Question for Misuce/Randomboy or any other Car Audio god.

[daklown33]

ok, need help. Its about time to get my system done...Ive got 2 crystal component sets, a set of 2-ways, and an Alpine deck. When i crank the crystals, they distort some running off the deck. so....im assuming i should get a crossover and high pass ALL of them, and add a sub. The XO is prolly going to be the 2-way audiocontrol if you say its good. Sub: a single CMP 15 would match my other Crystals, and you said they are good..but what amp ? i want the SPL to rattle my rib cage and make it hard to swallow with ease, but im with you on sound quality, sitortion makes me want to kill someone with my bare hands. My Headunit is the new Alpine CDM 7874 and its only got 2 preamps...a 2v front and rear. Should i get a line driver ?. EQ: Audiocontrol sound good ?

VEHICLE: its a '95 nissan standard cab pickup. Im going to have to cut through, so should i go with 3/4 or 1" MDF ? (height is limited) and will the amps be fine in the bed ? (with a cover of course). Also, i know NOTHING about soundstaging. I want to dynamat the whole damn thing, and i need to know where to put my drivers. Also, does sub placement matter ? as in would it work best in the middle or behind the seats (taking the bench out for buckets). One other thing...i want to do my interior (including the dash) in tweed...any problems with that (and solutions ?)

List of what i need:

Approval of the CMP and Audiocontrol stuff.
Should I crossover all the fronts on high pass so i can crank it with no distortion?
Reccomendation for an amp for the CMP.
Reccomentdation for amps for the mids/highs.
How to do soundstaging in the nissan.
What size wood ?
Line driver or not ?
What kind of Dynamat to go with.

Also, I cant spend more than 1800 on everything else (Already got Fronts and Alpine), preferrably 1400 (maybe talk dad into getting me the CMP)

Thanks in advance

[daklown33]

ive decided o just get the CMPx2 12" cause its not THAT much more, and go with a Zapco reference 750 amp (350x2)

and a 3-way XO so i can use mids

[subbeh]

If I were you I'd look through reviews searching for a high SQ medium SPL amp, because in a pickup you won't need much power anyways. But you didn't ask me, and I am not near a car audio expert let alone a god...

[ShooterJM]

didn't read through your whole post. All I got was distortion at high volume.

Questions:

1)are the speakers running of the head unit's internal amp?
2) are they crossed over at all (passive or active)?

[AutoMaggot]

If you want the Ghetto approach, which it sounds like you dont, just wire bass-blockers into the speaker leads... that would ixnay most of the distortion from the low end frequencies.

Crystal is damn good stuff... but with that particular woofers RMS and Peak power handling, you may want to look into a different amplifier. 350x2 isnt a lot, but that all depends on one fact:

Is it a constant 350x2, or it is some BS number that the company made up to sell the amp to Ghetto Blaster (*cough* Kenwood non-excelon, Pyramid, Blaupunt, Jensen, Lightning Audio *cough*). A decent amp will be horribly underrated. My Eclipse 33230, which pushes an Eclipse 88120 DVC Aluminum, is only rated for something along the lines of 150x2, but I have it wired into a 2-ohm mono load at an actual 720 watts... its not that much for the sub itself, but its more than enough for a decent SQ Punch...

You're subwoofer however, should get a good constant wattage somewhere around the RMS... just be sure that amp can do it. If it cant, then you're going to have some distortion from the sub not replacing quick enough, and a lack of power can strain the voice coils (which will blow the sub). The amp is THE most important part of ANY system. Skimp on the amp, and its going to sound like crap.

On the EQ thing... Audiocontrol is the best... get it... no questions asked.

On the midrange/highrange amp question, it doesnt matter much. The big consideration is the THD factor of whatever amplifier you are looking to get. THD = Total Harmonic Distortion. My Eclipse 4 channel runs at .02% THD... which is pretty decent, compared to my old Kenwood which was somwhere around .18. Like I said, if you dont have the cash, just go wire in some base blockers.

Build the box using 1" MDF... and dont make it big at all. The recomended size for that sub in a sealed enclosure is only .90 cu. ft... MAKE IT SMALLER THAN THAT! Its not going to hurt the woofer, it will play tighter if you're not pushing a lot of power to it, and you're in a truck cab, so its gonna tear your head off with bass no matter what... My Eclipse box for my Grand Cherokee is only .80 cu. ft! (and it sounds great blasting some AFI :-) )

Last but not least... if youre going to run a high current amp, or just two midlevel amps in your truck, you should add a battery capacitor to your list of things to get... it will prevent loss of current, and will clean up some of your sound.

Sam Out... hope I helped!

[daklown33]

im just running off my alpine CD player, i figured that was the problem.

Im looking into some soundstream amps for the front: an A4 for the components and a lil' wonder for the 2-ways. Soundstream always has good reputation.

as for the 350x2...its Zapco. Zapco is supposed to be an awesome brand...ill check up on it some more, but any other suggestions ?

[ShooterJM]

I've never had a problem with soundstream. It seems to be just me, but I've had horrible results with fosgate amps. Haven't had experiance with them personally, but have a friend who just picked up a BOSS audio amp. He said that's it's power is overrated, but that it actually gives stable clean power (about 105 s/n ratio). Decently cheap too from what I gathered.

[daklown33]

Audio Control 3XS-G
3XS (Salmon Grey)
Our Price: $159.00 [Delete] Audio Control EPIC-150
EPIC-150
Our Price: $239.00 [Delete] Soundstream A4
4-Channel 200 watt Amplifier
Our Price: $219.00 [Delete] Soundstream Lil Wonder
2-Channel Amplifier
Our Price: $179.00 [Delete] Zapco 750
175 watts x 2 channel Amplifier
Our Price: $479.00 [Delete] Subtotal: $1,275.00


That look good ? (im a basshead, so the EPIC will be fun to turn on when i want to bang a little)


Oh, and Ive almsot talked my dad into getting the CMPx2. :)

[Miscue]

Originally posted by daklown33
ive decided o just get the CMPx2 12" cause its not THAT much more, and go with a Zapco reference 750 amp (350x2)

and a 3-way XO so i can use mids

Can you change that deck out for a 3 preout deck? You can get it to work with 2-preouts but... <B>*Miscue cringes*</B> It sucks that way. :)

If you get a CMPx2 with that amp, it will laugh at you. It's a ridiculously power hungry sub and that amp you listed is not even close to what it needs. It's a sub suited for the hard-core competitor. Skip the DVC and get the original SVC... that will work out peachy keen with that amp. Zapco is good, you have other options though... (when you're dealing with good amps, the difference between them kinda goes into subjectivity) When you're dealing with an amp for your sub you don't have to get too picky... sufficient power and clean enough is fine. You can get super-picky on your frontstage amps though... :)

As for your crossover situation... get a nice amp (if you can, class A/B) for your fronts, which will have built-in crossover... which you use in conjunction with the crossover for your components if you got components.

My suggestion is that you should spend more time researching and not jump into anything. And be skeptical of people's opinions on the subject matter. Brand X might be "THE BEST!" according to someone... and I usually don't take anyone seriously who talks like that because when you got your high end audiophile stuff - the difference is subjective and there isn't something that is "THE BEST." Varying strengths and weaknesses. Some brands/models work well for different applications... it all depends.

Side note:
Somebody's recommendation for a box was completely wrong. Crystal subs need BIG boxes... 1.2 cu ft. around. Takes too long to explain, but there is a methodology for determining how to make a box for a particular sub. Sealed boxes are pretty simple, but soon as you get into ported/bandpass/etc... becomes very complicated and you need to whip out the software/calculators. Each sub is different. If curious, there's a program out there floating around where you put in the sub's specs (like its excursion and stuff) and it calculates what you need for a box. If you make a DIY box, I can almost guarantee you that you're going to screw it up. It won't sound as it should and/or you could damage your sub. I'd recommend just getting a 1.2cu ft. sealed pre-fab box.

If you're serious about getting more bass, seal your car. Dynamat is fine but I'd recommend Cascade.

[Miscue]

I was reading through some stuff... you seem a bit over your head... :)

You don't 'need' line drivers, EQ's and what not. If you ever feel the urge... add stuff like that later... Otherwise you end up getting stuff when you didn't even know why you 'needed' it and probably really didn't. Stick with basics cuz a lot of times you'll find that's perfectly fine for what you'll be using your system for.

This is what you need:

Car Alarm
Wiring
Deck
Speakers
Amp for Fronts (rears optional)
Amp for Sub
Sub
Enclosure
Light sound sealing if you want to
Couple minor things here and there.

That's it.

And remember: A new pair of running shoes will get you more mileage than fancy speakers. :)

[daklown33]

i need a do it myself box because im going to be cutting through. Its a standard cab, so imma have to cut a hole in the bed and put my box in that. and my box will be fine because my cousin makes boxes (he works in a woodworking place) and he did a cut through, so he knows all about it. he went to the Db Drag world finals this year, and he knows all about car audio so he can help me out with that. Also, does bridging really hurt THD much ?

[Miscue]

I'd ask your cousin. :)

[daklown33]

more convenient to ask you. Plus he dos exclusively SPL. He wouldnt give a damn about THD

[Miscue]

He should. THD becomes very important as you get louder... (the distortion becomes amplified). The later you hit apparant distortion, the higher you can crank it for the most part.

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by Miscue
And remember: A new pair of running shoes will get you more mileage than fancy speakers. :)

Ha, just try to sneak a billy joel referance by me! Ok so it took me about 7 reads to remember who sang the song, but hey, I got it eventually.


A quick question for you. Have you heard of boss audio equipment? Like I said, haven't had experiance with them myself, but I heard that if you throw away the power claims, they're good clean power sources. I'm just curious because I can pick them for fairly cheap. Thanks man.