TTear

My new audio setup consists of an SPL Dynamics TC-series 5ch. amp (4x90RMS, 1x180RMS), an MTX 4500 Thunder 12" sub, front Focal K2Power 6,5" components (2x80RMS) in the factory positions and rear Ultimate Titanium mids (6,5", 2x65RMS) w/ crossovers and Hertz tweeters. I also got a Becker Monza MP3 HU.

I'm not satisfied at all with it, and the reason seems to be the installation (done by the dealership, and unfortunately not by some expert...). Now, I'll probably have to re-install it at an audio center with a very good reputation.

Some pics :

The Becker HU. Very clean and good quality and the most important, the illumination is almost identical to the stock one.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54811/dscn0216.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54811/dscn0278.jpg">

The rear Hertz tweeters. Is their position correct?

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54811/dscn0220.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54811/dscn0219.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54811/dscn0225.jpg">

The amp and the sub. Anyone ever had any experience with these amps? Bought because it's supposed to be very powerful (compared to other 5ch.).

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54811/dscn0221.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54811/dscn0223.jpg">

I really like the way the sub sounds. I'm not a fan of very loud low frequencies. I guess I care more about sound quality and I want the sound to be crystal clear. I really like the frequencies of the human voice (I think around 100 kH or something?) being heard really loud.

Anyway, the sound of the system is not even close to what it should be. First of all, it's not as clear it should be. The rears don't play well at high levels of volume (logical). The fronts sound like they are not exposed well enough. There is also a hissing sound coming from the engine, obviously because of the way the amp is connected to the battery I believe. Sometimes, the high frequencies coming from the tweeters sound like they come from the bottom of a toilet. And generally, there's a lack of mid-bass.

The guy at the store told me that the front components aren't properly installed and that because of the TT's structure we should better put some Dynamat in the door ( is it really worth it?) as the speaker is not screwed anywhere, insulate the bottom (or the magnet ?) of the speaker and install the woofer so that it's sticking further out right on the edge of the door ( he said this is the reason why it does n't sound well, because it's like hidden inside the door, it's not screwed on the metal part of the door so as to be steady and the factory position for the tweeters is totally wrong right next to my knee -&gt; suggested that we put them somewhere higher, any suggestions?).

He also suggested that we should remove the rear speakers so as to have only a front stage sound. I've heard the same thing from others too, but I was wondering, would the fronts only be able to accept all that power that the amp can deliver, or would a large amount of it get wasted??? This is the main reason why I put the rears, to have the ability to take advantage of the amp's power. I fear that the fronts only might be too weak for this amp. What do you think?

And last, he is definitely going to adjust the amp better than it currently is...

Sorry, as you can see I'm an audio noob and I really don't want to pay money for BS once again. I want it this time to be done correctly. Should I get rid of the rear speakers (they're not so great anyway)? Should I let him do all that work on the front door? Thanks for any input.

HighPSI

fill...try facing the sub up at the rear window and see if that improves bass response, if not i'd double check to make sure box is built optimally, is it powered appropriately?
hissing noise-are your rca's running on other side of vehicle from your power? you have a solid ground? You using quality RCA's?
This should get you started in right direction

TTear

So you think that the rear tweeters worsen the overall sound?

The sub box is made by the factory. Its quality is really good. Besides, I'm pretty satisfied with the performance of it. But I'm certainly gonna try placing it like you said. Anyway, the problem is with the mid bass, which, as far as I know, is produced by the mid woofers. The rears are relatively weak while the fronts are not in the right place so as to perform as they should. Regarding the hissing sound, I really don't know how the connections have been made and what might cause it. The technician said he will check for faulty cable installation or wrong connections and fix it. Any suggestions on how much the Dynamat would help me, or where I should mount the front tweeters? Thanks.

MacSub

The hissing is usually due to the laziness of the installer. They probably haven't bothered to rewire quality RCA's from the head unit to the amp and may have just used line level converters from the existing speaker cable harness. If this is the case, then you will get hissing and possible engine interference. Line level converters take an already amplified signal and reduce it down to a low level RCA signal, which your new amp then boosts back up to a speaker level signal, also amplifying the hiss and distortion produced by the head units internal amp. Really bodgy.
You will only get a balanced sound from fronts to rears if your head unit has time correction features (like the Alpine 9812rr), where the signal to the fronts is delayed slightly so that it is perfectly in phase with the sound coming from the speakers that are further away from the driver. This shouldn't be too much of a problem in a TT as it's not a big car.

bbaudi382

on one of the mids and tweets.

also...i'd remove the rear speakers totally...but personally i dont like rear fill...only bring down the front stage.

2Cr4ck2

I would say dump all the rear speakers and bridge to the front, I presume there are 2 possible that I could think of. You might have problem with installation with the focal component, or its underpowered.
With the hissing sound I would say the power line and RCA line running on same side at this moment, try separating those.

HighPSI

I'm not all that familiar with where the stock speaker location is for a TT, but aside from using custom speaker pods in the footwell (which i never really liked), you want to keep the tweeter as close to your mid driver as possible..the goal is to take the benefits of using seperates but not have them sound seperate from one another, assuming the stock speaker location is in the lower front part of the door, i'd keep the driver there and flush mount the tweeter somewhere on the door so that it is as close to on the same plane as the driver...
if your using a good 4 channel amp and good speakers that can handle the power from the amp, i would lose the rears and use the front L and R channels to go directly to the middrivers and using the crossover on the amp to make sure they are getting the proper lower frequencies, then use the rear L and R channels from the amp to power the tweeters using the crossover supplied with your seperates...this gives you a few benefits that may make it worth trying for you...for one, the tweets will probably see a little more power which may be just what it needed, and two, in addition to adjusting highs, mids, bass etc on your HU or what ever EQ you may have, you can now adjust the levels of your tweets with respect to your mids using the HU front/rear fader...
with respect to your sub, and i dont know what kinda power you got going to it, that thing should pound pretty good as hatches usually do b/c of the rear window and soundwave diflection, however i know your happy with its sound so..
Good luck...let us know how it works out

EuroDriver

If your door panels are vibrating, then dynamat librally applied to the inside of the door sheet metal will reduce the vibrations significantly. Less vibrations will give you a cleaner sound. Definitely worth doing if you door panels are vibrating excessively

A good front tweater position is the forward corner of the window where the mirror is. I would disconnect the rear tweaters, they just disturb the imaging for the front passengers.

HighPSI

I'd def do dynamat if you can spare the extra $$, it may not make a drastic change, but its one of those nice finishing touch type things...
you can try up top near the mirror with the tweeter as suggested above, mine used to be there in my integra and sounded good, but really exagerates the tweets and i feel they overpower the mids but if you like it go for it...

Krendor

2. face sub toward rear of car

3. get those focals mounted solid and dynamat

4. check you crossovers freq in amp fronts may be set too high

5. I'd say the Focals are underpowered the really open up at 100W..i'd remove rear and bridge fronts