So what are some other options or brands to run 4-way that are good?
Is the Clarion MCD-360 any good?
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3-way 4-way - what to do
I am actually thinking of a cheaper route than the 4-way clarion deck - while the deck is said to have great Sound Quality and the 4-way active crossover would be great, its very expensive. I don't think the extra cost would be justified with my current plans. I'd rather spend the extra money on sound deadening for the time being.
I think I'm going to get a 3-way deck and use a crossover between the dedicated midbass and subs.
SO, that being said. What do you think of the Clarion DXZ785USB or DXZ775USB.
The reason I prefer this deck vs the other 3-way decks is the flexibility of the crossovers.
You can cross the lowest LPF up to 600 hz, the alpine and eclipse decks are limited in this spec to 200 hz. The pioneer 880prs is 250 hz. This will give me added flexibility in choosing a midrange (ie it can be a dome crossed at 600 hz)
Just for example: I could have the deck crossed at 20-600hz || 600hz-5khz || 5khz->up The 20-600hz output will then be crossed at 80 or 100 on the amps or an external crossover if I need a steeper slope.
I'm not saying I would NEED to have the crossover for the dedicated midbass go up to 600 hz but I want the option.
The only thing I'm concerned about is getting the Clarion and not liking the way it sounds.
I think I'm going to get a 3-way deck and use a crossover between the dedicated midbass and subs.
SO, that being said. What do you think of the Clarion DXZ785USB or DXZ775USB.
The reason I prefer this deck vs the other 3-way decks is the flexibility of the crossovers.
You can cross the lowest LPF up to 600 hz, the alpine and eclipse decks are limited in this spec to 200 hz. The pioneer 880prs is 250 hz. This will give me added flexibility in choosing a midrange (ie it can be a dome crossed at 600 hz)
Just for example: I could have the deck crossed at 20-600hz || 600hz-5khz || 5khz->up The 20-600hz output will then be crossed at 80 or 100 on the amps or an external crossover if I need a steeper slope.
I'm not saying I would NEED to have the crossover for the dedicated midbass go up to 600 hz but I want the option.
The only thing I'm concerned about is getting the Clarion and not liking the way it sounds.
Yeah if you x the mid bass over at 600 your going to be getting into an area where volume starts to get more important in your sound stage.
But that also depends on your mid. Can it play down to 300?
Something else to keep in mind. Since your not going to have 4 way control, you will want to equal out the path length difrences between the sub and mid bass, and play with phasing so your relative phase around the x over points match up.
That gave me an idea. Why don't you run the mid bass active, and use a passive x-over for the mids and tweets. As long as your mids and tweets are mounted relativly close to each other this would be easer than having the mid and sub share the same output, and trying to get it right.
But that also depends on your mid. Can it play down to 300?
Something else to keep in mind. Since your not going to have 4 way control, you will want to equal out the path length difrences between the sub and mid bass, and play with phasing so your relative phase around the x over points match up.
That gave me an idea. Why don't you run the mid bass active, and use a passive x-over for the mids and tweets. As long as your mids and tweets are mounted relativly close to each other this would be easer than having the mid and sub share the same output, and trying to get it right.
I'm not sure yet what the mid will be playing to, that is why I prefer the flexibility of the Clarion deck in order to use it that way.
I was hoping to avoid passive crossovers as I'd have to build and rebuild to change the crossover frequency. The mids and tweets will most likely be in the A pillar, so keeping them on the same t/a should be acceptable, maybe I could use an FMOD or active crossover to keep them on separate amps and allow me to level match them a little better.
Would there be a way to delay the midbass more than the sub if they were on the same output? Is there that much of a need to do so? You've seen where my subs are going, there is no way the path length will be close to what the path length of the midbass drivers will be.
I was hoping to avoid passive crossovers as I'd have to build and rebuild to change the crossover frequency. The mids and tweets will most likely be in the A pillar, so keeping them on the same t/a should be acceptable, maybe I could use an FMOD or active crossover to keep them on separate amps and allow me to level match them a little better.
Would there be a way to delay the midbass more than the sub if they were on the same output? Is there that much of a need to do so? You've seen where my subs are going, there is no way the path length will be close to what the path length of the midbass drivers will be.
Honestly man, I think running your subs and mid bass on the same rca out is a bad idea. The path length diffrence between the two subs is going to be enough that you will want to delay the left one a little.
Add in 2 more speakers, with completly diffrent path lengths and your going to run into issue.
I tried turing my time delay off and my mid bass and subs last night and the low end of my stage went to crap. So I'm afraid your going to run into the same problem.
If you all ready have a passive x-over and really don't want to go fully 4 way active then I sugest you use it for your mids and tweets, and mount them as close as you can.
You could always upgrade in the future to the MS-8 (if it ever comes out) and go fully active. Thats my plan.
Add in 2 more speakers, with completly diffrent path lengths and your going to run into issue.
I tried turing my time delay off and my mid bass and subs last night and the low end of my stage went to crap. So I'm afraid your going to run into the same problem.
If you all ready have a passive x-over and really don't want to go fully 4 way active then I sugest you use it for your mids and tweets, and mount them as close as you can.
You could always upgrade in the future to the MS-8 (if it ever comes out) and go fully active. Thats my plan.
I'd need to build a crossover to use it between my midrange and tweeters. My tweeters are 8 ohm so they'd be crossed at 1600 hz and the midrange (If it was 4 ohm) would be crossed at 3200 hz. I think I could handle it, I'd probably just build a LPF for the midrange and a HPF for the tweeter and still run them off their own amps so I could level match them.
What freq range do your midbass play?JeremyC wrote: I tried turing my time delay off and my mid bass and subs last night and the low end of my stage went to crap. So I'm afraid your going to run into the same problem.
If you all ready have a passive x-over and really don't want to go fully 4 way active then I sugest you use it for your mids and tweets, and mount them as close as you can.