McIntosh Audio sound system

[alias20035]

I have two questions about the McIntosh audio system in the top of the line H6-VDC.

 

1. Is there a separate system amplifier and if so where is it located? Is it under the cargo area floor? perhaps ahead of the spare tire wheel since there is about two inches between the sheet metal and carpet at this location? or inside the cargo are sidewall (perhaps drivers side, since the subwoofer is on the passenger's side?

 

2. how much bass output is there from the cargo area mounted 6x9 subwoofer? Can anyone give comparisions verses a single 10 inch subwoofer?

 

I have a single 10inch subwoofer in a a small enclosure that always seems to be in the way. And even if tied down it seems to come loose. It usually comes loose when I do a four wheel powerslide in snow.

 

I am considering fibreglassing a speaker box for an 8 inch subwoofer in the very same location as the McIntosh system, the right rear cargo area storage compartment. I would loose my storage compartment but thats all.

 

I have had this area apart before and firmly believe that I can build in a 0.4 or 0.5 cubic foot enclosure which is suitable for an 8 inch sub.

 

Since an 8 inch sub has roughly the same surface area as the McIntosh's 6x9 and my system amplifier is roughly the same power as the McIntosh (mine is 240watt RMS (30x4+120x1) and the McIntosh is 200 watt (25x4 and 100x1 I believe) I should have similar SPL's and thus similar bass output.

 

I just need to know what the bass level would be like for reference. It will not match the current output of my 10" sub, but will it be 50% or 75%?

 

I may even try to pull a McIntosh system from a wrecked H6-VDC if I can find one.... Which is why I need to no where the amp is located, if there is one. But I would want only the subwoofer and amplifier, not the head unit. Although the McIntosh head unit is very good, it lacks some of the desirable features of my head unit, such as TV tuner, MP3 CD changer, and auxiliary inputs for my hard disk based car MP3 player.

[Cougar]

My '01 service manual shows the plug location for the amp near the radio in the console so it may be behind it.

 

As far as SPL levels go I wouldn't worry too much about it. One thing to look at in a driver is the sensitivity. You can have a 8 inch driver that will sound louder than a 10 inch if the sensitivity is better than the 10 inch. Also the size and type of enclosure will make a difference in SPL. You'll have plenty bass no matter what you choose.

[Hondasucks]

You know McIntosh builds like, some of the best audio components money can buy, right? If I were you I'd leave the head unit and just upgrade teh sub. I wasn't overly impressed with the amount of bass that it put out, btu I was extremely impressed with the quality of the sound that it produced. I could HEAR it more than I could feel it, but I could hear teh sound, not everything in the car resonating.

[alias20035]

First of I love McIntosh products, but my Outback did not come with one. If I could find one from a scraped car I would try to get my hands on it.

 

As for amp location I don't think it would be in dash, as it appears to be quite large. See the photo in this link

 

I got the info I need, which is that the McIntosh subwoofer provides good bass but not as much as I would like. And that a single 8" should be enough for what I want.

 

BTW my system comprises of:

 

Boston Acoustics Pro components in front

Infinity Kappa's coaxials in rear

Sony CDX-900 (top of the line Sony with 24 bit Burr Brown DAC's (same as McIntosh)) Considered by many to be the best head unit ever built.

Sony T70MX 6 CD/MP3 changer

eMpeg hard disc MP3 car based unit

Sony Mobile ES 7557 5 channel amp (again top of the line Sony, and considered to be one of the best amps available) (75w x 4 + 240w x 1 RMS, 150w x 4 + 500w x 1 peak)

 

My subwoofer is currently an old dead Rockford, which I am looking to replace with an 8" in the same location as the McIntosh 6x9.

 

While my system may not sound like the McIntosh, I don't think you would be able to qualify that the McIntosh system sounds better, just different.

 

I have seen the McIntosh speakers up close and the do not look like quality units... At least no where near the quality of my Boston Acoustics. But I know that appearances had very little to do with acoustics. But when I see shiny plastic cones, I gotta wonder....

 

Keep in mind that the McIntosh system was held to a $2000 budget so some comprimises must have been made. Also McIntosh had to make serious design comprimises to fit the system into the Outback, as the car design was already complete. On the forthcoming 2005 model, McIntosh had input into the design of the car, and the specs look a lot better:

 

14 speakers verses 11 (not sure what the extra speakers are for, but they are using a better more powerful subwoofer, perhaps even 2 of them)

300 watts verses 200

Much cleaner dash install, doesn't look like an add on component like the current one.

Cassette unit replaced with 6 CD changer, and in Japan includes a MiniDisc player (most likely will not be on US model).

[Hondasucks]

Wow dude, that is one bad arse sounding stereo! Makes mine look crappy in comparison lol.

[Cougar]

You might want to check out Infinity's Kappa Perfect 8 inch DVC subwoofer for a driver. This will make some clean and tight SPL's.

[alias20035]

I made an error in my post, my head unit is the CDX-C90, not the CDX-900. It sounds great, or should I say it DID until my sub died. The great thing about it was that the bass was clean and powerful, but not overwhelming, and the bass was not that audible from outside of the car. No waking the neighbours!! I added 12 sq ft of dynamat to quiet the car, but I found that Subaru had done a pretty good job already. Only the doors, tailgate and roof needed Dynamat. All other surfaces had dynamat, 1" of foam, or thick underpadding already.

 

I did look at Infinity subs, but I am sure whether I like them or not. Ideally I would like to listen to one in my car, since the car will greatly influence what the sub sounds like.

 

The top of the line Sony stuff I got was out of a wrecked Sony demo car. Strange that Sony was using Boston Acoustics speakers though... The Infinity Kappas I got were cheap ($70), and sound quite good, but no match for the Bostons.

 

For the subwoofer I may use fibreglass and MDF to build a custom box on the left side of the cargo area. I would have to remove the storage cover, relocate the jack to the underfloor compartment, and relocate the 12v outlet to the other side. But it would give me an opening to extend a custom box into to make room for a 10" subwoofer magnet. If I have calculated correctly, I should have about 0.7 cu ft. The good thing is that I would loose absolutely no space between the wheel wells, which is my goal.

 

I want a box to accept up to an 7" depth 10" subwoofer (most are 4.5-6"), but the wheel well protrudes only 5" into the cargo area so I need to get the 2-3 inches from the jack storage compartment.