No More Accord

MacLeod

Traded my trusty 07 Honda Accord in on a 2010 Ford Edge today. Kinda sad as me and that Accord have been all over half the country and she never let me down. But with a new baby that require massive baby strollers and car seats, I figured it was time to move up to something bigger.

Downside is that the 3 years I spent learning, experimenting and tuning are gone. Now its back to square one.

More downside is that the stock speaker locations are WAY up high in the doors which is a horrible spot. Ill never win anything major with those so Im going to have to figure out something else. The kick panels have a fuse box in them so theyre probably out.

The A pillars on the other hand are massive! They flare out at the bottom and Im thinking maybe sticking a 4" mid and tweet in there and running midbass in the doors. Not sure yet.

Took me 3 hours to drag everything out of the Accord and put back the stock stuff and get it working. Did it in the dealership parking lot. This makes the 3rd or 4th time Ive done this in a parking lot. Last time was the worst cause it was at night and freaking COLD! Did the whole thing by flashlight. Lemme tell ya - that aint easy. As you can imagine Im pretty burned out on audio after that so Im gonna drive around with the stock stereo for a couple weeks til the fire starts building up to rip it all out.



Here you can see the massive lower A pillars. This could be promising. (this isnt mine. got this pic online)

bigaudiofanatic

I would of gotten a crv, but that is my opinion hope you have no problems with the ford.

danger boy

nice looking ride.. new car smell is awesome. congrats

arun1963

MacLeod wrote: »

But with a new baby that require massive baby strollers and car seats, I figured it was time to move up to something bigger.

The joys of parenthood.

MacLeod wrote: »

Downside is that the 3 years I spent learning, experimenting and tuning are gone. Now its back to square one..

I guess you're saying you will have to tune for the accoustics of the new car and do the damping / deadening, etc all over again.

MacLeod wrote: »

More downside is that the stock speaker locations are WAY up high in the doors which is a horrible spot. Ill never win anything major with those so I'm going to have to figure out something else. The kick panels have a fuse box in them so they're probably out.

Yeah man I have the same issue with my Ford. Seems like Ford engineers are NOT into sound reproduction . You have to watch the mid bass, 80-200 has to be a level lower (which also means you have to run everything else a bit lower than normal) and I think it causes some stage depth issues as well.

MacLeod wrote: »

The A pillars on the other hand are massive! They flare out at the bottom and Im thinking maybe sticking a 4" mid and tweet in there and running midbass in the doors. Not sure yet.

3 ways? Does that also mean you will need a 6-8 channel processor?

MacLeod wrote: »

Took me 3 hours to drag everything out of the Accord and put back the stock stuff and get it working. Did it in the dealership parking lot. This makes the 3rd or 4th time Ive done this in a parking lot. Last time was the worst cause it was at night and freaking COLD! Did the whole thing by flashlight. Lemme tell ya - that aint easy. As you can imagine Im pretty burned out on audio after that so Im gonna drive around with the stock stereo for a couple weeks til the fire starts building up to rip it all out.

Don't worry, the fire will be back . I'm sure things will work out. Good luck.

MCCLIPSE

congrats macleod, my wife wants an Edge one day. They look pretty nice. Keep us posted on the progress of your new build.

exalted512

Congrats! You better get started quick! With that baby youre not going to have any time for audio!
-Cody

Jstas

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

I would of gotten a crv, but that is my opinion hope you have no problems with the ford.

DSkip wrote: »

Yeah, anything but the ford

Not my cup of tea, but a friend's mom has one and she loves it. Ford's styling has disappeared to me. Its all European design, which is fine, but from an American company that prides itself in its roots?

Hope you enjoy it

Good job! Way to bag on the guy's new ride! :rolleyes:

BTW, the CRV and the Edge are two completely different classes of vehicles. Ford's competition to the CRV is the Escape and it sells like hotcakes. Honda doesn't have anything to compete with the Edge. You'd have to step up to the Acura MDX to find something from Honda in the same class.





Congrats on the new ride! New cars are always cool! I wouldn't worry too much about the stereo. Every Edge I've been in has been like a vault inside. Lotsa sound deadening already there so you probably won't have to do too much to it.

But like Cody says, you'd better get on it or your competing days are done! Kids have a way of being a time vacuum.


And Al, only thing better than new car smell is new electronics smell!

MacLeod

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

I would of gotten a crv, but that is my opinion hope you have no problems with the ford.

The CRV is too small. This thing is twice the size.

3 ways? Does that also mean you will need a 6-8 channel processor

Ive already got one. My Alpine H700 is a 8 channel.

Yeah, anything but the ford

Not my cup of tea, but a friend's mom has one and she loves it. Ford's styling has disappeared to me. Its all European design, which is fine, but from an American company that prides itself in its roots?

Yeah I agree. I mean this looks just like an BMW:



And who doesnt automatically think of a Mercedes when you see this:



And then this. I mean Volkswagen should sue Ford for stealing their designs. This looks identical to a Jetta:



Just look at how unoriginal this is:



Im always mistaking these for a Toyota Rav4:



{thus ends my smart **** response}

Congrats on the new ride! New cars are always cool! I wouldn't worry too much about the stereo. Every Edge I've been in has been like a vault inside. Lotsa sound deadening already there so you probably won't have to do too much to it.

Took me a while but I finally came around John. Youve been preaching the virtues of Ford goodness for years. I dont really have a favorite brand but if I had to pick it would be Ford. Ive owned more Fords (3) than any other make and Im really impressed with their current direction. Id put their build quality and design up against anybodys and I love their balls. Them telling Obama to stick his bail out money up his **** - hell thats reason enough alone to only buy Fords for the rest of my life.

arun1963

Yeah congrats on the new ride. Looks really spacious. The A pillars are already cross firing .

Any initial thoughts on the drivers ure going to get? When does the 2010 season start?

Jstas

MacLeod wrote: »

Took me a while but I finally came around John. Youve been preaching the virtues of Ford goodness for years. I dont really have a favorite brand but if I had to pick it would be Ford. Ive owned more Fords (3) than any other make and Im really impressed with their current direction. Id put their build quality and design up against anybodys and I love their balls. Them telling Obama to stick his bail out money up his **** - hell thats reason enough alone to only buy Fords for the rest of my life.

Glad you like you new ride! I guess that's a good thing considering you're paying for it and all!

What options/trim level did you get?

AudioGenics

nice 2010 Edge....

how many miles on the Accord and what value did you get back in trade
if I may ask?

janmike

Congrats on the new vehicle. Everyone has their favorite manufacturer. We purchased a new F150 XLT Supercrew last year and could not be happier.

MacLeod

arun1963 wrote: »

Any initial thoughts on the drivers ure going to get? When does the 2010 season start?

Dont know. Polk doesnt make a small driver so Ill stick with Polk for amps and subs and midbass but Im not sure what Ill go with for a 4" mid and tweet.

What options/trim level did you get?

Its the base model. I could either get a loaded Escape or a base Edge. Its got power windows, locks and cruise control. Thats about all I need.

how many miles on the Accord and what value did you get back in trade

Had 58,000 on it and they gave me $9,500 for it. I thought that was a pretty fair trade in. Im sure I got screwed somehow but I "felt" like I was getting a good deal and I guess thats what matters.

arun1963

MacLeod wrote: »

Few things. Mainly because I've got a baby now and need as much room as possible.

2nd would be money. It's pretty expensive to compete and that goes back to having a baby and needing as much money as I can get.

3rd is almost none of my buddies are returning and that sucks.

4th is drama. A lot of crybabies out there and I het tired of listening to them whine but thats remedied by not reading forums.

5th is checkbook competitors. It's frustrating for guys like me that do all their own work and tuning and have to compete against guys that hire NASA to design and tune their systems for them.

So while I love car audio tuning and tinkering, there are times I question if its worth it.

Hijacking this comment from another thread.

I can't say that I'm surprised. You evolve, priorities change and there comes a time to move on. Yet, something’s may stay forever. So while you may not be competing, you may just still find yourself tweaking, when you're 60 (maybe with a discrete hearing aid firmly in place) . Just some random thoughts and I promise to keep it short.

I’m guessing here, but I figure that you were competing for three reasons that I can think of. To get the crown, acknowledgement from your peers and to prove that championship sound is about the ears not the equipment, 60/20/20, tuning, install and equipment.

You know you got the second. The first and third are linked.

In the real world, billions of dollars ride on the myth that, expensive equipment = better sound. There’s too much riding there, you can’t expect them to admit that even after you proved it. Who would buy the expensive zapcos, helix, macintosh, mosconi, scans, ... .

So 0.1 points is the crown, or as close as they will let you get to it. Sounds like the right time to walk away. Not entirely fair, but that's life. That said, I wish Polk had sponsored you when they still ran their car audio division.

There's a huge difference between just winning and being a winner. You walk away from competition, as a clear winner. Have no doubts about that, EVER. Even if winning was the sole yardstick for being a winner (and it isn’t), you’ve won enough, to walk away a winner.

You already know all this, so no real revalations here. Just stating it like I see it.

1996blackmax

Congratulations! Having a little one comes with having a few extra items in the car .

Starting a new project is hard after getting things dialed in with your car. It is also fun though. Like you said, those pillars look promising.

Toxis

Screw it. Go SR 5.25 comp set in them massive a pillars. Lol. I really like the edge and with all the cool **** ford has been advertising, I don't see that as a bad decision. Say what you will about ford but I'm a fan. Always have been even though I primarily drive Hondas.

arun1963

+1 on installing the sr's. Sure a mid high on the door has issues, but I'd still rather have the sr mids there, than the MM. I cant get over the almost perfect angles that you would get on the A pillars (it looks that way in the pic).

Here we are getting all excited about your install and for all one knows, audio could be the last thing on your mind.

I dont think anyones asked this, but how does the edge drive?

MacLeod

Well the A pillars are out for mids. Theyre not quite as flat as Id hoped and a 4" mid wont fit on there flush. If I were a talented craftsman I could probably figure out a way but Im not so back to the drawing board.

The A pillars are looking promising. There is a big **** fuse box in the drivers side panel but a big enough flat spot underneath it that would easily accept a 4" mid. That is a possibility.

The doors house 5x7 speakers and that sucks. Im gonna have to tear off the door panel and look around at how much room Ive got. I dont think there will be much so I may have to settle for something in the way of some 5.25's there for midbass.

Starting to get that fire building up again!

Oh and Arun, if Im ever elected President - Im hiring you as my press secretary.

arun1963

MacLeod wrote: »

Starting to get that fire building up again!

If I may ask, are doing the 3way purely because of the vehicle or because you feel it will give you that last bit of edge?

MacLeod wrote: »

Oh and Arun, if Im ever elected President - Im hiring you as my press secretary.

Figures, I get the crappiest job in your administration. .

You're on Mr Prez. Mind you, with my habit of shooting my mouth off when I should keep it shut and the FMS (foot in the mouth syndrome) every time I open my mouth, you'd probably fire me in 2 months.

MacLeod

2 ways are better, thats just all there is to it. However, you have to have a mid that will play down low to make it work or have a subwoofer mounted up front. My stock speaker locations are awful. Halfway up the door and directly in front of the arm rest. When you lean back, the arm rest completely blocks the speaker grill so that wouldnt work at all for anything above 200 Hz.

I have a fuse box in the left kick panel so I cant mount a beefy 6.5" there without an assload of work so Im gonna have to use a smaller driver like a 4 and since those cant reproduce midbass, Ill have to have a dedicated midbass driver - hence the 3 way setup.

audiobliss

Mac, I say just man-up, embrace the crapton of work, and make the 2-way setup work!

You can do it!

Either way, though, I know your system's going to be flat-out amazing...so I'll still be jealous either way.

arun1963

MacLeod wrote: »

2 ways are better, thats just all there is to it.

Glad to hear its still that way. A bit OT, but how do the top end HAT's sound?

MacLeod wrote: »

However, you have to have a mid that will play down low to make it work or have a subwoofer mounted up front. My stock speaker locations are awful. Halfway up the door and directly in front of the arm rest. When you lean back, the arm rest completely blocks the speaker grill so that wouldnt work at all for anything above 200 Hz.


I have a fuse box in the left kick panel so I cant mount a beefy 6.5" there without an assload of work so Im gonna have to use a smaller driver like a 4 and since those cant reproduce midbass, Ill have to have a dedicated midbass driver - hence the 3 way setup.

IIRC in one of the threads you had given a link to a competitors set up who had an array of mid bass & mid range mounted under the top of the dash......don't know if that is feasible for your setup.

MacLeod

arun1963 wrote: »

Glad to hear its still that way. A bit OT, but how do the top end HAT's sound?

Havent heard them yet. They look just like the SR's though.

IIRC in one of the threads you had given a link to a competitors set up who had an array of mid bass & mid range mounted under the top of the dash......don't know if that is feasible for your setup.

Yeah that was Scott Selvidge's 300M. That thing sounded awesome! He rebuilt the dash to fit 2 pairs of Scanspeak Revelator 5.5's. They were in the front most part of the dash with the outside 2 as mids and the inside 2 as midbass each in an AP enclosure. Won a couple world championships with that setup not to mention best of show at 06 finals.

And no, that setup is WAY beyond anything Im capable of. Scott has a gift.

MacLeod

Pulled the trigger on some Fountek 3" fullrange drivers from Madisound. Got rave reviews online and especially from Zaph audio. Theyre 8 ohm though which kinda blows but Ill see what they can do.

Think Ill try them in the A pillars running from say 315 -20KHz. Then run my SR 6.5's or 5.25's in the doors as midbass. This way I could stick with a 2 way setup. Who knows, it may sound like crap. 3 way with 4's in the kicks will be my fallback setup if this doesnt work.

exalted512

8 ohm drivers arent that bad...a lot of times they pretty efficient so it makes up the lack of power they get compared to their 4 ohm counterparts. My midbasses in the doors are 8 ohm.
-Cody

arun1963

MacLeod wrote: »

Pulled the trigger on some Fountek 3" fullrange drivers from Madisound. Got rave reviews online and especially from Zaph audio. Theyre 8 ohm though which kinda blows but Ill see what they can do.

Think Ill try them in the A pillars running from say 315 -20KHz. Then run my SR 6.5's or 5.25's in the doors as midbass. This way I could stick with a 2 way setup. Who knows, it may sound like crap. 3 way with 4's in the kicks will be my fallback setup if this doesnt work.

Congrats. The drivers have recvd excellent reviews. A couple of positives straight off the bat, sharper image / better tonality, the vocal spectrum will be spread over 2 drivers i/o 4 and the beaming frequency is pushed much higher. ( a bit of extrapolation )

I think the key will be how these drivers perform in the 10khz+ range. That will dictate if you need a separate tweet or not....good luck.

arun1963

Did you get the speakers? Hooked up?

MacLeod

Not yet. Madisound kinda sucks about shipping stuff out in a timely fashion. They just shipped them out yesterday. Think ill stick with Parts Express from now on.

MacLeod

Figures. I **** about the slow shipping and theyre sitting on the porch when I pulled in from work today. Anyways, I havent hooked them up cause I dont have anything else installed in the Edge yet but these things look like tanks! I bet they each weigh 20 pounds! Usually, heavy weight and solid feel means excellent quality. Hopefully the performance will equal their build quality.

arun1963

just some random shots of midrange and tweets in a pillars. Looks like customised A pillars though

jay27

arun1963 wrote: »

just some random shots of midrange and tweets in a pillars. Looks like customised A pillars though

This may be a dumb question, but a set up like this I imagine would interfere with side curtain airbags, correct?

I am thinking the airbags would not work properly with speakers attached to the panel on top.