Flamingtaco

I am going to run center speakers off their own own eq and amp, set for vocal range only, to provide fill. That comes at the tail-end of the project though, sometime next year.

XLTBull

[QUOTE=Flamingtaco;7454550]I am going to run center speakers off their own own eq and amp, set for vocal range only, to provide fill. That comes at the tail-end of the project though, sometime next year.[/QUOTE
Sounds exciting. I'll do the same if I find it helps the front stage. Lots to figure out before then. I think the factory center signal is just a mono signal derived from the L & R signal.

Flamingtaco

I would expect it to be mono, as it's only one speaker, hence my use of the term "summed". Would skew staging if it wasn't.

I looked at my truck again, the door speakers are lower than I was thinking, down by my calves. Unless one is mounting mids on the pillars, it would be hard to NOT improve forward staging by doing just about anything with that position.

My plan is to run two speakers by press forming a new cover so I can angle the speakers outward a bit, and delay the signal enough to push imaging out past the windshield. I believe the ACM may be doing the same but on a smaller scale when 'Driver' is selected in the controls.

XLTBull

How do you plan on driving the center channel when the time comes? I was considering using the Helix Ultra's real center feature but decided I'd rather not blow that kind of dough. I'll probably use the AC DM810 to just run summed mono. Then again I may just scrap the center altogether if the soundstage is fine with running midrange and highs from low in the A pillars near the dash and aimed back and center. We will see.

I agree we'll likely need to incorporate some delay to make the stock door locations work well. This may be less so in my case because I will only be running midbass frequencies from those locations and they are less directional.

What factory system do you have? I don't have a 'driver' setting in mine. Currently I'm trying to determine whether my factory HU incorporates any noise cancelling or fake engine noise stuff and what it'll take to defeat that. I assume one route would be to use Forscan to turn off those functions in the ACM if they are present as well as any rolloff that is applied. You have any experience with that?

Flamingtaco

I've got an XLT with the 7-speaker system.

8 channel DSP. 4 channels will drive the doors and pillars, 2 channels for two mid-bass speakers, one for a sub-bass speaker, leaving one for the center channel. The DSP lets me sum any of four input channels. I'm running all front speakers off front inputs, rear doors off rear inputs, and summing front/rear for all three bass speakers.

JaseBosto

I am considering adding the center speaker as well. Seems like a straight forward install. Only mystery is what needs to change in Forscan.

I figure adding it to my truck would be worth it since its a regular cab.

Flamingtaco

If you get a DSP, you don't need to change anything at all in FORScan, although removing the equalization the ACM performs will do wonders if you put in better speakers all around.

If you've got a four-speaker system, you may need the ACM from a seven speaker truck to get the additional amplified channel, and may not have the wires in your harness for it. You'll have to dig deep in the forum seach, but I believe this was hashed out a few years after the 13th gen was introduced.