I have a 2019 scat pack with the basic 6 speaker alpine setup.
I have in idea of how I want to go about this but I'm struggling in a few places. I want to keep costs down as best I can, however I've built/modded a few of car audio systems over the years so I know how important the details are and I am not willing to settle for just 'ok'. This car is my long term baby so I want it just right.
First off I want to maintain the original head unit, I'm just not digging into the cost and complication of changing such an integrated component, nor do I want to change the stock appearance of the dash.
Years ago I had a system of the Infinity Kappa Perfect line and I liked that, and it seems a lot in this community are using one or another of the Infinity products so there should be general knowledge of them here. I am not going to spend the money involved with the Perfect gear, its just too crazy expensive. I am thinking more the mid level stuff, its very affordable. I am trying to strike a balance in cost/performance here...I guess thats everybody though isn't it.
I have been looking at the KAPPA-90CSX: Power Handling135W RMS, 405W peakSensitivity (@ 2.83V)94dBFrequency Response35Hz – 35kHzVoice Coil Diameter1-7/16 in. (35mm)Impedance2.5 ohms
In the rear deck I'm thinking KAPPA-62IXAM: Power Handling75W RMS, 225W peakSensitivity (@ 2.83V)95dBFrequency Response45Hz – 25kHzVoice Coil Diameter1-3/16 in. (30mm)Impedance2.7 ohms
1)That much is pretty straight forward so of course I had to consider complicating things. I found that people in a few places were suggesting the addition of Kappa 20MX midbass ( they are discontinued but i found these cheap ones at wallmart??? of all places) to the components and it got me thinking. The midbass would prolly fit the dash pretty well and if the install was done cleanly enough I could probably suffer through cutting holes in the pillars for a couple tweeters. That would put them at the perfect stage then too. Now I read someone say that the crossover included with the 6x9 set had a place to attach the midbass but in the pictures I'm not seeing it...so that complicates things.
So I guess I'm wondering if anyone knows about these components sets well enough to verify the option to add the midbass to the cross over. If it does NOT have the option..and I have to use the crossover that comes with the midbass AND the one that comes with the other components.....am I asking for trouble? Like, can I throw that channel, say 150w and maybe put the midbass crossover in first to peel off that signal and then daisy chain that to the other crossover which will then split the remaining signal to the other components? Is this a stupid question? Am I looking at a situation where I either need yet another 3 channel crossover for each side to correctly split up the three signals?
2) That leads into my second major topic, DSP. I have never used any DSP stuff...my systems were pretty much slap in a head unit, run the lines for a sub and pound away...I'm looking to do better this time around. I understand some amps have the capability to be tuned built right into them, but I am not sure how that compares in quality and cost to 2 discrete parts. It has been years since I researched any of this stuff and I know this is an area that has seem tremendous growth. I am attracted to the idea of having fewer/small components for this build, stealth as much as possible but, especially if the 3 component option from above is going to happen, I am afraid 'simple' DSP might not cut it. I have no experience tuning a system so this is where I have to give up and have a pro do the install, but I still want a firm understanding of what we are doing before I hand over everything to an installer. I don't want to enter any SQL competitions, I just want to be able to get a good tune that makes all my investment worth it.
3)I am also considering amp ideas. My eventual plan is to add a sub...like so many others here I want a stealth install as much as possible. I'm considering either the JL stealth or I've seen a couple of people making and selling fiberglass boxes for the same application. Since I was dealing entirely with infinity stuff I did consider their 5 channel amp KAPPAFIVEAM. It seemed to be pretty much matched to the speakers. I am however not married to the idea as I mentioned above, this amp does not seem to have any onboard DSP. The other route I was considering was getting a decent sized four channel, using the front channels for the components up front and bridging the rears for the sub. I would just let the deck speakers run on the stock amp off the head unit. This however comes with the issue of not being tunable with any DSP functions I might have so...meh. I guess I could go full six channel and bridge the rears for the sub...but then I'm looking at a really pricey amp I think.
A couple additional questions: Does anyone know the specs of the stock amp in the head unit? Like what is the per channel RMS? I have heard the dash and door speakers are high/low pass filtered right out of the head unit, can anyone verify this? I assume the rear deck speakers get the full signal?
I have in idea of how I want to go about this but I'm struggling in a few places. I want to keep costs down as best I can, however I've built/modded a few of car audio systems over the years so I know how important the details are and I am not willing to settle for just 'ok'. This car is my long term baby so I want it just right.
First off I want to maintain the original head unit, I'm just not digging into the cost and complication of changing such an integrated component, nor do I want to change the stock appearance of the dash.
Years ago I had a system of the Infinity Kappa Perfect line and I liked that, and it seems a lot in this community are using one or another of the Infinity products so there should be general knowledge of them here. I am not going to spend the money involved with the Perfect gear, its just too crazy expensive. I am thinking more the mid level stuff, its very affordable. I am trying to strike a balance in cost/performance here...I guess thats everybody though isn't it.
I have been looking at the KAPPA-90CSX: Power Handling135W RMS, 405W peakSensitivity (@ 2.83V)94dBFrequency Response35Hz – 35kHzVoice Coil Diameter1-7/16 in. (35mm)Impedance2.5 ohms
In the rear deck I'm thinking KAPPA-62IXAM: Power Handling75W RMS, 225W peakSensitivity (@ 2.83V)95dBFrequency Response45Hz – 25kHzVoice Coil Diameter1-3/16 in. (30mm)Impedance2.7 ohms
1)That much is pretty straight forward so of course I had to consider complicating things. I found that people in a few places were suggesting the addition of Kappa 20MX midbass ( they are discontinued but i found these cheap ones at wallmart??? of all places) to the components and it got me thinking. The midbass would prolly fit the dash pretty well and if the install was done cleanly enough I could probably suffer through cutting holes in the pillars for a couple tweeters. That would put them at the perfect stage then too. Now I read someone say that the crossover included with the 6x9 set had a place to attach the midbass but in the pictures I'm not seeing it...so that complicates things.
So I guess I'm wondering if anyone knows about these components sets well enough to verify the option to add the midbass to the cross over. If it does NOT have the option..and I have to use the crossover that comes with the midbass AND the one that comes with the other components.....am I asking for trouble? Like, can I throw that channel, say 150w and maybe put the midbass crossover in first to peel off that signal and then daisy chain that to the other crossover which will then split the remaining signal to the other components? Is this a stupid question? Am I looking at a situation where I either need yet another 3 channel crossover for each side to correctly split up the three signals?
2) That leads into my second major topic, DSP. I have never used any DSP stuff...my systems were pretty much slap in a head unit, run the lines for a sub and pound away...I'm looking to do better this time around. I understand some amps have the capability to be tuned built right into them, but I am not sure how that compares in quality and cost to 2 discrete parts. It has been years since I researched any of this stuff and I know this is an area that has seem tremendous growth. I am attracted to the idea of having fewer/small components for this build, stealth as much as possible but, especially if the 3 component option from above is going to happen, I am afraid 'simple' DSP might not cut it. I have no experience tuning a system so this is where I have to give up and have a pro do the install, but I still want a firm understanding of what we are doing before I hand over everything to an installer. I don't want to enter any SQL competitions, I just want to be able to get a good tune that makes all my investment worth it.
3)I am also considering amp ideas. My eventual plan is to add a sub...like so many others here I want a stealth install as much as possible. I'm considering either the JL stealth or I've seen a couple of people making and selling fiberglass boxes for the same application. Since I was dealing entirely with infinity stuff I did consider their 5 channel amp KAPPAFIVEAM. It seemed to be pretty much matched to the speakers. I am however not married to the idea as I mentioned above, this amp does not seem to have any onboard DSP. The other route I was considering was getting a decent sized four channel, using the front channels for the components up front and bridging the rears for the sub. I would just let the deck speakers run on the stock amp off the head unit. This however comes with the issue of not being tunable with any DSP functions I might have so...meh. I guess I could go full six channel and bridge the rears for the sub...but then I'm looking at a really pricey amp I think.
A couple additional questions: Does anyone know the specs of the stock amp in the head unit? Like what is the per channel RMS? I have heard the dash and door speakers are high/low pass filtered right out of the head unit, can anyone verify this? I assume the rear deck speakers get the full signal?
