Your Stereo

[keepitmovin]

I was wondering everyones stereo setup? I am looking to get a complete system for my car.  Im looking at an amp (sony xplod) 760watts is that good? I like to bump music but not that much just once in a while. I was also looking at car cd players either sony eplod or pioneer. Which is better for car cd players, speakers, sub, tweeters? Does the brand matter for tweeters I saw alot for cheap on ebay that can supposedly handle 330w. How does the amp distribute power can you arrange it to distribute differently, for example  100watts can you put 35w on 2 subs and 15 and two speakers?  What would you reccomend? I know I have a lot of questions but I just dont know too much and dont want to get taken. Thanks for any help you guys can give me. PEACE

[DuffMan]

First of all you should say whether you want maximum quality or maximum loudness. Then tell us how much you want to spend. That would make it a lot easier to give recommendations.

[keepitmovin]

oh sorry about that well i think quality would be better then a good volume. I have 1000$ to spend and not a penny more. Thanks

[DSC]

You will want a separate amp for your subs. Unless you want to get really loud, you don't even need amps for your regular speakers. When I do my system I'm getting an eclipse cd player(~$375), eclipse 6 1/2"(~$100) in the rear, and eclipse 6 1/2" separates(~$250) in the front. Only thing left will be 2 10" or 8" subs to mount in the rear by the back seat (as seen here (http://www.240sx.org/links/installs/jcope/index.html)) and an amp to power them, I dono what I want in that area. I'm goin for quality when I do mine, not thumping base.

Edit: added prices...275 left for an amp and subs...well that setup isn't gona work for ya. &nbsp;You could get the same speakers front and rear and just not worry about tweets. &nbsp;Then you'd have 425 left, for an amp and subs. &nbsp;that might work but you'll end up spending another $200 on dynomat (please use this <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>), wireing, and various other odds and ends.

(Edited by DSC at 4:27 pm on Nov. 26, 2001)

[chickenmanq]

I'll probably get flak for this, but I personally wouldn't buy another Sony car Cd player if my life depended on it. &nbsp;Get a nice Pioneer. &nbsp;They're bulletproof, and don't screw up nearly as much. &nbsp;And they're cheaper. &nbsp;Sony car CD players are extremely succeptible to dust. &nbsp;If you keep an immaculate car, you might be ok. &nbsp;I have dust on the inside and outside of my truck almost constantly. &nbsp;Even besides the dust, sometimes in the morning, the CD player won't work, it'll just sit there on track 1 but not spin the CD.

The most important part of car stereo, as I understand it, is a decent-quality amp. &nbsp;Mount it where it doesn't get hot and where people can't see it.

I shouldn't even be talking, since I'm still running Radio Shack, although their amps are made by Pioneer. &nbsp;Have two 8 inch radio shack boxes behind the truck seat, and two 6 1/4 Pioneer up front. &nbsp;80 bucks for the boxes, 80 bucks for the amp. &nbsp;150x4. &nbsp;(Tiny.) &nbsp;However, for a truck cab, it fills up with sound just fine. &nbsp;Also, with a cheap setup that sounds decent, you don't have to worry about people stealing my shit. &nbsp;Comes down to sound quality, and how much attention you want to attract.

[drifterx]

my friend has the 760W sony amp and it powers 2 of his subs... it sounds pretty good.... he has 2 12&quot; pioneer 450W IMPP

if u want quality, think about getting powerful smaller size subs.... i have 2 10&quot; subs and it sounds better than my friend's 2 12&quot;s but his is a little louder.
if u want good quality, do this.... put a 4 or 6 channel amp on your speakers (and the other 2 for tweeters)
and then put in your subs.......

[DuffMan]

Assuming you have a decent amp and deck, the most important part of the setup is your front speakers. Get some component speakers. These have a seperate tweeter and woofer, and a crossover to route the right frequencies to the right speaker. As to what brand, it depends on what you like. Try to listen to as many as you can before buying. I have Orion HCCA's (which are am a/d/s designed speaker) Some generally accpeted good brands are Illusion audio, dynaudio, CDT, a/d/s, diamond, focal and there are others, but it's really what you like that counts the most.

Whatever you do, don't buy 2 pairs of 2-way or 3-way speakers at your local circuit city or best buy and put put them in front and back, and then run them off the head unit. First of all head units don't produce even half the power they are rated at without distorting. The most powerfull ones produce about 20 watts but most can really only do in the low teens without distorting. Also, your fronts and rears should never be played at the same volume, because this degrades imaging. Your fronts should be played off an good amp. Rears can be played off the head unit if you want, with the volume faded down, because they are only for &quot;rear fill&quot; and shouldn't be loud. Also it helps if the highs and lows are filtered out of the rear speakers.

Head units are really a matter of what features you like. Only 3 things really matter with a head unit.

1. Features. Does it have what you want, and how easy is it to use.

2. Pre-out voltage. More is better, but this is a pretty minor concern really.

3. Build quality, will it last or will it break.

Also maybe looks depending on whether you care about that sort of thing.

Amps. Amps are all about power really. More is obviosly better. Also you want an amp that integrates well into your overall system design. One way to do it is to have a 4 channel amp, and use two for your fronts, and two for your subs. With many amps you can bridge two channels to double their power. My system has a 4 channel amp with two feeding my front speakers and two channels bridged to feed to a sub. Annother way is to have one amp for speakers and one for subs. There are also 5 and 6 channel amps, but they are pretty rare. Try to get an amp or amps that are close to the power ratings of the speaker they will be connected to. Also beware that some manufacturers try to overinflate their claims of power. Those 2400 watt legacy amps on ebay aren't really going to make that much power. Always look for RMS power ratings. Never &quot;Max&quot; or something like that. RMS = real. Everything else = BS.

As for the sound quality of the amps and head unit, it shouldnt really be an issue. Since they are all just electronically reproducing sound. You shouldn't be able to tell the differnce between one brand of head unit and/or amp just by listening to them (volume asside). If you can, something is seriously wrong with at least one of them.

Subs. Subs are tricky because people like bass in different ways. For maximum &quot;tight&quot; sounding bass, use a sealed box or a ported box tuned for a low frequency. Ported boxes and bandpass boxes can get louder than sealed boxes, and can sound good if done right, but its complicated, especially with bandpass. Lots of times ported boxes sound way too &quot;loose&quot; and degrade quality. Sealed is definitely the easiest way to go. Just pick a box with a volume with in the manufacturer's spec and you're good to go.

As to what subs to get, this is also a matter of opinion and personal taste, like speakers. Try to avoid subs that don't go down low well, or sound sloppy on higher bass notes. There's that tricky &quot;midbass&quot; range thats below where your fronts can really go, but are above the optimal range of subs. It also depends on what kind of music you like to listen to. If you listen to rap, techno or something like that, usually the high range of the sub wont matter as much, and you can look for subs with maximum power handling and lots of excursion. If you listen to jazz, classical, or some kinds of rock, you will need a sub that is more accurate.

Well thats about all. Wow that was a long-ass post.

[whateverjames]

yes! do not buy a sony CD player. if any of you have one, and you like it, that's great, but at least i see someone hates theirs. buy a kenwood CD player. my CD player skips like crazy and the button functions get mixed up when it's cold. go to change the track, and you turn off the CD player, turn it back on, go to the audio settings and you skip a track. and now the CD gets jammed in the player and every time i want to eject a CD, i have to take off the detachable face. i'm getting the Kenwood that plays MP3's on CD-RW's.

[bing]

fuck duffman u gots alot to say.

my2cents.

i buy the shit all day long where i work and i got a decent system.
JL12w3, coustic - Power Logic- Amplifiers x 3, boston acoustic 6.5's and infinity 4x6's ( got an s13)

the amps are okay because they dont bullshit you and say they are 760 watts peak power.PEAK POWER DONT MEAN SHIT. &nbsp;IF IT SAYS 760 PEAK, ITS 150 RMS.

i got a nice big 45 x 4 bridged into each voice coil so thats 180 rms in one 12 inch JL, it was a $379.99 when i got it, (canadian prices) and the bostons are good but they are a few models old (still fuck up any pioneer and sony speaks) the infinity's are good to but you cant get enough base out of oval speaks.

sony and pioneer are poo, but if you a nice explod deck or a premier it will do nicely. i have a JVC 45 x 4 w remote, i got it for a bill. and it was brand new.

alltold i paid less than 5 bills canadian including costum box and install.

get a good amp and 1 good sub, its more than enough. &nbsp;

[DSC]

$5! &nbsp;heh, or do you mean $5k cnd? &nbsp;Whats that like $3500 usd?

[bing]

i meant $500, i got connex,

wow that sounded OG style.

[my240likenoother]

if you only have a $1000 to spend let me tell you that i put together a system that was only $1000 and it was loud 140db's and it sounded good
get
&nbsp;kenwood CD deck $200 (40x4 watts)
&nbsp;(run the front and rear speakers off the deck)
&nbsp;kenwood front speakers $100
&nbsp;kenwood rear speakers $100
&nbsp;JL audio sub's 12w0's $300 (with box)
&nbsp;kenwood 600watt amp $200 w
&nbsp;mics, wires $100

now you wount be disapointed with that set up and its in you price range

[bing]

kenwood looks nice but i would never pay top dollar for it.

i want to get components and put the 5 1/4 where the 4x6 goes, i can get cerwin vega hed 1502 (code???) for a bill. but i think i want macintosh, last summer a audio warehouse let macintosh 6.5 comonents sets with full size crossover go for 129.99 reg 629.99 WTF, i called from work but i couldnt make it out the next day and it was the last day of the sale.

[my240likenoother]

top dollar ??
that is very cheep and good qualty
and that all brand new in thebox with warenty

[anthony240]

I already have a Clarion HU, and it bangs my stock speakers, my rears are already busted. When I get to it, my audio system will consist of Focal Audio components powered by a Clarion amp, and 2 JL Audio 12w3's in a ported box powered by a JL Audio 500/1 amp. I'm ditching my rears so there can be holes left so I can hear the subs in the trunk more clearly, and my components will be enough, especially amplified at 100w. It'll cost me around $1000, but it'll be better than most street setups. Visit car audio forums for more details.

[keepitmovin]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Well I think im gonna get an sony explod amp, and I think a pioneer deck It looks a more casual than the eplod ones. But should I get one or two subs thats the question? I think If I get 2 subs Ill just get 2 10's. PEACE

[saga240]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from anthony240 on 7:52 pm on Nov. 26, 2001
I already have a Clarion HU, and it bangs my stock speakers, my rears are already busted. When I get to it, my audio system will consist of Focal Audio components powered by a Clarion amp, and 2 JL Audio 12w3's in a ported box powered by a JL Audio 500/1 amp. I'm ditching my rears so there can be holes left so I can hear the subs in the trunk more clearly, and my components will be enough, especially amplified at 100w. It'll cost me around $1000, but it'll be better than most street setups. Visit car audio forums for more details.
</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

you can fit a ported box for 2 12's in the trunk? wow.. &nbsp;
i have enough trobule with my 2 12's in the sealed box.

well.. my system is okay..

jvc kdsh99
cdt audio HD 62ST for the front.
diamond audio 255i coaxials in the rear
fronts and rears are powerd by an aura 4150Q.. &nbsp;(100X4 RMS)
currently have a Soundstream SPL in a ported box
running off a aura 450Q (100X2)
sitting in my room are 2 soundstream exacts..
waiting for a concept 1200watt monoblock..

thats all..

[drifterx]

i agree that Kenwood is worth its money.... it isnt too expensive... it cost the same as Sony, Pioneer, and stuff in the Middle to good range............
i would pass on the W0s that my240 said.... i would go to Circuit City and buy 2 12&quot; for $80 (kenwoods 500W max) or 2 MTX 6000s 12&quot;... cuz it is a buy 1 get 1 free sale.....
and custom build a box.... u can get the wood and get it cut from Home Depot for $20
just have the different sizes u wanna cut for each piece and tell them and they will do it for free..... go home, nail gun them together or screw them, and glue them... then silicone around the edges..... then thrown on a nice carpet for $15 and u r done......
or u can buy a box for $50-100 at the store....

my friend got 2 12&quot; Pioneer 450W IMPP for $60 each at Sears.
and i built his box

[319]

I have used Nakamichi head units for a while, &nbsp;well built, mine lasted me for over 5 yrs. w/o any problems. &nbsp;Very plain looking, but the sound quality is what really counts. &nbsp;As an added bonus thay have aux. inputs, so you can plug in a minidisc or mp3 player up to it. &nbsp;They are pretty inexspensive, unless you go up to their higher end stuff. &nbsp;

As for speakers I have Image Dynamics HLCD's. &nbsp;w/Boston pro &nbsp;6.5 in the doors. &nbsp;Very loud and the imaging is very good. To finish it off I have a Nakamichi 3 way x-over, Orion 300PEQ and a 50 x 4 &nbsp;amp powering the fronts and the (2)10&quot; Image Dynamics subz in a sealed enclosure. No rear speakers used.

old kenwood CD deck....alpines 4 x 6 up front...didn't fit so i HAD to make it fix...sorry peice of mofo crap...it is too...pioneers 6 3/4 in the back...i think it was 3/4..forgot...a PPI 50 x 4 amp...kickin the rears and 2 Pioneers 6x9....my car has decent sound....loud enuff for this old man to bitch at me to turn it down i gave him a good smoke in the face show....

[Grant]

Nakmichi CD-45z
Stock Speakers, bypassed the factory amps

What I have planned:
MB Quart Coax's for the rear
MB quart Referenz components for the front
2 JL 10w0's and a Kenwood 300w rms amp
and maybe later an amp for the speakers.