Car stereo opinions

[FeuerFri]

you may wanna look into eclispe stuff as well. i got a head unit of their and it is increadable. and i 100% regret getting my rockford fosgate door speackers after i heard the eclipse ones that were only 60 bucks more.

[cletus]

Im gonna have to agree with Miscue on the CDT's. I have heard a lot of good things about them and for $150 they are a steal. I would also just leave out the rear fill for now unless you find out that you really need it.

If and when you decide to get a sub (which I highly recommend) I would check out http://www.edesignaudio.com. I know that you have never heard of them before but they make some great speakers. I bought the 12A from them a while back and loved it until the day I sold it (money troubles). I dont have any experience with the other subs that they have but I will be getting 2 12O's for my next system. The avionixx amps that they sell on their site are also extremely good for their price.

[FalconGuy016]

Thanks some more

[Miscue]

http://www.sounddomain.com/shoplist~b~Crystal~t~Subwoofers

I have one of these CMPs. They get really high SPL, but more importantly to me... they are musical, high SQ subs as well. You need to give them around 500W RMS though... and also need a bigger box than typical sub.

[sps16]

Alpines pretty good, almost all their decks have built in amps

[Spleen]

i have a kenwood 600 watt and some 12's mtx thunder 6k's.. They hit hard enough for me.

[Miscue]

Originally posted by sps16
Alpines pretty good, almost all their decks have built in amps

Well, almost every deck has an amp. Some high end amps do not... because it is thought of as undesirable - I won't get into it because it's a moot point for most people.

Deck amps suck. They are severely underpowered, and well... they just suck. They work fine for rear fill though.

Another thing I see people do, which is completely stupid... and I suppose is just for looks... is getting two subs and underpowering them. If you want to get loud... get a really nice SINGLE competition-class sub with monster power handling and BIG excursion... and give that puppy 500-1000+ W RMS of CLEAN and STABLE power off a kick butt amplifier. Don't do the stupid route where people get like two $150 chincy (often 'name-brand') subs and mediocre/low or unclean power off a cheesy (often 'name-brand') amp... you can DEMOLISH them with one really good comp sub with ample power off a great amp. After you power one correctly, then you can think of a second... but IMO this is completely stupid unless you are competing in SPL stuff. And if you're getting to this point, you need to tear your car apart and completely seal it or you are wasting your time. It just gets too insanely loud and expensive... you need more amps, and additional things to handle the amount of power your system is sucking from your car. One good sub is more than enough to hurt your ears if that's your thing.

Well, and I'm assuming you want an SQ system? Then two subs are undersirable in the first place, it makes things difficult. The more speakers you add, the lower your SQ goes (generally) if you don't take special provisions. An efficient, musical sub would be the way to go. Might even consider a sealed 10" or something... although I prefer a 12 personally.

Don't forget your enclosure... that's half the battle. Need to make sure it has the correct volume for your particular sub... it can vary. And like subs, enclosures are not created equal - and can have a big disparity as far as quality goes. The good stuff uses very high density materials that cannot be properly cut w/o expensive equipment. They use special glues, and all sorts of stuff. It's not simply a box... there's a science to it.

Also, don't be fooled by the power ratings that some amps have. They are not all created equal. You can have a 2000W amp that gets BLOWN away by a 500W amp... there's a lot more involved than just some misleading wattage rating. I always see these guys bragging about their 1000W amp, and they tell me how they got it for $200 or something... that right there tells you it's a piece of crap.

[FalconGuy016]

Thanks for that also miscue man this is a big thread of good info

BTW I ordered the CDT's! One thing down

[paintbattler]

I got a Sony Xplod. I like it a lot. It has the moving faceplate and is off the hizzle (haha). I have heard that it gets burned out easily but mine is still working perfect.

[einhander619]

Miscue is right on with just about everything he said. When I put my system together, I put an audiobahn 10" with 600 watts RMS going to it in a small, bandpass enclosure. It sounded like absolute crap, and I realized it was because the sub wanted to move way more air than it actually could. I replaced the small box with one that had double the volume and dual tuned ports. The result? The nicest sounding subaru outback you've ever heard.

Like miscue said, go with a single, high quality sub, pick a good box for it, then power the living crap out of it. Also, a bit off the topic of subs, but if you want to get some really nice component speakers up front but don't want to pay out the butt for focal's prices, take a look at some MB Quarts. I have those up front and they make my infinity kappa coaxes in the back sound like crap, they're that good.

[banzaimf]

Just to chip in my 2 cents. I was an Alpine fanatic for years. Then I tried clarion and liked the bang for the buck ratio a little better.

I would recommend that you go to a local car audio place and test speakers and find ones that you like. I prefer the somewhat overly bright sound of the Boston Acoustics. I've been pretty faithful to them for about 5 years now. As far as mixing and matching speakers from different companies. You can do it and it can sound very good. However, I am a believer that you should make sure that both companies have a similar philosophy on the sound that they want. At home I use Klipsch and Bose because they sound very similar, I would like some Cerwin Vega's, but they have a completely different sound and wouldn't match the sound that I already have.

A good way to check amps if looking for a rating called THD. Total Harmonic Distortion is what the distortion level of the tone was when they measured for RMS. I prefer Alpine amps. Although Kenwood makes some nice smaller 4 channels.

Subwoofers... I love my Jl Audio subs. The stealthbox is a beautiful thing. And never stolen out of my car! 3 breakins in a civic.