*OT* Car Audio. *OT*

[Miscue]

If you want to go very cheap - w/o an ext. amp and stuff, this is what I recommend: (Don't read into anything, this is pretty much subjective stuff, and you should always audition your stuff first when possible):

In preparation for anyone who feels compelled to have to add your two cents and contradict me, I kindly ask you to not do it... please. Make recommendations of your own - if they are completely opposite of mine... that's peachy keen... I like seeing different opinions and ideas, especially since I'm not right always, I can easily miss things, and I realize this... but please don't address me directly, piss me off, and tell me 'I'm dead wrong.' I'm grumpy as it is with these pain meds... and I'm just trying to be nice/helpful and don't need any grief. My opinions do not come out of thin air, they are the result of hundreds of hours of research and study time... and odds are I know more than you do - and I don't feel like being told flat out that I'm wrong when you're just guessing and then I have the unsettling urge to defend myself and go about correcting your misconceptions. I won't bother and simply won't try helping anymore otherwise. Thank you.

Before you buy anything... be PATIENT PATIENT PATIENT. Do NOT rush your purchases, I can't stress this enough. When I first started, I made this mistake and wasted money... got jacked by local car audio shop. Build your system very slowly if you need, take months of deciding time. (especially when we don't all have unlimited streams of money) Do RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. Read, and read, and read. Ask experienced people about it... alt.car.audio is a great place, also the forum at ampmanaudio.com is wonderful.

What to get -

Car Alarm: If they can see a stereo, they WILL try to break into your car to take it. These people are on drugs and will try anything. My truck was broken into twice... Lost a LOT of money. I didn't think it could happen to me. The one time I didn't park in my garage, they broke my window, stole $1000 worth of bowling equipment, and my subwoofer. The second time in school parking lot, in lot right next to Tropicana Avenue with plenty of light and thousands of passing cars.... I did not even have the faceplate on, it was in my pocket. The moron broke my window and tried stealing a useless deck w/o a faceplate. Ended up stealing nothing, but broke my window, destroyed my dash and deck with screwdriver (You CANNOT steal a deck with a screwdriver), and my A/C stopped working. I will have EVERYTHING concealed in my new system, plus window tint... etc. A good stereo is not worth getting broken into... it totally sucks if/when that happens.

Deck: Alpine, Kenwood, or Clarion in your price range. Ignore wattage ratings, makes no difference in choosing. Stay simple... don't get the deck with all the gadgets on it, the more you learn, the more you find them to be undesirable. Thing to worry about is number of pre-amp outputs in case you want to add amplifiers later. If you can get 3 for future (one for sub) that's good.

Decks to avoid: Sony, Eclipse. (I'm not saying they are bad, you can get better for same/less money.)

Speakers:
Polk Audio, Kenwood, Alpine are good choices... avoid Sony. Your front speakers are most important, not the back. If you can get 6.5 components, that's good. If no room, no biggie, you can get smaller. If you have a REALLY small car, you can get mid-horns like the IDQs, but they cost some money. I'd stick with components or coaxials... I'm not a triaxial fan... more not always better. Of course, models vary, sometimes someone will come out with a nice one...

As for the back... these are 'rear fill' speakers. You don't want to be able to tell that they are even there. You DON'T need anything fancy at all, entry level lines of speakers are fine.

Wires:
You can just get the cheap stuff if you must, but good idea to get something decent.

Sub (in case you wanted one): Well, since you're skipping the amp to save money.. you can try a cheap powered sub or something. Bazooka tube ain't a bad deal... I dunno if Kicker has powered bass stations, but if they did that wouldn't be bad.

Ok... well this is if you go cheap w/o going ultra cheap... will still be way better than stock usually. Mid-range, High-end, and competition level is a completely different story.

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"Don't mill your tank." - Miscue

Miscue's Profile

[This message has been edited by Miscue (edited 08-07-2001).]

[Automag ReTro]

FACTORY SYSTEMS ARE THE BEST!!!! Well, not really. I have an extremely small British car whose alternator does not put out enough power to run amps, subs or what not. I simply have a Panasonic DFX700U head unit(day night glow one)with two Kenwood 4-way 6x9. Not much, but pretty much all i can fit and afford. If i did run an amp, my car probably wouldn't start.

[pyro45]

Here was my current plan... It may receive adjustments.

Front:
*Knows Jack about front speakers*

Rear:
2 pioneer 6x9 4 ways

Head unit:
New JVC Kamelion, the one right under the Voice interface model

Subs:
2 12" Phenix Golds [Not sure of the brand that makes the specific box my freind has it and it sounds very good]

Amps:
1 Power acustic Ice amp at 400 x 2 in watts
or 2 300 watt new calaforia amps (not sure if they are even officialy on the market, but my buddy has one and its nice)

2 100x2 pyle amps with gauges to power the inside speakers.


Thanks for the help guys....

[Richter]

If you want the best get speakers made by Treo Engineering.

Treos are what created the loudest active vehicle on the DB Drag Racing competition circuit.

You can get them at high end stereo stores around the country or through Metro Audio Dynamics

http://www.metroaudiodynamics.com/

buddy has 'em in his mustang and they are awesome.

Oh yeah, Treo also sponsored my paintball team this year

[pyro45]

WOW... I was not aware We had so many Experts here at AO... This is amazing. Now, if I may get some input, What companies/models of speakers , subs and head units do you guys recomend...

(Just getting a little input....)

Next I would also Like to address the $ issue. I have been into care audio for about 5 years now, and there is no way on earth I can afford even $300 for a sub. I am only 16 And thats about 40 hours of work right there. I am looking at getting Phenix Gold subs for my car, They run like around the $150 range or something. I am not sure, but Anyway I can get them list for 80... I am sure that compared to what you use ALL I can afford is low end audio... I plan on spending about $800 on my whole system.(CD, Subs, Amps, 6x9s and dash speakers)... What do you guys think I could get for that, that with good staging would sound respectable. Or rather $800 is what I can get it for, Pretend you have $1200 to work with.

Thanks.

[Hasty8]

The first question to ask is what kid of car do you have.

The second is how much of the work can you do on your own.

I built the custom boxes for my rear 6x9's and mounted them as well as doing all the wiring and stuff.

The only thing that I bought which was current year was my current headunit. Last years Sony the plays/records monidisc and controls a cd player. The Bazooka tube is bout 10 years old but still sounds great and the 3 inchers in my dash have abuilt in bass choke that prevents bass from going to the tweeters on my door frame.

I would say that I probably spent about 1200 on my cars sound system over the past 10 years and it sounds fine to me. Deep bass, super clear and sharp highs and mids and economy to boot.

Start small and work your way up from there. Look for cheaper (price, not quality) that has a few of the functions you look for. Since my speakers had a built in crossover function in the there was no need to buy one.

Research, research, research.

[randomboy]

Pyro, I'm assuming your looking at the qx series of subs? My friend was gonna get 4 of the 10's to put in his Maxima, not a bad choice at all

Honestly, up until this point, most everything I bought was used, and you can save a heck of alot of money doing it that way. But even just for a single or a few subs, depending on the enclosure you use, you could use anywhere from 100 to 400 watts. And a 40x2 or 50x2 amp for up front is more than sufficient. Always keep in mind wiring costs too, rca's, power wire, speaker wire, remote wire, wiring terminals, all that fun stuff. To look for some good deals on used stuff, the sites I recommend are www.termpro.com www.sounddomain.com www.elitecaraudio.com Happy hunting.

A good point by hasty, if you can build your own speaker enclosures, you are well off, the first box I had, I had made for me at the low low cost of 150 dollars. Now I can build some funky shape boxes that are quite a bit more elaborate for the cost of materials which is generally about 30 bucks, more if I have to bust out the fiberglass

[This message has been edited by randomboy (edited 08-07-2001).]

[MagMan5446]

<font face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Richter:
If you want the best get speakers made by Treo Engineering.

Treos are what created the loudest active vehicle on the DB Drag Racing competition circuit.

You can get them at high end stereo stores around the country or through Metro Audio Dynamics

http://www.metroaudiodynamics.com/

buddy has 'em in his mustang and they are awesome.

Oh yeah, Treo also sponsored my paintball team this year

</font>

My cousin, he's 17 and has put about at least (last time I checked) 9,000$. Everything he has is made by Treo. This is about the best sound quality you can hear. He usually doesn't put it more than 1/4 volume, otherwise he blows out the windows. That's if they're closed anyway.

He lives down in Stockton, so you gotta have a loud car with a whole lotta bass. When I'm riding with him, I swear, everytime the bass drum gets hit, my heart skips a beat.

------------------
"And Tomorrow"

Today is filled with anger, fueled with hidden hate
Scared of being outkast, afraid of common fate
Today is built on tragedies which no one want's to face
Nightmares to humanity and morally disgraced
Tonight is filled with Rage, violence in the air
Children bred with ruthlessness cause no one at home cares
Tonight I lay my head down but the pressure never stops,
knowing that my sanity content when I'm dropped
But tomorrow I see change, a chance to build a new,
build on spirit intent of heart and ideas based on truth.
Tomorrow I wake with second wind and strong because of pride
I know I fought with all my heart to keep the dream alive




R.I.P Tupac Amaru Shakur/Makaveli
1971-1996

[randomboy]

Hahaha, Richter, before I even got to the end of your post my mind was already saying "hes either a dealer OR hes sponsored by them, cause that sounds like a salesmans pitch."

And Magman.....unless your friend is hitting 160+ db's at 1/4 volume, I seriously doubt hes blowing his windows out.

Heh, and Richter, define the word "best" for us all, I want to know exactly what makes a speaker "the best speaker."

[This message has been edited by randomboy (edited 08-08-2001).]

[pyro45]

I have personally seen a guy blow out his windsheild while he was in his car... Loudness isn;t was does it, its vibration. Although at that time I had no idea what he was talking about when he told us what he was running..

[Person]

Wow im evil. ^UP^ <this was the thread at the very bottom of page 194 :P

[rehme]

Wow im evil. ^UP^

you like posting on 2 year old threads dont you!

[MOOFROG]

Hifonics Atlas

[QUOTE=Fritzy]Well, I still use my old Hifonics Atlas(series VII, back when Hifonics was awesome, not their current crap)


I have the same amp and do not know what wire is what there is just an orange,green, and purple. can you tell me what is +, -, and remote please