need advice on mismatched components

Hmm - that deck has basic xovers on it - but no way to turn it into a 3-way-active xover.  Just standard HPF/LPF settings.  I wish I could tell ya some other way . . .

Did you buy that Audio Control XC or whatever it was from haemph? How do you like it? I am looking at that and the XS, which may just be the newer version, haven't determined that yet. Is there anything I could do with the deck? Could I run the tweeters on it, etc? It does have different frequencies you can set for all the various imputs. I guess it's just not enough, though.

Any unit you would reccomend? Just looking for something to get the job done for now. Even just having anykind of crossover beyond my deck will be far more than I've ever had and I'm sure I'll be happy with that for awhile.  So a crossover and then I have one four channel and one two channel available for amping, also. So I guess I could bi-amp the front components...Just trying to figure out what I want to do. I have the door panels off and the guts exposed, so I guess I should probably decide, so that's why I am here! Thx

Um.  Wow that was a long time ago.

Yea I bought the EQX - it didn't work very long - not even 6 months and it developed an awful static.  I never really had much success messing around with it much when it was working though - if I took anything off the flat-setting it would just screw it up - which is probably a testament to my speakers- but I mean - it sounded pretty good.  It was a good piece to learn from - I had alot of fun screwing with the thing.

So I ended up using this head unit I have now to run a 3-way active xover - variable xover point, variable slope - two BIG advantages over the AudioControl piece.  I imagine that AudioControl has some dream box that will work for you - but I'm not sure that's really what you need - especially considering that getting a head unit that will do the same thing with less install and probably less money - AudioControl stuff is expensive.

You should dynamat ur outer door skin while ur at it.  This is probably the single biggest upgrade you can ever make to ur front stage.  Better than an active xover - better than anything - and one of the cheapest!

Then honestly dude - don't spend money yet - just ghetto rig it for now with the passive xovers u have - bridge the 4-channel to the front speakers (or run them discretly to all four channels of ur car - whatever ur preference) and then use the two channel, and bridge it to ur subs.

It'll sound good enough until you can do what you want - like I said, ur priorities should include a case of butyl-rubber based sound deadener for ur doors if ur serious about ur front stage. 

I'm not neccessarily saying you should get this deck - but I think this one has an onboard active xover - and its a very NICE deck in its own right. . .

http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=4953

Something besides outboard boxes for u to think about. . . .

I bought 2 dynamat door kits, so I already have that I can use. I have a guy at a local stereo shop that is wanting to sell me a brand new old stock Pioneer deck. I guess that is something I should check on for that specifically (to see if it has onboard active x over) and just generally. I did buy my deck about 4-5 yrs ago, so I wouldn't mind upgrading that if it is going to cost about the same. The Audio Control QX I am pretty sure I can get for $80-$100 used. Maybe getting a deck is a better answer? Even though I am using just whatever front stage equip for now...at the same time if I am going to upgrade to either outboard or go active in a deck, I want it to be ready made for when I am able to upgrade my front stage speakers in the next several weeks.

On the subject of amps, I already have an amp running to my sub. The sub is already amped (Orion 250HCCA Gen1) and running. I have a total of 6 channels (4 channel MTX and 2 Channel Orion 225HCCA available for front stage/rear fill). Rear fill speakers work fine, they just aren't amped. I was running a old school RF amp to the front stage, but I sold that on e-bay, so basically I have RCAS, ground, power wire, etc, already run. All I have to do is mount another amp and plug-in the existing wires (which all new wire was ran about 2 months ago; I didn't do it, nor have I done anything besides take off the door panels).

Sounds like once I figure out what I am going to do for X Over I will need to just determine what I want to do with mounting locations. The tweeters are mounted up high in that little panel that is about the height of the side view mirrors (on 94 Camry). From what I have read that is probably not an ideal location, especially with the mids being all the way down by my feet and so much space in between the mids and the tweets. Just not sure what to do here, no wonder it sounded bad when it was actually working! lol.

Outstanding!  After dynmatting the immediate mounting location, dynmat the outer door skins, as much as you can, starting behind the speaker.

No way!  I'd die of shock if Pioneer makes a head unit with a 3-way-active xover.  Anyway - ppl are always having problems with Pioneer decks - something about the grounding circuitry makes them REAL prone to alternator whine - my first deck was a Pioneer and I had all sorts of problems. . .

Anyway - I don't think anyone here would recommend Pioneer for ur car. . .

And it is getting pretty hard to find a head unit that has an onboard xover - that CD5000 is the only one I know of - and I can't confirm that on eclipse's craptactular website. 

I mean you have literally a dozen choices of how to wire this up.  Definately drop those tweeters to your mids tho.  Just point them up - your tweeters don't need to be at ear level for good imaging - indeed - it tends to work agianst it in a car. . .

You aren't exaggerating about Eclipse's website. It is horrid. I can find manuals for my gen 1 Orion amps even though they are 15 years old and Orion was bought by Directed a few years back. I can find manuals for my MTX amp and my Kenwood deck QUICK through their respective websites. My sub is Eclipse 88120DVC and I feel da*% lucky that I have the original manual AND I had the presence of mind a few years back to print out the manual off the Eclipse site. Took me a long time to navigate back then even, but not it's just unbelievable.

That deck sounds like a real possibility. If it will take care of my crossover needs and my EQ needs. Will it take care of crossover and eq? It would be nice to have it built right into the deck and everything being in one device.  I guess I better start selling off my existing equipment so I can afford it! haha.

Speaking of: Do you think that MTX amp will be strong enough for the front stage? I mean it is 50W rms but I have read online where people were benching them at right around 80W rms. I just don't know if I should be banking on 80W rms if that's not what it's rated. Maybe mine only does 65X4 and maybe it does 95X4! lol Right? I just don't know if that is enough power (even at 80 rms, Tis 150 rms) to run those Ti-6s when I get them. I mean I could bridge the MTX to run 2 channels, but that obviously ups the THD. I guess it doesn't matter other than supplying the mids with adequete power, since the crossover and eq would be taken care of by the deck. Correct or no? What do you think?

The RF mids are 120 rms, so powering up for them is pretty similar. I I am also going to shoot you a cut and paste I did in MS Word with RF Pwr 64 mids vs PG Ti-6s, just for the purpose of comparing specs. Not sure if you will need it, but they have some similarities. Aren't you running the T-6s? I swear that someone is on here, thought it was you...I could always get the Ti-6 passive crossover and use that on the RF mids for now (they look close enough) and then on the Ti-6s. Good idea? Bad idea? Mediocre idea? Just trying to explore all options. Thx again!

The EQ sure - I can't tell if it has the xover on it I think it does - I dunno I want a new deck anyway so I'll be looking into this for awhile. . .

Yes. 50watts, 80watts, 100watts - it will all sound about the same once installed I think.  Anyway - I can assure you that few midranges will soak up 100watts without some awful side effects.  That TI elite mid might be rated at 150watts - but that is a rating for the whole componet set - I can tell if I ran 150 watts to them they'd bottom out and fry in a matter of minutes.

This is technically true - but this isn't going to be something you will EVER hear.  Only elitist audiophiles will tell you that they can hear the difference between 4 and 2 ohms - especially driving down the road at 50 mph.  Anything unbiased I've ever read clearly rejects this supposition as absurd.  Detecting that THD difference would require $4000 worth of microphones and computerized analyzers. 

I can assure you, your ears won't do it.

Right I'm running the PG mids.

No, I wouldn't spend money or effort hooking up passive xovers that you don't already have - save your money to do the install correctly.

Again - the problem with running mix-and-matched mids and xovers is that the xover freq changes with the precise impedence of the speaker. . . so I wouldn't spend money doing it.

I've heard people talk about running the tweeters off deck power. I remember someone on here (don't ask me on what thread lol) saying that you can often run your tweeters on deck power...something about not needing as much power at higher frequencies or something. I know that is vague. Do you have any idea wth i'm talkin about? lol. If this is possible i could run tweeters off deck power and run mids and rear fill off the 4 channel.

Also with the PG Ti's they are 150W rms per, 300RMS for the pair.  You said you were thinking of going in a different direction. Were you not happy with them? I can get them for $150/pair shipped from Woofersetc, which is an authorized PG dealer.

The crossover I would get would be the matched crossover for the Ti-6s, i would just temporarily run it on the RF mids.  So I would, in fact, be mixing and matching for the time being, but it would work exact for the Ti-6s, obviously. It is only a single crossover for the set and it is $75 direct from PG.

You are right, though, my most immediate issue is simply getting up and running. I  just need to do that for starters, but I would like to be ready made with X-Over specifically and EQ also. So what would you advise for this purpose for me? Now that you know just about every detail about all my equipment and my situation! haha.

P.S. I am looking forward to just getting up and running. I am excited about getting my tweeters placed down lower and seeing what kind of a difference my novice ears hear in the imaging. It's been so long since I have had a 100% functional 100% of the time front stage