The Viking suggestion

Hifonics has always made a decent amp, at least when I was in the industry years ago. They were tough, sound pretty good and took abuse. But they always ran on the hot side. Dont know about Hifonics today though. But for a single amp to run an entire sytem this would be a great amp I would think. If I remember right though, As for a single amp system, I think i was reffering to a single 2 channel amp running stereo/mono using all passive x-overs. Who knows....been awhile! LOL!!!!! but yes that would be a kick butt system using that amp!

 

The amp in the kick panel in my Ranger is wired tri-mode, and it really does works well. Thats 75-watts RMS to both my tweeters and its bridged mono (180-watts RMS) to my 6-1/2-inch center channel. It really does sound good. When I fade to just that amp, the sound quality is quite good. I could almost do without the door speakers.

Tri-mode is a little risky, you really need to know passive crossovers and be willing to experiment. It took me a few rounds to get the croosovers right. The tweeters ended up with an 18dB 5000Hz High pass and the center ended up with a 6dB per octave crossover point around 4200Hz.

If you wanna do a single amp, I would suggest a four channel, easier to deal with

 

passives are tricky and do take experimentation, correct ranger.

But the end result when done correctly far exceeds the generic active x-overs that so many use and accept as "good enough". From phasing to impedance control...they (passives) truely can make a system come to life. I have proved this time and time again. Why use an amp dedicated to one particular bandwidth? especially if it has the capacity to cover the entire audible spectrum.

I know..when it comes to all out SPL it makes a difference...but for most folks, even loud sytems that poujnd can be done tri-mode....I could amaze all of you given the opportunity....

 

i have a passive 5 way PG crossover i bought years ago. id love to do an all passive set up with it in my moms car. just to show people how simple good sound can be.

 

I would actually like to try something like that some day. A single 8-inch woofer and a pair of satellite speakers. Using tri-mode it would probably work pretty well.

So Viking, what kind of car do you have, lets build something. I figure a 400Hz 6dB per octave on the woofer, maybe even as high as 800 (might as well cover all the voice frequencies on the center channel). The satellite speakers might get a little tricky. Maybe a 12dB per octave, around 800 to 1600Hz, depending on the woofers crossover point.

With this set up the satellite speakers can be quite small. A 4-inch speaker would be more than enough. The only real trick is to get our frequencies to sum flat. We need to have a space between the woofer crossover point and the satellite crossover point. The question is how much. Lets go with 800 on the woofer and 1200 on the satellite. (we can adjust later if needed)

Woofer performance can be had through a good box design.

So Viking lets do this

 

Already ahead of you Ranger.

My Ram 1500 ext. cab 4x4 is done in such a manner...although not to the details and final tuning required for such great sound..( I am cheating for the moment and using a bit of active equalization to accomidate my lack of parts and funds)

Said system consists of many old school parts and pieces. From the garbage no name HU we go to an Orion 300 PRQ, from that through a DIN cable to the classic Orion 275 SX. Run in mono is a 12 inch savard ( circa 1995) in a sealed box with a coil rolling it off at about 150Hz at 6 dB/oct. The satelittes consist of a set of A/D/S 320i tweets at about 5khz/12dB Oct....and some sort of 5 inchers from the mid 80s ( cant tell you who made em) run from about 500Hz on up and using the fact that they dont respond well above about 7 or 8 KHz...I didnt choke them off at the top end. Rear fill consists of whatever the hell is in the rear, and since they are so in efficient (or lacking any real sensitivity) I didnt need to add any attenuation to them.

Overall the sound is very good from the get go. Using what I have learned over the years has yielded a nice smooth sound. But a peak in the midbass (thanks to the cabin size and x-over freq ) has caused me to use some active equalization from the 300prq.... thank god for orions knowledge of car audio! LOL!!!

It needs much work....a real set of newer components up front...a simple set of mids in the rear, and some sort of new enclosure in the rear...

But its funny...using all this "old crap" I can rattle the windows of the next door vehicle...or play some allison krauss and make her voice sound like the angel it is...

I think i am hijacking this thread...Think i need to start a new one....

But yes ranger....this needs to be done......from scratch.

Might use the 2000 dakaota 4door 4wd we just got...
Money.....food.....stereo....kids.....

ahhhhh heck....kids can eat dirt!!!!!!

 

We need to tell monster71 to jump in here.

I find the 150 low pass and the 500 High pass an interesting choice. The typical human voice range (Average, I know there are much greater extremes) when singing is between 200 and 1200 Hz.

I would be afraid of losing the 200 to 300Hz parts. But, like you, I would choose similar slopes. The 6dB on the low pass and the 12db on the high pass might be saving you. But I might have picked a 400Hz on the high pass.

The main reason for choosing an 8-inch (or 10) is that it could be mounted up front (especially in a Dodge). The 800Hz choice would cover the voice range well because I'm not down 6dB until 1600Hz. So if I choose 1600Hz for my high pass, I'm not down 12dB until I'm at 800Hz. So my entire range "should" be covered.

Our ways of thinking about this is different. Your using the third speaker as a subwoofer with a smooth transition to your satellites. I would be using the third as a center channel that handles bass, mid-bass and low midrange.

In my truck the center handles all the way up to 4200Hz, but I also have full range door speakers. So I cannot compare my tri mode to yours.

You have an interesting approach.

 

in my ram 1500 the woofer is in the rear, therefore i do not want an excessivilly high x-over. the tonal quality of a 12 in the upper registers in the mobile enviorment is much akin to talking through a tin can with a mile of string..LOL! In reality, i should go lower with my subbass x-over. probably in the area of 80Hz. this would help to aleviate the midbass peak that is prodominate in the cab. The roll off of the highs and the lows would blend in more smoothly. and i aint even thought about playin with phasing yet! From there I would play with the upper registers and tune them in. I HATE the sound of excessive midbass....very annoying to me.

 

Just make sure you post pictures

 

I knew the guys who designed the original HiFonics amps. I went to the factory several times. It was in Chatsworth, California and was called Zed Audio. But the company switched and began having the amps made in Taiwan or somewhere. They have no relation to the amps of the 80's and 90's.

Sadly, most of the good amplifier companies have gone. The ones with names that are still around have mostly been reduced to watered-down products. Fortunately, not many users in the mobile electronics market could tell a difference in sound anyway.

 

I remember the Speakerworks Buick Grand National. I competed in the same competitions for years. People raved about the car but it actually sounded quite nasty, but I guess some people like to listen to compression horn drivers.

If you see him again, ask him if he remembers the Toyota MR2 with the eight 15-inch subwoofers parked near him at a show

That was lovely fun.