Car Audio Questions

[pat19 0]

i'd like to get an audio system for my car for a round $500 but i have some questions. is $500 enought for a good sytem or possibly too much, i don't need it to be amazing i just want a good one. how many speakers would i need? 2 or 4? and would i need an amplifier? sorry to make a topic i just want to get an idea.

[precursor 0]

You can definitely improve whatever you have with $500. Most factory speakers are garbage, and should be replaced. They will sound better with an AMP, if you can find one cheap. I have always believed in a single subwoofer to add definition to the music too (fuck thump thump bass though).

Do you need a headunit as well?

[pat19 0]

yeah i need a head unit too but i don't include that in the $500. i was planning to get a sub too i just wasn't sure if i needed an amp, i don't really know much about this at all. the car isn't very good either, i don't even have it yet but i think i'm getting my cousin's 96 maxima so i should probably get 4 speakers right?

[cougarscaptain87 12]

save your money until you have closer to $1000. if you spend little money on the sound system you would be better off with stock. unless you just wanted to upgrade your speakers and not include a subwoofer. if i was you i would go to a specialist and see what they would suggest. i have 2 12" infinti subs and 4 kappa speakers, with a pioneer head unit and a jbl amp, ran me about $1500 with instal and wires. the problem with getting new speakers and not an amp is that the speakers will not perform to their fullest, and without the amp they will short out sooner than with an amp. if you have a friend who KNOWS how to install, then i would ask him if he could help, but make sure he KNOWS what he is doing. also dont forget to purchase the wire kits, and the little accessories that are necessary for everything to work. keep in mind you dont have to buy it all at once, you can start with a head unit, then get the subs, amp, and box, and then you can go for the speaker upgrade.

[pat19 0]

yeah i was thinking $500 plus a $2-300 head unit but i don't know much about it, i'll pay more if i need to, i'll probably just go talk to someone. there's a kid i know, kind of a friend of a friend, who installs them for his friends, i think he knows how and does a good job so i'll just have to see.

[rinkrat94 1]

The best investment you can make for your car audio system is to buy a good amp. What cougarscaptin said is correct, if you don't have an amp you won't use the speakers or sub to their full potential. It would be pointless to buy good speakers or a good sub if you don't have a good amp to power them.

[precursor 0]

I have a similar setup. I have a pioneer premier headunit, and infinity kappa speakers all around. I have a single 12" kappa perfect sub, with a 1000watt infinity amp powering it.

Believe it or not, I am running the speakers off my headunit, and they sound great. not that they are up to their full potential, but they are greatly improved over the stock sound. I have toyed with the idea of adding an AMP to the speakers, but have frankly been too lazy.

I purchased the headunit at a local shop, and the sub/amp on ebay (both new). I did the install myself, with a friend to be there as a sanity check to make sure I didn't do anything dumb.

Knock on wood, its been 5 years, and I have never had a single problem.

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

eBay has great deals if you know what you are doing - I have an Alpine head unit, Alpine mp3 cd changer, Kicker separates in the front and a Solo-Baric sub in the back. I need a new amp for the Solo though :(

[W.Malone 0]

do some research on car audio forums. I created a great system based off of research from them.

I recommend rainbow component speakers (6" mid with a tweeter in front of the car) with factory 6x9's that are basically turned off (fader all the way to the front) you don't need back speakers at all (called back fill). Trust me it sounds way better. You'll need a 2 channel amp for these speakers.

Note rainbow is a german company and is sometimes hard to find. you'll have to do some digging.

For the sub I got the mid priced 12" sub from ascendant audio http://www.ascendantaudio.com/

I just checked their website and they are having trouble keeping up with demand.

I previously had a 10' L7 solo baric that was loud as hell, but lacked some quality. the ascendant sub has both. You'll need a 1 channel amp to power this.

I've never owned anything but kicker amps, they sound great and can be found relatively cheaply on ebay.

I do agree that you should save till $1k to spend. Good stuff isn't cheap. Cheap stuff is hardly an upgrade.

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

I luckily still have a round Solo. It's lasted me the better part of 9 yrs. Only problem with Solos is that you need a lot of power to get them to sound good.

[D-MaN88 0]

In my experience as well the more money you spend, the WAY better sounding and quality your system will sound. My one friend's system ran him about $1,750 (2 JL W7s, JL Amp, Alpine Deck, and I think, 0 or 3 guage wiring with a completely custom box). Now that's the system he settled for after about 5 different setups, he drives a Buick Rendezvous and has had a custom box setup with 4 18s but they were shit quality. The higher the quality and the more money you have to truly put into quality components, the better your system will sound and the longer it will last. (Note: I'm not telling you to shell out $1,500+ as well, it was just an example.)

[Chadd 916]

save your money until you have closer to $1000. if you spend little money on the sound system you would be better off with stock. unless you just wanted to upgrade your speakers and not include a subwoofer. if i was you i would go to a specialist and see what they would suggest. i have 2 12" infinti subs and 4 kappa speakers, with a pioneer head unit and a jbl amp, ran me about $1500 with instal and wires. the problem with getting new speakers and not an amp is that the speakers will not perform to their fullest, and without the amp they will short out sooner than with an amp. if you have a friend who KNOWS how to install, then i would ask him if he could help, but make sure he KNOWS what he is doing. also dont forget to purchase the wire kits, and the little accessories that are necessary for everything to work. keep in mind you dont have to buy it all at once, you can start with a head unit, then get the subs, amp, and box, and then you can go for the speaker upgrade.

Depends on what you want the system to do. If you want good, clean definition to your music at high volumes levels, then $500 plus a head is plenty. If you want to impress people with names or have a system loud enough to wake the dead, then you need to spend more. The most important thing is to split the signal and use high and low pass filters to make sure that the frequencies are going to the right speakers.

Then again, I had some incredibly crappy junk in my old Mazda truck when I was a kid. The whole rig couldn't have cost me more than $300 and it sounded better than a lof of guys who spent thousands on their setups. That was back when CDs weren't very common though, and quality was often limited by the media more than the system.

Buying wisely on eBay or older model closeouts can help you put together a great system on a budget. Have an idea of what you want to do and then find the parts that will help you flesh out the system that you designed.

[TBLfan 25]

I just bought a Pioneer head unit, the 6900UB to be specific. I like it a lot, the rear usb is a nice touch because it lets you connect a MP3 player or even a flash drive. It's pretty cool. It's worth checking out.

[BK 0]

I just got one of these for my birthday..

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDeta...n-dash%20player

Nothing TOO fancy, but it has a nice line that goes to my glove box for my pod. I wanted something that would let me control my ipod from the deck, not just a line in. It was like $200 and has a rebate (I don't mess with rebates).

[Louie 28]

I'm looking for some new speakers, 4 5.25" speakers and 2 3.5" speakers, they will be powered by a Pioneer AVIC-D3, does anyone have any suggestions?