I did some more tweaking on the system today. I ran the auto TA/EQ and it jacked everything way out of whack. It moved the crossover point way up to 8 kHz, jacked the upper midrange way up high as well as the treble. It was freaking horrible!

For now, I've resorted back to the basics of no TA at all, crossover points back down at 2 kHz, and some more tweaking of the EQ by ear. I have to say, it sounds a lot better with TA turned off. Much fuller, wider and spacious. Go figure. I'm sure I'll get better results with a real DSP eventually.

I decided to stream some music from Amazon Prime. I picked Daft Punk. Damn! Someone told me that Nick (the owner of Stereo Integrity) runs these TM65 MkII's down to 20 Hz in his personal car. My head unit only allows me to run them down to 25 Hz (I normally have them at 31.5 Hz). I didn't hear much difference between the two, so I left it at 31.5 Hz. The only other option is running them wide open all the way down, but I don't want to do that. Why chance it, right?

But man, that bass! These drivers hit low and hard, even at high volumes, and stay clean, clear and crisp doing so. That bass it tight, punchy and tactile. I now see why some people run these without subs. If the interior of my Z was nice and quiet when traveling at 70 mph, I probably wouldn't be worried about a sub either. But even up to 50 mph, they sound great on their own.

Mid-bass, midrange and treble are excellent as well. Very natural, open and smooth with plenty of dynamics and power to smack you with. I can honestly say without a doubt, that this is by far the best sounding front stage I have had to date with any of my systems, and that's saying a lot!

Oh, and the dampening that I did on the doors and door cards are doing their job well. No rattles at all, and I was pushing the system rather hard this afternoon. A lot harder than I normally would. I mean, I had these things crankin! So much so that even the rear view mirror on the windshield was vibrating! And while I was at it, I stepped out of the car to see how it sounded outside with the car all sealed up. With the car idling (the HKS exhaust is barely louder than stock at idle), I could hardly hear the music coming through. Sure I could hear it, but it was no worse than the stock system without dampening. That's a good thing. I don't to draw attention to it, so I'm happy.

Running your mids down that will requires lots of clean power, a sealed door (I mean really sealed well) and a song that will go down that low. Bass I love you hits down to 5Hz, Put On covered a vast range of Frequencies as well.

Why not manually set up your TA? I haven't met (or read about) one person yet that auto-TA has worked out for.

By the way, I ended up following your lead and putting some hushmat wavebreaker pads behind my woofers. I wasn't sure if they would do much but I'm happy with them. There's not a massive difference in SQ, but the speaker does sound a bit cleaner. It also seems to have eliminated the little bit of rattle I had left in my doors when the midbass really starts to pound. I certainly wasn't expecting it to do that.

I do run it manually normally. I just wanted to see what the head unit would do on its own with the new speakers and amp. Turned out just as crappy as last time! LOL

Yeah, that HushMat works pretty good. Clean mids and vocals can be attributed to that HushMat.

I'm glad it worked out for you as well. Makes me feel like I actually did some good on this forum. :tup:

Just wanted to show a couple more install pics. I wish they had cut the battery terminal cover a little neater as well as the cable run out of said cover. Kind of just crammed in there, but at least it's a quality, solid connection. The tweeter baffle looks great though!

http://charlest.zenfolio.com/img/s/v...33835304-5.jpg

Damn that's a nice beefy tweeter!
http://charlest.zenfolio.com/img/s/v...33835302-5.jpg



And just for fun...
http://charlest.zenfolio.com/img/s/v...33835307-5.jpg

I have a major update on the system...

Ever since I took delivery of the Arc Audio XDi 1200.6 amp, it has had a constant but random issue of one of the right channels dropping out, whether it be the the channel powering the mid-bass or the one powering the tweeter. Either way, it's always on the right side, and it's always random... And it's always annoying!

Plus, the rate that I'm going with my system, I need more processing power than the built-in DSP in the head unit provides. So just a few minutes ago, I purchased this...

HELIX P Six DSP MK2

https://www.amoplusmagz.com/wp-conte...SP-640x300.jpg

Nice.... For t/a try this with your dsp when you get it in. http://tracerite.com/calc.html works pretty damn good, and then fine tune by ear.

I don't understand. What is this supposed to do vs me just entering the distance by inches? Because the software allows me to enter either.

In fact, entering the delay, it lessens the distances drastically.

Measured is...

LT - 36"
LM - 40"
RT - 50"
RM - 53"

But after entering the delay into the Helix software, the distances are...

LT - 16.59"
LM - 12.69
RT - 2.93"
RM - 0.0"

Aren't they both doing the same exact thing with the same exact results?

Your measured distances are the distance between the speaker and your ears. The distances you see in your Helix is the difference between: (1) your measured distance to the speaker and (2) the distance to the most distant speaker. For example, your RM is the furthest away at 53". Your left tweeter is the closest at 36". So the left tweeter gets delayed by the amount of time it would take sound to travel 17".

So it would appear that your DSP wants the relative difference in distance to your most distant speaker and not the actual distance. Ultimately, the distance and time measurements are designed to do the same thing.

Edit: I would double-check the manual just to make sure what the DSP wants for time alignment. My DSP uses the actual distance to each speaker to set delays.

I understand all of that. My point being that the software allows both. I imagine both would give the same acoustic results.

Your statement that "In fact, entering the delay, it lessens the distances drastically" caused me to assume otherwise because I don't think calling a 17" difference vs a 16.59" difference for your left tweeter a drastic change. That equates to a few hundredths of a millisecond difference in delay. In which case, that means you must be a true audiophile, because you can hear things that aren't really there.

To more directly answer your question though, both distance and time delay are there to achieve the same objective. Using the milliseconds (i.e. time delay) allows you to do more of a fine-tune. It can come in handy if, for example, you want to shift your sound stage a tiny bit. Reminds me of the judge that said my sound stage was slightly left of center, even though it was dead center... sigh...

Are these the drivers in the dash to replace the ultra ear piercing harsh stock tweets? ( Whoever invented the stock tweets should be punched ):

PRX275 - Memphis Car Audio

Thinking of doing as much sound deadening as possible before going the amp/hu route...

Nope.

These in the doors...
TM65 mkII Woofer | Stereo Integrity

And these in the dash...
M25 Tweeter | Stereo Integrity

Too late! ordered 'em! Gonna see how they work out with the stock head unit... Then focus on the MF'n road noise by doing the wheel wells before dropping $$$ on an amp+hu... as I listen to more podcasts than music these days.

Guys... Sit back and enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7lY7hd2kf8