Trunk Monkey

iTrader: (1)

Nice JDA. Should be about where my PDX 4.100 is bridged. Hopefully the OP goes for the 400-4 instead of the 400-2. Do you go with Focal's, ID's, Massive's, ??

illadelph

Well change of plans. I talked to my installer today and he called his boss to see about the price on the t-400-4. Last week three of the installers ordered A BUNCH of amps from RF and in return got an e-mail from Rocford asking them why they ordered so many amps and no speakers. There dealer order went out and now they don't want to order anything else through demo prices. The t-400-4 was priced at only $140 bucks. He can order it for me for $230 but there going on ebay for $219. Im pretty pissed at the moment.

I think im just going to buy the Focal Poly tonight and an amp this weekend. Ughhh

jda123

If it makes you feel any better, this is quality stuff that you can keep for a long time. You can move it from car-to-car with you (just save the old stuff).

Just make them take $80 off of the install to make up the difference.

sddale

Ouch! It's like you snooze you lose. I guess 230 is still good coming from an authorized dealer and it's a nice amp.

illadelph

Well the guy doing the install is going to be doing it on the side so I'll def get it cheaper than running it through the business. Now just have to figure an amp, heck maybe i'll just get the t-400 bc i've already figured everything else out.

illadelph

Trust me I told him to order it for weeks, bad timing i guess. And i can get it for $219 on ebay free shipping.

eggyhustles

If they ordered so many amps, they'd give you the t400 at the discount. They're just tryin' to bleed more money out of you.

jda123

I will assume that you get the t400-4 and Polyglass from somebody. Here is some stuff to pass along to your installer since I have had both of these products:

Remove the stock tweeter from the cover. Use a holesaw and mount the TNA tweeter cup into the stock cover. These image pretty nice from up here and will be very detailed and smooth up to their limit. Run new wire for these. (FYI - after about 75-80W (meaning about 160-175W to the pair), these tweeters will sound awful... this means that you are over their ability so keep it lower) I would start at -3 and see how you like it.

Use 3/4 MDF rings, but you will still have to cut metal on the doors - he will know how to do it (it is easy). Run new wire for this - the stock wires will not handle the wattage at high levels.

The T400-4 is a pretty good SQ amp. It does not do any signal modification at full pass, so it will have engine whine if your guy does not install it right. Even at HP, the butterworth x-over does not take out the engine whine on this amp. This is a good thing in that the amp will not filter out ANY signal, but this is a bad thing if they guy is used to JL Audio, or the like, amps that have some features built in that removes engine whine to make for a near-foolproof install. This should not be a challenge for the guy, but let him know in advance.

On the 3G TL, I would use the post-amp signal hardwired into some RCAs. No need for a line output converter unless your guy is just dead set on it for some reason.

Good luck.

illadelph

Would you not recommend that amp over a similar amp since you've owned it? From what i've heard the focals sound pretty damn good for a $300 set. Im not dead set on it but like i said i want to get this project rolling as fast as possible.

illadelph

Pretty much what i meant is if you had to do it all over again with approx the same budget, would you of gone a dif. root with either sub or speakers (hertz,massive,ID etc...)

jda123

No, I am a focal guy after using MANY different sets - the only changes that I have made are to higher-quality Focal stuff. I think that you will be happy with what you have selected.

illadelph

Nice, i'll post what i buy tonight. But the focal poly's ($300 new on ebay) look like there gonna be the components unless someone chimes in before tonight to change my mind haha.

Trunk Monkey

iTrader: (1)

Focal seems to be a Love/Hate thing, so I'd maybe try to listen before you buy. You can pick up a bunch of good stuff for around your budget so no need to hurry.

jda123

I think that most hate comments come from the uninformed. Once installed in a car, most sets in similar ranges have differences, but not to the point of hating them - it is not like they will make you cry or something. I wonder how many people have actually listed to the stuff that they post about? That being said, I did buy a set of used "SQ Champion" components on Craigslist to try them out and wasted my time - glad that I got my money back out of them, and I have no idea how they won any trophies. ...I almost hated those.

Try and base your opinions on people who have owned the stuff, yet have enough of a basis to form an opinion (have owned some different sets).

My favorite type of review:
Overall: Love the product, best EVER!!!!!
Pros: All
Cons: None
Experience: This is my first set

illadelph

Yeah like i've said a couple times there are no decent reliable audio shops in my area with soundboards. Most of my friends with car audio have either left the game or have more knowledge on subs/amps than components and interiors.

Thats why i'm taking a stab in the dark here. Theres a lot of options out there but most I have NEVER heard of. The way I look at it, upgrading components with ANY $200-$300 decent set should make the sound MUCH better than stock.

That Rockford amp is still kind of bugging me. Just because I could of got it so much cheaper. In my head i'm thinking, "should I really buy this amp still without the discount"? But like JDA said he has experience with both focals and RF t-400 and said they made a nice duo.

illadelph

Hey jda the ebayer for those vocals said if I buy he will upgrade my order to focal 165 vb.. Are those better than just the v?

eggyhustles

I wouldn't buy focal on ebay..

illadelph

http://cgi.ebay.com/FOCAL-165V1-POLY...#ht_2481wt_907

His feedback all seems legit. And he ships out of cali, isn't it the foreign countries where you have to watch out? Have people been getting ripped off recently?

BlueAc

iTrader: (2)

That's not a private seller... that's woofersetc.com!

http://www.resellerratings.com/store...dio_Superstore

eggyhustles

nvm, woofersetc is legit..

I hate cars

Hey Eggy, since this thread has taken many directions, maybe I can ask your opinion on the Rockford 1000.4 amp. SQ is of most importance but I want something that will really let my Dyns shine. Remember, the mids and tweets are 8 ohm, midbass is 4 ohms. I could still bridge two channels of my hurt 6450 to get around 220 watts to each midbass and run the RF on the mids and tweets or some variation of that combo.

eggyhustles

It's a good no frills amp that will give u gobs of power, and be flat on all channels, but at the asking price(1k+), i would be looking at helix, dls, zapco, tru, audison, and genesis.

jda123

The Fosgate power amps are no joke, but I have not had a AD (they just came out). The regular (older) power series amps are nice, but you need to process... so you are set there with the MS8. They are probably 20-30% underrated. They are not as plug-and play as the JLs, PDX, etc. - they do nothing to the signal from what I can tell, so they are clean and true. Probably a good buy around $550, which looks like where you can get them online.

What I can tell you is that my Audison make the No. 7s shine a lot brighter than the JL 450/4 did - it was a world of difference in the midrange and tweeter. You bought a high end 3-way set, so match 'em up with some high end amps. I could not tell a difference on the Audison on the midbass, which I keep under 300.

I finally got a DC1000.4. It is in my garage still, but expect a review soon. I am hoping that the DSP in it is good enough that I don't have to buy a 3sixty for my backup car.

Illadelph, I like the TNA tweeter in the Polyglass V1 better than the TNB that comes in the VB... to each their own though. They are not that far apart and both are inverted magnesium domes, so they should sound good in the stock location. Both should sound good up to the 125-150W and will get very ugly over that. The VB are newer. Flip a coin?

illadelph

What are the differences you can tell between the two?

jda123

I have thought about this for a day. I think that maybe what I liked better about the TNA tweeter was the way that it was installed in my car. I have only heard the TNB in another car. There might not be too much difference in them. The midbass and crossover appear to be the same.

I guess that there is a reason that Focal replaced the TNA with the TNB.

You probably cannot go wrong with either.

Trunk Monkey

iTrader: (1)

Just go VB

illadelph

Ok cool, im going to go with the FB and RF T-400-2 that I got a good deal on. So that'll be what im working with.

eggyhustles

Took almost 200 replies for you to make up your mind lol

illadelph

And believe me I didn't think it would of took a quarter of the replies lol. So many choices and some people say to go in this direction and others in another direction. Well i'm paying for everything tonight so hopefully next week I can start the project.

Does anyone have a link to the guy that sells the MDF rings for the 6.5? I wanna buy those up tonight too.

eggyhustles

http://cgi.ebay.com/MDF-Speaker-ring...e#ht_499wt_928

jda123

It is hard. On one hand, you have people saying that Infinity is the best thing that they have every heard... and on the other hand, you have people who think that B&C horns and Focal KRX2 are NOT good enough.

jda123

Those are not big enough. Gotsta be 5.6 inside diameter to fit the focal 165s.

Try these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/6-75-3-4-MDF-Rou...item2302384a6c

I hate cars

I was there just a few months ago. Even once I was 90% sure I wanted the Dyns, I would read one review that said they were harsh, one that said they were too laid back, one that said they wouldn't get loud, one that said they would get very loud, etc. There's so much left to interpretation on the internet. Right when I had made up my mind, I would read another review that changed it. It was Niebur that helped me to make up my mind.

jda123

For me, the whole thing got easier when I decided that I am a metal tweeter guy and I like high powered sealed subs...

1). Limits my choices
2). I can focus my efforts
3). I can try and tune
4). Leaves me with a whole garage of used stuff that I will never use again and need to sell (the bad part)

Don't ever believe a "harsh" review. I have never met a speaker that was installed right that I thought was harsh that cost over $200. The only "harsh" stuff that I have personally heard was on-axis or powered beyond the means of the driver to stay relatively flat. I have gotten to where I just take the advice of a few that I know can give a good review and are dynamic enough to adapt their opinions/reviews to help others (top 10%, maybe). Let me guess, the Dyns are not harsh at all? I am sure that I am wrong about this, but just my experience.

I hate cars

Not harsh at all unless you really EQ the high end up. Then again, I've always heard Focals were harsh yet the set I put in the GF's car are almost too laid back but that's on the stock deck so it's somewhat to be expected. I always thought harsh meant detailed which was why I originally got the Infinities 5 years ago. I had to learn the hard way that you can have a smooth yet detailed tweeter.

The only ones I could never get the harshness EQ'd out were the Infinity Kappa 6.5" 2-ways and to some extent even their soft dome Reference tweeters in the dash. These were my first upgrade and the harshness was so bad that I taped over the tweeters in the doors and would still brace myself for the harshness of the dash mounted tweeters in certain passages. Even after I swapped them out for the IDs it took a while to not be scared anymore lol.

jda123

Exactly, not harsh at all. My experiences too. Laid back opinions are also bush and usually comparing silk to titanium/berillyum, dome to inverted, etc.

Which Focals did you put in the GFs car? You know that I love my Focals, but I might try the new 3-way set of Thesis if I ever find some for cheap (doubtful). ...maybe some Phass, but I never see those around either.

...be on the lookout for some Morel, Hertz, ID CXS, HAT (just recently tried and hated) and a few others on the market. Gotsta clean my garage out.

ParaSurfer1979

Ha Ha see I like bright tweeter's. I had the Kappa components in my S2000. I wanted clearer highs in my stock stereo so that's why I ordered the Reference this time to reduce the abrasiveness. As for the original poster posting that someone said Infinity was the best speaker that member heard (me) this idiot failed to mention i was doing a drop-in speaker so these were the only 2ohm speakers i found other than JBL which are made by the same company (Harmin Kardin).

illadelph

Dude why do you continue to post in here. No one even brought your gay ass up. Go flood someone else thread up.

illadelph

Good thing I didn't order the other ones yet, thanks though.

ParaSurfer1979

Im gay? That's news to me but your just showing more and more how ignorant and uneducated you are. Over 200 posts with a friend in car audio business and you've still yet to purchase anything.