Need help from a Car Sound Guru

[agentrfr]

To put it somply, I hate the sound in my car. It's terrible.

The radio is built into the dash, so I will probably need to have an amp that accepts the radio and CD as an AUX in, but must have its own volume controller.

I'm looking to get 4 seakers (one in each door) and a bass in the boot. (I drive a hatchback)

Can anyone please suggest what I must look for/order to be installed in my car? Things like brands and expected costs. I dont know what the difference is between JVC and Pioneer speakers. I felt like a moron when speaking to a buddie of mine over the phone for a quote...

Thanks

 

[shakes1]

Drop me a PM with your number, my brother is into car sound, will ask him to help. Unfortunately, I know nudda about sound!

 

[Fox1]

Pretty Simple. Your car should have two RCA line-outs somewhere in the boot for carrying audio out to an amplifire. If not, the guys that are installing the sound will use a converter to make you a set of line-outs from your the rear speaker's cords.
Then you should be looking at brands like Targa for your amps. You would need a 4 channel amp for your 4 speakers. Get 6" Sony/Pioneer speakers for your doors. Your front may only cater for 4.25" speakers.

A better option is to get 2 Kenwood 7x10's in the back. These things push out bass like a sub and it will save you having to buy a sub, an additional mono-block amp for the sub, extra wiring, and you will still have your boot space. They normally sell also around R700. You just have to have your back board cut to have them installed.

 

[bleh69]

i second the 7x10 idea. The sound quality out of those puppies beat a dedicated sub any day. for me a dedicated sub has too much bass, and it fuddles the fidelity.

so 1 4 channel amp... 2 x 7x10 rear and 2x 6 inches in front. all you will ever need.

 

[agentrfr]

Pretty Simple. Your car should have two RCA line-outs somewhere in the boot for carrying audio out to an amplifire. If not, the guys that are installing the sound will use a converter to make you a set of line-outs from your the rear speaker's cords.
Then you should be looking at brands like Targa for your amps. You would need a 4 channel amp for your 4 speakers. Get 6" Sony/Pioneer speakers for your doors. Your front may only cater for 4.25" speakers.

A better option is to get 2 Kenwood 7x10's in the back. These things push out bass like a sub and it will save you having to buy a sub, an additional mono-block amp for the sub, extra wiring, and you will still have your boot space. They normally sell also around R700. You just have to have your back board cut to have them installed.

Thanks. Thats exactly what I'm looking for

 

[MR.C]

If you gonna put a sub, or want good separation of the sound, I suggest a crossover and for the doors get splits ( separate midrange and tweeter) with the sound separated by a crossover.
I found the 7X10's to have too much treble.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

i second the 7x10 idea. The sound quality out of those puppies beat a dedicated sub any day. for me a dedicated sub has too much bass, and it fuddles the fidelity.

so 1 4 channel amp... 2 x 7x10 rear and 2x 6 inches in front. all you will ever need.

6x9s and 7x10s are a waste of time if you want decent sound. It's cool for students on a tight budget who want a bit of everything.

I'd take a sub, splits in front, splits at the rear and a decent amp any day. It will only have too much bass if you're insane and decide to turn up the gains on the channels of the amp that the sub is connected to. As said before, 7x10s lack the oomph to keep up at higher volumes, resulting in distorted bass and too much treble. By separating your components, you have a higher degree of control over them.

 

[Fox1]

6x9s and 7x10s are a waste of time if you want decent sound. It's cool for students on a tight budget who want a bit of everything.

I'd take a sub, splits in front, splits at the rear and a decent amp any day. It will only have too much bass if you're insane and decide to turn up the gains on the channels of the amp that the sub is connected to. As said before, 7x10s lack the oomph to keep up at higher volumes, resulting in distorted bass and too much treble. By separating your components, you have a higher degree of control over them.

No distorted bass here. It hums like a humming bird.

People set their amps on high pass when they connect 7x10's because they are too afraid of popping their 7x10's on the normal settings

And you don't need split units if you already have an amp with a built in crossover.

 

[Dolby]

I agree with Mike actually : you want a front sound stage.

Doubt you'll have RCAs out - so as Fox said, they'll use a converter

 

[DukeofHouse]

Agree with Dolby - front sound stage is the way to go.

If you mainly commute alone or with one other person, rather spend some money on a good set of splits for the front. You can always add the other speakers later.
I'd recommend JBL/Infinity splits at the front, 10"-12" sub, and a 4 channel amp.

Most decent amps have speaker level inputs so you don't need another line converter. You can also bridge 2 channels of the amp for the sub for a bit more power.

Stay away from the 6x9's and 7x10's if possible for the reasons already mentioned..

Have fun.

 

[Gnome]

6x9's and 7x10's are confused little speakers, don't know if it's a sub-woofer, a mid range or top end speaker. Useless as any of those, split system blow them out of the water at mid and low range and sub-woofers absolutely destroy them at low end.

As said by others, splits front and rear, sub in the back.

The I have lots of money system:

My split system suggestion: Infinity Kappa/Kappa Perfect's, JBL 660GTi, Boston Acoustics Pro series. There are others, just can't think of any now
My sub-woofer suggestion: JL (Sorry I'm biased, JL all the way)
Amplifier suggestion: Rockford Fosgate

The I don't have lots of money system:
Split systems: Infinity Kappa, Kenwood, Rockford Fosgate, JBL (rather still get some decent split systems because it makes the biggest difference IMHO)
Sub-woofer: Pioneer Premier/Kicker/JBL
Amplifier: ?? Whatever works for the chosen configuration

My setup recommendations:
A single amplifier, 4 channel, highly recommended that it is 1 ohm stable, run front and rear split systems in parallel from a single channel pair and the sub-woofer from the other channel in bridged mode.

Since you have a hatchback you may want to look into a shallow mount sub (I know boot space can be a precious commodity in hatches), Pioneer Premier has a decent looking shallow mount sub considering the price, JL has a really decent on but it's probably gonna be hellishly expensive. Also create a custom enclosure, sealed, if you buy JL, Pioneer and JBL (only brands I've actually personally owned so far) they give you a sheet with the optimal enclosure size. You just need to buy the wood and make it, considering that most places will gladly cut a wood panel for you if you buy there it's hardly difficult to create a sealed sub-woofer enclosure.

Run a single 0 or 2 gauge wire from the battery to the amp (rather go big and get the hassle over with), upgrade alternator ground + positive wire (between the alternator and battery), battery ground and engine ground to 0 gauge (or 2 gauge). If the car is already running 0 gauge or 2 gauge you only need to upgrade if the head lights dim. I've used standard wire I buy from weld store in Pretoria for every installation so far, never had trouble, plus it's much cheaper than others. Still 0 gauge is like R30 a meter. Cable must be stranded wire!

One of my previous cars was a Corsa Sedan with 2x Amplifiers, when the sound was at it's loudest the headlights dimmed lots and the revs kept dropping (normal idle is at 800rpm and it dropped down to 500rpm on bass hits). In the end the coil pack went and the ECU voltage regulators weren't doing too well either (the sensors are supposed to run from a 5volt reference which at the end sat at 4.94 volt, doesn't sound like much but for a voltage reference that is SERIOUSLY inaccurate). So rather upgrade those ground wires if you have head light dimming and you care about the state of your cars electrical system.