Hi all,
Longtime lurker, first time poster here. I have a 2006 6mt that I have finally decided to put a system in. I think I have decided on everything and was wondering what folks thoughts on it are. I am going with the following:

RF 360.2
Sub - JL 12W6
Sub amp JL 500/1 (500 watts mono amp)
Fronts - Boston Acoustic Pro 60 SE component (6.5" separates)
Rears- Boston Acoustic SR65 coax (6.5")
Highs/mids amp- JL 300/4V2 (75 watts per channel)
Center - Boston Acoustic S35 coax (3.5")
Center amp JL A2150 (45 watts per channel)

So, I had a couple of questions for you. First, should I go with the Isimple adapter to run my Ipod or use the connect supplied by the 360.2? I think I want the Isimple because it will show up on the head unit screen. Second, should I get the separate JL sub volume control knob or will I be able to adequately control the sub volume with the sub adjustment mode on the head unit menu (this stumps me because I'm not sure how the 360.2 might mess this up)? I really appreciate any thoughts.

 

1. Use the isimple
2. the 360 comes with a bass knob


As far as selection goes, i would

ditch rears/center channel/center amp

Get a better amp for your front stage. Those boston's are gonna see 25-30w which is on the weak side.

 

Thanks Eggy. By ditch, do you mean trade out with better equipment or completely leave them out? I'm not looking for massive output. Just something fairly clean and louder. The best way I can put it is if the stock radio went up 45 or so, (instead of the 40) with an accompanied level of increased bass, I would be perfectly happy. I'm just looking for a little something extra.

As for the 25-30W part of your response, can you help me understand what you mean? The JL 300/4v2 is 75 rms and 150 peak per channel and that is at 12.2V Seems like I would be okay, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

Leave them out.

The jl does 75 per. The external crossover itself will suck up some of that power. I'd say around 7-10w. That leaves you 65 watts that needs to be split between 2 speakers. see where i'm going with this?

 

Do you have some of this stuff already, or are you going to acquire it? Eggy is right, bostons love power, but you can make it work if you have the stuff already.

 

Ouch. I got ya now. I probably should have gone with the 450/4v2 as it goes 150 to fronts and 75 to rears. I guess I just figured that the quoted max rms on the Pro 60s, for the overall full component, was 125W so I should be okay. And, yeah, I already have all of it, except for the 360.2. I suppose I will go ahead and hook it up and see how the 300 performs. If it sucks, I will just bite the bullet and get the 450. I don't know why, but I am just troubled by not having rears. Plus, I really wanted to preserve the 5.1 set up.

 

Bridge the 300

It should give you 300 x 2

 

You can make it work if you want to try it before you buy something else. Hook the tweets up to the front channel and high pass them where the xover block would. Hook the 6.5s up the the rear channel at full range and use the xover block to work the midbass. I have no idea where the boston xover block would cross the tweets (rough guess around 3K) - perhaps somebody else would.

This will give you 75W to the tweets and 75 minus the xover block loss to the midbass. I use a 450.4 in this manner to drive my components because I like to gain them in separately - the -3, -6 shit does not work for me in some cars where I might want a -4.5, -10, etc. depending the stock locations of the speakers and how close my leg is to the 6.5. The 450/4 has a bandpass filter that I don't think the 300/4 has.

The stock rears will work OK off of the factory deck if you dial the rest in to match. They work fine for fill. The s35 is a remarked improvement over the stock center, even on the factory amp.

 

...or bridge the 300. WTF was I thinking, that is way easier. It will do 150 x 2 though.

 

Whoops

i was thinking about the hd 600/4 when i made that post

 

JDA, In your set up, i would run the 300 bridged on the fronts and then the stock rears and S35 center off the stock amp. Would it make more sense to bridge the for the fronts and then go with the boston rears and use the A2150 amp to power those? And then just run the center off the stock amp? Also, if I did go with that set up, does it even make sense to incorporate the 360.2 anymore? I suppose I could use LOCs, or high level inputs on the amps at that point (though i would have to go back and see if both have them). But, the concensus around here seems to be that LOCs aren't the best solution. Regardless, the 360.2 only seemed necessary when after-market amping all channels. Although, i guess it would still give me the benefit of being able to equalize the overall sound.

 

I wouldn't do what I suggested unless you hate the stock Boston crossover and need to control gains independently between the tweets and midbass. What eggy suggested is way easier.

I had a 3sixty.2 and it broke under warranty. When I took it out, I went LOC off of the pre-amp signal and I am happy enough - my issue with LOCs are not the LOCs themselves but the ability to get a full range, mostly flat signal. The front signal from the HU is mostly flat and full range around 1V (pre amp)... not excellent, but good enough that I was happy. I don't think that I will put the 3sixty back in. The slash amp can handle the 1V input.

I kept the rears and center totally stock from the amp only putting in the s35.

I took the sub signal from the trunk using a different LOC to keep the stock SW controls.

If you go LOC, don't use a shitty one like the SGN11 or something. Spend a few bucks more and get a decent/good one.

Only you can decide if you want to use the 3sixty. You lose the eq without it.

If you are a full-range rear kind of guy, then put the coax and a2150 in. Again, a decision for you. If you do this, then you need to process or take the signal pre-amp because I think that the post-amp rear signal is 100-3K range (guessing).

The s35 is amazingly good at low wattage for a cheap speaker. It took me a while to get the rest dialed in so that I didn't drown it out, but it holds it own OK as a center channel on stock amp.

What are you going to put the W6 in?

 

Great thoughts. I am changing my mind a little now. What about using a Cleansweep, and using the four channels for all highs and mids. My configuration would change a little where I would bridge the 300/4v2 to 2 channels and use strictly for the fronts. Then, I would use the A2150 for the rear coaxes. Next, as suggested, I would run the center channel directly off the stock amp and I would hook up the sub amp off of the speaker wire for the stock sub and use an LOC for line leveling. So a new question. I noted that the Cleansweep has an independent volume knob. Does that mean if I use it I would have to constantly adjust the volume on both the head unit (like for bass and center channels) and Cleansweep (for doors and rears)? If so, would it make a difference if I put the Cleansweep in line before or after the stock amp? I really want my headunit volume knobs to control everything.

The w6 is in a JL spec sealed enclosure right now. But I think I am going to redo and go with a ported box. I've been toying with another thread here on the board on the infinite baffle solution because I do love me some trunk space. But I don't know that I am ready to get that crazy yet. At any rate, I can do the IB or ported box down the road once I've had a chance to test out what I already have.

 

Sorry, I failed to mention that with the Cleansweep in place, I would scrap the 360.2. Also, does any know if we get 14.4v of power off of the stock electrical system (battery/alternator) or 12.5v? I ask because it effects the output on the A2150. I'd rather not upgrade all of that if I can get away with it.

 

Don't downgrade the rockford for a cleansweep.

 

Agree. The pre-amp signal is full range and mostly flat on the fronts and rears - no need to signal sum.

My car doesn't get to 14.4, but it is pretty constant at about 14.2. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it is constant - you won't be pushing the e2150 to the max and likely would not notice a small drop in the rear fill unless you are super sensitive to rears. The important thing is that your front stage is on the slash amp that will mask any voltage drops within lots of reason.

Don't give up on the sealed w6 yet. I use a single sealed 12" that will outperform all-but-the-best ported setups. You might be very happy with it, especially if you deaden your trunk.

 

Great. Eggy and jda, thanks a bunch for taking the time to walk me through some of this. It's much appreciated. I'll bounce back once everything is in and let you know how it went.

 

No problem, dude.

Hope you enjoy the setup

 

I kinda have the same dilemma with the 3sixty, how well would this unit work if i were to tap into the speaker outputs of factory amp and into the hi-level inputs of the 3sixty then go low-level rca's into the aftermarket amps ? would i get anykind of bad feedback or engine noises going that route ?

 

us the JL slash 300/4 and the 3sixty and run an active front stage. take the crossover out and use the amp and 3sixty for processing.

 

you should be able to set the crossover points the same as the JL crossovers and this will give you the full 75 watts per speaker

 

You might consider using the pre-amp signal instead of post-amp. You should not get any feedback if you set it up correctly.

I will probably end up putting my 3sixty back in the car. It was -2 here this morning, 38 in my shop and new snow falls every week... so maybe in a few weeks. It is like Minnesota moved south 2 states.