Maybe I missed it, but where are your crossover points? You've shut off the tweeters and just tried the HD-6's full range(just for the alignment) and tried aligning those first? (Great speakers by the way, I have two pair but not using them in the truck). If not it could at least help track down where the real issue is.
I had similar issues until I aligned them in pairs by ear (doors, then mids, then all four together and fine tuned a bit from there). Assuming the Pioneer can do that? Never used it but hear it's a great deck. I'm using an old Alpine 701 and trying it by measurement got me nowhere. Had to do it by ear.
And 6 sheets of rammat 1 of ensolite in and on the doors also helped quite a bit. More then I thought it would. These door panels are the worst rattle, vibrating plastic POS I've ever tried to quiet down. Definitely lowers the perceived location of the music to my ears.
Can you aim those Soundstreams? If you can get the HD-6's aligned well, moving the tweeter aiming to match them, then TA them could get good results.
Side note: how do you like the Rubicon? I heard they copied their old Made In USA design (just built in China now) and they're actually pretty good.
I put the settings in from Tracerite, the one Troutspinner linked, and they were way different than my settings that I had started with. I know nothing of this ascpect of car audio, but I do learn quick. Things across the dash seemed to really open up, but still a little low in the mids, so I played with those settings this morning before work. I threw in the Iasca 97 test and setup and played with the "This is my voice" tracks, the lower frequency ones. I did a little fiddling here and there and saw how differences actually could move sound points. I havent nailed anything down, but the only thing really sounding low now is the lower midbass, which resonance from being un dampened , Im sure, could be a big cause of that. I reset Xovers to start playing with them once I get a more centered "picture" somewhat established. I am at 1.6khz low pass for mids and 2.0 HP for tweets on 24db.
The tweeters are not built to be aimed, but Im sure I could come up with something if thats what I have to do, and thinking of beveling the adapters I built for the 6.5s, or making a ring and fiberglassing to the adapter, to give them a slight bit of an angle actually pointing at the upper part of the cab. They are pretty large on the backside, so getting them to tilt and have room to move may be a fun task. I wil have to check all that next time I pull the door panels.
As for the Soundstream, it is a good enough amp for the price. Its a little big, had to mount it to the passenger wall, but should have plenty of heatsink area. Quality on the outside seems tough, my then 17 year old, used it for a year and abused it, Im sure, when I first got it, and it still fires up. I would like a little more headroom with it, but for a 5 channel, its pretty clean, easily tuned, and seems pretty solid. A definite good buy for 170 bucks or whatever its going for now, for a good budget 5 channel.
Thanks for all the replies, I'm sure I'm not the only one with these questions, and I'm not scared to ask.
