6 Channel Options

[UglyMutt]

I’m working out some options on how to build a system for my car and have some questions. First, the goal is a more SQ system using some more modern equipment and I’ll buy good gear but its not going to be a $5000 system.

I’m looking at the Audio Control d6.1200 amp to be the backbone of this build. I thought about running this as a completely active system with the 6 channels feeding the front doors woofer, Mid and Tweeter, then probably run another mono amp off the DSP in that amp. Then I was thinking, dang, that’s an expensive amp to be mostly feeding some small mids and tweeters with a lot less power than the amp produces all while not having any rear fill (I know that’s good/ bad depending on a lot of things).

Then I thought maybe I could use this amp to make a 6 channel system with the rear fill too.

Could I buy a set of 3 way components IE: Focal Performance 165AS3 with a crossover and then wire the woofers to CH 1&2 on the amp. Wire the crossover that comes with them to CH 3 & 4. Have that crossover feed the 3.5 mid and tweeter as a component set (just leave the woofers out of it). Then add a pair of components or whatever to the rear powered by channels 5 & 6. Then same as above, run another mono amp and sub. Thoughts?

I feel like that would be a better use of power from this amp. Does that sound like it would produce a decent system or am I shooting myself in the foot. There are a lot of options when looking at this amp and that's why I like it. I'm also considering just making is super simple and running components front and rear and bridging another set of channels for a sub but I'm a little worried that I'll want more than 400 W RMS for a sub. To that note, how much am I going to miss the 3.5s? Thats driving a lot of the system design.

Thanks!!

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[Jaymar]

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109DSP4086/JBL-DSP4086.html?tp=78740

Works great for a fully active system and includes DSP. Still cheap enough to leave plenty of budget left for a decent sub amp. Also fits in place of the OEM amp, barely.

 

[OF5.0]

You are considering to use a DSP amplifier and then not use its full capabilities? If it were me, I’d run the front stage fully active. Your DSP amplifier’s precuts could be fed to another DSP amplifier for full control over the rear fill and subs. The D-4.800 or D-5.1300, depending upon how much subwoofer power or your rear fill needs, would be good choices. The D-5..1300 is an interesting option because, with 10 total active full-range channels by including your D-6.1200, you could bridge 2 pairs of channels for your front midbass drivers.

Regarding “wasting“ amplifier power, It doesn’t matter which amplifier you pick, your tweeters are only going to see 5-10 watts maximum. Your midranges won’t be too far behind. Here’s a good article explaining why: https://www.audiofrog.com/pink-noise-white-noise-and-why-your-tweeters-never-get-150-watts/

 

[_zOmbIE_]

While it's not in a Mustang, I did a 6-channel speaker upgrade (technically 6.1) on my 2021 Bronco, including the full list of parts, sounds pretty good to me and only cost around $1k USD "all in".

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...pgrade-with-lots-of-photos.32452/post-1093534

Maybe not as top shelf as some people would like, but I think some people are blinded by brand names

 

[Cathul]

The Audiocontrol amplifiers with DSP cannot do rear fill correctly (and their DSPs neither). Look at other brands, i.e. Helix and Mosconi for that.

 

[OF5.0]

The Audiocontrol amplifiers with DSP cannot do rear fill correctly (and their DSPs neither). Look at other brands, i.e. Helix and Mosconi for that.

I think that statement needs clarification. If “rear fill” means surround-like sound, then yes, you are correct. If someone doesn’t like or want that effect, then the AudioControl devices are perfectly suited for the application.

 

[cortez]

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109DSP4086/JBL-DSP4086.html?tp=78740

Works great for a fully active system and includes DSP. Still cheap enough to leave plenty of budget left for a decent sub amp. Also fits in place of the OEM amp, barely.

i'm currently using the DSP4086 amp in my GT350 for active setup to the tweeter, mid range and front-door woofers, and also power the rear speakers. the amp has a built-in DSP that's configured via a JBL Windows app using a USB cable. my components include:

• Ford APF-F21 PAC adapter to get flat-audio (not amplified) line-level output
• AudioControl Matrix Plus to boost input sensitivity
• AudioControl Epicenter to (significantly improve) restore bass
• JL Audio sub, that's powered by a JL Audio monoblock amp.
• Memphis Audio component speakers and (tweeter, woofer and rear coaxials) and JBL Stadium 22s (front mid-range).

excluding install, total package cost for me was $2,415. the sound quality is great for my musical tastes.

 

[UglyMutt]

Thanks for the responses. That bronco build looks really cool and somewhat inline with what I'm looking at. And to clarify, to say powering just a tweeter or mid 3.5 with a channel of an amp would be a "waste of power" I don't mean that you are using power and not getting much for it but more that a 125w channel has a lot of potential power to be used that you are not utilizing and you're paying a lot for that amp.

The JBL 8 ch is a really interesting option but I just don't think that has the power I want. To me it seams like JBL really missed the mark by not having preouts on this unit. I know you could use a pair of channels to effectively be pre outs but then you are loosing those channels and it effectively goes down to a 6 ch. Still not bad if you can settle for 40W.

So for some of the reasons above I think im not going to go full active in this car. I'm going to put a three way component set in the doors with classic crossovers. Then a coax in the rear and run it off a 4 ch amp, likely audiocontrol D-4.800 because I still want DSP tuning to handle my input tuning. I know there are other devices to do it but to have it all in one package is a benefit to me. From there I'll feed a mono amp and sub.

Now to find the components I want in stock...

Also, this is a really interesting build that will be similar to what I want to do. It's not tutorial level info but still interesting to see what solution they came up with for one of our cars with the 9 speaker system.

 

[Jaymar]

Focal Polyglass and above is nice, Performance included. If you go the lower power route I've had excellent results with Infinity Reference for performance/budget value. I have a set of Morels I'm going to try this time as I've heard good things but I can't recommend them with experience yet.

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