[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by smsrini

... my back seat drivers - wifey & daughter are complaining they don't like it at the back, so have to figure out how to make things better. ...

Originally Posted by jkdas

Always felt the rear to less audible than the front.
Try a sub, makes a big difference.

True, JK, they sound as if the rear co-ax's are less sensitive than the front comps.

Srini, perhaps you should first try playing with the fader (for a moment forget your front image for their sake ) to see if a higher volume for the rear seat satisfies them.

Then, add an amp. Maybe a 4channel - fronts connected to one pair, the other pair for the sub. Rear co-ax on HU. This will give you the flexibility of tuning the front and rear volume levels to their satisfaction. The sub will be an icing on the cake.

[jkdas]

Derji; he is using stock HU. Only one pre-out. HU upgrade for an amp

[smsrini]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Derji; he is using stock HU. Only one pre-out. HU upgrade for an amp

Yup, I unfortunately got a Blau HU as stock, not alpine. Will have to check its specs to see if it has more than 1 pre-out.

I tried the fader. EQ off, Bass and Treble at the same level. Its good for some type of songs / music but does not bring out the high frequencies that well, so all the latest dhinchak songs that my daughter plays dont sound all that bright, when you sit at the back.

Waiting for the $$ to try out the amp stuff.

Why is a co-ax the default choice for the rear doors / parcel shelf ?

cheers!
Srini

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Derji; he is using stock HU. Only one pre-out. HU upgrade for an amp

Originally Posted by smsrini

Yup, I unfortunately got a Blau HU as stock, not alpine. Will have to check its specs to see if it has more than 1 pre-out.

So what? Why would one need more than 1 pre-out for amping just the front and the sub? Separate sub-out is not a must. If in case the 4-ch amp does not internally distribute the signal (rare), one can always use a Y-cable to feed the 2nd input. At the amp, HPF the front channel, LPF the sub channel and you are good to go. If you boost bass at the HU, the front channel does not get affected since the amp has HPF, but the sub channel sees the effect.

All Blau HUs have 1 pre-out terminated at the pins of the rear connector. You need to get the RCA convertor to bring out the signal to RCA sockets - costs 300/- or so.

Originally Posted by smsrini

... all the latest dhinchak songs that my daughter plays dont sound all that bright, when you sit at the back. ...
Why is a co-ax the default choice for the rear doors / parcel shelf ? ...

Coax is the default choice for economy's sake, since most of the time there is no one on the back seat. But there is no reason why you cannot put components there - unfortunately there is no default provision for a tweeter there.

A decent amp is likely to set you back by 5K (grey) or 6K (with b&w). Plus 1K for the wires and RCA at least. Doors are decently damped on the Safari, but the FRP door panel on which the speaker is mounted needs some damping.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

So what? Why would one need more than 1 pre-out for amping just the front and the sub? Separate sub-out is not a must. If in case the 4-ch amp does not internally distribute the signal (rare), one can always use a Y-cable to feed the 2nd input. At the amp, HPF the front channel, LPF the sub channel and you are good to go. If you boost bass at the HU, the front channel does not get affected since the amp has HPF, but the sub channel sees the effect.

I love the option in my HU to keep the sub have a gain profile different from the main volume level(SUB SYS 2 in the Apline settings and i think jkdas uses the same settings) . it keeps the lows coming even at very low volumes. granted that may not be the proper way to do things, I still like it this way, and this would not be possible with a single pre out HU if you wanted to amp the fronts too.

[DerAlte]

Unh-hunh, you don't have a separate volume control / gain profile. You are only achieving volume control with a constant bias on the sub channel. This is the same as EBB or equalizer bias for bass frequencies (the 'Loudness' function), or even separate gain setting at the amp with LPF on = boost bass more than other frequencies at ANY volume setting; that is not 'fidelity'. Not sure of the internals on the Alpine, but to achieve 'different gain profile' one would need an auto cancellation of differential boost after a certain volume setting (loudness auto cancel) - so that bass boost is present ONLY at low volumes.

If you had a means of measuring proportion of LF v/s other frequencies, you will be able to make out that, without loudness auto cancel, it is doing nothing better than having constant boosted base profile at all volume settings.

[greenhorn]

I said a diff gain profile because i felt so myself . The alpine manual says that the subwoofer volume will remain independent of the main volume, but when listening, i did notice that the volume of the sub output did change to some extent with increase in volume. Maybe because of the HPF being enabled.

Loudness and all those dsp thingies screw up the highs in most cases. this doesnt