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optronix

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Agreed, when the drone is very focused on a specific frequency, but in my case it's a pretty wide range.


Why are you confused? We tune other aspects of our cars, why wouldn't an aftermarket exhaust deserve the same attention if one isn't perfectly satisfied?

Exhaust note is highly subjective, too. You might find the Remark absolutely perfect while I wish it was a little less boomy but I like the tone up top.

Found a muffler shop that can do the job today. Going to go with the 1142 as I've learned it's much more appropriate for drone reduction than the 17950 which is more for rasp reduction, which isn't my issue. In fact, I don't mind a little edginess and raw artifacts to the sound. I'm more sensitive to excessive bass.

I just realized something funny - this is how I tend to like my sound systems too. Balanced, not bass heavy, character at the top end.
I suppose if you've invested in it and would rather not just "live with it", there's no rule against tweaking it... maybe confused was the wrong word.

I recall you just couldn't come to grips with the shifter stuff either... some people can't deal with the clutch feel... it must just be a tolerance thing, which is subjective. I can't really relate, I'm more likely to just "live with it" than go through all that effort so I'll shut up now.
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ashmostro

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I am indeed a weird one... I like messing with things to get them just right. Always been that way...
 

optronix

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I am indeed a weird one... I like messing with things to get them just right. Always been that way...
All good. You're not pushing your subjectiveness on people (e.g., "night and day"), so I respect your resolve.

For reference, I'm the guy who buys a $600 pair of headphones, a $300 amp and $200 DAC, and refuses to touch an EQ because it looks too complicated. (But I'm happy to turn knobs until it sounds right)
 

ABPDE5

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I love schiit!
They've really come to a great place! Unique aesthetics, relatively good measurements (their passive gear -- i.e. preamps -- are SOTA, their headphone amps are close, their DACs range from good to decent, depending on the implementation -- notably their multibit / r2r designs don't perform as well -- and their power amps are good, too), great customer service, and domestic production, with reasonable price tags.

While I don't have one anymore, as all my sources are digital these days, I had an early Freya preamp (solid state or tube), and it was one of my favorite pieces of gear I ever owned. In passive mode, it was measurably transparent, and it looked the part.
 

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ashmostro

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I went through a headphones or nothing phase several years ago but I'm not deep into it anymore. Too many hobbies!

Now I just rock an Audeze LCD-X on Topping gear when I'm in the mood at home. Nothing fancy.
 

Victorofhavoc

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They've really come to a great place! Unique aesthetics, relatively good measurements (their passive gear -- i.e. preamps -- are SOTA, their headphone amps are close, their DACs range from good to decent, depending on the implementation -- notably their multibit / r2r designs don't perform as well -- and their power amps are good, too), great customer service, and domestic production, with reasonable price tags.

While I don't have one anymore, as all my sources are digital these days, I had an early Freya preamp (solid state or tube), and it was one of my favorite pieces of gear I ever owned. In passive mode, it was measurably transparent, and it looked the part.
How are you feeling about your Rockford now that it's had some time to wear in the seals?

I was playing with my its setup/eq/settings last night when messing with my wife's X7. It doesn't have the clean punch the Harman setup does, but the els with the Rockford I finally feel is "good". Some wear in time has certainly helped clean up the punch, but I still bump the low eq, which I hate doing for the door speakers. At some point I'll still add the amp so I don't have to skew the eq so much. I want pre-country post Malone living in the hatch!
 

Tw1stedlog1k

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I am indeed a weird one... I like messing with things to get them just right. Always been that way...
I felt this. I'm in a constant state of modding and adjustment to the car to get the "feel" right. What was perfect today is off-balance tomorrow.

I spend more time with my hands in the tool box than playing catch with the kids. Nights are spent in the garage instead of with my wife. My life is a wreck.

But the shifter finally feels right.
 

whtciv2k

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I felt this. I'm in a constant state of modding and adjustment to the car to get the "feel" right. What was perfect today is off-balance tomorrow.

I spend more time with my hands in the tool box than playing catch with the kids. Nights are spent in the garage instead of with my wife. My life is a wreck.

But the shifter finally feels right.
Username checks out.

In all seriousness, I get what u mean…..
 

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ABPDE5

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How are you feeling about your Rockford now that it's had some time to wear in the seals?

I was playing with my its setup/eq/settings last night when messing with my wife's X7. It doesn't have the clean punch the Harman setup does, but the els with the Rockford I finally feel is "good". Some wear in time has certainly helped clean up the punch, but I still bump the low eq, which I hate doing for the door speakers. At some point I'll still add the amp so I don't have to skew the eq so much. I want pre-country post Malone living in the hatch!
I'm happy with it, but I *think* I'll probably add an amp next year. (Tucked the car away for the winter last weekend.)

My subjective thoughts are that it sounds much "cleaner" than OEM and that it hits pretty hard at low volumes with the low end EQ'd up, but the lower / sub bass goes missing once you start to turn up the volume (and I really can't stand the 3 band EQ the car offers). I strongly suspect this is due to lack of power (we don't have efficiency ratings for the OEM driver, but based on its design, weight, etc. it's surely more efficient than the Rockford).

I should have taken some quality measurements before starting any work to get a good baseline, but at this point, the only Windows devices I have left are desktops, so I didn't have a good solution for using my Umik-1 / REW setup in the car. I'm planning on getting some in the spring (before I pull the trigger on the amp), so I can get something more objective than my ears and my go-to test tracks.

I did try and get some the other weekend using my phone, but the result set was rather limited (no waterfall, etc.), I can't speak to the accuracy of the application / mic, and I think the output was gated on both ends (I was in a bit of a rush, so I just sent the signal over USB, and the car handled the sweep as a "call"). SavageGeese took some measurements in their review, and I did compare the limited results I got with theirs. I'm not sure where they had the mic positioned, etc., but they showed a major suck out at 250hz that my admittedly limited sweep did not (based on their waterfall graph, my thought is this may be caused by resonance), so I am thinking all that door treatment might be paying off (my ears emphatically agree).

Edit: when I do get a chance to take measurements, I do plan on measuring the impact of the built-in EQ, so I can figure out what exactly the 3 bands are doing... (and I will share the results).
 
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Victorofhavoc

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I'm happy with it, but I *think* I'll probably add an amp next year. (Tucked the car away for the winter last weekend.)

My subjective thoughts are that it sounds much "cleaner" than OEM and that it hits pretty hard at low volumes with the low end EQ'd up, but the lower / sub bass goes missing once you start to turn up the volume (and I really can't stand the 3 band EQ the car offers). I strongly suspect this is due to lack of power (we don't have efficiency ratings for the OEM driver, but based on its design, weight, etc. it's surely more efficient than the Rockford).

I should have taken some quality measurements before starting any work to get a good baseline, but at this point, the only Windows devices I have left are desktops, so I didn't have a good solution for using my Umik-1 / REW setup in the car. I'm planning on getting some in the spring (before I pull the trigger on the amp), so I can get something more objective than my ears and my go-to test tracks.

I did try and get some the other weekend using my phone, but the result set was rather limited (no waterfall, etc.), I can't speak to the accuracy of the application / mic, and I think the output was gated on both ends (I was in a bit of a rush, so I just sent the signal over USB, and the car handled the sweep as a "call"). SavageGeese took some measurements in their review, and I did compare the limited results I got with theirs. I'm not sure where they had the mic positioned, etc., but they showed a major suck out at 250hz that my admittedly limited sweep did not (based on their waterfall graph, my thought is this may be caused by resonance), so I am thinking all that door treatment might be paying off (my ears emphatically agree).
I believe we're hearing and feeling the same kind of results (which makes sense since we've done very similar treatments). I do believe an amp and setting gain there to the sub will help "fix" some of the limited eq. I feel having the eq up on bass now is contributing to some muddiness from the doors and taking it out there will allow some cleaner sound in the door while still allowing the bass to punch.

I would also say for most people just the Rockford is probably enough for a generally improved experience.

I don't know how savagegeese did their testing or their equipment setup. Their charts and summary don't quite align with what my ears hear, but that could also be due to the noise from the tires/environment.
 

ABPDE5

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I believe we're hearing and feeling the same kind of results (which makes sense since we've done very similar treatments). I do believe an amp and setting gain there to the sub will help "fix" some of the limited eq. I feel having the eq up on bass now is contributing to some muddiness from the doors and taking it out there will allow some cleaner sound in the door while still allowing the bass to punch.

I would also say for most people just the Rockford is probably enough for a generally improved experience.

I don't know how savagegeese did their testing or their equipment setup. Their charts and summary don't quite align with what my ears hear, but that could also be due to the noise from the tires/environment.
I am with you on the EQ... I can't settle on what I want to do with it. When I do some measurements, I want to test what each of the 3 bands does.

I also don't find my results align with SG's, granted I am now far from "stock". I should have gotten a baseline! Their waterfall graph shows the low end has a LOT of resonance, and my guess is that this is contributing to a substantial amount of energy in their FR plot.
 
 





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