? for the AudioGods...Car Audio in a Convertible?

[bsusigep18]

Ok, here's the deal. I just got my first 'real' car. I don't consider driving around the 93 saturn sc2 a real car. I now drive a '97 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GS. In my saturn i had two 12" sony xplod subs, bla bla bla, nothing special. It was just basicially something that my buddy got a good deal in, but didn't want it in his car. Needless to say, that box won't come near to fitting into my trunk. I've gotten opinions on what do to...aka...custom box. But im not sure if i should stay with one sub, two subs...10", 12" and whatnot. Im pretty new to all this stuff and i know somebody on here can give me some advice. I plan on replacing most of the audio parts in there now (deck, front speakers, dash speakers, i also hear that rear speakers are kind of useless, any opinions?) somebody give me some brands and advice on what to do. I did have some nice polk 6x9s in my saturn that i could take out. So, who's got some advice? :D

[Mango]

First, congrats on the Eclipse! Nice car.

Ok, here goes:

I would look into trying to sell off that existing subwoofer box, and get a dual 10 inch setup from JL or Boston Acoustics. Something that uses a shallow box that you could put across the bottom or back of your trunk. Get a nice Xtant or JL sub-amp for around $200-$300 to drive em, and that will be a very nice sub setup for the Eclipse. I've sold many of those exact setups to customers and they LOVE it. Go with an Alpine deck to drive them and you can't go wrong. Keep those Polk 6X9's too!! They are nice. As for front speakers, I recommned the Boston Rally series. Very nice series, Titanium tweeters, nice rubber butle surrounds on the mids,and a neiudymiun magnet structure. Basically means they are very efficient and can take a beating. Rear speakers are nice to fill in the sound, and for rear seat passengers. But you dont "need" them in your particular car. Two of my customers dident use them. But since you have the 6X9's you can just pop them in. I forget what the particular speaker sizes are for your car.

Hope this helps!! Enjoy the car! :D

[FrAuStY]

Have to agree on everything but the amp. If you're running two 10's I'd go with a Kenwood KA-C 719 subwoofer amp. It only plays frequencies for subwoofers i.e 200hz down to 1. Also its stable at .5 ohm I pikced one up from crutchfield for about 160$ and its rock solid. I know spraying mango knows what he's talking about ;) but if money's kinda tight... I've never had problems with Kenwood amps. JL would be nice (I have a JL10 in my truck powered by the 719 amp) and I had to turn the amp gain down to about 25% otherwise I can't think to drive.

*EDIT* Just checked crutchfield and found this years model replacement for my amp which is the 819 here's specs.
Key Features:
230 watts x 1 at 2 ohms
requires 10-gauge power and ground leads — wiring and hardware not included with amplifier
frequency response: 5-200 Hz
50-200 Hz low-pass crossover, 18 dB/octave
infrasonic filter (off/15/ 25 Hz), 18 dB/octave
bass boost (off/6/12 dB)
Sigma Servo dramatically increases amp's control over subwoofer
MOSFET power switching supply
speaker-level inputs
signal-to-noise ratio 100 dB
dimensions: 10"W x 2-5/16"H x 12-5/8"D
1-year warranty

I've heard that the best amps run at 18db/octave slope which most kenwoods do. This (I've been told) gives clean tighter bass and cleaner clearer sound. Anyway..good luck bro :)

[Mango]

Yeah good call on the amp frausty!! We only carry the Excelon Amps at my store so I am unfamiliar with anything under like $300 bucks! LOL. Yeah, its a high end store. But thats not to say there isent great amps cheaper! If that sucker is stable to .5ohm then its GOTTA be a solidly built amp. And its got a built in low pass! wow...

Heck, I might even have to get one. :)

[wingman898]

yeah....BAs' are the shizzle my nizzle. I got a pair of 6x9 3-ways in the back of my Grand Prix(see the thread on our rides) also have 5s' in the door with tweets up by the windows. YOU CAN"T BEAT THE CLARITY AND RANGE on those tweets and 6x9s' pending you bought their higher end models.

[bsusigep18]

Thanks for all the opinions and advice guys!! So i should just keep the polks it sounds like. I did have tweeters with them, but i think i kinda ruined them with my crappy car that got a little weather-abused. (left my windows down too many times) I'll definently take a look at that kenwood amp. Should i try and search for them on the internet (any good sites) or go to the local stores around here and see what kind of deals i can get. I have a buddy that could install it if we found the time, but it'd take a while before that, considering we both are busy as hell with school and whatnot.


-Overview of my ramblings-
Alpine decks the way to go?
Specific tweeter brands that are good?
Rear speakers needed or not?
Internet order or local store?

Man i love these forums, i asked the same question to an all eclipse board, and it turned into a fight over which brands were better...ugh...keep it up boys!! :D

[banzaimf]

Isobaric clamshell sub box. Find some good subs with a high sensitivity rating. Remember power X2 equals 3 more Db. Even if the speaker can take more wattage, it may not be able to make up for lack of efficiency. I.E. a 92 db speaker rated at 400 peak will be louder that a 88 db speaker rated at 800 peak.

For speakers, you will have to go and listen. Different brands make their speakers sound different. I prefer Boston Acoustic over Polk. But I like a brighter sounding tweeter. Also remember that your ear's memory is horrendously short.

I would add rear speakers on the priciple of: every speaker adds 12 Db.

I love my alpine decks, but new clarions are a dang good HU as well. Granted, my next HU will probably be an alpine.

[Miscue]

Spend your money on front stage... rear fills are just that... 'rear fill.' They balance out the sound more than add to it... rear fills should blend with your front transparently.

I would suggest getting a single competition level sub woofer and give it 600-1000 clean watts. This will do you better than getting two average subs and splitting the amp's power.

Dual subs are good for SPL competitions... a single high end sub will do more than plenty for daily driving.

[bsusigep18]

Miscue- What amp and sub should i consider for the setup you specified.

any one have any opinions on these crystal components?

http://www.sounddomain.com/shop/item.pl?sku=CRYCPE60T&vq_id=none

-is crystal a good brand, some people seem to live by these speakers, and damn i they're not on sale. Thanks guys.

[Miscue]

Funny you mention Crystal. I was going to recommend a Crystal CMP 12" Sub. They run about $230-250... Great SPL and SQ. Some clean monoblock amp that RMS's at 500-1000 would be fine... do some research to figure out what's out there. You can give that sub a ton of juice, and it will use it. I recommend a 1.2 - 2.10 cu ft sealed enclosure for this particular sub.

Those crystal components you mentioned are a very good deal...

Here's another hint: Spend your money on sound deadening before you worry about dumping a ton of money into equipment... (looks like you're not doing this anyway, but in case you do...) Proper sound deadening makes mediocre equipment sound good... Good equipment great... great equipment awesome.

[Zumina]

I hate to rain on everyone's sub parade, but I would add new speakers first. Invest in a good set of three/two ways (I highly reccomend Infinity) and see how it sounds. Heck, run an amp to the bigger ones, and you might discover that you don't even need subs; unless you're looking for attention. The additional weight and money subs require is not worth it in my mind. My system sounds AWESOME inside the car, but you can't hear coming from a mile away. Quite frankly, that's the way it SHOULD be. Running two KAPPA 4X6 plates in the dash, KAPPA 6.5s in the doors, 1" tweets in the A pillar, and KAPPA 3 way 6X9s in the rear. The 6X9s and 6.5"s derive power from a 200 watt MTX amp and my HU. Seriously, go for the speakers FIRST.