hello George,

Thanks for your inputs. The JL powerwedge i have is a vented 10" v3w3 sub which i'm running with a 500W PPI mono amp; however I am using the PPI crossover....maybe this is the problem?

As for the door speakers does the oem wiring have a set of +/- wires for the midbass driver and also a set of +/- wires for the tweeter; or is it just one set?

I would assume if oem wiring for midbass and tweeter are independent then it would be easier to run seperates instead of coxial speakers; and again the aftermarket passive crossovers that comes with the aftermarket speakers would NOT be used.

Cheers, Michael

 

Oh ok you don't have the slim power wedge that I was thinking of.

Yes you are attenuating already crossed over frequencies by 12 (or 24) db by using the PPI X over. Turn it off it will be night and day.

Factory component sets do NOT have a crossover, there are separate amp channels in the front, and the crossovers are in the amp. Wire them up, do not use the aftermarket crossovers.

In the rear they are just wired in parallel but there is a non polarized electrolytic capacitor on the + side of the tweeter line acting as a crossover. Wire the crossovers in the doors if you use components in the rear, or you can run a coax directly. (I would leave the rear alone If were you).

here's the alpine system's wiring diagram. This should clear things up.

Take care,

George



Here's the alpine setups wiridng diagram.

 

George,

Great info! The diagram sure helps a lot.

Due to the low power of the factory Alpine amp; what RMS rating 6.5" seperate should we be searching for?

Cheers,
Michael

 

The amp isn't that weak..

RMS ratings are just what the speaker can handle before it blows up in theory. Don't concern yourself with trying to match them. Any modern component set will be fine.

Take care,

George

 

George,

Thanks again for the insight; I changed the PPI amp to full range and it sounds "correct" now.

As for front seperates since aftermarket crossovers will not be used, is it possible to run 3 way seperates?

Regards,
Michael

 

In theory you could use the aftermarket crossover from a 3 way set to power the midbass and midrange of the 3 way set, and run the tweeter off it's channel. In practice I have no idea how it would sound, or if there would be enough power there.

Beyond that there is no practical way to mount a 3 way component set in an S-Type unless you were to do custom kick panels or something, but if you're leaving the nav or head unit stock why would you bother...

Just get a good 2 way set for the front, - pull the 6.5's out of the deck for increased sub bass performance, and call it a day.

Take care,

George

 

Ok, i will take your advise and get a 2 way component for the fronts; i was looking at the MB Quart PVI 216 which seems to be a good deal...any suggestions?

As for the wiring diagram for the rear doors it seems like that is only 1 channel to each door, my question is would the signal already been "crossovered" from the Alpine amp or would it have "full" range signals? The reason I ask is because the coxial speakers that I'm looking at comes with a passive crossover box....should i use it or not?

Cheers,
Michael

 

I think I have the previous version of those MB Quarts. They sound great, I'd go with them.

As far as the rear setup. There is only one amp channel per door, and it's full range.

What the factory did was run the midrange in parallel with the tweeter (both are playing at full range), BUT they put a small non polarized electrolytic capacitor on the tweeter line that acts as a 6db / octave High Pass Crossover (basically a bass blocker), to make sure the tweeter doesn't try to play the lower range frequencies.

If you plan to use coaxials that have a passive crossover in the rear, go ahead and use the passive crossover with them.

Take care,

George

 

Thanks George you have been a great help!

Last question, for the front door wires to the woofer are those "full" range signals? Because if they are full range then I would think I should run the aftermarket crossover box that comes with the MB Quart for the woofer right? And i know the tweeters will get wired directly to the oem setup as it already been crossoved by the Alpine amp.

Regards,
Michael

 

You know I'm not 100% certain, but it would be patently stupid of Alpine to power the midrange and tweeter on separate amp channels, and run the midrange full range.
Easiest way to tell would be to disconnect the tweeter and listen to the stereo and see if it still plays full range (although muddier).

If that is the case (which once again I doubt) then yes run the crossover box.

Few more words about your install.

First, I don't know if the alpine speakers are crossed over to take the really low bass out of them. I've never actually had my hands in a Jag Alpine System (my car didn't have the alpine, so it's all aftermarket) I THINK they are. Play the system as loud as you ever plan to, with the sub amp disconnected. (Just disconnect the remote wire on the PPI amp). See if the mids distort due to bass. If they do you might want to add a set of "bass blocker" caps as needed. I'll explain more if this becomes an issue.

Secondly:
Do you carry rear seat passengers on a regular basis or not? If you before you put the door panels back, have a listen to the system with the coaxial's tweeter disconnected from it's crossover (so only the midrange is playing). You may be pleasantly surprised at how it changes the image.

Take care, let me know how you make out,

George

 

Hello Everyone,

Finally finished my stereo upgrade and would firstly like to thank George for all his help and suggestions.

My car is a 2005 STR with the premium stereo system and I have done the following:

Front doors: 6.5" component MB Quart PVI216; replaced woofer for woofer and tweeter for tweeter without using the aftermarket crossover box which came with the MB Quartz as the system is already actively cross-overed from the factory Alpine amp. I have moved the tweeter higher by cutting the door panel to the area near the height of the door lever. For those of you planning this upgrade to 6.5" component you would NEED a speaker adapter plate 5x7" to 6.5" and STILL would need to have it modified to fit behind the door panel correctly; it would be a direct bolt-on IF you replace with a 5x8 speaker and you would also need a new adapter plate as the stock housing cannot be used again.

Rear doors: 6.5" component MB Quart PVI216; mounted as a coxial setup and used the MB Quartz cross-over box; but you must take the original wires that ran to the oem woofer and not the tweeter. I also used a speaker plate adapter however no modification was needed as there were lots of room behind the panel. With the crossover I was able to set the tweeter to -3db to improve the front imaging.

Subwoofer: I installed a JL Audio Powerwedge 10" W3V3 ported box which the dimensions fit absoultely perfectly in the S-type trunk, I ran it with a old PPI 500W mono amp and used a line level converter; signal were taken from the oem sub leads. I also removed the 2 oem alpine 6" subs.

Result....

The clarity is excellent and the oem Alpine amp is definitely powerful enough while still able to produce great sound quality.

I was somewhat disappointed in the sub catagory, it seems to be too boomy for my liking and not tight enough; this was actually magnified more so when the oem 6" subs were removed. Any suggestions in tuning this department would be appreciated.

Michael

 

Thanks macc2t. Good update...

Regarding the boomy sub, a couple of suggestions....
1. is there any way to change (lower) the internal alpine x-over frequency?
2. you could try moving the sub. I suppose its possible that you have issues with in phase standing waves in your drivers seating position

@ george - thanks for the great contributions to this thread. Most useful. Ive only had my STR just over a month, and am now ready to do some simple audio upgrades.

First question - how can you tell which type of audio system is installed?
My car is a UK 2006 STR with touch screen nav.

 

I saw everyones Stereo redo, so I thought I'd add my Stereo setup that I did to my X-Type. There are pictures in my profile to glance at if you like. Total system speaker swap out: Component sets in car front and back were changed to Infinity Reference, Stock Subwoofer changed to a Kicker 6.5 CVT in the stock sub box, An Audio Control LC8i processor was used, Phoenix Gold 1 Farad Capacitator used, Soundstream Rubicon 5 Channel Amp, Memphis 1000D Sub Amp and Kicker 10" DVC Subwoofer in separate 10" Box in the trunk. All fit perfect and sounded excellant. See pics.

 

Hey Michael,

Glad to see you got it setup... I was wondering what you meant by additional modification in the front door (beyond the 6.5" adapter). My tweeters are in the sail panels, basically behind where the mirror mounts. (I didn't want to cut the door panels, and it pulls the soundstage up nicely).

As far as your sub. "Boom and not tight enough"
Two words for you. Ported Enclosure.

Second, back off the gain of the sub a bit. Sometimes less is more...

Find a nice little sealed box for that sub, and you wont believe its the same setup. I have a single 12" Eclipse titanium sub in my car, in a 1.0ft ^3 sealed enclosure, and its as tight as can be. It can still shake the car violently if you are into that sort of thing, but its not at all boomy or overpowering.

Take care,

George

 

my also have the nav screen and i believe yours is the same oem alpine system as mine; which is the premium system.

 

Is this the one you have?

JL Audio CS110RG-W3v3 Sealed PowerWedge™ enclosure with one 10" W3v3 subwoofer at Crutchfield Signature


Because it's described as SEALED not ported.

 

hi George,

I knew you would say that about ported box. I was a little skeptical when i first purchased it but since the box size fit so nicely and it is only a 10" sub.....maybe not that boomy?

I had the front door panels cut to flush mount the tweeters nicely and i'm quite happy with them. The toughest part of the install was to accommodate the 6.5" in the stock location as the adapter plates needed to be modified significantly to fit properly in order to clear the door panel.

I will try to gain "down" the ppi amp more and see how that goes. I believe it's already at less than half now!

Cheers,
Michael

 

Thank you Michael!

 

Digging a bit further I'm not convinced I have teh premium sound system.
The fact that it doesnt sound great isnt leading me to this conclusion since most of you with premium sound feel the same.

What is making me doubt having premium sound is that I see folks refer to DSP settings that I either dont have or dont know how to access.

All I seem to be able to get in that area is simple controls for Bass, Treble, F to R fade and L to R pan (accessed by pressing the 'mode' button next to the volume dial)

Any pointers?

 

Don't overread too much into the talking, people can get carried away in their talking and bragging. If you have components (tweeter/mid-woofer) in both front and back doors and you have a stock Sub (6") in back deck, you probably have "Premium" system, add to that a Navigation system and CD player system and I guarantee you have a "Premium system". If anyone disagrees with me, then bring your proof.