap out at 35-45). Then worry about the rear doors, perhaps with something cheaper than the speaker you have selected now, unless money really is no object.

Once you put the focals in and run them off a dedicated amp, you'll sound much better... may change your mind about spending another $3k on amps and components. That's what happened with my system - while eventually I'm going to keep working on it, I'm so happy with it now (as well as so busy) I haven't even bothered to do subs / the rest of my components.

Either way, good luck, and take pictures.

[chlngr1970]

This is what I am looking for. Thanks for the info. I'll look into that Alpine MRP-250. It never occured to me to get the lower watt 4 channel to get a better match for the speakers I bought ( and I agree that 350w is a bit of overkill ). Anyway, the 250s are much more affordable ( yes, I am on a budget here ) and I guess I could NOT do the 8s, adn just put the 13s in the trunk. One thing that could become a factor is how much trunk space will I lose going with the bigger subs? I thought of just modifyig the package tray and putting in 10s back there ( a friend of mine I trust said to go Free Air and build in a baffle). Obviously 10s won't go as low as the 13s, but I bet I would be happy with the results till I decided lower bass extension was more important than trunk space :unsure:

[paulr]

well, it all depends on the driver and the setup... a 10" can go pretty low if set up right, although I've never had much luck getting them to perform well below 25Hz or so, which many people will argue is plenty low, but doesn't compare with the 10-15Hz a properly set up 15 or 18 can reach. Maybe it's just been me. Personally, I don't like any "airy" enclosures (ported, IB, bandpass) because they're a oh yeah! to tune and make "snappy". It's possible, but requires much more care with driver selection and engineering. If you want deep rolling bass then it won't matter, but if you like anything involving drums, much work will be ahead.

Putting 10s in the back and running them free air could get pretty loud if done right, but you'll have to be careful to select a driver that's OK with free air (many aren't). My personal taste suggests against it. If you're into custom building stuff, you could set up isolated 8s in the back, and create vents for bigger subs as well... I don't know the specifics of an S60, but I'm guessing two 13s would eat up almost all of your trunk space, even in sealed boxes. Three 10s side-by-side fit just like a glove in my 850 sedan (with some space between the subs themselves, but not much)

However, we're talking all hypothetically here... I don't know how many systems you've done but it appears that you're not a professional installer (just like me). Maybe some of them should comment (there are a couple on here). All I can say is I'd play it safe and do the components first and take everything from there, as opposed to buying everything, and trying to figure it out. Your needs / percieved needs can and will change as the system evolves.

I really don't know enough about your listening preferences or the enviornment of a S60 to say more. I've been impressed by some setups in stock locations in S70s and even 850s, but the setup in my 850 didn't provide nearly enough midbass until I went with kicks. Even now, I want more.

If I were doing this myself:

I'd install the focals you have now, use an amp that's around 110 per channel X 2 at 4 ohms (like that 250 alpine, although I'd probably use a different brand). I'd wire it into the stock deck until I could get the AVIC (if you're 100% sure that's the HU you want). Then, I'd see how I liked it and go from there. If you have the ability to borrow a friend's sub setup, see if you can throw it in the back of your car for a couple hours and test it out (yeah, perhaps a day's full of work - but probably better than a $800 mistake). Depending on your tastes, you may find it's too "bassy" for you (how I felt with three 10s in my old car), or you may like it booming and say "this is great, but 3x this would be better - I can't really hear it inside my house" or whatever.

Once you see how the focals play with the stock drivers in the rear doors and rear deck (or no rear deck if you remove them to test out how they play as "Vents"), then you can determine how to go about getting what you want.

In my 850 wagon, I have 4x6.5" drivers, 2x2" and 2x1" up front (on a 650W amp), and for more midbass / bass, I'm going to add 4 7" subs whenever I have the time (on a 700W amp). If they don't go low enough for me, I'm going to put a 12" or 15" in the back - but I'm trying to avoid that for space reasons. For me, I love feeling the drums in rock or the electronic drums in hip-hop more than I enjoy a sine sweep at 40Hz.

If other people (especially those with S60s) have anything to say please say so.. Much of what I'm saying is just my personal taste.

[chlngr1970]

Ok, so the MRP-F250 bridged is supposed to be about 180W x 2 ( I think ) so, being so much less expensive, I like that idea better. So, next weekend ( unfortunately, this weekend is full ) I'll pop that in and see how I like it. I may just stickwith that till I can get the D3 installed.

Speaking of that...do you know where I can get the adapter to go from the D3 to the factory harness? Or, going from the HU 613 to the amp for my Focals till I get the D3? I am leary of just using the universal converters.

Maybe I should just wait till I get the HU and Amp...squirle the speakers away for a bit...

j