hey everyone, Dr. Z, Chuck, et al;

I love Dynaudio speakers, since the first time I heard them about 14 years ago at my house in South Sac. A fellow named Dave Klass drove his 87 or so Carrera up for a full day install. He played Roger Waters "Amused to Death", which has some spectacular sounds on a nice setup. They blew me away. After that I ran some 28/2 tweeters in the kick of a little Ranger I had with some Focal kevlar 5" mids and a ported Boston pro 8, a/d/s/ PH15 amp. sorry, 'rambling, anyways, I loved that setup and ran some Dynaudio mids in some homemade speakers at home with Focal T120k tweeters. I received pure love from those speakers.

I envy you guys, bringing your cars to Eric. I think of him as a true pioneer (no pun...) and it looks like he educated Clark and Navone, two engineers who are pioneers themselves. I remember an 80's era 911 they did, with stuff that Eric talks about like a mid on the floor firing up and kick panel mids and highs. Great staging, as I understand, deep and wide soundstage from that beloved equadistant pathlength of left and right. I also enjoy door mounted speakers for their sound and spatial properties, though it's a different sound. Speakers with good off-axis response will sometimes actually play smoother off axis versus on axis, by design.

I agree that 20 Hz in a cabriolet would be tricky for sure. Just for clarity, the 20 Hz I measured was in a 996 coupe, with dual Image Dynamics 8's each in .4 cubic feet sealed, stuffed lined and braced, with software (Clio) and hardware by Audiomatica in Italy. The RTA curve is even the favored "valley" with some good response at 20 Hz and at the high end. (Those 4 way systems knock my socks off!) The 02 TT we're working on right now (will be done on Saturday, uh, late in the day) is getting a single Focal Utopia 5" sub in a transmission line enclosure, two more 5" subs behind the rear speaker location, 3 way Focal's in doors and dash (also great imaging, I think, a dash top location for mids or at least tweeters). It just seems like an array of drivers, be it in a home system or car, have a way of producing the entire range with authority and each driver has to work well within it's own range.

On the 993, the rear floor dual 8" sub panels we make are nothing really clever, guys have been doing similar things forever. What makes these work well I think is the fact that once mounted to the floor, they really do make a nice enclosure, and the carpeted floor seems to provide additional damping, plus we provide 1/2 pound of Acousta-Stuf to be inserted when the panels are mounted. I think they're cost effective and provide great quality sound, especially in a cab. The fact that they're 'aimed' low into the interior seems to help retain a good amount of their output in a cab, even though bass frequencies are generally non-directional, having a sub aimed into the atmosphere has less of a "loading" effect than say putting it in a corner somewhere. I'm not familiar with the AKA enclosure, who makes that? I remember Zbox, and I mounted one in the back of a 911 cab once. I like the air volume and construction, but I didn't really care for the fit and cosmetics.

Anyway, please pardon me for venturing off topic and ranting. I dig this stuff, really, anything related to Porsches, electronics, and music.

We're just about to start a nice system on a Cayenne, and we're doing a bit of work in the trunk of a new M3. Two of my guys were working on a Hummer H2 today, installing navigation, DVD, and a backup camera. What a life I've got. I'm surrounded by toys.

-Rod

 

Rod, there was a long thread last year on subwoofer ideas for a cab. A poster named Office Manager had a single enclosed(a think it was a 10"Focal) in a tuned box leather covered and designed to sit on top of the rear seat while stowing in the trunk when not in use. He Bi-amped it with Butler tubes running the 3 way Focal Utopia all mounted in the doors. The shop (AKA Kustom) was in NY.

 

thank you Dr.

I find it harder to keep up with the message boards. I receive the daily Rennlist digest 911/993/996 daily and keep in touch with many 'listers.

It's great to have relationships that span many years, going back to when it was called Porschefans, etc. I'm sorry if I missed out on something that I could have contributed to on these message boards. I envy Anir and the comradarie that he enjoys on this list. I enjoy keeping in touch with everyone I've traded emails and posts with, on the message boards here as well as the digests.

My hope is that I can help others.

-Rod

 

sorry folks, I posted before I completely absorbed all of Dr. Z's email.

That system you described sounds like one I would do in my own vehicle. The Utopias are extremely nice speakers IMHO. One recent development is the new Polykevlar series, which includes an even nicer tweeter (TN52) vs. the Utopia's tweeter (TN51), which was already one of the smoothest tweeters I've ever heard. The cones on the midwoofers appear superior to the Utopia in a few ways. The Utopia line is due to be revamped (as the Polyglass and Polykevlar lines were recently, IMHO an improvement to already great stuff, showing just excellence in engineering and build quality) in 2005, so for now the Kevlar line is kind of a "deal" since they're actually a $300 cheaper set and better in many ways. I also have a customer with a Cayenne S and he's looking at Focal Utopia 3 ways even after I demo'd the Kevlars and declared their superiority. He still prefers the Utopia, I would describe his preference as transparency, where the kevlar stuff seems to be warmer.

Anyways, that setup sounds spectacular, with the tube amps, no less. Put that together with a nice 24 bit head unit and you've got just unmatched clarity, knowing the sound of those speakers.

I remember at CES a few years ago (half the staff goes each year, alternating) hearing a lot of home speakers that were really nicely finished cabinets with (obviously) Focal Utopia drivers selling for pretty good prices, and man the subs, I kept thinking of the sound as "fast", the cones are this super light yet stiff material, with something of a foam core, and the assembly of red circular magnets around the perimeter of the thing just looks incredible, IMHO. Their little 5" subs can do something else in a transmission line, we even have one for the installation area subwoofer, and a single 5" Utopia sub just rocks.

sorry, I get going on this stuff and Porsches, and their connection....

-Rod