[Sankar]

Originally Posted by nitrous

It's otherwise called a subsonic filter.
There's no music content below 30Hz and setting this HP @ 30Hz will eliminate the bad bass that stresses the sub and let the subwoofer be at its "power band" all the time.

But.. when if i set the LP at 30Hz then that will roll off higher frequencies right? HP is set to allow frequencies above a set limit isn't it, so why do i need to set this HP filter alongwith the LP filter? If i set the HP at 30Hz it will allow frequencies above 30Hz? This presence of LP and HP filter together is confusing me. Could you tell me more about this subsonic filter.

[Sankar]

Got the subsonic filter stuff cleared, reading DIYMA sure does help.

[Sankar]

Here are some after install photos i took today. Took the pics with my handy Nexus one, except for the first one.

The crossover: The iron core inductor is pretty heavy and possibly due to the handling by courier guys, the cable tie across the heaviest FeInductor was broken and the soldering had come off. Got another replacement XO, but ended up using the original XO after soldering it, gluing it with Araldite and cable tying it. I'm happy.






See the 12" sub in the boot? Half the boot is gone..consumed


Alpine PDX F4 and JBL 3501 Mono, placed behind the sub, screwed on to the back of the seat. Mono amp installation done by the horrible shop.


Tweeters, set -3Db in XO.


Tweeter and the midrange. Screw driver will not get in between the sharply raked windscreen and the dash, so its not screwed yet, might glue it later.


Door pad, woofer is covered sorry. The hole where the Auditor tweeter used to sit. Got to cover it.

[Sankar]

Crossovers. I wanted to mount these in the boot on the rear seat backplane, but didn't get good quality wires in time, so mounted the crossover on the lower part of the dashboard, best place i could manage with limited length of wire available and the size of the XO.



Head unit. Kenwood Excelon X794. I like it, much better than Clarion CZ300.

[DerAlte]

Gluing the mid in the dashboard is not a good idea.

Borrow a rachet driver from someone - usually the rachet set contains Philips and flat bits that can be used with the rachet handle with a converter. You will be able to easily drive the screws even in that constricted space.

Also, shift the sub to the other side of the boot - allow the amps to breathe. Otherwise, one or the other amp will start tripping.

[Sankar]

Before i can screw it in, i've got to insert that metal clip on the screw holes for the screws to grip, the ones i got with the speakers are a bit large. Will try the ratchet driver, hope it fits in there! Will move the sub to the other side, PDX does get hot rather quickly, but not after i placed the sub there, it was like that.

Alongwith the speaker kit I got two little packets with what looks like little square pieces of black sticky rubber (like the noise kill substrate) covered in wax paper. What is the use of these little pads? Where do i apply it? There are total 16 pieces.

[navin]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Gluing the mid in the dashboard is not a good idea.

Yup. I'd use a screwdriver called a 'Stubby'.

BTW Sankar those look like ferrite cores to me not soft iron. Sonically soft iron is better so if they are soft iron mean Focal has though this through quite well.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by navin

Yup. I'd use a screwdriver called a 'Stubby'.

BTW Sankar those look like ferrite cores to me not soft iron. Sonically soft iron is better so if they are soft iron mean Focal has though this through quite well.

Actually Navin, till i read your post i didn't know there was a Ferrite core inductor apart from the Soft Iron core inductor and that they differ. I thought the XO inductor type were either Air core or Iron core.

Now i don't know what kind of Inductors these are, Ferrite/Soft iron. Will try to find out. I'm curious.

The stubby i have won't fit in the gap to tighten the screw near to the bottom of the windshield, i tried. The Stubby does fit on the otherside.

Edit: Looking at the pics again.. i think i tried the stubby at the wrong end lol!

[Sankar]

Just adding couple of high resolution pics of the Crossover.

Navin, the black ends on the core of the centre and top inductors are insulation and the core inside looks like steel? The lower left inductor too looks like it has a steel coloured core but is mounted on plastic frame with legs. The centre inductor is pretty heavy too.

Attachment 411653
Attachment 411654

[nitrous]

I'm not too happy about your install, Sankar.
You're lucky to have 3-way focals, but the install is perhaps putting out 20-30% of the SQ potential.
1. The axis of the tweeter isn't clear to me
2. The midrange is wrongly installed.
a) Putting them in the stock location will make the sound waves reflect off the windshield and mess up the image.
b) Not using a baffle/spacer to seal the driver such that there's no wave cancellation is wrong
c) Glue? Use a ratchet
Note: Axis is very important for a midrange driver.

* I would recommend a fibreglass pod like the one used by Mi10.
* If not, Atleast, you could cover up the hole from auditor tweeter by mounting the midrange driver there. Far better imaging and you've covered the hole.

The crossovers are sticking out like a sore thumb in the cabin. Have them shifted to a concealed location after the speaker relocation and you've experiemented with the settings in the crossover.

[Sankar]

Yes i did think about mounting the midrange on the door, but it calls for a MDF ring which i did not have and then i did not want both the woofer and the midrange to fire into the same cavity. Wave cancellation of the mid driver at the present location would be taken care of when i get some Dynamat Extreme.

This is the best i can manage on my own at present. I'm happy with the sound quality as of now, it is better than what i used to have earlier. Will consider re-installing the setup professionally when i go to Cochin, i'm not going to Cochin just for this anyway.

[Sankar]

Onto stage 2 phase of the build. Whats going to be done in stage 2 ought to have been done as a part of stage 1.

Sourced: Dynamat Extreme, Good quality speaker wire (no more cut joints anywhere), heat shrink tubes, new MDF rings which will be painted or epoxied before put in to resist moisture and fungus (yep the old rings had it), Drill kit (always wanted one). All terminations and connections would be soldered and heat shrinked.

To be sourced: End terminals such as spade or ring connectors for crossover and amplifier speaker wire terminals and butt connectors and splice connectors. Where can i find these? I send my friend to local electronic street but he couldn't get any.

As much as i like listening to music i like to have a system with reliable, solid connections and wiring. For me pleasure is in both listening to and building a good setup.

[Sankar]

Remounted the tweeter to the most suitable position to suit my taste. I tried the tweeter temporarily mounted in different positions both off and on axis and found this to be the best of the lot. Looks neat too.


Marking the position


Marked


My new drill kit


Holes drilled to make cutting easier. On the other pillar panel i used a larger bit.


Dad's tomato knife became mighty useful. Finished off the edges with my Victorinox and round file.


Both pods are test mounted. Rough edges on the pillar panel go under the pod's extended top edge.


Flush fitted




Muneem suggested making a FG pod for the midrange and the tweeter, but would be tough in the A-Star since available space between the dash and the glass may not be enough for a cone mid. Large pod will affect visibility which already is not enough due to the thick A-Pillar.

Also read that flush mounting the tweeter is better for a flatter (smoother) response. Anyway, it sounds better now, tweeter is now set at 0db from the earlier -3db.

[Sankar]

I'm in a little confusion because of this statement in the manual which came with Focal Access 3.

"If the woofer is located at the bottom on the door, connect woofer direclty on the amplifier in order to have more dynamic midrange".

Does that mean i can run the woofer off a dedicated channel? Sort of like bi-amping, where one channel goes into the Xover for the mid and the tweeter, and another channel directly to the woofer??

The woofer is located at the bottom of the door, yes indeed, and Focal has asked its users to do it? Will there be any benefits with this setup, yep i understand that one should listen to it but what do the experts think? Should i try it like that? If yes then should i be worried about supplying 100W directly into the woofer?

Help needed!

[DerAlte]

I think (my reading of the statement) it means bypass the XO mid output and connect the mid-bass directly. Tweeter would be fed through the XO as earlier. Makes sense, since the XO mid is LPF / bandpass (assuming HPF set at HU or amp), and they are recommending *all* the frequencies be sent to the midbass (more high frequencies than what comes out of the XO mid section). The XO protects the tweeter as before (mid-bass doesn't need protection).

The midbass will have a natural high roll-off (6-8k?), but the enhanced range (2-8K) will make the mids sound different (may not be better for some, I am sure). Also, since it is mounted at the bottom of the door, the highs from the tweeters will be far louder, defining the high range and much of the image.

IMHO no harm in trying - simple rewiring at the XO (wire the mid-bass to the incoming from amp / HU). If you don't like it, you can always switch back!