Has anybody on here gone from JL audio xd amp to HD

I just got an email back from focal and Nick recommended crossover points Band pass 80-350 for woofers,band pass mids 350-4800-5000 High pass tweets 4800-5000 and said 75 rms was ideal for the speakers( I knew he would say that) but I’m still gonna put 100 to them when HD or focal amp is purchased

 

Yeah, just play around with where you want to put the target curve cuz for instance if I play pandora, my volume would lower compared to say YouTube music or cd’s. So, I have a different tune that I switch to when playing pandora (there’s so much compression). Don’t worry about how much power you’re putting to each speaker. Competition SQ guys feed a ton of power to their speakers for more headroom and musical detail. Andy has an article, “Why Your Tweeter Won’t See 150 watts”, it’s on the audiofrog website.

 

I don't think you'll see any improvement going to an HD over the XD. Like someone else mentioned, amps just amplify a signal. As long as they're not introducing noise and the power is where you need it to be, you'll be hard-pressed to tell a difference. Of course some will provide better headroom, have variation in damping factor, etc, but quality amps should not have a notable sonic signature when comparing apples and these both fit that bill. The XD has gobs of headroom - maybe even more than the HD. And seat of pants tells me they're more reliable than the HD. Speaker drivers, install and tune are much more critical than amps.

 

I meant to mention this the other day, but squirrel! I think you're dealing with a mode here that most of us suffer. You are driving a newer truck, which is certainly larger, but interior shapes are similar enough to consider that you might be fighting an uphill battle like us 1st gens.

Last time I tuned my truck, and it has been a while, I would up with a mode in about the same spot



No matter what I do I cannot get that part to fill in. Boosts, cuts, phase changes: doesn't matter.



That bump around 1 kHz has been problematic too, but the ~500Hz region is the one that I really notice

 

I see that! Damnit I don’t know what to do here. I’m wanted to try more power for more detail but not sure if that’ll help much and I definitely do not want to do anything to mess up the current sound quality bc it sounds really good as is Tbh and I’ve gotten it even closer since the other day now but now I’m struggling in the 1350-1800hz range being too low lol. I did change the crossover points to what focal recommended and it helped me a little but I went back up to 400hz instead of 350 on the mids bc I just liked it better than 350 I may have cut too much detail away by cutting too much feom the tweeters trying to get them flat or on that slight downward slope from audio frog target curve honestly... I like detail and loud so brightness to me sounds good as long as my ears aren’t hurting while listening. Even before I cut so much from highs it didn’t sound harsh to me as long as I controlled the 900-1200hz range. I also rechecked my polarity bc I started wondering and everything is in phase

 

I think I’m going with JL HD600.4 and running it to my flax woofers in front doors and bridging the other two channels for 300rms to my JL 8w3v3 sub

 

Well I did this today and it was an absolute pain in the ass to move everything around but after listening it’s definitely louder and fuller but still crystal clear! Very impressed with the hd 600.4 initially. I’ve got it sat under clipping so hopefully the extra power doesn’t hurt the speakers since they’re not gonna distort. The mid bass is incredible in the doors from a the HD almost as much as my sub bass. They definitely hit when it’s turned up but clean. the mids and highs are clean and more detailed thru the XD opposed to the jd I just removed. Got the HD amp for a fair price I thought at about $140 under retail

 

That’s one hell of an amplifier! Glad you went the route!

 

Thanks man!

 

One thing I did do was I checked my gains with the audiofrog cd after EQing and I wrote them down. I then decided to limit my boost on some frequencies that had major dips to no more than 6db’s. Just to be on the safe side. Everything still sounds great.

 

Yes sir! I’ve done something similar to you but I’m not allowing myself to go past +3db and I’m cutting a lot more on all levels than I was. My mid bass and mid range look similar to what my highs did as far as frequency cuts. Most everything is below 0db for me besides the 400-750hz and 1300-2400hz they’re boosted the most for my truck and it’s closest to flat that I’ve had it. The Q control helped me a lot getting to where I wanted to be. Sounds powerful now when wanted and clean no distortion

 

For those wondering like I was the hd most definitely brings out more detail in the speakers... I won’t say it’s any cleaner or clearer but it sounds awesome with the extra power and just as clean. The xd is a great amp too and that’s the reason I’m keeping it in the system for higher frequency speakers. The HD is just powerful af!

 

This is what I’ve got currently @Sherwin.. I took a little more off my mid range and put a tad more onto the mid bass and hd amp.. never mind the target curve. The db level of it is off... I think it sound best I’ve had it to this point like this personally. I could probably fix that small dip where the midrange takes over if I went above plus 3 db but I’m just tweaking a bit at a time. I also like the 300-400 hz sound so I left it spiked a bit Small steps bc I’m powering the shit out of the speakers now. Lol I was thinking about today how I started this system in November and have gone from an alpine power pack brick amp and two sets of entry level coaxials with factory head unit to now and I’ve tried several different mid combos from a he morel ccwr 254 to the hertz Mille pros 70.3 but I’ve learned I just dig focal speakers sound and JL audio amps

 

@CLVol1255 I found myself tweaking my EQ based on how it sounded when I was driving (higher noise floor). It’s funny you mention what you started with and to what you got in your truck now..lol I started with the cheapest hertz components, a kicker key amp and a hand me down 8” Skar sub. It sounded pretty good at the time but eventually I just wanted more.