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Car audio experts looking for advice.

boostedinaz

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
4,085
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
I have never been into car stereo's and figured that as long as it played music it was good enough for me. I am now looking to upgrade the audio stuff in the Galant and make a nice, not crazy expensive, but nice sound system. I am a hardocre do it yourselfer would like to learn as much as I can about car audio while doing this.

The question is, does anyone have a few GOOD, keyword, forums or sites that I could check out to start the learning process? If anyone wants I would also be up for some suggestions on what components I should use in my buld up.

I don't want to spend more than 100.00-150.00 on the door speakers and the same goes for the rear deck speakers. So basically the best quality for that amount. I have a 10 inch sub (not sure if it is worth a sh*t or not), but I need to make a box for it and find an amp for it as well. Any suggestions on the sub and amp?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

mikus

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
2,763
Location
Aurora IL
My answer might be typical of what you'll hear on this particular forum (where we're still tooling on 16 year old cars) - I have my favorite gear from when I knew what was what, but can't talk knowledgeably about brand new gear.

I personally install Soundstream Reference series, ("the blue amps") in everything. They're fairly affordable for the quality, and can run up to 4 speakers + subs (See model 405) For speakers, I'm an MB Quart or Infinity guy if budget allows, but I've def. put in cheaper stuff, Eg Pioneer TS series.

If you're running power ot the trunk, run a fuel pump rewire line at the same time. you'll be glad you did later.
 

DarkDevilMMM

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 8, 2001
Messages
4,065
Location
Vacaville, CA
Here is where I used to go a lot, lota good info. but of couse, these sites are full of ricer or dumbasses like in the honduh forum. you have to fish the good info out.

$100-150 can get you a really good pair of speakers, for brands, you have to listen it yourself, everybody have their own preference. I personally hated MB Quarts or infinity as said above, their mid-highs to highs are way too bright/sharp; rockford fosgate, JBL are loud but no quality; a/d/s, diamond audio(me using) are pretty good but a little on the spendy side; and of course the very high ends ones like Focal, CDT, etc. I think the best bang for the buck is Pioneer, it's relatively cheap, but quality is on par with couple "more expensive" brands, and if you want to spend a little more for a better quality but still best bang for the buck you can choose Alpine. but still depends on what kind of music you like and what kind of sound you prefer, they all have their own characteristic, you really have to try it yourself.

I would suggest go to some high end car audio store and listen to their systems, remember to bring your homemade CD, usually if you are not familiar with their CDs, all the system will sound good. so listening to your favourite will definitely bring the speakers/systems to the test. after, go home and buy it online. usually the store have at least a 50% markup, so don't buy it in the store, but remember DO YOUR RESEARCH on price, HUGE difference.

actually before all that, you have to decide what kind of system you want to run, how many amps do you want, how many speakers do you want. just like speakers, do you wish to run factory crossover that come with the component speakers or do you want to run seperate so you can have more wiggle room for tuning. for example, I have a top of the line pioneer HU which doesn't include an internal amp, but I have a better internal crossover. so I ran a 5 channel external amp with only front 2 way speakers, because I hate high notes coming from the rear, and I have 2 12" in the trunk. so all depends how you want to set it up, well have fun designing!
 

boostedinaz

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
4,085
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
My setup won't be to hardcore as I said. Basically I just want to upgrade the stock speakers, so either a small tweeter, or a 4" in the dash, new 5-1/4 in the doors, new 6" in the rear deck, and a 10" sub in the trunk. As for amps it apears to be a debate as to go with one amp for everything or go with a small amp for the interior speakers and another amp for the sub.

Here is the deck I just bought and installed. This will be the starting point for my build. Again something decent, but not over the top.

95% of the time I listen to classic rock, and every now and then some old school rap or techno. I am not really looking for loud just something that sounds good and is well put together thought out.

Good call on the listening at the stores. Dark Side of The Moon shoud have me covered for that portion of the buy. Lots of transitions and variation between highs and lows.

Thansk for all the advice guys. The journey has begun.
 

spoulson

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 5, 2003
Messages
2,908
Location
Worton, MD
The best thing you can do is research. You don't need a degree in EE to understand car audio and electronics. You'll find that the car audio market takes advantage of those who don't know and oversell them on components that would easily work better in a different configuration.

For example, my ancient setup has a 200watt Clarion amp running a single Kicker 10" Solobaric. Normally, this would be 'OK' subwoofer output. But, I bought this particular amp because its design at the time was a virtual copy of McIntosh internals and it can push out 300watts RMS at 2ohm load, peaking around 600watts. Naturally, I special ordered the sub with 2ohm impedance. I didn't have to get a big sub box or mega-amp to get mirror vibrating bass. Lesson of the day: buy what you need, not overkill.
 

mikus

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
2,763
Location
Aurora IL
another 0.02 I want to put in -

I personally think door speakers are a PITA to replace, and a bigger PITA to rewire to amp, for the payback you get. do your dash first (try them off your new HU first). It might be enough for your needs, can save your money maybe.

+1 more better in the subs world. I run a single (older Soundstream SPL! yay soundstream) sub in a tiny box and enjoy it better than most 2x12 setups I've run.

Lastly, read up on impedance/ohms and sensitivity in dB. I really don't pay attention to watts for speaker specs anymore, these two tell a better story IMO, for subs especially. It's like EGT vs. wideband tuning.
 

eviLntt

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Messages
1,026
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
+1 to pioneer and Alpine. For your price range, both are good quality. I have an Alpine/Pioneer setup in the Subaru and it withstands all the really loud bass intesive music I love. With what you listen to it should be just fine. Although you mentioned you have a sub already, I want to recomend getting a sealed sub over the "free air" versions. They have much better response and tend to have a "cleaner" sound. Most head units these days can push enough power for door speakers, so you could get away with a amp for just the sub. If you were willing to spend a little more and you want loud music, get a 5 channel amp and run all the speakers off that.
 

DarkDevilMMM

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 8, 2001
Messages
4,065
Location
Vacaville, CA
although there are always scientific/engineering theories behind all these, I always tell ppl, let's work with how much you want to spend, not what equipment you want, nor where to put them.

actually door speakers are not that hard to replace, if you are using factory wires, it will probably take me an hour or two if I have all the tools and materials in front of me. but yes, the biggest PITA is wiring everything together with bigger wires, especially pull the wires into the little door gormets, it cut my arms and hands badly...

sub is a totally different story, the main theory behind it is you have to build the box right, with respect to the specification of the sub and the amp you want to run through it. you can run a fairly shitty sub but build the right box specifically for it, and it will sound better then buying a hella expensive sub and put it in one of those shitty pre-made box. although the custom box may not look the prettiest, but it will depends if you want look or performance.

if not going to run big wattage or top of the line performance, I would suggest running 1 amp for everything, at most 2. coz it will be less wiring, less hassle, and use up less space. but on the other hand, if the amp somehow breaks, you have to replace the whole thing, and usually the all-in-one amp have less wattage for similar price range.

I would also suggest 6.5 for the door if you are going to change it, I mean why go all the trouble and still using factory spec? coz the work won't be that much more for 6.5 and the sound are way different, especially when you are running a simple system.

sub also, if your sub is decent, build a better box for it, you will be surprised how big of a difference that a box can change how it perform. but if it really shitty and not worth anything, get a 12", I think a 12 sound better then a 10. our trunk is big enough for a 12" without losing too much of the trunk space. but get something efficient, so you don't need a big box or amp for it.

yet again, work with how much you want to spend, otherwise if you want this, and if you want that, the price is going to go up and up.
 

vtecds1

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Messages
1,705
Location
Las Begas
Check your pm if your a budget baller like me!!! /ubbthreads/images//graemlins/rofl.gif
 

CutlassJim

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
1,698
Location
Manchester, NH
I wouldn't normally post in a thread like this but have you thought of not running rear speakers at all? On a recommendation from a semi high end audio forum in my DD I went with a nice set of fronts and a sub. The soundstage is supposed to come from the front of the car anyway so why not just eliminate the "rear fill"?

I can't even have rear fill in a car anymore as it seems like way to much coming from the back. I also recently removed the sub and there is enough bass coming from the nicer fronts to more than satisfy most listeners.

Instead of spending $100+ on three sets of speakers, buy one nice component set for $250 and one 4 channel amp to power the fronts and one sub.

For subs and amps I have recently been sold on Elemental Designs. It's a small internet direct company that's focus is on making better sounding/performing equipment for less. I have had a few amps and subs from them and they are EXTREMELY underrated and under priced. A $200 driver from them will outperform a $400 driver from one of the "big" names. A also have been really impressed with Alpine and Eclipse anything.

Pics of current setup:
DSCN1703.jpg


DSCN1711.jpg


DSCN1709.jpg


DSCN1626.jpg


DSCN1466.jpg


DSCN1387-1.jpg
 

G

Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
8,896
Location
zompton
Most name brand audio around will sound good for what your looking for. It's all in the install (quality of wiring & installer skill level) & picking the equipment that is set up to do what you want to get out of your system. Like head units with sub woofer output, knowing how the speakers/sub should be wired (bridged/ not bridged, ohms, 2 channel vs 4 channel amps etc...)
 

JNR

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2004
Messages
9,814
Location
ca
^^She looks like she's telling you that you are testing her patience /ubbthreads/images//graemlins/rofl.gif

Believe it or not, Crutchfield catalog (the old-fashioned paper variety) has real good explanations of the equipment and it's really easy to pick up on this stuff, to gain the basics and you can determine where you want to go from there../
 

kartorium

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
2,962
Location
ellensburg,wa
I recently ordered two of the elemental designs 7" mini subs. They are gonna go in the rear deck instead of having a heavy ass sub in the trunk with a bulky box. I hope they turn out as good as everyone says. I am leaning more and more to using the rear purely as a bass channel and less fill like has been said. No one really sits in the back seats too.

I also ordered a 5t5 mtm for center channel in my home theater. From what i've heard and read I should be happy enough.
 

boostedinaz

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
4,085
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
OK so I think I have a decent setup for myself. The deck I already have and I had a set of 1" tweeters that I put in the dash already.

The rest will consist of....
My current head unit.
click
4 of these Polk Audio speakers. Two for the front doors and the other two for the rear deck.
click
This Alpine amp looks pretty good for powering just the sub, but I am unsure if it has enough power to really get the most out of the sub.
click
I also have an older Kicker S10L7 10" sub.

I will go with that for now I think, then if I really want I might pick up a 4 channel amp for the interior speakers, but we will see. Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:

I like the alpine products.

That amp should work fine. As a testament my brother has a full alpine system with 2 of those 400watt mono amps(his has the digital volt meter on top of them) running into 2 type-r 1221d 12's and it actually wrinkles the roof of his civic hatch.It's pretty violent inside.

I've since aged and cant handle all that bass, SQ for me..

alpine amps have a seemingly low rating but they are CLEAN,TRUE, power..
 

boostedinaz

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
4,085
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
I agree. I really hate the guys that "bump" through places. I just want a well rounded system that finally has a little low end to it. I figured that amp will do pretty well for my needs.

Again, thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it. Now I just have to read up and learn how to install all this stuff correctly and the theory behind it all. I am especially excited about making the box for the sub and mounting the amp. Good times.
 
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