As some of you know, my right tweeter went poof when I started the car awhile back and white smoke came out. Now it wont play at all. So unplugged everything and made sure everything fit snug. Looked at the 3sixty.2 and made sure it was okay too. I check the wiring going to that tweeter...looks fine. So I put the tweeter that is okay on that side and poof. It's a goner too. WTF!! Is that amp channel bad or is it the 3sixty.2 doing something? I swear I'm about 2 seconds from just craigslist'ing it all

Any suggestions for good but cheap tweeters for our factory location? I can't buy expensive tweeters and just have them go up in smoke like this. I feel like all I've had is problems with this system

 

holy crap, monkey.

i have no idea what is going on, obviously...

...but i hope you figure it out soon! that shit would piss me off.

 

Yeah, it's really starting to upset me. Not to mention that the right mid will make a loud pop when I turn the car off. It's only happened twice...but it's loud! That can't be good. It has to be the MB Q4.150 amp or the 360

 

You might want to get a multi tester and see where the spike is coming from. You can find a super cheap one at Harbor Freight. I would test the right and the left side from the speaker then the amp, MS8 and any other component to see where it's coming from.

 

I would say with 90% certainty it's the amp. A turn on pop usually won't make smoke. Smoke sounds like continuous DC power. Do you have the stock mids by any chance? Regardless, as sddale said, put a multi meter on it, that will tell the story. Judging by the post on DIYMA it's a somewhat common problem with that amp. If only it happened a little sooner, I get the HD amps at dealer cost but the minimum order is two so I had to go used. A new 600/4 would have been under $500.

 

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...L_GTO608C.aspx

Just put these in. They sound great and are super cheap!

 

Might be looking into something like ScanSpeak, Vifa, etc for some cheap but very nice tweeters. Supposedly the all loved Alpine SPX-PRO ring radiator tweeter was modeled after a Scan tweeter. It can play low too, which would be nice for a 2-way.

Is there anything I can do with this amp?? Like an easy way to fix that channel..or is it a simple fix if I put it up on DIYMA or here for a little less than what I'd ask?

 

Didn't you buy that amp new from Sonic or something?

 

Traded my PDX4.100 for it on DIYMA. It was brand new from that guy though. That's why I'm wondering if he has any paper work or anything on it.

 

So I contacted the guy I traded my PDX4.100 for this Q4.150 with and he's going to look to see if he still has the receipt. He thinks he still has it as an e-mail and said he bought it about a month before we traded..so it's not even close to a year yet. He purchased it from CarAudioDeals.com so lets hope they aren't hard to get along with. Them or Maxxsonics I guess. So with either a physical receipt or an e-mailed invoice, I should be able to get it repaired or get a new one or whatever they want to do. I wonder if they'll pay for the damn tweeter it blew or not. Ugh

In the meantime, I've found a local guy selling a Sundown SAX100.4 that's brand new as he used to be a sponser he says. Still has the receipt/invoice and just sent it to me through e-mail. I wasn't sure, but he stated that they have Lifetime Warranties so that's a nice thing. Maybe I can track Aaron back down that was on here (owner of SSA I believe..) and ask him to make sure. I just don't want to get caught in this situation again ya know.

Which brings me to my next thought. Should I just try to sell the q4.150 and buy the Sundown? If it has a Lifetime Warranty and probably puts out around the same power (I'm assuming the SAX100.4 is underrated quite a bit)

 

Well..Sundown says it's only a 2-year warranty. And they purchase date was Dec. 18th, 2008. Quite a long time that he didn't use them but whatever. So no warranty. I guess we'll see if Maxxsonics/CarAudioDeals will come through for me....

 

Well..okay. Got the invoice and the guy will credit me for the amount but it's only store credit. MB Quart won't repair the amp under warranty purposes because that site isn't an authorized dealer. Sooo...it's looking like I'm going to have to ship it back to CarAudioDeals and pick up something else. They are out of stock on the q4.150 so anything I get, like the ONX4.125 will likely be a step down. I'm not sure how they compare in sound but it's 25rms less per channel. Other differences include not having ability to go active on the amp, etc..but that's useless with a processor. It really annoys me that I can't just exchange it for the same amp but what can you do. Only other option is to have it repaired and I don't want to pay out of pocket for this. The amp itself is only like $200. Here's the site if anyone wants to check out what they have. Really nice Customer Service...but just a shitty situation for me. I wonder if the ONX line has the same problems. I'm already out a damn tweeter so I have to pay for new tweeters..I can't have this happen again.

www.caraudiodeals.com

 

That's not a bad way to come out of it. Maybe there's something else on the site that you can use...like tweeters...then pick up that Sundown.

 

Better than nothing I suppose, but it still sucks. They don't offer anything worthwhile in the form of tweeters so it looks like I'll just go with the onx4.125 and hope it sounds close to the same. 150 is quite a bit for tweeters but I'd like to have more on my mids. Maybe someday when I step up to a 3-way, this amp can cover my midrange and tweets.

 

So I need some help picking out some tweeters while my amp is being shipped to me. These will be in the factory location so off-axis performance is important. I like the laid back, neutral sound that will retail detail but never make me cringe when it's loud. I actually felt the Massive tweeter did that decently, but it just didn't have much...body, we'll say. I could tell it was a tweeter playing and didn't feel real ya know. Hopefully you understand what I'm saying. Still pretty darn good for $160 set.


Dynaudio MW102
ID xs28
Vifa XT25
ScanSpeak Illuminator
Seas Neo Aluminum

...any others?

I'll be selling my RK6 mids and putting the ID cxs mids (2ohm) into the car. I have a question though, can I run channels 3/4 @ 2ohms for the mids and channels 1/2 @ 4ohms for tweeters?? I think these mids are close to the same as the ID OEM's that get a ton of praise for having incredible midbass and midrange. I dunno...I might just run the CXS 2ohm components and see how that goes. They got a lot of love when ID was still around so I assume they're nice

 

Well, just picked up some xs28 tweets for $80. Let's hope to god this doesn't happen again. I wish this CarAudioDeals place would cover me for the tweeter or at least half of it but I doubt it. It looks like I'll be going with the Onx4.125 which will yield me:

250 x 4! due to the CXS set being 2ohm. I'm sure the mids will love it but I need to watch out for the gains on the tweeters. What's the proper way to set gains on a tweeter??

 

I saw these xtant tweeters on DIYMA and thought of you: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...ant-morel.html

I don't know anything about them but seem to remember Morel making their drivers.

Anyway, looks like you got a pair already so I hope the system works right this time.

 

^ Thanks. Yeah I picked up some now and I like the way these sound so we'll see how it sounds all integrated into the system. I don't know much about these so I'll have to keep the x-over somewhat high and steep slopes for now. At least to break them in a bit

I just want a tighter, more snappy and pronounced midbass so lets hope these cxs mids will do it. They'll be getting 250rms..so will the tweeter haha. Gotta watch that

 

Bummer man. You look into a real time spectrum analyzer like room eq wizard yet?

 

RTA's? I've seen people using those. I guess you can see what frequencies are missing, low or high in the spectrum?? I just figured they were expensive and just another piece that would drive me crazy. I feel like I'm overwhelmed with the active thing. I don't know which frequencies to boost or cut...partly b/c I can't get my damn DVD-A to work in the car. Then my amp goes poof and takes a tweeter with it...and here we are haha.

How's your setup treating ya?

 

An RTA is a must, not just a luxury. Even the cheap one I downloaded for my Droid was a huge help. I RTA'd it flat and started adjusting by ear from there. Some of the EQ tutorials online help a lot. Starting with it flat makes adjusting by ear so much easier.

There's an entire very involved process for setting up an active system starting with TA and individual speaker eq available over at DIYMA. Tune is so important that I'm probably going to drop quite a bit of money to have my car tuned once I get a different processor. It's so involved that I'm still a little too scared to get rid of the MS8 since it does most of it for you. The tune makes just as much of a difference as a set of high end speakers and amps if not more.

 

You happen to have that link at DIYMA??

Also, you said you DL'd an RTA for your droid. I wonder if they make one for a iphone4 or laptop. That'd really help to get me all flattened out. I asked for help over on DIYMA but I get the typical asshole responses. Love how everyone over there knows there stuff but wont ever help unless they want to argue. Ugh

 

http://www.trueaudio.com/rta_down.htm

 

Hmm...very interesting. Thank you!

Without reading too much, how does it sample what's being played and what frequencies are too high or too low? Do I have to buy a mic to make this work or what


...as you can see....I have a lot of reading ahead of me.

 

Yep. It's simple software for your laptop and you buy the mic. I've heard you can get a decent one for a little over $100. It's definitely in my future. I just spent another hour fighting mine and I'm just guessing in the dark right now.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-ECM8...f=pd_sim_MI_28

+

http://www.amazon.com/MXL-MICMATE-PR...0729644&sr=1-1

+

a USB cable into your laptop and you are set to go.

The pre-amp has a 48kHz speced sampling rate. I use the True RTA S/W set 10Hz to 25 kHz. True RTA has a signal generator and can output pink noise that I input through the Aux input. This allows me to adjust my Eq. to flatten out my response. As Matt posted, you should read through some of the DIYMA threads for tips. I find that a flat response is a good starting point but that the sound is a bit sterile for my taste. I actually tune to a +10 dB boost at 20 hZ. This is actually what Dolby labs found that most people find sounds best; who am I to argue.

Good luck.

 

I've been reading up on this alot lately.

True RSA is great, but to get useful resolution you have to pay. Room EQ wizard is pretty much the same thing, but free.
http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

As for a mic, I just found out something awesome. You have a newer HT reciever with the audessy dsx multieq room correction? That mic is actually amazingly accurate.


Its response vs a professionally calibrated mic.

Available for like $30 new, or $10 on ebay. I already have one. No special preamps or anything needed. Just hook it right up to your soundcard.

I've been in the same place with not knowing where to go with my eq. I finally got the deadener in my doors and the next project is using REW with my audessy multiEQ mic to get some feedback on my setup.

 

Yeah it's in my future now too. Didn't know they were that accessible. Maybe we'll be doing them around the same time so we can help each other out.

Nice, thanks! I wonder if what Geeky below said will actually work the same. That's a big money saver. I'm definitely going to look into all of this. This audio section should be buzzing very soon when I get my amp and everything back in.

I have the YPAO mic that comes with the Yamaha AVR's, yes. I think those are the same mic basically...just different calibrations methods from YPAO to Audessy. That mic does look incredibly accurate, and for the price it's looks VERY nice haha. I'll likely go this way if my mic will work. Would I need a special sound car or anything in my laptop?



Here's a quick question for the 3sixty.2 users (b/c I got crappy responses at DIYMA)...is there a way to pull up the full-band EQ on a laptop? or is the only way on a Palm device? When I use my laptop, I open the program and it's just one screen basically that you do everything from. The EQ isn't clickable on the right side and it's a PITA to do it all on the Palm since it's smaller.

 

Don't know if YPao is the same, but it its intended for room correction it'll be somewhat okay at least. Not like audessy is using high end mics. Hook it up to your laptop and see what happens. Worst case is you're still better off than using your ears alone.

I've never actually tried using the laptop to edit the 3sixty.2. I opened it up in demo mode and fooled around with the eq, but never in a live environment. I remember it wasn't super intuitive, but it should do it.

Oh, if you use Room EQ wizard, make sure you do the sound card calibration. Some people suggest using a cheap USB sound card, but I'd give it a shot with your internal sound first and see what happens.

 

Yeah I'm not sure if it is either. I'll just buy the little $15 mic or whatever if I have to..not a big deal. So you're saying you opened it up on a laptop and you were able to move the EQ bars up or down for all the frequencies on the specific channel you were on. I know the sub only has like 12-band or something but the others should have like a 31-band EQ or something like that.

Is this correct?? You run the RTA to figure out where you have peaks and valleys in your car. Then use the 3sixty.2 EQ to level it all out. Re-run the RTA and see if you have a somewhat flat response. Yeah? As BeachTL said, most don't like it completely flat so maybe I'll read up or make a thread on DIYMA about what kind of frequencies people like to boost or cut and why.

Well I've got a buyer for my RK6 mids for $80 so I guess we'll see how the CXS62 mids fair against the RK6's. If anyone needs a passive x-over, I still have mine. The CXS mids will be getting a little more power (250 vs. 150) but I'm hoping they sound a bit more punchy and clean. I felt like my midrange and midbass was just muddy. Meshed well with the subs at times but I'm sure there's better than the RK6's by a long shot

 

Sounds like you have the general idea, but you should be able to do it in real time. Just play back pink noise and eq your listening position flat.

Check this out

This is how loud we perceive various frequencies at different levels. It'll be a jumping off point for figuring out how to set your eq so it *sounds* flat rather than is flat. Also look up "house curve" It'll give you a good idea on common eq settings.

If you end up getting the mic on ebay watch out, the stereo ones are fake. Make sure you buy one with a mono connection.

 

It's kind of neat, that curve shows why the loudness button does what it does and why it's supposed to be used at low volumes and not all the time.

 

 

Figured out the problem with the 360.2 software not showing the EQ...or should I say the small laptop with a low resolutions problem! You need a resolution of 1024x768 to see the EQ on the bottom and this little laptop I'm using is 1024x600. I knew I wasn't crazy!