Need advice on following power and location options for SR6500 's
monologuist
Posts: 40
Hi..Just signed on with this forum. I am about to install a complete system in my new-to-me '01 Saab 9-3 Viggen. I have some questions about setting up a pair of SR-6500 components.
current setup:
-stock 6.5" midbass drivers in front doors, powered by stock 40w amp in kick panel
-3.5" 2-way Boston Acoustics S35 speakers in the stock dash location firing upwards towards windshield
-6x9 3-way Boston Acoustics S95.3 speakers in stock rear deck location firing upwards in rear hatch area
-stock 1 3/4 din Clarion receiver
-Raammat deadening + acoustic closed-cell foam applied to front doors and rear hatch area.
projected setup:
-remove 3.5" dash speakers and stock midbass drivers
-SR 6500 drivers in stock front door location (which if facing door panel, is near bottom of door, right corner, flush-mounted)
-Replace receiver with Pioneer DEH-P6900UB receiver (6 pairs of rca outs)
-keep Boston 6x9's for rear fill
-Infinity Basslink II 250w powered sub mounted in rear hatch area
-either power front and rear speakers using Infinity Basslink 4sc add-on 4-channel amp (35 w/channel, or add higher-powered amp for power)
Amplification:
1. I will have an Infinity Basslink II powered sub in the rear hatch area of the car. It has a 4-channel amp add-on to power front and rears with 35w/channel at 4 ohms. That's probably too little to power the SR-6500's right? I don't listen to my music at deafening volumes, but I do turn it up to the threshold where you can begin to feel the sound pressure starting to hit your body without crossing the line to ear-damaging levels. If it's enough to power them, it would make installation MUCH simpler and cheaper...but I'm not expecting it to be enough, just want to check with you guys on it.
2. If it is not enough, I can get a good deal (about 200$) on either an Alpine PDX-4.100 4-channel amp (4x110 w/channel @ 4 ohms, or a Boston Acoustics GT-22 2-channel amp (2x100 w/channel @4 ohms).
-With the Alpine, I could bi-amp the SR-6500's (100w each), and use the Basslink 4sc (35w) to power the rear fills. Or I could power SR-6500's with 2 channels, and power rear BA fills with other 2 channels.
-With Boston Acoustics amp, I could power SR-6500's with 2 channels (100w/channel), and use Basslink 4sc to power rear fills.
Speaker positioning
1. Should I bother mounting the SR-6500 tweeter in the stock dash locations firing up at the windshield, or is this going to kill imaging?
2. Alternatively, I could mount the tweeter near the top right hand corner of the door panel. This would require cutting a hole in the door panel of course, which if I can avoid I would like to. The only other location I can think of for the tweeter would be perhaps mounted in the area right above the driver (bottom right corner), with the angle mount cups facing upwards.
3. Also could mount SR-6500's in "compaxial" mode with angle mounts facing up. However, the stock 6.5" location in the front doors is a bit
4.. Last possibility would be to spend about 200$ for custom kick panel boxes for the SR-6500's....but there is rather limited space in the leg/foot area of the Saab cockpit.
Please advise on which amplification option and which speaker location option would be optimal.
current setup:
-stock 6.5" midbass drivers in front doors, powered by stock 40w amp in kick panel
-3.5" 2-way Boston Acoustics S35 speakers in the stock dash location firing upwards towards windshield
-6x9 3-way Boston Acoustics S95.3 speakers in stock rear deck location firing upwards in rear hatch area
-stock 1 3/4 din Clarion receiver
-Raammat deadening + acoustic closed-cell foam applied to front doors and rear hatch area.
projected setup:
-remove 3.5" dash speakers and stock midbass drivers
-SR 6500 drivers in stock front door location (which if facing door panel, is near bottom of door, right corner, flush-mounted)
-Replace receiver with Pioneer DEH-P6900UB receiver (6 pairs of rca outs)
-keep Boston 6x9's for rear fill
-Infinity Basslink II 250w powered sub mounted in rear hatch area
-either power front and rear speakers using Infinity Basslink 4sc add-on 4-channel amp (35 w/channel, or add higher-powered amp for power)
Amplification:
1. I will have an Infinity Basslink II powered sub in the rear hatch area of the car. It has a 4-channel amp add-on to power front and rears with 35w/channel at 4 ohms. That's probably too little to power the SR-6500's right? I don't listen to my music at deafening volumes, but I do turn it up to the threshold where you can begin to feel the sound pressure starting to hit your body without crossing the line to ear-damaging levels. If it's enough to power them, it would make installation MUCH simpler and cheaper...but I'm not expecting it to be enough, just want to check with you guys on it.
2. If it is not enough, I can get a good deal (about 200$) on either an Alpine PDX-4.100 4-channel amp (4x110 w/channel @ 4 ohms, or a Boston Acoustics GT-22 2-channel amp (2x100 w/channel @4 ohms).
-With the Alpine, I could bi-amp the SR-6500's (100w each), and use the Basslink 4sc (35w) to power the rear fills. Or I could power SR-6500's with 2 channels, and power rear BA fills with other 2 channels.
-With Boston Acoustics amp, I could power SR-6500's with 2 channels (100w/channel), and use Basslink 4sc to power rear fills.
Speaker positioning
1. Should I bother mounting the SR-6500 tweeter in the stock dash locations firing up at the windshield, or is this going to kill imaging?
2. Alternatively, I could mount the tweeter near the top right hand corner of the door panel. This would require cutting a hole in the door panel of course, which if I can avoid I would like to. The only other location I can think of for the tweeter would be perhaps mounted in the area right above the driver (bottom right corner), with the angle mount cups facing upwards.
3. Also could mount SR-6500's in "compaxial" mode with angle mounts facing up. However, the stock 6.5" location in the front doors is a bit
4.. Last possibility would be to spend about 200$ for custom kick panel boxes for the SR-6500's....but there is rather limited space in the leg/foot area of the Saab cockpit.
Please advise on which amplification option and which speaker location option would be optimal.
Post edited by monologuist on
Comments
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The Basslink wouldnt be much power. If you bi-amped the SR's with the 4 channel amp it would be better but youd still be a lot better off buying a dedicated 4 channel amp. Lots of power doesnt necessarily mean louder - it also means cleaner, stronger sounding music and better overall dynamics and sound quality.
The Alpine PDX amps are first rate. If you can get them, do it. With the 100x4 you wouldnt have to bi-amp as that would be enough grunt to do the SR's justice.
I would use the stock door locations for the mids and put the tweeters in the A pillars.
Best thing to do would be to mount the mids and then try the tweeters in various locations by slapping some tape on them and trying them in different spots. Usually the A pillars work best tho.polkaudio sound quality competitor since 2005
MECA SQ Rookie of the Year 06 ~ MECA State Champ 06,07,08,11 ~ MECA World Finals 2nd place 06,07,08,09
08 Car Audio Nationals 1st ~ 07 N Georgia Nationals 1st ~ 06 Carl Casper Nationals 1st ~ USACi 05 Southeast AutumnFest 1st
polkaudio SR6500 --- polkaudio MM1040 x2 -- Pioneer P99 -- Rockford Fosgate P1000X5D -
The Basslink wouldnt be much power. If you bi-amped the SR's with the 4 channel amp it would be better but youd still be a lot better off buying a dedicated 4 channel amp. Lots of power doesnt necessarily mean louder - it also means cleaner, stronger sounding music and better overall dynamics and sound quality.
The Alpine PDX amps are first rate. If you can get them, do it. With the 100x4 you wouldnt have to bi-amp as that would be enough grunt to do the SR's justice.
I would use the stock door locations for the mids and put the tweeters in the A pillars.
Best thing to do would be to mount the mids and then try the tweeters in various locations by slapping some tape on them and trying them in different spots. Usually the A pillars work best tho.
My A-pillars have no depth behind them whatsoever. So mounting the tweeter there would be impossible. My only options are either flush-mounting in stock dash locations firing upwards, angle-mounting in stock dash locations, angle-mounting in compaxial omde, or mounting on the door panel, either up high and forward near the door handles, or low and front above the stock 6.5" door locations.
I currently have B.A. S35 3.5" speakers in the stock dash locations firing upwards, and have not been able to get decent imaging, although it could be a result of any number of factors: poor amplification from stock head unit, poor quality of the speaker itself, or the fact that it is firing up against the windshield. That is why I was initially hesitant to mount the SR-6500 tweeters where the 3.5" speakers are now; plus the distance between the tweeter and the driver would be a bit farther than is usually suggested (not to mention both being totally off axis).
But upon doing some searches here, it seems that there have some that have had pleasing results doing just that. In your opinion, how "sub-optimal" would it be to mount the tweeters in the dash locations? Would it just be a waste of a fine speaker to do this? I'd be listening almost exclusively to sound that is reflected off glass from the tweeter; intuitively seems like a dumb thing, but am I just having a psychological hangup against this, and it is actually possible to achieve high quality sound and imaging with this kind of setup (psychologically, I mean it kills me to think I've got 700$ component speakers only ot have the driver firing at my legs and the tweeter reflecting against the windshield!). Then again, perhaps I have no real choice given my car. In that case, am I just better off selling these nice Polks and sticking with my current B.A. 3.5's if both of them are going to end up suffering from the windshield-reflection setup? It'd also save me another 2-300$ that would be needed to properly amplify the Polks too (the Infinity integral 4-channel amp would probably be enough to power my current B.A. setup).
I've even had some people tell me that if I set up the Polks this way, not only will it be sub-optimal, but it might even sound worse than before, b/c the midrange from the drivers would be so far away from the high end of the tweeters, whereas with the 3.5" speakers, at least you'd have some mids coming form the same place as the highs.
ps. I could use the 15 degree angle mounts on the dash as well; would this make much of a difference?
