Hybrid audio technologies U51-2 Installation and operating manual

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Cumming Georgia 30041

United States

Unity-Series

Component Systems

Installation & Reference Manual

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(F) +1 888 886 4605

hybrid-audio.com

Contents

Welcome & Introduction

Pages 4-5

Getting Started

Pages 26-35

Basic System Installation

Component Specic Information

Pages 6-25

Speaker Driver & Crossover Attributes,

Specications, Parameters, and

Mechanical Drawings

Warranty

Page 44-45

04 Moving Forward

Pages 36-43

Advanced System Installation,

Lessons Learned, Mounting Bafe

Considerations, and Acoustic

Treatment

Speaker development is our passion!

When installed and set-up properly,

the Unity Component System you have

purchased will make a remarkable

improvement in the sound quality

of virtually any mobile audio sound

system and give years of superior

performance.

With the publication of this manual, it

is our goal to assist the “do it yourself”

enthusiast and professional installer

alike in getting the highest level of

performance out of Unity Component

Systems using straight-forward

installation advice.

Thank you, and happy listening!

Welcome and Introduction

by Scott Buwalda - Founder

We realize that

you have a choice

in loudspeakers,

and are thrilled

that you have

chosen the Unity

series component

systems. For more

information about

Hybrid Audio

Technologies,

our philosophies

regarding

high-end mobile

audio, to learn

more about

our lifetime

guaranteed value

program, and

for information

about our other

products, please

visit us at:

hybrid-audio.com

Congratulations

on your Unity

Component

System purchase,

and welcome

to the world of

Hybrid Audio

Technologies!

Your Unity system

contains speaker drivers

and passive crossover

networks that were

developed and assembled

with a signicant

eort in research and

development, materials

science engineering,

an exhaustive level of

sampling and prototyping,

real-world testing, and

obsessive attention to

detail. The specications

and parameters of your

Unity component system is

detailed on these pages.

Attributes

Unity U3 Midrange,

U5, U6, and U69 Midbass

Frame

Cast ABS plastic. The basket is a high-quality cast

ABS design, which plays a critical role in aligning the

voice coil in the magnetic circuit. Additionally, the

cast ABS frame allows for better clamping strength

verses typical stamped steel frames, and ensures

that the voice coil remains centered in the former.

The midrange frame (Unity U3) is a proprietarily-

tooled design owned by Hybrid Audio Technologies,

has no OEM industry equivalent, and shares

common mounting hole diameter and similar

mounting depths to the Legatia and Legatia SE

three-inch midranges for potential/future upgrade

potential. The midbass frame (Unity U5, Unity U6,

and Unity U69) is a shared technology with the

Imagine series coaxial and convertible component

sets, and allow for immediate upgrade potential

due to identical size footprint, mounting depth, bolt

circle diameter, and motor diameter as the Imagine

convertible coaxial systems.

Cone and Dust Cap

Pressed paper with water proof treatment. It is

widely acknowledged that pressed paper cones

are the best marriage of lightness, stiness, and

ability of the cone to damp unwanted cone and

edge modes and resonances (read: distortion). The

paper cone, known for its excellent sonic attributes,

is water proof, thanks to a polymer developed

exclusive and proprietarily by Hybrid Audio

Technologies. The treatment does not change the

look and parameters of the driver like old-fashioned

“glossy” polymers which added an appreciable

amount of moving mass and signicantly colored

the sound. No, the Unity cones look like any

“normal”paper cone, but in reality are likely the

only high-performance water proof paper cone

car audio speaker systems on the market. The

treatment protects the cone from periodic drips

(such as inside a door panel), as well as accidental

splashes to the front of the cone. Likewise, the

paper dustcap is also treated for water resistance.

The cone is a shared technology with the Imagine

series coaxial and convertible component sets. On

the hybrid-audio.com website, we have hosted a

video of an actual water-proof demonstration of

the Imagine I61-2, which uses the same cone as the

Unity series, where we pour two liters of water over

the driver, and then connect it to a musical source.

That video may be viewed at: http://hybrid-audio.

com/imagine/

Surround

Inverted high-loss rubber surround. The inverted

high-loss rubber surround (in concert with the

spider, detailed below), helps to provide the

compliance and“restorative force” needed for

the Unity drivers to play eectively into the lower

midbass, and even upper subbass frequencies

(depending on in-car cabin gain and other factors).

You’ll also know a Hybrid Audio midrange and

midbass design by its inverted surround; this

design feature allows for the use of a smaller height

grille, better clearance with OEM panels, and more

exibility in mounting options. The surround is a

shared technology with the Imagine series coaxial

and convertible component sets.

Spider

Phenolic fabric and tinned tinsel leads. The spider

is the brownish/yellow corrugated (rippled) fabric

that attaches the cone and voice coil. The spider for

the Unity designs was the subject of a considerable

amount of our research and development. The

spider is a phenolic symmetrically-rolled fabric

which provides excellent restorative force during

excursion. The spider is vented courteous of the

speaker frame; a design element not typically found

in this price range of speaker system. The spider

venting increases the thermal power handling

of the Unity midbass driver. The tinsel leads are

connected to real epoxy PCB, not imsy cardboard.

The spider, tinsel leads, and terminals are shared

technologies with the Imagine series coaxial and

convertible component sets.

Voice Coil and Motor System

The voice coil used in the Unity midbass is a

2-layer aluminized copper wire coils on a round

former. An “overhung” voice coil was selected to

improve sensitivity while still keeping distortion to

a minimum. The voice coil and motor system are

shared technologies with the Imagine series coaxial

and convertible component sets.

Continued on following page...

Unity

Component

Systems

Your Unity system

contains speaker drivers

and passive crossover

networks that were

developed and assembled

with a signicant

eort in research and

development, materials

science engineering,

an exhaustive level of

sampling and prototyping,

real-world testing, and

obsessive attention to

detail. The specications

and parameters of your

Unity component system is

detailed on these pages.

Tweeter Attributes

Unity U1

Dome

Small diameter impregnated silk textile dome

with high-loss rubber suspension. The U1 is a

shared technology with the high-end Clarus

C1 tweeter, boasting has an impregnated ne

cloth silk dome diaphragm for a linear, smooth

sound, with a high-loss rubber suspension

to damp edge modes and resonances. The

dome is of extremely low mass and is much

less susceptible to mechanical deformation

than other designs, and yet yields a smooth

response over the extent of its range. At Hybrid

Audio Technologies, we feel larger diaphragm

tweeters sound heavy and unremarkable,

lack detail in the upper treble frequencies,

have undesirable polar response, and are

dicult to install. Additionally, we nd metal

dome tweeters to be harsh, brittle, and sound

unrealistic. As a small diameter, soft-dome

tweeter, the U1 is the antithesis of large

diaphragm and metal-dome tweeters, for the

eective and convincing reproduction of treble

frequencies.

Voice Coil and Motor System

20mm complimentary design. The motor

assembly is “conventional dynamic”, with a

compact neodymium magnet structure to

ensure a small footprint size and shallow

depth. A perforated grille protects the dome.

The voice coil is ferrouid cooled and damped,

and the tweeter housing consists of extruded

plastic with three dierent mounting options

in component set mode, giving the end-user

exibility in not only placement of the U1 but

also in physical installation.

Crossover Attributes

Unity U2x

Alignment

Second order L/R (12 dB/octave) lters for

low pass (U5, U6, or U69) and high pass (U1).

The U51-2 2-way passive crossover network

includes a unity low pass and high pass

crossover frequency of 5,700 Hz at 12 dB/

octave. The U61-2 and U69-2 2-way passive

crossover network includes a unity low pass

and high pass crossover frequency of 5,200

Hz at 12 dB/octave. The use of 12 dB/octave

lters on both low pass and high pass, often

not found in speakers in this price range,

minimizes phase-related distortion typical

of crossovers with mismatched orders, and

ensures phase-coherent imaging and staging.

The alignment topology is a shared technology

to the high-end Clarus C2x crossover design

and features asymmetrically-aligned network

components.

Network Components

Audiophile grade. The passive crossover

networks incorporate a super high quality and

low tolerance metalized polypropylene lm

capacitor for highpass, and a low-tolerance

quality metalized electrolytic capacitor for

low pass, in concert with air-core inductors,

and low tolerance non-inductive resistors. No

output level switches were used in the passive

crossover design because switches add a

resistive eect and are typically of extremely

low quality. Additionally, “jumper pins” add

an unnecessary pair of splices in the signal

path to the tweeter, and were not included

in our design either. Rather, all tweeter level

adjustments are done on the board level with

dedicated non-inductive resistors; tweeter

attenuation is accomplished by selecting the

appropriate output (-3 dB, 0 dB, or +3 dB)

on the passive crossover circuit board. The

components selected are complimentary and

ensure no notable signal degradation between

the input and output side of the crossovers. The

network componentry, design, circuitry, and

polyethylene case with transparent cover are

shared technologies to the Clarus series, and

the Clarus C2x crossover design.

Continued on following page...

Unity

Component

Systems

Your Unity system

contains speaker drivers

and passive crossover

networks that were

developed and assembled

with a signicant

eort in research and

development, materials

science engineering,

an exhaustive level of

sampling and prototyping,

real-world testing, and

obsessive attention to

detail. The specications

and parameters of your

Unity component system is

detailed on these pages.

Crossover Attributes

Unity U2x-W

Alignment

Second order L/R (12 dB/octave) lters for low

pass (U5, U6, or U69) and high pass (U3), or

high pass sent as an input into a daisy-chained

U2x. The U2x-W is a 2-way passive crossover

network includes a unity low pass and high pass

crossover frequency of 500 Hz at 12 dB/octave.

The L2x-W’s functionality comes into play when

setting up a midbass/midrange system, such as

a U5/U6/U69 with U3, where the midrange is

arranged in a “wide-bandwidth”scenario (where

the U3 midrange plays“full range”, i.e., using

no tweeter), or daisy-chained with the U2x,

described above, to create a three-way passive

system of midbass of your choice (U5, U6, or

U69), paired with the U3 midrange and U1

tweeter. In the latter application, the amplier

signal is input into the U2x-W, with bandpass

outputs for the midbass and midrange, where

the midrange output is diverted into a U2x

to again be divided between midrange and

tweeter, creating a biamplied three-way

crossover. Reference Page 31.

Like the U2x, the U2x-W uses 12 dB/octave

lters on both low pass and high pass, often

not found in speakers in this price range,

minimizing phase-related distortion typical

of crossovers with mismatched orders, and

ensures phase-coherent imaging and staging.

This page intentionally left blank.

Unity

Component

Systems

10 11

U51-2

System

U61-2

System

U69-2

System

Midrange

Midbass

U69

Midbass

Overall Diameter Φ 93 mm Φ 150 mm Φ 165 mm 167 x 239 mm

Mounting Depth 43 mm 68 mm 68.8 mm 85 mm

Bolt Circle Diameter Φ 84.5 mm Φ 139 mm Φ 156 mm 131 x 163.5 mm

Mounting Hole Φ 73 mm Φ 123 mm Φ 140 mm 150 x 224 mm

Recommended Minimum Highpass

Crossover Frequency (fourth order)

200 Hz 65 Hz 60 Hz 50 Hz

Continuous Power Handling

(Pnom Rated Power Input • No crossover)

100 watts 100 watts 100 watts (15 watts) (25 watts) (40 watts) (75 watts)

Peak Power Handling

(Pmax Rated Power Input • No Crossover)

230 watts 230 watts 250 watts (30 watts) (50 watts) (80 watts) (150 watts)

Recommended Power Range 20-150 watts 20-150 watts 20-150 watts

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB) 55 Hz - 22 kHz 50 Hz - 22 kHz 40 Hz - 22 kHz 135 Hz - 20 kHz 60 Hz - 8 kHz 55 Hz - 6.5 kHz 40 Hz - 6.5 kHz

Eciency 2.83V/1 meter 91.8 dB 93.2 dB 93.8 dB

Mms 2.579 g 9.48 g 10.5 g 28.8 g

Cms 529 μM/N 416 μM/N 403 μM/N 445 μM/N

BL (T*m) 2.5 5.5 5.5 6.8

Voice Coil Diameter 25.5 mm 25.5 mm 25.5 mm 35.5 mm

Nominal Impedance 4 Ω 4 Ω 4 Ω

DC Resistance 3.4 Ω 3.4 Ω 3.4 Ω 3.9 Ω

Fs (Free Air) 135 Hz 80 Hz 75 Hz 45 Hz

Qms 2.658 3.227 4.506 3.746

Qes 1.212 0.553 0.679 0.675

Qts 0.832 0.472 0.59 0.572

Xmax (Two Way) 4.5 mm 10 mm 12 mm 14 mm

Vas 0.69 L 5.2 L 8.1 L 25.9 L

Sd 3.019 mm29.331 mm211.882 mm220.263 mm2

Unity

Component

Systems

Specications &

Parameters

† Typically, in-car response including vehicular

“cabin gain”, or the gain expected with midbass

installed in the vehicle, will result in an extended

midbass and upper subbass response. This is

a result of these frequencies being below the

lowest resonance in the vehicle (typically around

50-125 Hz in most vehicles, described in more

detail later). In more practical terms, install the

Unity midbass into your vehicle and you will

see a dramatic improvement in midbass and

upper subbass output, much more so than just

simply listening to the Unity in a large room, or

worse yet,“free air” (we don’t recommend even

trying the Unity speakers in “free air” without

some form of enclosure or innite bae for the

midbass).

Thiele/Small Parameter

Discussion for Unity Midbass

Speakers

The mechanical and electrical parameters of

the Unity midbass speakers are amenable

to a variety of different installations and

speaker locations. The high Qms (Q factor

of mechanical system) and Qts (Q factor of

total system), coupled with the driver’s Fs

(resonance frequency) allow it to be used

in an “innite bafe” conguration. In more

practical terms, install the Unity midbass

such that the front and back waves don’t

“meet” (as detailed in Section I – Getting

Started - Basic System Installation), including

in a door or kick panel, or in the case of a

motorcycle, in the fairing (using only the

airspace behind the speaker as a pseudo

enclosure), with no need for a real enclosure

or “box.” The design goes hand in hand

with fool-proof, high-end sound quality with

minimal work. For more advanced users,

please reference the Thiele/Small Parameters

for the Unity-series midbass drivers.

12 13

Unity U5

Mechanical Drawing

Unity U3

Mechanical Drawing

14 15

Unity U6

Mechanical Drawing

Unity U69

Mechanical Drawing

16 17

Unity U2x & U2x-W

Mechanical Drawing

Unity U1

Mechanical Drawing

(Installed in Flush-Mount Cup)

18 19

Unity U1

Mechanical Drawing

(Installed in Installed in Angle-Mount Cup)

Unity U3 Frequency Response Graph

Unity U1 Frequency Response Graph

20 21

Unity U5 Frequency Response Graph

Unity U6 Frequency Response Graph

Unity U69 Frequency Response Graph

Unity U51-2 Frequency Response Graph

22 23

Unity U61-2 Frequency Response Graph

Unity U69-2 Frequency Response Graph

This page intentionally left blank.

24 25

Unpacking/Inventory

of Two-Way Kits

Carefully unpack the Unity carton, and verify

that the following parts are included in the

two-way box (please note, the following

inventory is for two-way kits only, not

individual component-set speakers, such as

the U2x, U2x-W, U1, U3, U5, U6, and U69).

CAUTION: use care to remove the midbass

speakers with two hands, and avoid pressing

your thumb or ngers against the cone of the

midbass – never test the speaker’s excursion

manually with your ngers by pressing the

cone:

• Two Unity midbass speakers;

• Two Unity U1 20mm tweeter speakers;

• Two midbass grilles with anodized aluminum

Hybrid Audio Technologies nameplates and

ABS grille mounting anges;

•Several small packages located underneath

the midbass drivers, which contain tweeter

component system parts, including:

• Two tweeter surface-mount cups;

• Two tweeter ush-mount cups;

• Two tweeter angle-mount cups; and

• Tweeter and midbass mounting hardware

including hardware needed to install the

midbass speakers, including high-quality

black oxide Philips head screws black

anodized screws to mount the midbass

speakers.

Should you be missing parts, please contact your authorized Hybrid Audio Technologies

dealer for replacement parts, or contact us directly at: [email protected]

Section I • Getting Started

Basic System Installation

Now that you have unpacked the Unity box and have veried that all of the parts are

included, it is time to evaluate the vehicle for the impending installation. If you feel the least

bit uncomfortable about the installation, have the Unity speakers installed by an authorized

Hybrid Audio Technologies dealer. The Unity speakers are an incredible high-end speaker

system, but will only be as good as the installation; a poor installation can negatively aect

the performance of the Unity speakers. We can only build great speakers, but can’t control

or account for poor or inadequate installations.

Should you decide that you can handle the installation yourself and feel condent that

the end result will be adequate to reap the performance benets of the Unity component

system, you will need to have certain hand tools available to you for the installation. These

include, but may not be limited to:

• Cordless drill/driver with a 1/8”drill bit and a Phillips head and a few assorted driver bits

(commonly including Torx driver bits) with an attachment (a hand-operated screw driver

and/or Torx driver will also likely work);

• Certain vehicles may require an assortment of hex-key wrenches to remove the old

speakers and/or panel screws;

• A panel-popping tool (retaining clip removal tool) to remove panels in the vehicle

(such as door panels). In a pinch, a large at-head screwdriver does work, but damage to

panels or retaining clips can result;

• A wire cutter and wire stripper;

• Electrical tape; and

• If you plan to use the vehicle’s existing speaker wire, you will need to know which wire

is positive and which is negative at each proposed speaker location. If you’re unsure, we

highly recommend the use of Installation Excellence, an on-line resource for wire colors,

wire locations, t guides, and technical support.

Continued on following pages...

Unity

Component

Systems

Using this Manual

As mentioned in the Welcome and

Introduction, this is not your typical

car stereo speaker owner’s manual.

It is a mobile audio reference manual

for not only your impending Unity

installation, but also to act as a guide

to get the most out of your audio

system. Generally speaking, this

manual is divided into two parts. The

rst part focuses on a typical, basic

installation of the Unity product, and

follows in general what you’d expect

from a mobile audio component

system owner’s manual. The second

part delves into more advanced topics

on optimized speaker placement,

“lessons learned” (a topical discussion

of real-world applications), use of

sound damping products and acoustic

absorption materials, and ne tuning.

Most users will stop at the conclusion

of the rst section once the basic

installation is complete, and this is

perfectly acceptable. But for those

with an intrinsic desire to learn more

about how to make their mobile

audio systems better, we invite you to

continue reading through the latter

half of the manual as well. Our goal is

to not only build the best-performing

mobile audio systems in the world,

but to also educate consumers and

professional installers alike on how

to achieve reference-grade audio

system playback in the mobile audio

environment.

26 27

Section I • Getting Started

An Important Learning Note

Hybrid Audio Technologies designed the Unity-series to be congured with the tweeter

relatively close to the midbass, such as within 30cm or so, as we can eectively mitigate

anticipated environmental conditions and reduce the number of variables in this type of

installation. When the tweeter and midbass are placed close to each other, the relative

amplitudes (volumes) of the midbass and tweeter are equalized to each other and the

speaker system will perform as intended. When the tweeter is separated by a far distance

from the midbass, the relative amplitudes will likely need to be equalized. This is due to

simple physics. If the midbass drivers are placed low in the door, for example, and the

tweeter is placed high in the dashboard, sail panels, or a-pillars, there WILL be a notable

amplitude dierence between the two speakers. This is because the midbass are installed

further from you, and are likely aimed into your leg, carpeting, and other soft furnishings in

the vehicle, while the tweeter is located likely closer to you, likely aimed more“on-axis”, and

is near hard, reective surfaces, such as window glass, hard plastic interior panels, and etc.

One of the benets of the Unity series over its sibling Imagine series is the inclusion of an

outboard crossover system that includes a fairly comprehensive set of attenuation lters

for the tweeter output. Whereas the Imagine systems do not include any form of ltering

to attenuate the tweeter’s relative amplitude with respect to the midbass, the Unity sets

do come with the feature of a stepped attenuation network to satisfactorily allow for

the end-user to tune and customize the tweeter’s level with respect to the midbass. The

tweeter attenuation network allows for a world of potential new mounting possibilities of

the tweeter location with respect to the midbass location.

Finally, just because there is a factory tweeter pod location in the dashboard, a-pillars, or sail

panels in your vehicle doesn’t mean you have to use it! Because our ears are on the left and

right sides of the human head, human hearing is much less susceptible to hearing height

cues as it is hearing width and depth cues (please reference Lesson 3 and Lesson 4 later in

this manual). Please don’t be fooled into thinking that the tweeters MUST be placed high

in order to establish a good stage height! Alas, as the end-user, it is up to you to take the

time and test the set to see what orientation is to your liking, and certainly, as students of

acoustics, we at Hybrid Audio Technologies encourage that learning exercise.

Section I • Getting Started

Basic System Installation (Continued)

In a basic system, the Unity midbass speakers were designed to be installed in the original

factory speaker locations, most often in the vehicle’s doors (more advanced locations that

provide an additional level of performance are discussed in Section II of this manual, if

you’re interested in learning more). The Unity midbass drivers are innite bae-capable

speakers, and must be mounted in a“large enclosure”, or as close to it as possible, with

unrestricted access to airspace to ensure the speaker’s ability to eectively reproduce its

wide frequency bandwidth. The reason why the speaker was designed in this way is highly

empirical. When a speaker is mounted in a small closed box, it radiates as much energy

forward of the cone as it does rearward of the cone. All speaker cones (diaphragms) are a

weak sound barrier at best, and the result of the high amount of energy being“pushed”into

a small enclosure is the energy transmitting through to the outside of the cone (an additive

phenomenon to the incidental wave). Consequently, Hybrid Audio has designed the

Unity midbass to work well without an enclosure, and as such, should not be signicantly

prone to enclosure back-pressure and sound coloration when placed innitely baed.

The “innitely large” enclosure, such as one might nd in a door panel, improves spectral

response and power response variation between high and low frequencies.

In a basic system, the Unity tweeters were designed to be installed in factory-supplied

tweeter locations, typically found in the a-pillar, dashboard, sail panel, or door panel. If your

vehicle is older, or did not come with factory tweeter locations, you may need to install

the tweeters in a bit of a custom fashion. Not to fear though – we have included several

dierent options for easily mounting the tweeters, so you can decide which will work the

best for your application. Since the tweeters are a sealed-back design, they can be placed

anywhere without having to provide airspace or any type of enclosure. Hybrid Audio

Technologies highly recommends that the tweeter placement be the subject of your own

experimentation. This can be accomplished by leaving some excess wire length for the

tweeter, and experimenting with dierent potential mounting locations by temporarily

attaching the tweeter using double stick tape, Velcro®, etc.

28 29

Section I • Getting Started

Unity Three-Way Systems

Given the wide variety of component speaker choices in the Unity line-up, all sold separately ala

carte, as well as the availability of the Unity U2x / Unity U2x-W passive crossover combination,

the end user can assemble an amazing, yet budget-friendly three-way kit. This section covers

three-way system set-up, including the use of the U5 / U6 / U69 midbass, in concert with the

U3 midrange and U1 tweeter. At the core of the Unity three-way installation is the use of a

daisy-chained Unity U2x / Unity U2x-W passive crossover combination.

The Unity U2x / Unity U2x-W passive crossover combination can be used for virtually any Unity

three-way passively crossed-over systems, or used in conjunction with other Hybrid Audio

products to create a truly“bespoke”three-way system. The U2x / U2x-W, when combined, is a

bi-amplied three-way passive crossover that has the following lters:

Lowpass (midbass): 500 Hz at 12 dB/octave Linkwitz Riley

Bandpass (midrange): 500 Hz to 5,200 Hz at 12 dB/octave Linkwitz Riley

Highpass (treble): 5,200 Hz at 12 dB/octave Linkwitz Riley

Section I • Getting Started

Connection

The Unity U2x / Unity U2x-W passive crossover combination has convenient gold-plated

screw-type spade terminals for wire connection. The following is the connection

nomenclature on the Unity U2x / Unity U2x-W passive crossover combination, from left to

right on the daisy-chained circuit boards:

30 31

DO NOT INSTALL THE SPEAKERS WITH A DRILL OR DRILL-DRIVER, as the drill-driver will put

considerably more torque on the speaker basket than what is required, and can easily damage the

frame of the speaker

The same procedure can be followed for the tweeter installation observing the precautions

mentioned in the midbass installation, above. Once a suitable location is found for the tweeters,

mounting options can be evaluated. The Unity/Clarus kit comes standard with three tweeter

mounting options, including a swivel ush-mount cup, a surface-mount cup, and an angle-mount

cup. Decide which mounting strategy works the best for your installation, and permanently mount

the tweeters. Route the wiring from the underside of the tweeter to an accessible location.

Choose your Unity U2x (or in the event of a three-way installation, the Unity U2x / Unity U2x-W

passive crossover combination) mounting location carefully. The Unity U2x or Unity U2x / Unity

U2x-W combination contains parts that are susceptible to damage through repeated shock,

moisture, and electromagnetic interference. For example, it is advisable to install the passive

crossovers inside the passenger compartment versus the door, since the door is exposed

to repeated opening and closing“shock” which may damage the delicate passive crossover

components, or cause soldered joints to break over time. Likewise, moisture may be present

in a door installation. Finally, if you are mounting the passive crossovers in the kick panels or

dashboard, be sure to keep the networks away from any noise-inducing device within the vehicle,

such as factory ECU’s, auto transmission control ECU’s, BCM’s, alternator eld/stator wiring, and

numerous other devices. Readers note: be mindful of the location of throttle, brake, and clutch

pedals when you are selecting a mounting location and where to route the speaker wiring.

If the only option for crossover mounting is in the door, it would typically be prudent to install

the passive crossovers immediately adjacent to the midbass location to keep speaker wiring and

connections short and allow access to the OEM wiring, if it is used, without having to extend it and

creating an additional resistive splice in the wire. If you must install the Unity U2x or Unity U2x /

Unity U2x-W combination in the door, DO NOT MOUNT THE CROSSOVER INSIDE THE DOOR CAVITY!

Rather, install the networks on the same mounting plane as the midbass, toward the passenger

compartment, and behind the OEM door panel/skin, so as to not expose the delicate electronic

parts contained within to moisture inside the door cavity.

Once an adequate spot for mounting the Unity U2x or Unity U2x / Unity U2x-W

combination is found, securely mount the crossover networks using the supplied screws.

Before any cutting, drilling, or insertion of screws, check the clearance of the panel from

behind to verify that you won’t be damaging existing wiring, window or door lock motors,

window tracks and the windows themselves, and etc.

Continued on following page...

Section I • Getting Started

Basic System Installation (Continued)

Once you have determined the mounting locations for the Unity separates, and have evaluated

the circumstances by which the Unity speakers will need to be installed, it is time to dismantle

the vehicle to access the old speakers. Most dashboard-mounted speakers are easily accessed by

removing their grilles, which are usually attached to the dashboard with screws or retaining clips.

A-pillars are usually accessed by pulling rmly at a right angle to the panel. Door speakers are

usually easy to access as well, either from the front by prying o the OEM grille, or by physically

removing the entire door panel. In all cases, it may be prudent to reference your vehicle’s factory

service manual. If you don’t have a factory service manual, you can usually garner information on

wire colors and installation strategies from the internet.

With the OEM speakers removed, we HIGHLY recommend the use of a self-adhesive damping

product. The reason for the use of damping material is to quiet buzzes and rattles that will be

exposed by the high-performance Unity midbass speakers, but more importantly to seal up door

accesses and cavities, thereby creating a pseudo“enclosure” for the Unity midbass. If the midbass

are installed immediately adjacent to a large access hole or opening in the door panel, there will

be an acoustic “short circuit” (as described later in “Frequency Response”) where the front and back

waves of the speaker meet, and cancellation will occur, seriously aecting midbass output. The

use of a good damping product is the single-biggest installation-related improvement you can

do to enhance the performance of your Unity audio system. And since the Unity midbass require

an “innite bae”, it is intuitive to seal up the mounting area as best as possible, such as in the

door, allowing the speaker to “see” a large enclosure in the door cavity, kick panel, dashboard, or

wherever you decide to mount the Unity midbass.

If you plan to use the OEM speaker wiring, you will likely need to cut o the OEM speaker plug, and

strip back approximately 3/8”(10mm) of insulation to expose the bare wire. It is recommended that

you then install slide-style terminals on the wire, for easy connection to the Unity midbass.

In a basic installation, the Unity midbass were designed to install directly into the factory-supplied

speaker baes or speaker openings. The speaker should t snug to the bae without air gaps; do

not force the speaker into a bae that is too small, as this will damage the speakers. If the factory-

supplied mounting bae is too small, refer to Section II for advice on how to build custom baes.

When tightening your speakers to the bae, alternate the tightening of the screws, just as if you

were changing a tire on your vehicle, by alternating in a pattern around the speaker until all screws

are hand-tight.

32 33

Section I • Getting Started

Basic System Installation (Continued)

Once all speakers are installed, you will need to do a brief listening test with high-quality music

that you are intimately familiar with to determine if the tweeter attenuation of 0 dB is adequate

for your listening style, type of music you listen to, and the acoustics and speaker locations and

relative intensities of the speakers as they interact with your vehicle. In most systems, the -3 dB or

0 dB setting will be the preferred choice. In certain instances, and for certain owner’s, the +3 dB

setting may be a good option. Be sure that all equalization, bass, and treble levels are defeated or

set to “zero” on the source unit before evaluating the intensity of the tweeters with respect to your

midbass level and your listening taste. Note also, after approximately 10-25 hours of play time, the

speakers will begin to“break in”, like any mechanical component, and intensities may need to be

re-adjusted again following the same procedure. In other words, the midbass need to be broken

in with typical play-time. You may nd that after break-in, the tweeter intensity will need to be

adjusted.

Once all four speakers have been installed and the level set as per the above, the sound damping

cropped so as to allow for the re-installation of door panels and/or interior panels, and all wiring

neatly wire-tied away from heat and noise sources, or from abrasion and areas where the wires

may be accidentally sliced or cut, the vehicle can be re-assembled. Sit back and enjoy the music.

This is the end of Section I: Basic Installation.

If you’re happy with the end product, stop reading here. If you

want to learn more about advanced techniques for achieving great

mobile audio sound quality, ip the page...

This page intentionally left blank.

34 35

Lesson Two: Equalization of Pathlength Dierences

Quite possibly the most important functional consideration that a do-it-yourself enthusiast or professional

installer should give to the Unity speaker placement is to optimize, as best as possible, pathlength

dierences (PLD’s) in the vehicle. PLD’s are dened mathematically as follows (this example assumes a

right-hand drive vehicle---PLD’s are always a positive number):

X – Y = Z

Where:

X = distance of the center of the left speaker from your left ear.

Y = distance of the center of the right speaker from your right ear.

Z = pathlength dierence.

Applying this formula, assume that the distance of the left speaker from your left ear is 140cm, and the

distance of the right speaker from your right ear is 100cm, the pathlength dierence is 40cm.

Good stereo imaging is completely dependent on arrival times of the fundamental vocal frequencies.

Dierences as little as 10 microseconds can be detected by the brain. A PLD of 30 centimeters equates to

the sound from the nearest channel arriving about 0.9 milliseconds earlier than the furthest channel. It is

Hybrid Audio’s opinion that the end-user should try to keep PLD’s to less than 30 centimeters in a vehicle

which is intended to have good imaging and staging character from both seated positions.

The best way to go about evaluating certain locations in your vehicle is, in general, to look for the potential

locations as far forward and away from you as possible, but still with a general “line of sight” to the speakers

(particularly the speaker on the far side of the vehicle). An easy way to test various potential locations is

to hold a tape measure or other measurement device from the potential speaker mounting locations, and

measure those locations with respect to your ears.

Reference the gure, below. In this scenario, three potential locations for the mounting of the Unity

midbass driver are shown:

Section II • Moving Forward

Advanced System Installation

The previous section detailed a typical, basic installation of the Unity product. In this section,

Hybrid Audio Technologies has prepared a more advanced topical discussion of Unity installation

techniques, concepts, and principals, where a little bit of additional installation work can net

immense gains in overall sound quality.

There are certainly many things you can do to improve your mobile audio system, such as addition

of amplication, a dedicated subwoofer system, higher-gauge speaker wire, and higher-end

passive crossovers, and active crossovers. All of these things require an additional amount of

monetary investment into your audio system, and may not net the immediate gains that other,

more elementary installation items can net. The following discussion is pertinent to easy and

cost-eective enhancements you can do for your audio system, particularly as it relates to the

installation of Unity component speakers.

In any mobile audio system, the weakest link will always be the speaker systems, followed closely

by installation techniques (sometimes its vice-versa). Since the Unity component system you have

purchased has solved the rst issue, the second issue, that being installation techniques, can see a

signicant improvement as well by understanding and incorporating some or all of the techniques

in the following sections.

Lessons Learned

We like to call this our “Lessons Learned” section, where we expose some critical lessons that we

have learned through thousands upon thousands of hours of trial and error:

Lesson One: O-Axis Response

When a speaker system like the Unity is placed in an automotive environment, we hear the

direct (shortest path) and reected (longer path) sounds, such as resonances and reverberations.

The two sounds are processed by the brain as one sound, and this inuences our perception of

height, width, and depth of soundstage, as well as rearward ambience. For this reason, the o-axis

radiation pattern of any speaker in a vehicular environment has a signicant inuence on how

natural the music sounds.

The lesson to learn here is that most mobile audio sound systems benet greatly from having the

front stage speakers at least partially “o-axis.” O-axis means that the speakers are not pointing at

you, but rather at some angle less than 90 degrees away from you.

Figure 1: Potential Locations for Mounting the Unity Midbass Speakers

36 37

A sound wave approaching the eardrum from your chosen speaker location is shaped by

interactions with the size and shape of your head, torso, and outer ear, resulting in the HRTF.

More specically, the HRTF is the ratio between the sound pressures of the wave at the eardrum,

as compared to the sound pressure that would exist at the center of the head if the head were

removed. In general, the sound arriving at the ear further from the source is attenuated and

delayed relative to the sound arriving at the ear closer to the source. This generates an interaural

intensity dierence (IID) and an interaural time delay (ITD). As a sound approaches the head, the

ratio of distances from the speaker location to the near and far ears increases, and the eects of

head-shadowing are amplied, causing the IID to increase. The spectral shaping caused by the

head and the shape of the outer ear may also change. The ITD, which results from the absolute

dierence in path length from the source to the ears, remains approximately constant as distance

decreases. From this we learn:

• ITD is the dominant factor for frequencies below about 500 Hz;

• A combination of ITD and IID are dominant for frequencies between approximately 500 Hz and

2,000 Hz; and

• IID, in concert with HRTF, are dominant above about 2,000 Hz.

These are generalizations, and are subject to the size and shape of one’s head and torso, and size

and shape of the outer ear (the folds and ridges of the ear), but in general, the above is a good

guideline for establishing ITD, IID and HRTF thresholds for the human auditory system.

Because the Unity midbass’ ability to play into the sub-200 Hz range, an eect clearly dominated

by ITD, up to and including frequencies exceeding 6,000 Hz, an eect clearly dominated by IID

and HRTF, placement of this driver is extremely important. The driver should be placed as far

forward as possible in the vehicle to optimize ITD. Lateral (forward to back) placement is much

more important than horizontal placement (up and down). This is because of the brain’s ability to

process sounds such as spectral envelope cues, and use a phenomenon known as the “precedence

eect”; the brain can be easily “fooled” into thinking a sound stage is high with kick panel or

oor-mounted speakers (a word to the wise: the best place to put a set of speakers is not always

“up high”, as most vehicles do not oer an amicable location in the dashboard or a-pillars for good

image placement for both seated passengers, especially in the critical frequencies sub-500 Hz).

In addition to the time equalized placement of the drivers, the end-user must also consider that

above approximately 2,000 Hz, intensity plays a key role in good sound staging and imaging.

Therefore, the Unity midbass’should be placed in an area where intensity dierences can be

equalized, either mechanically or electronically, to ensure good imaging and sound staging.

The lesson to be learned is that, like Lesson Two, the Unity midbass should be placed as far forward

from your listening position as possible, and every eort should be made to optimize time and

intensity domain characteristics of the installation

Section II • Moving Forward

Lesson Two: Equalization of Pathlength Dierences (Continued)

In scenario “a”, we show the installation of the Unity midbass in the dashboard, high in a door

panel, or in the a-pillar. As you can see from the diagram, the PLD’s between the left and right

speakers are large, due to the proximity of the listener to the near-side speaker. While the

mounting of primary drivers in the dashboard or a-pillars has become increasingly popular, this

conguration will undoubtedly require both time and intensity domain equalization in most

vehicles to ensure a good, focused center image, properly located in the center of the vehicle for

one seated position. There are, however, some rare exceptions, and you may actually nd that the

dashboard locations provide the best equalized PLD of the available mounting locations; this is

very rare though – in our experience, less than one percent of vehicles on the market today have

optimized dashboard speaker locations for the midbass drivers.

In scenario “b”, a typical door installation location is shown, and in many vehicles represents a

good improvement in PLD’s from the dashboard, high in the door panel, and a-pillar location

identied in scenario “a.”The door speaker installation scenario is the one detailed in the basic

installation section at the beginning of this manual, and in most vehicles represents a satisfactory

location to mount speakers; not ideal but satisfactory. The door speaker installation scenario will

likely also require some amount of time and intensity equalization to ensure a centered image in

most vehicles; this can be as simple as adjusting the balance control on your source unit, to more

advanced ways of digital time and intensity manipulation.

The third and nal potential mounting location as shown in this diagram (scenario “c”) represents

a kick panel installation, where the midbass are placed far forward in the A-frame cavity of the

kick panels, present in most vehicles. The kick panels are the small panel next to the throttle and

brake pedals, down by your feet. While it is not immediately obvious looking at a two-dimensional

drawing, in many cases the kick panel location aords the best equalization of pathlength

dierences for most vehicles. And the reason why this is a good choice for most vehicles is dened

in the second full paragraph of Lesson Three, below.

The lesson to be learned here is that by taking a few moments to evaluate the potential mounting

locations in your vehicle, in a very short period of time, you will be able to nd the best location for

your Unity midbass by determining the location with the smallest PLD.

Lesson Three: The Eect of HRTF, ITD, and IID

Head-related transfer function (HRTF), interaural intensity dierences (IID), and interaural time

delay (ITD) all play a key role in the optimum placement location for the Unity component

speakers.

38 39

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