Replaced center speaker...now my bass from the doors is better?

[Dr. Norts]

Exactly what does “Driver mode” do as far as the sound stage? To me it almost sounds like it knocks out the rears and moves everything to the front and to the “driver side”... almost unbalanced...

Since all the speakers are at different distances from your ears the sound will hit them at different times making the music sound off. Driver sound stage will phase / adjust volume of all the speakers independantly so all the sounds from all the speakers hit your ears all the same time. That's a basic explanation of it.

It makes the driver seat the center of the sound stage instead of some random center point in the car.

It just sounds unbalanced to you because your not used to having the drivers seat being the center of the sound stage. Your used to the sound stage being in the center.

Most home stereos will stage the sound. They will come with a little microphone that you place where you sit. The system then projects sounds which get picked up by the mic. This tells it how far each speaker is away from it by the time / volume the sound is when it hits the mic. Using this data the receiver sets the soundstage, adjusting the a phasing and volume levels from all the speakers. This sets that seat as the center of the sound stage and will sound the best compared to anywhere else in the room.

This is what driver soundstage is doing except you don't need to use the microphone step since Ford already knows where the driver seat is and has programmed the HU/amps accordingly.

 

[Redcruzer]

Exactly what does “Driver mode” do as far as the sound stage? To me it almost sounds like it knocks out the rears and moves everything to the front and to the “driver side”... almost unbalanced...

Thats what I get out of it. It was great in my SN95 with the Mach 460 though. I will be interested to try it today with the Polk. Maybe it will balace things out better.

 

[Dr. Norts]

Sure I did. But understand I was having awful issuses with my front sound stage and driver mode amplified
it. Just put the muddy mess front and center. It was unbearable. I prefer the better balanced All Seats mode. But I will play with driver mode today and see what its like now.

Possibly there is something else wrong or your source is poor. Adjust your fade/balance to mid points / 0 when in driver sound stage.

Driver sound stage should not put the sound front and center. It should be offset to the left making the driver seat the sound stage. The driver seat will sound the best. Passenger seat will sound kind of weird.

Plus you normally want your fronts doing most of the work anyways. You don't want a rear sound stage in a car. Not at all. Ever.

 

[69mach1-395]

Does anybody even know what is piped into the center speaker? Another car I have uses it mostly for directions and phone calls...

 

[EastTNMustang]

Please PM me if you are interested in buying my extra DB351 speaker. Thanks

EDIT: SOLD

 

[Redcruzer]

Possibly there is something else wrong or your source is poor. Adjust your fade/balance to mid points / 0 when in driver sound stage.


—-Source isn’t a factor, 3.5’s were bad and not reproducing a wide band of frequencies. I would lose most all guitar and a lot of vocals. JBL’s fixed most of that.

Driver sound stage should not put the sound front and center. It should be offset to the left making the driver seat the sound stage. The driver seat will sound the best. Passenger seat will sound kind of weird.

—-Agree. My old Mach 460 did this very well. On this system, once the 3.5’s in the door were replaced, the center speaker still overwhelmed the sound stage and muddled everything up. Happy to report the Polk has fixed most of this and driver mode sounds ok now.



Plus you normally want your fronts doing most of the work anyways. You don't want a rear sound stage in a car. Not at all. Ever.

—-This got me thinking. I have a convertible and the rear speakers aren’t on the rear deck like the coupe, but rather set along side the rear seats much closer to the middle of the car. As a matter of fact, I’m 6’3 and have the seat pushed pretty far back so that the rear speakers are actually closer to my ears then the fronts. The vert also has different processing then the coupe. It changes depending on whether the top is up or down. Result is All Seats mode still sounds better to me.

Long story short, replacing all of the 3.5’s made a huge difference to my car and dispite the funky processing, the system now sounds pretty good to me.:cheers:

 

[PoppinJ]

Ill be replacing the center channel here shortly with an infinity refernce 3.5 to see how it sounds. I've already replaced the rears since I had to pull them anyways to throw in my line out converter for the sub install. Ive never understood the demand to pull the rear speakers for a better front sound stage. Ive always run rears for more immersive sound field, but whatever to each his own.

The one thing that does suck about running rear deck speakers with powerful subs in the trunk (I have 2 12's) is that the sound pressure will distort the cones pretty substantially. My solution to this is to use something like the boom mat to help.

Anywhoo, Ill be trying it without a 3.5, with the 3.5 and the stocker to see what sounds best to me.

 

[69mach1-395]

Anywhoo, Ill be trying it without a 3.5, with the 3.5 and the stocker to see what sounds best to me.

I'm in for the no speaker option...just curious.

 

[PoppinJ]

I'm in for the no speaker option...just curious.

Ok just reporting back, nothing unexpected. My middle speaker is a 12.5w 8ohm woofer, and the infinity one I replaced it with is a 3 ohm 25 watt coaxial speaker, so quite a difference.



All my testing was done with the grill off for ease of switching back and forth, sub gains turned all the way down, Android Auto hard wired connection sitting in the driver seat.



As expected you gain much more spacial awareness without the center channel, left and right channels are fairly easily distinguishable. As stated in my previous post, Im more a fan of complete immersion. With the center channel in I would be hard pressed to pinpoint where the speakers are located, as opposed to without it where I can tell the right channel is far off to the right. Personal preference. You still have a strong sense of a forward sound stage with the center speaker sound waves bouncing off the windshield into the cabin, and being much closer to the fronts than rears. Often times people mistake louder for better.



The difference between the stock speaker and the aftermarket truly isn't as profound as I would have expected, even with drastically different speakers. As you would expect there are more highs, but nothing fatiguing or harsh. There is a difference is higher pitched shrill sounds such as a violin. The notes are more piercing, but again nothing painful or harsh at high listening volumes. Vocals are a bit more prominent as well. I listened to some podcasts too to make sure "talk" radio still sounded fine as I listen to quite a bit of that.



Overall I do think its better with the new speaker. I think it would be a mistake to replace all three 3.5s with these as it would likely be to much, I mean you would be adding three tweeters sooo... duh right. There is a marked difference when removing the center entirely, and not for the better in my opinion. I know a lot of people like to remove the rear deck speakers, and hate the idea of a center channel. That's not me. I much prefer the all encompassing sound of being surrounded by speakers. Do you loose the distinction of left and right channels. Yup. Doesn't bother me at all.



Is it worth it to replace the stock center? Run the risk of breaking a clip to the dash or grills, or voiding your warranty, buying a new speaker (and likely throwing the other away as they are mostly sold in pairs), splicing into your wiring harness (or removing it from the stock speaker) Meh, only if you've got some extra funds. It is improved, but only subtly. Dont expect much. My 2 cents.


Edit: Everything is put back together now. It definitely increased the volume from the center speaker, as expected when moving from an 8ohm to 3 ohm speaker. Double the volume in theory. It shifted the center focal point forward and towards the driver side. If you set the radio on driver then it really sounds center channel dominate. Ive never used that setting though.

 

[69mach1-395]

Good review, I think I'll stay stock given my sensitivity to too much tweet.

 

[Redcruzer]

Ok just reporting back, nothing unexpected. My middle speaker is a 12.5w 8ohm woofer, and the infinity one I replaced it with is a 3 ohm 25 watt coaxial speaker, so quite a difference.



All my testing was done with the grill off for ease of switching back and forth, sub gains turned all the way down, Android Auto hard wired connection sitting in the driver seat.



As expected you gain much more spacial awareness without the center channel, left and right channels are fairly easily distinguishable. As stated in my previous post, Im more a fan of complete immersion. With the center channel in I would be hard pressed to pinpoint where the speakers are located, as opposed to without it where I can tell the right channel is far off to the right. Personal preference. You still have a strong sense of a forward sound stage with the center speaker sound waves bouncing off the windshield into the cabin, and being much closer to the fronts than rears. Often times people mistake louder for better.



The difference between the stock speaker and the aftermarket truly isn't as profound as I would have expected, even with drastically different speakers. As you would expect there are more highs, but nothing fatiguing or harsh. There is a difference is higher pitched shrill sounds such as a violin. The notes are more piercing, but again nothing painful or harsh at high listening volumes. Vocals are a bit more prominent as well. I listened to some podcasts too to make sure "talk" radio still sounded fine as I listen to quite a bit of that.



Overall I do think its better with the new speaker. I think it would be a mistake to replace all three 3.5s with these as it would likely be to much, I mean you would be adding three tweeters sooo... duh right. There is a marked difference when removing the center entirely, and not for the better in my opinion. I know a lot of people like to remove the rear deck speakers, and hate the idea of a center channel. That's not me. I much prefer the all encompassing sound of being surrounded by speakers. Do you loose the distinction of left and right channels. Yup. Doesn't bother me at all.



Is it worth it to replace the stock center? Run the risk of breaking a clip to the dash or grills, or voiding your warranty, buying a new speaker (and likely throwing the other away as they are mostly sold in pairs), splicing into your wiring harness (or removing it from the stock speaker) Meh, only if you've got some extra funds. It is improved, but only subtly. Dont expect much. My 2 cents.


Edit: Everything is put back together now. It definitely increased the volume from the center speaker, as expected when moving from an 8ohm to 3 ohm speaker. Double the volume in theory. It shifted the center focal point forward and towards the driver side. If you set the radio on driver then it really sounds center channel dominate. Ive never used that setting though.

Interesting. You went from a stock 8 ohm to a 3ohm. The rest of us went from a stock 2ohm to a 4 ohm. You seem to like more center and most of us less center. If you read the sticky above on stereo information there seems to be a phase where Ford was grabbing whatever speaker fit rather then the correct spec one.
What sysem did you start with?

 

[aleccolin]

Okay dumb question but does the base stereo with the 4.2" screen have this dash speaker? If not, will one work if installed?

 

[PoppinJ]

Just look in through the windshield. If there is a speaker there then you will see it. I dont know if you can get premium sound option with the base stereo. If you dont have one, then its not wired so you wouldnt be able to add one.

 

[Wolvee]

What are the best Alternatives to the Polk?



Here are a list of a few Alternatives but I don't know the Audio math that would determine One working better than another.



http://caraudiodetail.com/best-3-5-inch-car-speaker/

 

[PoppinJ]

Interesting. You went from a stock 8 ohm to a 3ohm. The rest of us went from a stock 2ohm to a 4 ohm. You seem to like more center and most of us less center. If you read the sticky above on stereo information there seems to be a phase where Ford was grabbing whatever speaker fit rather then the correct spec one.
What sysem did you start with?

I do enjoy more center channel than most. I have the 18 premium audio 400A "9-speaker sound system with amplifier." I have driven it around for a while now testing it out. It is Definitely more front heavy now. Again, to be expected when such a drastic difference in speakers. I think overall sound quality is much better, but it is less balanced now. If I could throw the same speaker up there but in 6 ohm capacity, or if I could independently reduce the center channel I think it would be better overall.