Car Audio Component Speakers

Freaky, if you can’t tell the difference then fine but many can. I can tell the difference between crappy speakers and good ones while driving. I tried the crappy ones and I was not happy with them. When I am employed I spend almost two hours a day or more in my car driving to and from work and with the stereo playing I don't hear any road noise.


It’s all a matter of personal taste. It like asking you why OC your computer.




Edwelly, thanks. I may just try so MBQ’s in my next install.

[edwelly]

HfdWolfPack: GREAT! Are you going to install them or have someone else? Let us know how pleased you are...
jad1097: Glad to hear this... I think they have such a warm sound. My ears tend to like freq's between 100hz to 1000hz... That's where the bass guitar and the majority of your vocals are. That's why I like them sooo much! Not many people here in Louisville, KY sell them anymore. I can only think of 1 place. JAD, how long have you been doing this stuff? I can go back 8-10 years ago and the equipment back then was expensive, but man was it good stuff. Alpine was really good back then. You could buy an Alpine amp (100w x2) and it was damn close to that, but the amp was $650.00. Then came out companies like Profile (I am not knocking Profile, just stating a fact) and those amps would have a rating on it of 200w x2 and sell for $99.95. I sure wish I had some of my old equipment back... I still have an old MTX Terminator amp, all bright red. It was made be PPI at the time. It has a rating of 25w x2 and it really sounds good. I wanted to design a system and I was going to use it as a sub amp... But time seems to slip away from me all to often now...
---edwelly

[HfdWolfPack]

I still have an old MTX Terminator amp,

MTX is the ultimate Bang for the buck.

Circuit Chity has the Thunder4202 for $179 Think Im gonna pick it up.
I have an Orion XTR12s sub in the back rated at 250 rms. The RF160.2 seems to be straining to push it. It bangs well, but gain is almost all the way up, The sub control on the HU is all the way up, and the 18db boost knob is at 1/2.
I think I may use the RF for the comps (40x2 rms).
and the MTX4202 for the sub 200x1 bridged @12v ( more than the 160x1 from the RF) and 280x1 @14v




then I should be done ( till I pay off some all american CC bills)

[SoopaStar]

If you are paying that much, you should look into Diamond Audio or MB Quart. check out www.mmxpress.com

Paul

I have been doing installs for friends since I was 14 or 15. So I guess about 18 years now, man that makes me feel OLD! I got some crappy subs, horns, mids and a cheap amp, I think it was a Sanyo 50x50, and boomed around the hood annoying everyone when I was 16. I am no pro though just a hobbyist. But just like every other hobby I have ever had I learn all I can.

[FreakyOCR]

Well my system sounds good enough for me.

[HfdWolfPack]

If you are paying that much, you should look into Diamond Audio or MB Quart

I hear you, and did look into them.
$300 was the absolute roof. the Diamonds and MBs I was looking at were above that.
I went into this looking at Infinity References for $150.
I heard the XR650s and really liked them ( over the $400+ BAs)

Plus to me, I am very impatient....remember Veruca Salt?...."Dont care how , I want to now!!!!!"
I would rather pay an extra $30 and be able to drive 5 miles if something went wrong.

But thats just me, i could be wrong

[edwelly]

HfdWolfPack: what kind of car do you have...?
---edwelly

[HfdWolfPack]

'01 Altima
4-door family sedan...........( ouch did I say that)

[FastHotRod]

WOW! So much activity around car audio for a buncha computer guys! Schweeet! It's kinda hard to go wrong with MB Quart, Boston, Polk, Diamond... But I have to agree with the others here. A nice set of speakers installed poorly will sound OK, but not great. Speaker placement, damping materials, speaker wire size (no less than 16 awg, IMO) will make all the difference in the world.

As for the formula for power, it depends on what you want to do. Peak and Peak to Peak is just a measurement of the actual sine wave, but not the "effective" power of the wave. RMS refers to the "effective" or useable part of the wave. Most quality amplifiers are rated with the RMS value. Some amps are rated at 12 VDC input, but their output can increase when the car is started and running at 14.4 VDC. Depends on who makes the amp.

As for the formulas, it's just Ohm's law. If an amp is rated at 100 Watts RMS into 4 ohms, then you need to find the current and voltage on the output.

E=I*R.....Voltage=Current*Resistance
W=V*I.....Power=Voltage*Current
W=I (squared)*Resistance....Power=Current(squared)*Res istance

So 100 Watts=I(sqd) * 4 (ohms)
So 100w=5(sqd) *4ohms= 5 amps current draw by the 4 ohm speaker... so plug that into our formula and you get:
20volts=5amps*4ohms.

You add another speaker in parallel (+ to +, - to -) you now have 2-4 ohm speakers that the amp "sees" as a 2 ohm load. Now your amp will put out the same 20 volts, but at 2 ohms, that's 10 amps! Or, 200 watts! SWEET! I have YET to see a headunit that can put out that kind of power... so spend the $$ and get a nice amp!

I have more information if you are interested... Hope this helps!

Fast Hot Rod