Yupio,

I'm no pro, just a green horn started ICE a month back. My speakers are still bare stocks, but currently saving up for my next upgrades. Slow pace, My target is to move at a massive leap instead of going through beginner . Much waste in budget IMO.

No, if you off the unit and on it back with the HU switch, its fine. the moment you turn the key off or start the ignition, power stops flowing to the HU, you get the banking thingy popping up if current flows back.

The rest of the jargon & technical aspects,, i leave it up to the SIFU or pros here to explain. They are much technically competent than I am. Btw, what's your aim? SQ or SPL? Best to share your budget, at least some of the regulars can give you good advice & possibly bargains.

pros and cons on going through beginner setup. you know what you will really want in a setup, and how each equipment differs and which path to upgrade (while general speaking people prioritize in comp/hu, who knows if someone would prioritize in amp or subwoofer instead to be able to crank out more powerful and/or cleaner/accurate bass?), or setup will be ideal.

cons is of course, you need to waste budget selling used equipment when you're upgrading ^^;

Hehe.. That's what i want to avoid, selling used parts...

All I know, I just need to save up enough, then let the specialist do the pairing . My goal is to enjoy all kalafina's music while driving.

kalafina would be really tricky for installer to tune. to my knowledge, no installer ever tune anisongs LOL! of course, you can guide them through your preference and what you "need" (like if you need more treble, or more bass, or some changes in sound staging/tonality perhaps etc) though its still pretty difficult ^^;

at the very least, a good component would be a must, and a decent woofer for some of their more upbeat songs. may want to consider 3 way setup too if you have the budget to stretch as their songs can go either way (highs/lows) pretty drastically, so you'll want that accurate tonality from the 3way setup (which helps, at the cost of additional money for the mids/amps (extra channel perhaps) or even audio processor/eq for active setups)

This unit CD-117 can't support "active" without imprint.....can anyone explain what is the meaning of active? is it active crossover? what will i miss without it? and what's imprint?

My amp SS LW3 4.620 ( http://www.audiojogja.com/power/43-soundstream-lw-4500.html ) seems like have crossover built in...can it replace d absence of active crossover in d apine cd-117?

it still got normal high pass for 4 spk and low pass for sub. just it doesn't provide bandpass to ur mid to run active mode.

there's some amp with built in crossover(not all) will settle the active prob.

This post has been edited by howiechoo: Jun 25 2011, 02:48 PM

thanks for replying bro. i m too noob when it comes to car audio...i gotta google up on what's bandpass....i guess my amp will cater to d missing active thing la....

well, i think ur amp can do active with the hu.....

When we talk about active, it means active crossover + time alignment
without imprint, cda117 doesnt provide time alignment...
You able to use amp built in crossover to replace hu function but without time alignment
you can't get accurate staging...

erk.. just setup mine this afternoon. Using measuring tape, pen and scrap paper. Time alignment I think got though. It's labeled as Time Correction Realignment. You just need to hold the audio button to enter the expert settings. Got both Parametric EQ curve and Graphic EQ curve. But you don't get fancy graphs like P99. All are just numeric figures, need your imagination or graph plotting in your heads. mine is just flat.

As for active X-over, I can't really comment. It has HPF, but I didn't see the LPF. Sorry, I'm still learning bits and pieces.

i think it doesnt have active built in when you dont activate the imprint system...

but what you could do is low pass on the amp, high pass on the HU for the mids... that way you still get a bandpass...

Noted on all the replies guys....at least I understand a lot better now. On EQ (equalizer) I never really use them. I tot SPL users use them more? SQ users more likely leave it at flat rite? We don't want any bass / treble boost....

On d time alignment thingy....wow even in home system setup I never do time alignment. This thing is new to me n I suppose its too deep for me d.....but my car being a cabriolet is kinda small (2 door) i don't think the absence of time alignment setting gonna make much difference.

I think craziechild's explanation makes sense to me for my setup. LPF on my amp and HPF on my HU for my mids......this is what I have been doing all these years for all my ride's ICE. I am not sure if this is a bandpass??

least EQ is needed if the installs is done right from the beginning.. the more you compromise your installs, the more EQ you need...

the time alignments, home setup mostly doesnt need a time allignment... in a ride... do need it especially when there is more drivers installed...

no.. time alignment is a must for HT setup in home.... almost all AV amp have it build in....


just donno how those guys can get sound staging in ICE setup.. with components speaker.. mid and hi splitted so far away.. the phasing all gone wrong with with it... =.="

Err... we are talking about hi fidelity... not home theatre actually...

i bet some are misunderstand home audio and home theatre....

home audio may refer to stereo only which doesn't need TA. while home theatre are multi channel and the spk are split to different distance to suit the room, then it need TA most of the time.

thats the challenge in car audio, thats why we love this hobby.... home hifi too easy haha

lolz yea kinda complicated to me....guess it's better to take my car to the pros to set it up.

Anyone here can recommend good / pro SQ system setup (ICE installer) in Penang?

i go pg tomorrow..but sorry no install