Is my setup right?

parapepslet

Hi there, I have a complete polk setup and I'm wondering if I hooked it up the right way. here is what I have:

Alpine 9815RB head unit
1 set of polk mm6501
2 polk mm840SVC
1 polk pa1100.5 amplifier
1,5 fahrad capacitor

My head unit is set to active:
low @ 80hz 0db @ 0db slope
mid_low @ 80hz 0db @ 0db slope
mid high @ 2,5 khz 0db @ 0db slope
high @ 3,5 khz -4 db @ -12db slope

Defeat is on (no eq)
subwoofer set to normal (not reverse)
subwoofer set to stereo (sounds better to me than mono)
Time Alignment is front left 1.7ms front right 3.5ms
rear left 4.0ms rear right 5.5 ms
sub left 0ms sub right 0ms

tweeters are on front channel with hpf filter on amp with the crossover filter around aprox. 200hz and the gain about 40% I used the crossover from polk with the swith on 0db. I placed the crossover 25cm from the tweeter in the front of my dash.

mids are on the rear channel with hpf filter on amp with crossover arround aprox. 80hz and the gain about 45% - 50%

subs 4ohm single voice coils are behind the 2 seats of my VW Caddy in seperate sealed boxes wired parallel, so playing @ 2ohm load on 1 single subwoofer channel with subsonic filter on and the lpf filter on with crossover around 80-100hz

I used 2,5mm monstercable voor every speaker.


Some times when I play music with fast deep hard bass I smell a little chemical air, think it are the woofers but not sure but everything sounds normal no distortion or anything like that and I never set the volume of the headunit above 27. Is this normal or am I pushing it to far, is it possible that the enclosures are to small or maybe not sealed well. In the past I had problems with my mids, first time some tones about 1000 hz were not that clear, speakers went back to polk and got new pair, the same week sent them back allready on 1 speaker the conus just got of and got new pair again. So I'm asking seriously what could be the problem, another factory failure?

I hope sombody can help me out.

MacLeod

If your head unit has a 3 way crossover then you should ditch the passive piece and go active. Run the tweeters off the front channels of the amp and the mids off the rear channel and use the crossovers in the head unit.

I would put the sub at 63 @ 24db/oct, the mids at 50 @ 24db/oct and then low pass the mids at 4 KHz @ 24db/oct and high pass the tweets at 4 KHz @ 24db/oct. See how that sounds.

As for time alignment, find a CD that has a track of a man talking and nothing else, like a narrator. If you dont have one, tune in to an AM talk radio station. Turn off everything but the right and left mids and add delay to the left mid until the guys voice is in the center of your stage and focused up well. Then turn off the mids and the tweets on and do the same. Then turn the left mid and tweet on and the right side off and add delay to the tweeter til you hear the voice come up to meet the tweeter. Do the same for the right side then go back and re-center everything.

Next, depending on the size of your car, add delay to ALL speakers EXCEPT the sub. Start at like 3.5 ms delay added to both mids and tweets and see how that sounds. The idea is to hear the sub FIRST and then the mids then the tweets cause your brain will image in on what it hears last. So if the tweets are hitting your ears a split second after everything else, youll image the stage up higher.

parapepslet

Hi thanks for your reply, as you may notice my english isn't that good, I'm from holland and the technical terms are quitte difficult for me.

I just want to check everything twice before I blow stuff up.

I have to remove the polk cross over filter from the front channel where my tweeters are connected to? (if not please say so)

the crossover filter on the amplifier goes from hpf on the front and rear channel??

the subwoofer channel subsonic filter is switched on? switch is still on lpf? WHAT FREQUENCY DO I USE ON THE AMPLIFIER?

what is better, defeat on or sett it of use customised settings for eq.

If defeat has to be off, do I enable MX?

In setup menu where I enable the subwoofer I can set it mono or stereo, do they mean enable left tulp or left and right tulp or is this setting voor 2 subwoofers on separated chan
please help me out again,

MacLeod

[QUOTE=parapepslet;1341917
I just want to check everything twice before I blow stuff up.[/quote]

Im not familiar with your head unit. This only goes if youre head unit has a 3 way crossover that goes up to at least 4 KHz. If it does not then you have to keep the passive crossover and set the crossover points at the amps.

I have to remove the polk cross over filter from the front channel where my tweeters are connected to? (if not please say so)

Again, if your head unit has a 3 way crossover - you remove the Polk crossover and run speaker wires from the front outputs of the amp to the tweeters, and then from the rear outputs of the amp to the mids. Run the RCA's from the head units front and rear to the amp just like normal.

the crossover filter on the amplifier goes from hpf on the front and rear channel??

Turn the hp and lp filter on the front 4 channels off or all pass or whatever it is.

the subwoofer channel subsonic filter is switched on? switch is still on lpf? WHAT FREQUENCY DO I USE ON THE AMPLIFIER?

Turn the subsonic filter OFF. Its a stupid feature. You WANT the 20 Hz stuff cause thats the stuff you "feel".

what is better, defeat on or sett it of use customised settings for eq.

Defeat is off if youre using the EQ in the head unit.

If defeat has to be off, do I enable MX?

If you want to. Most purists will tell you to turn it off cause you dont want anything making any EQ changes but you. But if you have a limited EQ then try some of the MX settings and see if they sound good to you using your music. Setting 1 aint really that bad.

In setup menu where I enable the subwoofer I can set it mono or stereo, do they mean enable left tulp or left and right tulp or is this setting voor 2 subwoofers on separated chan
please help me out again,

Doesnt really matter. Youre using 2 subs so try stereo.

arun1963

parapepslet wrote: »

Hi thanks for your reply......... I'm from holland

I figured that. In one of your posts you said 'voor' = for (I think) . Get your settings right, then take a trip to one of the 'coffee shops' then listen to your setup. Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities. Great ambiance, friendly people and tons of coffee shops. No wonder you guys have the lowest crime rate in EU.

If you can go active from your HU, try these settings:

Sub LPF : 50hz on the highest slope your HU allows.
Mid HPF : 50 hz on like a 24 db slope
Mid LPF : 4-5khz play around with the slopes here 12-24db/oct
Tweet HPF : keep it around the Mid LPF and again play with the slopes. DONT set the slope here to 0 as that will fry your tweeters.

If you're running your speakers off the HU then getting a 4 ch amp will help a lot. HU's are a very poor source of power. Bypass everything at your amp.

Pretty much what Mac and skip have already said.

parapepslet

hahahahaaha been there done that, and I must say it was pretty vaag

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to test how it sounds the way you discribed.

I'll smoke one more and take some snore of something from india: ketamine, this is not a lie, but your ears are more focused when you take some.

arun1963

Hey listen, the comments in my earlier post were a bit OTT, I should'nt have mentioned that. I don't recommend the use of sensory enhancing substances to further your listening experience . As it is, your ears and mind are fooled all the time by the sound. The substance use lowers the walls of resistance and makes your mind more open to 'suggestions'. So what you may think sounds great, will turn out to be a dog the next day.

Meanwhile, your HU is excellent. It gives you the ability to set an active network and gives you time alighnment. Get a decent 4ch amp and we're in business.

parapepslet

Hey arun don't bother your comments earlier I like a joke once and a while.

Anyway, the headunit I have is an excelent HU, last year I decided to buy a new one, I really used the old 9815RB to much couldn't read the text on it's front display and was curious if there was another HU with the features the old HU has. long time searching the internet I decided to go to a big store where they have lots of different HU's. The employees in that store couldn't give me good advice because they didn't know the big difference between the most HU's. Well I came I saw and I left. With a little luck I was on the internet and someone left his 9815RB for sale in some advertisement. I bought his 9815RB.

I bought a full polk install (new) the sound of the mm serie is really satisfying, but the quality of the mids are not that good, within 3 months had allready 2 new sets because of technical failures. And 3 day's ago again 1 mid not playing, only when I take a turn or was driving on a bumby road, today I checked my speaker cables now even soldert them to the speaker an I checked everything it was playing again, but when I drove back home again the mid stopped, I'm gonna check if it is playing when I switch the rear left with the rear right signal cable but I think the mid is just broken again, don't know what went wrong, it's playing for almost 2 months, the only thing I changed the day when it stopped was the gain of the subs, can not imagine that has to do with it. Are there more people who noticed some manufacture failures in the mm serie? I'm sure polk is sound quality, but 3 problems with the mid's in couple months is little strange to me, everytime when I got my mid's back they were replaced for new pair but got a bill of 50 euro for transport cost and they count 30-60 min. I thought of buying the SR serie but will it be worth its money? how is the quality of the speakers vs MM serie? hope some one can give me a good advice or an answer what will satisfy. thanks anyway for your time and tips in earlier posts, some things are more clear now than before, read the user manuel 10 times but some features are not explained what they do or what is best not to do. Gonna check my install Can't stand it. have a nice evening gent's.:eek:

catch22atplay

I'd guess the mids fried from 1 of 2 things or both. Using the HU to drive the mids and tweets. HU's typically don't provide enough power. I've fried so many speakers because of to little power. I've yet to fry a speaker in 14 years having excess power. I'd add a 4 channel amp to correct this. Crossover slope set to 0db. So they were running full range. That can fry them as well. Especially when combined with inadequate power. The quality of the mids aren't in question. It's the settings and knowing what your limitations are with what you have that are in question here imo.

parapepslet

Hi, I'm not running my mid's from my HU, I have a 5 channel polk PA1100.5 Amp. They are not fried, because a fried speaker won't play at all or just some cracking tones. I get little confused now, why set slope @0db so there playing full range? I have everything @24db slope like the guy wrote earlier in this post.
Maybe 2 or 3 times I fried a speaker, but that were cheap speakers @ cheap install @ to much DB's but that was 10 years ago. got more into the sound quality then into the db drags.

How do I know when the mid is getting to much? I've never heard them playing distorted.

catch22atplay

Ah language barrier. I was going off your 1st post that said you were using 0db slope. Which is wrong. If you followed the advice and are now using 24db slope that's perfect.

I know i've fried lots of speakers over the years prior to 1991. Damn Black Sabbath Paranoid album is the one that always killed them (war pigs usually). In 1991 i bought a pair of Polk Audio MM3065's. I used them for 12 years without any issues. I in fact still have them. I play my crap loud and i over abuse speakers. I attribute the speakers survival to having the correct crossover settings and providing them with more than enough power.

I was curious so looked for my old MM3065s. Found them in a box in the closet. Visually they look in good condition. The cones travel freely. I'm so tempted to see how well they still play being 19 years old now. Maybe i should e bay em? lol