The Hack is BACK!
03-02-2005, 08:51 AM
#1
1000 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,783
Once again covered in fine metal dust and wearing a wide grin, the Hack is back!
I feel like a kid again, and I love it. I’ve got new toys to play with, new knowledge, some advice to follow, and big target painted across my kicks. But, there’s a story to tell before I get to the good stuff.
Everybody is going to have different objectives when building an audio system. Weather building in your home, or in your car, you really need to be honest with yourself. We are all made up of a hybrid pedigree of SQ and SPL. Somewhere in the middle, either closer to SQ or SPL, is our natural desire to reproduce music. I KNOW that some people just love to crank it up, and I am one of them.
I’m using a Focal Utopia 4W2 4” midrange driver to reproduce frequencies from 225hz up to 4.7Khz. This driver has decent power handling (50w nominal/100w peak), average efficiency rated at 89db @1w/1m, and very good excursion for its size. (3mm Xmax) Despite great musical fidelity, and relatively good dynamic response, I would like to achieve more output. I have tried narrowing the bandwidth from 500hz up to 4khz, as well as supplying stupendous amounts of power to each driver. (320watts each) But in the end, I’m still left looking for more output.
Enter the Focal Utopia Audiom 6W midrange. On paper, it looks to be a massive step forward in output capability. This driver has excellent power handling (100w nominal/250w peak), high rated efficiency of 96db @1w/1m, and OK excursion (2mm) for its intended bandwidth from 200hz to 2khz. With over 200% the cone area (128 cm2 for the 6W vs. 54 cm2 for the 4W2) and only 50% greater cone mass, (6.6 grams for the 6W vs. 4.2 grams for the 4W2) the 6W looks to be a true dynamic output championship contender.
It has been said that the Audiom 6W resolves details with greater clarity than the 4W2, but that remains to be seen. I purchased a set of Audiom 6Ws to quench my thirst for greater dynamic output, any increase in fidelity would be a nice side benefit.
I’m going to skip right to the goods….where the fine metal dust came from. I went to Home Depot again (I know…I’m gonna get banned…) and picked up this nifty new Dremel XRP 400 or something to that effect. Anyone that’s tried to use a cutting wheel with the old dremel can attest to its serious lack of torque. Well the new one is a beauty, a lot quieter and MUCH less hand numbing vibration. This is important to me, because I usually end up cutting, or grinding for extended periods of time. So with the new tool/toy in hand, I went to work exploring my kicks. I’ve cut a fairly large hole into my car frame that leads into my front fenders, or more specifically into a cavity that is behind my front fenders. So far the hole is large enough to easily put my 4” mids INSIDE the fender well, but it’s going to get bigger! I just have to figure out how parts of a structural member can be cut without causing stress cracks. Those familiar with metallurgy and stress points will understand what I mean. No sharp corners.
Mrs. PEI330Ci hasn’t seen the holes yet, as I’ve covered them up with my old 4” mids mounted to my temporary kick panels. But, I’m sure she won’t mind….once I buy her a new car!!!!
This is where I share some advice I was given. A person, whom I’ll call Bob, suggested I take a different approach installing my system. At first, I had a hard time grasping what Bob was talking about, partly because our terminology was different, and partly because I take everything he says with a grain of salt. Bob pointed out that with exception to tonality, you can get a $10 pair of co-axials to image with proper installation. I’m sure a few of you are chuckling over this, but up until now, I’ve been chasing sonic improvements with increasingly expensive gear and processing. I’m not saying that I haven’t been working on installation as well, just that I’ve been placing PRIORITY on electronic tuning of my system instead of mechanical tuning of my system. I must admit, that it is pretty addictive having immense electrical control of the audio signal chain, and manipulating it to ones content. I have reached a point, through real world practical experience, where I truly understand the limits of signal processing.
I’ve got a pair of $20 computer speakers that I can POSITION to image pretty well, I find it funny I haven’t done the same in my car with my Focal Utopia front stage.
I’d like to thank “Bob” for taking the time to explain what he’s learned.
I’d also like to encourage everyone to keep your ears open, you never know where or when a “Bob” will appear.
My car is getting the right kind of work done to it now.
Adam
(AKA The Hack)
I feel like a kid again, and I love it. I’ve got new toys to play with, new knowledge, some advice to follow, and big target painted across my kicks. But, there’s a story to tell before I get to the good stuff.
Everybody is going to have different objectives when building an audio system. Weather building in your home, or in your car, you really need to be honest with yourself. We are all made up of a hybrid pedigree of SQ and SPL. Somewhere in the middle, either closer to SQ or SPL, is our natural desire to reproduce music. I KNOW that some people just love to crank it up, and I am one of them.
I’m using a Focal Utopia 4W2 4” midrange driver to reproduce frequencies from 225hz up to 4.7Khz. This driver has decent power handling (50w nominal/100w peak), average efficiency rated at 89db @1w/1m, and very good excursion for its size. (3mm Xmax) Despite great musical fidelity, and relatively good dynamic response, I would like to achieve more output. I have tried narrowing the bandwidth from 500hz up to 4khz, as well as supplying stupendous amounts of power to each driver. (320watts each) But in the end, I’m still left looking for more output.
Enter the Focal Utopia Audiom 6W midrange. On paper, it looks to be a massive step forward in output capability. This driver has excellent power handling (100w nominal/250w peak), high rated efficiency of 96db @1w/1m, and OK excursion (2mm) for its intended bandwidth from 200hz to 2khz. With over 200% the cone area (128 cm2 for the 6W vs. 54 cm2 for the 4W2) and only 50% greater cone mass, (6.6 grams for the 6W vs. 4.2 grams for the 4W2) the 6W looks to be a true dynamic output championship contender.
It has been said that the Audiom 6W resolves details with greater clarity than the 4W2, but that remains to be seen. I purchased a set of Audiom 6Ws to quench my thirst for greater dynamic output, any increase in fidelity would be a nice side benefit.
I’m going to skip right to the goods….where the fine metal dust came from. I went to Home Depot again (I know…I’m gonna get banned…) and picked up this nifty new Dremel XRP 400 or something to that effect. Anyone that’s tried to use a cutting wheel with the old dremel can attest to its serious lack of torque. Well the new one is a beauty, a lot quieter and MUCH less hand numbing vibration. This is important to me, because I usually end up cutting, or grinding for extended periods of time. So with the new tool/toy in hand, I went to work exploring my kicks. I’ve cut a fairly large hole into my car frame that leads into my front fenders, or more specifically into a cavity that is behind my front fenders. So far the hole is large enough to easily put my 4” mids INSIDE the fender well, but it’s going to get bigger! I just have to figure out how parts of a structural member can be cut without causing stress cracks. Those familiar with metallurgy and stress points will understand what I mean. No sharp corners.
Mrs. PEI330Ci hasn’t seen the holes yet, as I’ve covered them up with my old 4” mids mounted to my temporary kick panels. But, I’m sure she won’t mind….once I buy her a new car!!!!
This is where I share some advice I was given. A person, whom I’ll call Bob, suggested I take a different approach installing my system. At first, I had a hard time grasping what Bob was talking about, partly because our terminology was different, and partly because I take everything he says with a grain of salt. Bob pointed out that with exception to tonality, you can get a $10 pair of co-axials to image with proper installation. I’m sure a few of you are chuckling over this, but up until now, I’ve been chasing sonic improvements with increasingly expensive gear and processing. I’m not saying that I haven’t been working on installation as well, just that I’ve been placing PRIORITY on electronic tuning of my system instead of mechanical tuning of my system. I must admit, that it is pretty addictive having immense electrical control of the audio signal chain, and manipulating it to ones content. I have reached a point, through real world practical experience, where I truly understand the limits of signal processing.
I’ve got a pair of $20 computer speakers that I can POSITION to image pretty well, I find it funny I haven’t done the same in my car with my Focal Utopia front stage.
I’d like to thank “Bob” for taking the time to explain what he’s learned.
I’d also like to encourage everyone to keep your ears open, you never know where or when a “Bob” will appear.
My car is getting the right kind of work done to it now.
Adam
(AKA The Hack)
03-02-2005, 11:11 AM
#6
1000 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 1,649
good story.......... [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]
Only good place to hack up your car is the rear deck........... to install a pair of IB 15" !!! Then again, we'll see if I take my own advice as I'm wandering into installing Camelleon co-axials in my A4 kicks shortly, and I have a nibbler that pretty much eats up anything it gets into. Thinking that I was originally going to keep the car pretty much factory intact........... having second thoughts now .......... been reading too much Adam stuff
Guy is a bad influence............ bast-ard !!
Only good place to hack up your car is the rear deck........... to install a pair of IB 15" !!! Then again, we'll see if I take my own advice as I'm wandering into installing Camelleon co-axials in my A4 kicks shortly, and I have a nibbler that pretty much eats up anything it gets into. Thinking that I was originally going to keep the car pretty much factory intact........... having second thoughts now .......... been reading too much Adam stuff
Guy is a bad influence............ bast-ard !!
03-02-2005, 03:25 PM
#7
I too am exploring the idea of installing my 7, 4 and tweet inside the kick panel cavity of my truck. There is a lot or room inside there but I do have a couple of serious structural seams and edges which are perpendicular to the metal kick panel face that presents some challenges. I am already using the cavity as an IB setup for my 7s and I just LOVE what it's doing for them. Excellent extension to 30 Hz (meaning I can hear it, and at a useable volume).
03-02-2005, 05:47 PM
#8
my 'BOB' could pin point an image anywhere on the dash and about 3 feet past the windshield. not only that but he could actually do this regardless of your height and stature... itw was quite impressive. his theory was sound and his equipment although great by most standards was far from autophile grade (ie fosgate amps and deck!). ever since i've been trying to do the same within a budget, that is without resorting to $3000 amps to run your tweets. this leaves alot to be said about installation...
