Installing a 3-way kit? help..

Thanx · 04-22-2009, 09:30 AM

I have seen a 3 way kit for the Smart Fortwo,
I vaguely remember that the make was Focal.

It has a 3 way solution, with the mid's mounted in a custom made housing,
that was put on top of the airvents on the dashboard..

Anyone know the kit?
Or if the custom housing is available from somewhere else?
(Or do I have to draw it, make a mold and so on and so forth) ;-)

I want to put a Morel Elate 3-way component kit, in a Smart.
This has a tweeter (1 1/8"), Midrange (2 1/8") and a woofer (6")

Kind regards
Thanx

cubefx · 04-23-2009, 06:30 PM

Everything is possible, but it will require HEAVY modifications. I am not sure that it is worth it in the Smart. I familiar with that brand and even if you find a good deal, they will cost way over $1000. With those components you will need separate amplifier and aftermarket headunit. At the end it might cost you around $3K-$4K. If you can afford those prices, just take it to the nice car audio shop and they will set you up with the nice system.

As I mentioned earlier, I do not think that it is worth to spend that much money for the adequate sound system IMHO. Smart is not audiophile friendly car (small cabin volume, a lot of plastic, not enough room for multiple amp installation, and road noise)

CUBE

Thanx · 04-24-2009, 01:49 PM

You are right, it might not be the perfect car for the audiophile..

But when I buy the Smart Fortwo CDI,
I will be using it for commuting, about 1 hour every day..
And I am a "hand on" kind of guy..
So I will source the drivers and stuff myself..

Currently I have a 4 Ch amp and a Pioneer head unit.

The only modification plans I have, is a H&R springs kit, sound dampening and audio system..

I was just drooling over this masterpiece of a system,
I know it's a little too expencive..

If someone just could remember where I saw the Focal one ;-)

But thanks for your imput cubefx :-)

homeslice · 05-31-2009, 06:25 PM

It's not that expensive. I know the Focal speakers I have now were almost $1,000 or so in the local store. I got them brand new on eBay for a few hundred bucks.

The sub-woofer and enclosure I have now was $1500 from a local JL dealer. I got the sub for $600 and the enclosure for $100 all brand new from eBay.

I think that 3-way system will sound super nice if you set it up that way. You don't need a whole bunch of amps. You could buy a nice 6 channel amp that could do it. I know a/d/s has some 6 channel amps that sound very clear that you could install under the seat. If needed, you could install an electronic crossover under the other seat.

For mid-bass the door will be okay, but for lower frequencies, you will need a proper enclosure. So basically you're looking to install a 4-way system. That would be true audiophile territory.

For a decent 4-way in the smart:
-tweeter in the pod next to the mirror
-6.5" speaker in the door for mid-bass
-That 2" mid-range speaker will need a hole drilled in the door for placement.
-8" sub to go under the dash.

You would need 8 channels worth of amplifiers to do that set up. So maybe a 6 channel amp along with a mono amp to run the sub. It would be easier if you could find a 6-channel amp with electronic crossovers built into it where you could tune each bank of speakers for the frequency spectrum you want to pass through.

I remember the old-school a/d/s amps needing a 642csi electronic crossover to plug in with a DIN cable to make that work.

You can check eBay for many a/d/s amps. Also check out some of the McIntosh or a/d/s speakers that are on there. Many of them are old inventory sold as new.

Just try to stick with amps that have a THD of .05% or less. The McIntosh amps have the best sound of any amps of the market of .005% THD. The problem with the McIntosh amps are that they are too big to fit under the seat. You would need to install them on an amp rack and give up precious cargo space. I would not recommend doing that.

The most popular choice is the JL Audio HD600 watt amp to run a sub and 2 speakers. I heard it running a JL 8W3 and it sounded pretty decent and that was running off of the factory radio. Very simple set up.

Thanx · 06-01-2009, 11:21 AM

Thanks for a good reply Homeslice! :-)
I almost wrote this off, and settled for a simple 2-way kit with a sub..
As I only have to buy a good sub for this to work out, have a 2-way kit stored away..
And on Ebay, well, if you find treasures that is really worth buying, they are often in the US and they will not ship outside the states.. So this is a bit boring..
Seems like there are some changes to the car, I have the tweeters in the dashboard, way in front.. No pod next to the mirror..
But, I could make a custom housing just where the vents are, to mount on top.. And it would be easy to fit a set of 2" mid-range speakers here.. This does not require too much effort and might give a very good end result.
6.5" in the door..
I might have a easy sub with Speacon or XLR connectors in the back, it seems like a good alternative..
And if one uses a passive filter between the mid's and the tweeter, a five channel amp would do.. It would fit nicely under the passanger seat..

I have also been looking at a "carputer" solution, utelizing a Intel dualcore Atom motherboard, and a Onkyo soundcard.
This would provide quite good sound as well..
(And if the sound is crap, well, then it's easy to buy a normal unit afterwards and install)

With a project of this size, I would also dampen the car as much as possible..

homeslice · 06-01-2009, 11:47 AM

I am not a big fan of Pioneer at all, but I just came back from a stereo shop 5 min. ago and was looking through the book on their products. I saw that they had some amp boasting about low distortion rate. It had a distortion rate of .003% THD which is absolutely amazing. I've never seen a Pioneer amp have such a low distortion rate before. I'm glad that they are finally stepping up to the plate and competing with the big dogs for a change.

A 2-way kit with the passive crossover and a good sub will still sound amazing. It just sounds better when you have multiple amps or multiple channels all using 100% electronic crossovers.

In my very first car around 1985, I had a Yamaha 3-way electronic crossover. I had no capacitors or passive crossovers. I had one 2 channel amp running each set of speakers at full range letting the electronic crossover do 100% of the work. The sound was amazingly clear. It was a hassle to install and wire 4 separate components, but the sound quality was worth it. And that was using all low end amps. Even when the amps have a higher THD, being that I was not using the full sound frequency range of the amp and only using a small portion of it, the sound quality was great.

Instead of having all of those amps like I did before, I would just rather buy a single 6 channel amp and bridge channels 5 & 6 to run mono to power a sub and then use the other 4 channels to run the door speakers. In the case of the smart, you could run 2 channels to run the tweeters, 2 channels to run the mid-range speakers and then the mono to run an 8" sub under the dash. I think that's what they do with the JL Audio HD600.

Check out that HD600 amp. Some how they are wiring it to run the sound system in a smart.

See this video. This is the VP of sales, Carl Kennedy:

YouTube - JL Audio in a 2008 Smart Car

homeslice · 06-02-2009, 11:56 AM

My McIntosh MC431 is a wee bit bigger and heavier. Sucks that I won't be able to use it in a smart car, neither. I have zero intentions in giving up space in the back for a sound system in a car like that.