Stereo Equipment

[dragon240sx]

To begin I have a 96 240sx. Now, I have a Pioneer cd player, replaced all 4 stock speakers with Pioneer 6-1/2" 3-way speakers, and now I'm ready to look into a sub for my car. I'm thinking about getting two 10's to put in the trunk so I wanna know from any other guys here who have done stereo work as to what works best, what sounds good and thumps hard without costing me a months worth of paychecks, and what places want to rattle bad on the car with all of the extra bass. Thanks!

[drifterx]

i think 2 10s sounds the best but ofcourse u get more bass with 12s
i am putting 2 MTX 10s 4000 in my car.... i am not too much into loud.. .i just want a decent quality without killing my wallet... i am building my wedge design for both looks and performance... think about it this way... when u open your hatch u see 2 subs staring straight back at u cuz they will be at an angle.... or for those days out of the ghetto, u take out the board that covers your trunk and then show that sub and amp off though the glass.........

[dragon240sx]

Yeah I've heard MTX is good stuff...I'll take a look at what they offer in their line. As for an amp, any suggestions? I know amps are usually hella expensive so do you know any good brands?

[drifterx]

what head unit u have?

[transient]

10s are all you need unless you're gonna go comp. Make sure to get a bandpass box. That sounds the best in a hatchback, or do you have the coupe?

[dragon240sx]

I've got the coupe...which is another reason I'm getting 10's cuz the trunk has less room than the hatch. The Pioneer head unit I have is the DEH-P5200

(Edited by dragon240sx at 6:45 pm on Aug. 7, 2001)

[Jeff240sx]

Transient: 95+ dont have hatchbacks.
Anyway...
I have a 1996 Nissan 240sx SE.  In there, I have 3 MTX 6000 10's.  I got them for $399 at Circuit City and I have seen them in Crutchfield.  I have the Pioneed DEH-P8200 head unit, and replaced all 4 stock speakers with Polk Audio 6.5" co-axials.  Also, I left the stock tweeters in there.  The 3 10's came in a wedge box, that fits in there.

Stuff that Rattles:

Mirror on hot days- I guess the plastic gets loose around the mirror glass, but it goes away after a while.

The trunk!  It rattles.  Also, the license plate, if you have a frame for it.

Finally, and most importantly, the ENTIRE rear deck that houses the rear speakers.  It rattles like a mother- and I can't quite fix it by looking and yelling.  One of these days I will go in there, but in FL, it is hot as ####.  If I figure it out, I will post it for 'ya.
I am assuming that it is the deck bieng thin, and extra weight from the stock Clarion amps dangling down there.
Finally, for an amp, I have an Infinity Digital Beta 400.  100 watts by 2, or in my box, 400 watts by 1.  Each sub is getting 133 watts, which is a little more than half of the 250watts RMS the 6000 series 10's run.
Digital amps draw less current from the battery, and I have absolutly NO light dimming on ANY hard bump.  The amp was on clearance from Crutchfield- reg $650, sale, $225.  Go to crutchfield.com and look in the specials or clearance section, they always have a couple amps.
Post back as to what you got!
-Jeff

[dragon240sx]

Whew, thanks for all that info Jeff <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> Yeah my rear deck already rattles from the little amount of bass the Pioneer replacements put out. I just took it off, glued some thick cotton all on the bottom of it (i work part time at a furniture factory so I can get my hands on foam, cotton...) I figure I'll jack somemore foam and stuff to mat my entire trunk with once I get the subs.

[drifterx]

dynomat!
why dont u get some pioneer subs then?
atleast then u will match...
if u have a coupe then go with &nbsp;a box design , it is your choice to have to facing forward or backwards....
just put some of that soft paded double-sided tape on the license plate...
if still rattles then go dynomat but that stuff is heavy

[Jeff240sx]

Cotton? &nbsp;Like those little balls? &nbsp;Or stuff that I can't get my hand's on? &nbsp;Also.. did it help? &nbsp;If so, where can I buy some from.
Why line the entire trunk with foam? &nbsp;If you have the cash, Dyna-Mat is sooooo much better.
One more thing I didn't mention.
My box slides back and fourth. &nbsp;The carpeting in the trunk slides on top of that cheap carboard spare tire cover. &nbsp;It would cost me $60 to have it mounted at a custom auto shop.
-Jeff

[justinc]

Ya same my carpet slides around on the cheap cardboard

[96240SX]

Ok...How much cash you got? If money aint no thing...this is definately what I would get.. either get 2 Rockford Fosgate HX2's inside a Virtual-Technologies Box, IT WILL HIT LOUD AS ####!!! It will suck the air out of your lungs. Or you can go with one POWER hx2 which is twice the power as a normal HX. Then put IT in a virtual technologies box and you can compete in competitions..The Speaker is like 250 If u can find a good deal on it, and the box is 265. The Normal Hx's are like 150, supposed to be like 225. I seen it in some stores for that much. So 150 is a real good deal. It's your choice, I dont know what effects it will be in a 240sx, but again if stuff rattles get Dynomats installed for like 200 dollars. i heard it inside a Civic, and we were disarming car alarms left and right.
HX2-1000 Watts 500 RMS
Power Hx2-2000 watts 1000 RMS

IF you want to impress people...ROCKFORD FOSGATE HX2 SERIES will get ya there.

P.S.-SIngle Vtech boxes are like 265 for a 12, and Dual is lik 400. They made out of some kind of plastic..check it out when the site is up...www.virtual-technologies.com
They sell the HX's at www.ikesound.com ..They have a lot of other good deals on sound too. By far the cheapest.

[transient]

ahh, I knew that about the s14's, I just didn't know it was an S14. Maybe I should read the post a bit closer before I reply <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Anyway... in a trunk, if you can get two 10s in seperate enclosures and aim them towards each other, it will fill the trunk with air and function as a HUGE bandpass.

[lunatik]

96240sx,
&nbsp; &nbsp; You are a man after my own heart! &nbsp;I love Rockford Fosgate, and would never put anything else in my car. &nbsp;You Don't even need the HX'x, I have a pair of HE2s power by an RF power400a4. &nbsp;They really kick butt, I don't turn it up too loud because my mirror can't take it and I have some rattling. &nbsp;Hopefully I will get some dynamat soon. &nbsp;It does suck that I have no room in my trunk for anything else. &nbsp;I had to give up the 12's it was really heart breaking so I put them my GF's car. &nbsp;Go with fosgate drifter you won't regret it!

[dragon240sx]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Jeff240sx on 7<img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':0'>3 pm on Aug. 7, 2001
Cotton? Like those little balls? Or stuff that I can't get my hand's on?</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

It's this thick cotton that comes in a roll that we use to stuff the arms of the furniture frames with when we're upolstering them, lol. I figured since all I needed was something to keep the deck from vibrating against that panel it'd work and nobody would see it so it'd not be ghetto. Anything you can stuff between the deck and that panel will work.

Well I wish money wasn't a thing but it is, lol. I'm not looking for anything competition wise, just a good set of subs and amp so they won't distort and sound like crap.
So lunatik, you really like the HE2's? They seem to be more in my price range. I only make about $200 a week so I dont' wanna blow that on ONE speaker, lol. Any other suggestions? <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'> Thanks so far for all the help though!

[Grant]

hey guys how do you bypass the factory amps on a 240sx SE and have the deck's internal amp go directly to the speakers?

[drifterx]

where is the factory amp located?

[STL240SX]

ive got a 89 240sx, one of the first, and its got an awesome system in it, definately competition quality. ireplaced the stock speakers with pioneers 6 1/2 's , 4 rockford fosgate 12&quot; hx's in the hatch, custom built box of course. hits HARD! definately very nice, but ive also spent some big bucks as well. whole car completely dynomated with double layer dynomat extreme.

[Jeff240sx]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Grant on 12:56 am on Aug. 8, 2001
hey guys how do you bypass the factory amps on a 240sx SE and have the deck's internal amp go directly to the speakers?
</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

You have to have aftermarket speakers. &nbsp;When those are installed, get some slide-clip things (not bieng technical). &nbsp;Then you run a wire from the headunit's speaker output and hide it all the way to the back. &nbsp;Put the slide clip things on the ends of the speaker wires and hook them up. &nbsp;
Let the amp wires dangle.
-Jeff

[lunatik]

Dragon,

&nbsp; &nbsp;Yeah I really do like them, I really wanted to get the HX2, right of the back but i bought my car the same day i bought the speakers, and I had bought the amp right before I bought the car so I wanted to keep some money instead of blowing it all. &nbsp;I'll tell you one thing I've never been a big 10&quot; fan, I've always had 12's, but these dual voice coil beauties really impressed me. &nbsp;Eventually I will buy some HX2's when I save up some more money. &nbsp;But until them my HE2 tens kick butt. &nbsp;Go try them out at your local dealer, they are definately worth it, if you don't have the cash for the HX's.

[gfisch]

---hey guys how do you bypass the factory amps on a 240sx SE and have the deck's internal amp go directly to the speakers?

You dont have to have aftermarket speakers or run new wires. Just jumper the input and output wires on the harness and unplug them from the amps. I dont remember offhand which ones go to which, I'll try to check if they're still like that tomorrow.
Thats what I did for a few weeks before I got my Rockford Fosgate 800.4 amp and MB Quart speakers all around with all new wires to replace em.

Greg
'95 SE

[silvia240]

i hear massive amounts of money being spent here. &nbsp;I will tell you this about systems, first make sure you have a good amp, because with a good amp, you can make shitty subs sound good. &nbsp;I bought a JL audio 12w6 and man do those bump so fricken hard. &nbsp;My head hearts caus the bass is so loud. &nbsp;anyways just make sure you get a good amp, i would suggest rockford fosgate, they are pretty cheep for the performance you get out of them. &nbsp;And tune your system, it makes a big difference. I should know, i install systems for a living. &nbsp;If you do now want to spend a lot of money, just get a JL12W0, that bumps good too and get an amp that puts out at least 100 watts rms.

[andwys]

I am sorry guys but my personnal opinion is that Rockford fosgate's suck. sure they are cheaper than other quality subs, but they just don't have the clearity and high SPL levels that MTX and Kicker have.

This is my setup: &nbsp;Clarion deck (55rms x 4 channals, 3 rca's) custom fitted amp rack with Soundstream amp (150 watts bridged), urban audio amp (75 x 4 channals)
speakers: &nbsp;Infiniti Kappa component system in front
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Clarion ProAudio in the rear
Subs: 2 twelve inch Kicker Competions (8 ohm subs wired parallel to produce a 4 ohm impedance, so 150 watts rms to each sub)

If I were to purchase subs again these are the ones to buy: MTX Thunder series, Infinity kappa, Kicker solobaric, or competion VRs.

[lunatik]

I will agree with you andwys, in that the mtx thunders are nice speakers. &nbsp;I have a pair of 12's in my truck,and in m gf's car. &nbsp;Both are loud. &nbsp;I guess you haven't seen too many RF's Perform. Other than the RF's I really like the Boston Acoustic. &nbsp;My friend is sponsored by Sound Advice, and boy does hit truck hit hard. &nbsp;But give me some RF POWER HX2's, and I'llbe the happiest man on Earth!

[rabbit23]

i think that choosing speaker types and size depends more on the type of music you listen to. the faster the bass hits the smaller the speaker you need. i have a pair of jl audio 10w3's in the trunk powered by a prescion power 2x300, my system sounds incredible (of course i could be biased). &nbsp;i mainly listen to house/trance/jungle. if i was more of a rap fan i would have 12's or 15's. in my opinon there is no substitute for the crisp bass of jl audio. mtx and rf definatly hit harder but for over all sound quality jl is the shit. our cars (s14) are a great platform for after market speakers, with 4 6.5's for mids and highs. mb quart in this area can't be beat. someone has mentioned ike sound already, i've ordered stuff from there and have been very happy. just my .02's
chad-

if u wanna go somewhat custom and not loose ur trunk but yet still have good bass..... try this..... in the pass through from ur trunk (s-14s) get a board cut to fit the opening and fit some free-air 8's.. i have 2 free - air 8 inch pioneers and they are great for mid-bass..... but when my fifteen inch solo-baric blew out i had to rely on them for bass and mid-bass.... and they did &nbsp;a surprisingly good job so think about doing something like that i have a picture of my set-up if u would like to see it let me know

[Fuzzy Ewok]

In answer to the original question, my personal choice of brand would be Orion. In looking at the 240sx trunk space (or lack there of), the XTR PRO line is a good choice. They have great response, and nice, resonant base when thrown into a good custom box. They're also designed with smaller enclosure recommendations in mind, which suits the 240 very well. If you had the money to burn, their HCCA competition speakers leave little to be desired, but the price is way up there. <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> Two 10&quot; XTR Pro's are what I plan on installing into my car when I'm ready. The only trick is finding an outlet that sells Orion... But the two or three hour drive will be more than worth it, in my opinion.

[dragon240sx]

Well as for the style of music, I listen to mostly rap, with techno/trance/house coming in second place...so I'm mostly looking for the subs for when I'm listening to rap. I see a lot of you like MTX and I have a friend here who is also in love with the MTX speakers. Are the Thunder6000 series good? Also, for the 240sx coupes, what is the best style box?

dragon i sent you the pic of my pass through u can get an idea from that

[dragon240sx]

Hey, thanks for the pic...that's a pretty cool idea :biggrin: I'll be sure to keep that mind while looking at all my options. Hey Jeff240sx, you really like your MTX's? My friend here keeps recommending those to me too so I'll probably be getting 2 of those 6000 series.

make sure u get a BIG amp if ur gonna get those 6000'z they aren't very sensitive..... the subs that i love the &quot;mostest&quot; are the Cerwin Vega Vega - Series subs..... *druel* they are the nicest..... i had 2 tens they out-dualed so many sets of 12's that it was almost no contest and my subs were feared in my town... no joke. &nbsp;u can give the vega's 100 watts each (make sure its clean power) and they can hit harder than alot of subs out there.... i had mine in a bandpass in my trunk (s-14) and WOW! i couldn't fit the 12's that i wanted so i was stuck with 10's <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('> but they surpirised me non-the less. &nbsp;u can find them on-line for as little as $110 for the 12's a piece or 99 for tens..... don't over look these they are spectacular subs i have a pic of those and how much room they took up in my trunk..... i think.... so if ur interested lemme know. the box u could probably find for like 100 if u wanna go bandpass...... but u dont have a trunk with these subs in there.... they require a bit of air space... and they require a ported box.

[dragon240sx]

Hey, sounds like they are pretty good quality for their price range! If I can get them for around $100 a piece that'd be awesome! I'd like to see that pic if you have it. So you said they require a bandpass box? As long as it'll fit in the trunk that's no problem because I don't use my trunk for anything anyway...Thanks for your help!

i sent a few pics...... they can be in a ported box but i'd recommend a bandpass..... cuz they kick major ass in there... 10's will fit for sure.... 12'z won't u'd need a custom box for twelves

[dragon240sx]

Ah, okay...so bandpass box it is <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> Thanks for the pics. What series did you have? All I saw on Crutchfield.com for the Vega series was some 10's that were $178 a piece...where else should I look for them?

well if ur interested in the tens i'll look to see where the best place is to get them on-line.... and i'll get back to u

[dragon240sx]

Hey, I got another question...I know Fuzzy Ewok mentioned Orion subs, but have any of the rest of you heard them? I had another friend tell me they're really good and showed me a place I can get some XTR's for only $99!

[silvia240]

For me, i like clean crisp bass, i also listen to rap and r&amp;b, i dont like that crazy bass that never stops. &nbsp;Mine hits hard as #### but its very clean. it all depends on the person. so listen to different kinds of subs and get what you like the best. &nbsp;

i listen to all kinds of music.... and some speakers just DONT play well with certain types of music my set-up is mostly for rap and hip-hop music i have pioneer and kicker speakers.... they work wonderfully for rap/ hip-hop techno.... and the like.

[whateverjames]

i have 2 10&quot; polk dx's ($180/pr on sale) and a 360 rockford punch amp. i'm running it in 2ohms because i'm a cheap bastard, but i didn't plan on buying these subs. in 2 ohms i'm pushing 520 watts, and i need about 80 more watts to get the subs' full potential. they sound good but they aren't extremely loud. i listen to metal, and the double bass drums sounds great. anyone know a place to amps cheap online?

[Fuzzy Ewok]

Blah, it figures...internet error right as I post a long one. <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> Well, I'll sum it up real quick...

You can visit the Orion site at http://www.orioncaraudio.com if you like. Even the lowliest Orion speakers and amps (Cobalt series) are based on competition quality products. And the Cobalt series will kick the shit out of a lot of stuff out on the market right now. <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> Orion sponsored cars have a tendancy to win a lot of competitions, and they've decided to only make high quality products.

If you can get XTR's for $99.00 a piece you're doing well...I think you'd be very happy with them. <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> They're a fine speaker, to say the least.

Obviously I'm biased towards Orion, but the truth is that all of the brands and products listed in this thread are excellent and would serve you well. Don't get too worried about making &quot;the right choice&quot; as I think you'll be very pleased with anything you get off the list here. <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Orion makes very high quality stuff, but you do pay for it...they're not usually cheap. My suggestion would be to browse their site and use the &quot;Dealer Locator&quot; on their main page to find a store near you that carries their brand. They are very picky about whom they allow to sell their products, hence the rarity of seeing them. Go into a store and ask questions about them...they'll be able to tell you anything you'd like to know. That way you can find out if the brand is right for you.

One last thing...while you're browsing the site, check out the enclosures section. They've got some designs for a couple of nice custom bandpass boxes, as well as an innovative and space-saving setup for two XTR Pro 10&quot;s (XTR and XTR Pro are similar enough that they'd work well in that setup). If nothing else, you can get some great ideas for custom boxes. <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Good luck and happy hunting!

[LegendZ28]

I don't understand why people are so into bandpass and ported boxes really, I always liked sealed boxes. They may require more amp power to sound nice but they are alot cleaner and require less space.

My friend has some eclipse subs in a sealed box and it has the best bass I have ever heard in my life, like I couldn't hear myself think over the bass. I need to ask him about his setup but he's dissapeared, he told me his entire setup cost a little over 2k though, so it sure wasn't cheap.

[misnomer]

Dunno how much this will help, though I'm putting together a somewhat cheaper system for my '92 s13 hatchback. Made new baffles to fit 6.5&quot; Infinite Kappa components up front &amp; placed tweets in door panels. 4x6 Kappas in back (both purchased from Crutchfield's). Kenwood head unit. I'm borrowing my sister's MTX Blue Thunder 8&quot; subs and Profile amp at the moment, though plan on switching over to sealed-box Kappa 10&quot; subs once I come across the money. I listen to primarily rock and country (oh I feel so alone. . . <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'> ), but music isn't the #1 goal of my car. If anybody has any questions on the s13 speaker setup (bypassing amps, etc), gimme a hollar. Haven't had time to find the rear speaker amp yet, but it's gotta go too <img src="#/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'>

[Grant]

I never was a fan of orion until my friend and I put a system in his tacoma, although it was one XTR in a ported box it could be heard from 2 blocks away and it was clean and clear. I also like the kicker comp vr's but the XTR's were able to hit cleaner and lower in my opinion (I have owned a kicker compVR before). I am not that crazy about bass anymore so my next sub will be either a JL or diamond audio since they are pretty well known for their sound quality. &nbsp;Anyways, hope this helps, cant wait to get rid of those #### factory amps on my car.

[lunatik]

Misnomer,
&nbsp; I used to have infinity Kappas in my truck. &nbsp;They were kind of expensive, and I really didn't like them too much. &nbsp;I will never buyanother pair of kappas, fortunately they were stolen from my truck, And I bought some Mb quartz. &nbsp;there are better speakers, at lower prices than the kappas. &nbsp;Shop around before you buy them!

[my240likenoother]

well to let you people know i have been into this for about 8 years and i have &nbsp;2 ,12&quot;JLw0's and i runing 600 watts to it and i sound great and i can also reach 140db's
i only have $1,200 in to it and it looks good too

if ne1 has some Q's just ask and i will love to help

[misnomer]

I did shop around, and found the Kappas on sale, that's why I bought them :-)