Really glad I found these little subs

"POD" (podimus)
02/06/2016 at 01:54 • Filed to: None

Kicker 6.75 CompRT. I was very skeptical at first. Seemed gimmicky, but they were on sale for $60 each, and the stock woofers in the Gen Coupe R-Spec are, how shall I put it, underwhelming. It was also the only “sub” I could find that fit the stock 2.99" mounting depth and 6.75" opening.

Here’s what was in there before. To Hyundai’s credit, at least the paper cones are treated and they used a rubber surround. That said, the x-max is horrible, and the distortion was painful. Literally fatiguing to the ears for any prolonged listening or any high volume. Or maybe I’m just old.

The install was fairly straight forward. I only had to remove the rear seat, C pillar trim, rear quarter trim, and door still trim. After that it was just a matter of out with the old and in with the new.

I’m running the subs and components off of the same 4-channel amp.

I’ve got to do a little more fiddling around with the lowpass, gain, and bass boost on these little subs to get them to blend the way I like with the components.

It’s close as it is right now and it sounds just capital!

Overall I’m pleased with the bass output for such a small driver. The best part, what little trunk space I have wasn’t impacted.

DISCUSSION (15)

Echo51 > POD
02/06/2016 at 02:51

A Sub in each rear door/side of rear seat? Ideally you want the crossover between front to back to be as low as you can take the front set, so try around 60hz and see if you bottom out the front.

A seperate remote knob for the subs would allow easiere matching to the front if you still run the stock Headunit/radio, but most aftermarkets have dedicated subwoofer lineout/adjustments in the menu.

POD > Echo51
02/06/2016 at 03:38

I appreciate the input.

Ideally I’d want to run the subs in the omnidirectional range (which is 80hz).

The way the set up is wired (and the way the amp works), remote knobs for the subs would be a waste of effort.

I know what you’re getting at (I build speakers for home audio and have worked in car audio for over 15 years), this set up is going to be a functional oddball. Including the deck, I spent a total of $700 Canadian, so that’s like, $10 USD.

POD > Echo51
02/06/2016 at 03:50

But if we disagree on how car audio should be done, we can always go out for a rip.

Echo51 > POD
02/06/2016 at 04:12

Ah, so one with experience within it. Im surprised you didn’t just make an adaptor plate and run some 6.5" woofer, given the know-how, tools and larger selection in that range, both Home audio and Car audio wise. Omni directional range for subwoofers? Isn’t it just as long as you’re below the midbass that you’re unable to pinpoint the source of the sound, so anything sub 80-100hz depending on the person listening? Functional oddball setups on the cheap are the best setups.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > POD
02/06/2016 at 09:46

So it’s effectively an infinite baffle setup? I did that at one time with an 8 inch in the rear deck of a sedan with dynamat to isolate the sides as much as possible.

Now I think I’m going to have to go with the sealed sub box that fits under the console of my pickup.

POD > Echo51
02/06/2016 at 10:34

80hz specifically is the magic number for omnidirectional setups.

6.5's would have also worked. No need for an adapter plate, just a drill.

Convince and cost won out in this case (I was given the subs).

Thatand a car is an absolute horrible place to do anything hi-fi.

POD > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
02/06/2016 at 10:42

At the moment it’s an IB setup. I’ll probably seal it when I hunt down the rattles, but it’d be just the size of the bracket. That said the qts of these drivers is high enough to run such a small enclosure.

That also said it fills out the bottom end enough to not have to seal them (so long as the motor/spider/surrounds on the drivers holds up).

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > POD
02/06/2016 at 10:48

Nice. These are the same subs I was looking at for my mustang to sort of re-create the Shaker 1000 system in a car that came with the base 4-speakers. Right now I’ve just got a Pioneer head running to the four stock 6x8" speakers with a 50hz HPF, then a 10" MTX Blue Thunder in the back in some cheapo vented box with a 600w RMS JLAudio monoblock set to an 80hz LPF. On music that *isn’t* dubstep it’s hard to pinpoint where the bass is coming from. Dubtep and electronica fairly obviously thump from the trunk, and it does rattle the trunk a bit.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > POD
02/06/2016 at 11:36

I’m currently drawing up plans to replace the Bose system in my truck, simply because it’s really old. At least there’s a truck specific enclosure for a sub that doesn’t require useful space to be taken up.

Then it’s just finding which components I want to put in the front doors and the A pillars.

POD > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
02/06/2016 at 11:57

If you’re keen, Dayton Audio has a really high quality tweeter and woofer that would work with their 3000hz LR2 crossover. If I recall, it’d be less than $100 a side. My kijiji bought components came with delaminating pcm boards. When they fail I’ll replace them with the Dayton drivers.

Echo51 > POD
02/06/2016 at 15:44

A car is an atrocious place to do hi-fi indeed. You’re sat offcenter, there’s GLASS of all things, and then also having the speakers way too close to you. The left/right/center channel tests is what i lost alot of points on when i attended a Car Stereo judging...

POD > Echo51
02/06/2016 at 16:23

Near field listening is fine if the speakers are designed for it. Studio monitors are often set up for near field. With car audio I just got for clarity and full frequency range with as little distortion as I can manage for the price point. So far this set up is checking all the boxes. It’s not going to with any contests, but it’s functional.

My head unit is supposed to be able to account for seating position with the sound stage. I haven’t messed with that yet, but I might see if it helps.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > POD
02/06/2016 at 18:35

I’ve managed to find a set of Focals that will fit the door openings of the Silverado, so I’m considering doing that and possibly adding a second tweeter or midbass to the door (The stock configuration is woofer in the door and tweeter in the A pillar, and the optional stock config added another tweeter in the door above the woofer).

I also have to replace the head unit since it currently will not change stations (only the volume works) and is currently set to the news/talk station. Which is nice for the traffic reports, bad for the screaming at idiot talk radio hosts.

POD > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
02/06/2016 at 19:42

Focalis what I was going to get until I stumbled across my kijiji find.

Ireally like their sensitivity. If you do add another tweeter don’t forget the in-line capacitor. I’ve added second tweeters in the past crossed at ~6500hz on a 6db slop for extra “sparkle” on the top end. It works well.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > POD
02/06/2016 at 20:26

The only thing stopping me from doing that would be that I’d need to be able to set the HPF frequency on the second tweeter (or build the crossover myself). Either that or my color tweeter could be at the A pillar level (much closer to ear level) and attentuate the signal and do the HPF at a higher level.

Since the Focal set is on sale right now, I think I might just go ahead and order those and then pick up the rest of the stuff as time permits (i.e. grab a Kenwood 2DIN Android Auto deck and start building the amp platform under the back seats)