Car stereo

[Warthog]

Figured we haven't had a thread like this in a bit...
I don't think there are that many car audio nuts around here (RobRich, Surreal, to name a few) but whatever, post whatever you have

Currently I have dual 10" Elemental Designs O Series subwoofers inside a 0.75cf per chamber sealed box, given 300w RMS ea by my JBL 600.1 amplifier. My front speakers are Infinity (forgot the model...around $70 online) and head unit is some Panasonic that came with it.

Just ordered:
Pioneer Premier DEH-P560MP - no more push button freaking volume knob, non-existant EQ and other issues I have with the Panasonic.
Infinity 65.5i rear speakers - finally having some decent midrange (hopefully)
Hifonics 1500D amplifier - giving subs 500w RMS each.

If the increased power from that amp doesn't give me the increased bump I want, I'll eventually upgrade to a single 12", ported Resonant Engineering XXX which will be rocking. That amp will give the XXX 1.5kw

I'm hooking up my buddy, k9 chic, with my 'old' amp (that same JBL), a pair of 12" Phoenix Gold Titaniums that I found online from somebody...$235 shipped w/box, not bad at all. Had her order MB Quart fronts/rears and she likes a head unit by JVC (it changes colors). Best Buy tried to get her to get all KINDS of crap...a freaking $140 "dual amp installation kit" (aka wiring kit) for ONE amp...and $140 is INSANE. For $30-40 you can get the exact same thing, even cheaper at Wal-mart. Anyway, I'll be wiring her XTerra tomorrow if it doesn't rain, or Monday. Can't wait

Warthog

PS - I'll take some pics of this stuff when I get it.

Sadly, my money isn't where my plans are when it comes to my stereo.

All I've got right now is a Pioneer Premier DEH-200, a pair of 6.5" Eclipse co-axials that I can't remember the model name of, and an Eclipse EA2212 pushing a stratospheric 210 watts into 10" Eclipse 87101DVC sub in a .75cu box with a nifty window in the back (I didn't put it there, that's just what it came in). But even though it's a 'low-power' system, I have no trouble getting it too loud for myself or rattling every loose object and panel in the Jeep.

Eventually I want to upgrade to Eclipse 5444 CD/MP3 deck, two Eclipse SC8352 5.25" component systems for the interior 'stock' speaker replacements pushed by an Eclipse PA5422 85x4 @ 4Ohm amp.

The sub will stay where it is. It's plenty good enough for the XJ. I had a dual 12 Eclipse setup in there for a day. I traded it in for the single 10 and I'm much happier with it.

[Solid Snake]

-JVC MP3 head unit with dot matrix display

-400w Optimus 4/3/2 channel amplifier (300x2 RMS)

-200w Phase Linear PL-200 amplifier (50x2 RMS)

-Optimus 24dB/octave low pass crossover set to 180hz

-5.25" Eclipse 2-way speakers in the doors

-Two 10" Infinity 1030w subwoofers in a sealed enclosure

-440,000 uf of capacitors


That's about $1000 of components installed over a year or two. Before I had the two Infinity tens, I had a polk EX12 which had pretty low excursion and poor low frequency output. I bought the pair of Infinity subs for $110 when they were on sale at circuit city and they really, really impressed me. Just one of those subs outperformed my 12" Polk. Right now I realized that I never use the subs to their full capacity so I'm planning to pull out one of the subs to use with my PC and make a new 2cuft ported enclosure (tuned to 23hz) to house the sub in my trunk. The system gets painfully loud before there is even a hint of distortion so I think I'm done playing with it for now. I use it to listen to mostly alternative, dance/club music, eurodisco, house, electronica and other types of music. I almost never listen to pop or rap, but when my friend insisted on listening to a rap cd, the system handled it beautifully. Even though rap isn't music, it's fairly stressful on sound systems.

Wow, I haven't seen the name Phase Linear since I was a wee lad. My dad still has a PL stereo amplifier they used for a PA amp for a long time. Good stuff back in the day. Probably still are.

Out of curiousity, why are you going with a ported enclosure?

I'm surprised you run your subs up to 180Hz. Not that it won't pull it in a sealed box, but that's still pretty high in my experience. I've got mine down around 80Hz right now. When I let it run into the 100s the sound gets muddy.

[Solid Snake]

I'm very happy with the Phase Linear amp. I took it apart out of curiosity and it looks like it's built very well. I got it from circuit city only a few years ago.

I ran the specs of the 1030w against a box plot program and found that with that box, I can have a -3dB point of 22hz. At 22hz, this ported box should be about 8 times louder than one in a sealed box due to the rolloff of the sealed box. The 10" version of this sub has a much looser suspension than the 12" which lets me use a smaller box. I don't have the room in my trunk for a low tuned 12" box. With the 10", I'll have most of my trunk free. At mid to higher frequencies, the box should sound like a sealed enclosure.

A lot of guys say ported boxes sound like @$$ but that's mostly Circuit City's fault since they sell one-size-fits-all bandpass and ported boxes tuned to 60hz+. They are good for rap since they ring like crazy but horrible for music. The port in my next box will be over 24" long.

This kind of box will sound flat in a home environment but not in a car because of cabin gain, so I'll have to set up a custom crossover to cut excess low frequency.

The subs sound best at that xover setting, well at least to me because I like a flat, clean sound. If I cross them over too low, they get too loud at lower frequencies. Plus, they blend in perfectly with the Eclipses in the front. I can xover the fromt Eclipses at lower frequencies but they tend to buzz and bottom out at higher volumes. I don't have the "smiley face" frequency response most modified car systems have. In the mid-bass region, you can't really tell if the sound is coming from the speakers or the subs. The transfer between the subs and speakers is smooth. You can feel the kick of a snare drum on your chest, it's great

[Urban_Squrill]

I have spent way too much on my system(more then my car).

Head unit:KDC-X769
Acc: Kenwood Music Keg
Front speakers: 6.5'' Boston Acoustic pro series
Boston Acoustic pro series 1'' tweeters
Rear speakers:6x9'' Bonson Acoustic pro series
Speakers are amped by a 4 Channel 760watt kenwood amp
Subwoofer: 12'' Rockford Fosgate Hx2 Power(1000k rms)

My system sounds crystal clear. I love it. Loud and sounds good, what else would anyone want?

Originally posted by Solid Snake
The subs sound best at that xover setting, well at least to me because I like a flat, clean sound. If I cross them over too low, they get too loud at lower frequencies. Plus, they blend in perfectly with the Eclipses in the front. I can xover the fromt Eclipses at lower frequencies but they tend to buzz and bottom out at higher volumes. I don't have the "smiley face" frequency response most modified car systems have. In the mid-bass region, you can't really tell if the sound is coming from the speakers or the subs. The transfer between the subs and speakers is smooth. You can feel the kick of a snare drum on your chest, it's great

That's cool. I like a really tight low-mid range. Right between 70 - 100Hz. That point where subs start to sound muddy and most co-axials start to roll-off. That's why I'm going with the component system. The mid-bass drivers are rated down to 35Hz themselves. I want to use the sub for what you should use a sub for: Reinforcement. We'll see what happens. It could just be a lot of wasted cash. The important thing is to do what sounds good to you.

Sounds like a decent setup, U_S.

Hey Wart, wasn't it you that did the home made sub in the back of his Beemer?

[Solid Snake]

A good way to find out if your low end response is boomy or flat is to play this song:

Sylver-In Your Eyes

The song contains lots of different bass notes played at pretty much the same volume. Listen to it with a good pair of headphones, then try it in your car.

I would like to contribute to this thread, but I am now starting over after selling the Firebird. I have a little bass, but that is about it.....

MTX 2200 driving two 10" Inifinity 1030w subwoofers in two custom dual-ported single-reflex bandpass enclosures. Primary speakers are currently just four 2-way 5x7's and two tweeters.

It is loud enough to annoy people in town, but nothing near what I am accustomed.

Just as with Solid Snake, I have found Infinity's 1030w sub to be a great low-cost bass solution. However, I still miss my RS 15s in the Firebird.

I need to replace the sorry head unit in this car, but I have to change out the center console in the process (Mercury Sable). I just finished installing a Sirius JVC satellite radio, so now I can at least listen to some decent music.

Robert Richmond

I just put my sub/amp in my mom's Mazda. Bought an amp wiring kit for the first time ever. Wasn't too bad. I need to replace every speaker in the car though. The two front speakers were paper cone and both were warped by water, one to the point where the voice coil was making contact with the magnet at all times. The rear deck speakers are pressed cardboard with whizzers and sound like complete crap. Even a set of Walmart Durabrand speakers would sound better than these things. I'll put MA Audio co-axials in the doors and mid-basses in the deck. That way when I pull my sub out it might still sound somewhat decent.

Also, if you want to test out your low low end, get Planet Home by Jamiroquai. If you don't have your full range speakers crossed over, don't turn it up very loud, you'll destroy them.