LEVLHED's 2013 Ford Flex SEL (non Sony) audio build :)

[LEVLHED]

I am going slightly insane due to the fact that I've been driving my Flex around for the past 4 days with no sound at all just because the guy I bought my MS-8 from didn't send me the remote.
about three weeks of research and parts acquisition, $2,000+, and my ride with the installer for a week...and I don't even get to hear it yet because of a stupid little remote control.

[Keele81]

I hear ya man! I've had close to 6 weeks of silence waiting on warranty exchange. Don't let it get you down or be the cause for losing motivation. Good luck!

[LEVLHED]

Factory door speakers removed.




Damping was applied to the stock door speaker baffles.




20uf capacitors installed inline on the tweeters to protect against crossover/equipment failure.

[LEVLHED]

No thanks to the seller of my (first) MS8, I finally got up and running last night. In general it sounds great and is right around where I was expecting...

However, I'm getting a weird kind of distortion at a certain frequency band in my tweeters. I can't quite describe it in a way that makes sense and I'm not sure what is causing it yet. The distortion is in the lower registers and sounds like a physical driver distortion vs. line distortion. It sounds something like a resonance peak maybe? I don't have tools handy for pinpointing what frequency it happens at.

I am running active off of the MS-8 and driving the tweeters with channels 1/2 off the Alpine PDX-F4 @ 3,500hz and up. The tweeters are installed in the factory location.
I know the tweeters are rated for 30w RMS/60w max so I've got the gains on the amp dialed down pretty far (I can't recall exactly where it is set...I think "12 o'clock") I know that's only part of the gain staging equation.
I'll try to mess around with it more tonight by dialing down the amp gains some more. Just thought I'd post this here in the meantime to get some troubleshooting advice.

[Zac911]

Thank you! I can't take credit for the install work though, just the spec and design. Brian @ Dirt Floor Customs is downright meticulous.

Hey... Nothing wrong with that. I ended up going to same route due to ZERO free time. I am luck if I get 30 minutes to myself anymore. Hardly enough time to tear up your vehicle and rebuild it with a proper audio system. Sure it was $$$, but it's done. Now I can just enjoy it. Nothing wrong with DIY when you have the time though-- I kinda miss it.

[LEVLHED]

I stomped out a little vibration that surfaced in the driver's side door...it was the window/lock switch mech/panel. Just applied some left over deadener, seems to have done the trick. Still messing with the MS-8 tune. Seems like a delicate gain balance needs to be figured out during the calibration to get both a proper front sound stage and the subs sounding right. I've got it pretty close now, not sure if I can find the right balance during the setup to get the best of both. Seems like I end up with either good bass or good sound stage. Right now I think I have both with a slight compromise in the general mid-hi EQ. I got tired of messing around this afternoon so I stopped tweaking for now.

I can't figure out what is going on with this tweeter distortion yet....think I'll end up using it as a justification for upgrading tweeters already. It's just a certain frequency band that certain songs seem to hit more than others. I tried raising the kick/tweet crossover to 4k (from 3500hz), didn't seem to help (or hurt)

Lanson, you have any ideas for tweets that will fit in the factory location that are good for 100w RMS and get down to 3500hz-ish? I'm not afraid to spend a little money to get something really good!

[LEVLHED]

BTW here's what he used for remote power. Purple wire off the ignition harness. Works on accessory like it is supposed to.

[captainobvious]

Nice looking install thus far

[captainobvious]

BTW- this may sound silly, but have you tried removing the inline filter for the tweeters to see if that is causing any issue?

[LEVLHED]

No I haven't. I wouldn't expect them to have any impact since they do their thing around the 2,000hz mark and I'm crossing over well above that (3500hz and now 4000hz). And they are pretty nice caps to boot.
But I suppose it *is* possible.

What I need to do is put a laptop/freq generator into the AUX in and determine exactly what frequencies are giving me grief. That might help shed some light on what is going on.