I am just looking for some advice from more knowledgeable people on here what to get for best sound quality for my money as speakers and subs not really my area of expertise
Right spend as much as possible on front speakers. Dont worry about the rears. There just there to fill the rear sound. Focal speakers are very very good for the money. Ive got 165VBs and they are amazing for £130. Sub, im not too sure about as ive never had a decent one although im pretty sure Curt has a Focal sub so might be worth having a chat with him.
Team Eaton
1999 China Blue 306 GTi6 - Eaton Supercharged - 214.5bhp 181lbft
Yeah, I've got a 10" Focal in the Mazda, very good for the money, only £80.
I personally wouldn't bother with a kit or the Vibe stuff. Spend as much as you can and go with a decent brand. Personally, I run an Alpine head unit, Focal components up front, standard speakers in the back, 2 x JL audio amps and a JL audio sub. Sound quality is excellent, as Niall said I highly recommend Focal components. My JL sub is a lot better than my Focal, but it was about 3 times as much...
It comes down to what you want really. If you just want decent SQ, go for Focal fronts, decent 4 channel amp to run the fronts and then a sub.
What head unit do you have? As that will also make a difference.
The other thing to note is use decent wire, go better than you need to. Make sure the RCAs are run the opposite side to the power wire. It'd also be a good idea to get some Silent Coat or similar to cover the doors behind and around the speakers.
Hayden because you listen to trance and hardstyle I wouldn't go for a sub that big. I use to listen to a lot of trance, hardhouse and a bit of techno with twin 12" subs. Sometimes I would borrow my girlfriends 10" and I found the 10" would be awesome with hardhouse and some faster trance tracks. Basically the 10 would be more punchy and be able to keep up better with the faster beats. Also these were sealed boxes. Only use sealed boxes for SQ and dance tracks. The ported boxes are good longer bass tones like in DnB, RnB and such.
As everyone else has said get some good component speakers up front, install them well with sound deadening in the doors, run them off an amp to get the most out of them and don't whatever you do get any speakers on the back shelf especially 6x9's . That is because the sub will make them sound rubbish and could kill them.
(21-07-2013, 08:44 PM)DeeTurbo Wrote: Sometimes I would borrow my girlfriends 10"
Snigger snigger.
(21-07-2013, 08:44 PM)DeeTurbo Wrote: I found the 10" would be awesome(...) Basically the 10 would be more punchy and be able to keep up better with the faster beats.
He gets worse!
Member of the 99% warning or you're nothing club
2000 Moonstone 1.8 Meridian - Sold
2000 China 3dr XS - Dead
1998 Diablo 3dr XSI
23-07-2013, 06:33 PM (This post was last modified: 23-07-2013, 06:45 PM by Hayden Walker.)
thanks all and my headunit is a kenwood not sure what one it lights up red and its the one with the 3.5m jack instead of the usb/ipod one i will be hopefully getting a alpine one instead it's not too bad though.
and i currently have veloctiy 6x9's in the parcel shelf that came with the car i dont know what kind of quality these are but in my opinion i would say they are cheap rubbish.
so is focal and alpine amps the way forward then could someone tell me where best place is to buy all this from
cheers and i will have a look at focal in more depth.
could someone give me a list of what there ICE they got installed so i can price it up im wanting the best bang for my buck for £500
The two are good places to order from. I would give caraudiodirect a call. You will need to make spacers and chop some of the plastic in the front door cards to get good speakers in so I hope you're a practical type of person.
Do you know which Alpine head unit you'll be getting?
Do you mind getting second hand stuff? You might get more for your money second hand.
The two are good places to order from. I would give caraudiodirect a call. You will need to make spacers and chop some of the plastic in the front door cards to get good speakers in so I hope you're a practical type of person.
Do you know which Alpine head unit you'll be getting?
Do you mind getting second hand stuff? You might get more for your money second hand.
cheers there the ones i have been looking to buy from and my brother's friend will probably be doing it he's a mechanic but i think i might just take it to a proper audio install shop and get it done properly and the headunit i was thinking about getting is
You can't beat Alpine head units IMO, I've got 2x IDA-X001s and they're brilliant if you don't need a CD player. They do lots of varying types of that same unit, so plenty on the bay of e. Kenwood are decent though.
Obviously the more you spend the better really... But I have these and they're great. If you do get them I recommend setting the crossovers to -6db as the tweeters do have a tendency to be on the bright side.
It's a great bit of kit, superb quality in both sound and build. It was ideal for my set-up and I think it would be for yours, as it is designed to be used either as a 4 channel or as a 3 channel for a sub. As a bonus, the adjustments sit under the magnetic badge right on top of the amp, instead of the usual fiddly position.
My advice would be this; buy as good quality kit such as above, even if you have to do it gradually over time. It'll be worth it.
Oh, and sack off the 6x9s. They're good for pretty much nothing except the bin, either just stick some standards back in or some coaxials just for fill.
As curt said above, Dynamic sounds are great. They are near where i live so i always go in there when buying stuff and all the guys there are really passionate about ICE and if you need advice, just pick up the phone and they will help!
The A1 speakers curt linked up there were the first components i bought for my 1.8. The sound is fantastic (after a bed in period mind. In the first 5 or 6 hours of listening, they sound very tight) but the 165VB is only £30 more and is in a completely different league to the A1s. I moved my A1s to the rear (bit OTT really) and fitted the VBs in the front and i love it. Crystal clear sound and some serious bass if you dont want a sub. One thing to point out especially if you have a 3 door is that there is a massive expanse of flat thin metal to rattle. If you fit some decent components, spend £40 and buy a pack of silent coat (dont bother with Dynamat. Its the same stuff but your paying for the name) for the outer skin of the doors. It will make a world of difference and it will sound like a golf when you shut the door lol
Team Eaton
1999 China Blue 306 GTi6 - Eaton Supercharged - 214.5bhp 181lbft
I will be looking to go up the range in the future when I'm not skint, but tbh they so good I'm not too bothered. Oh and I linked Silent Coat up there too
and silent coat :http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silent-Coat-Sound-Deadening-8-Sheet-Car-Door-Kit-/350631496963?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item51a3440d03
only thing im unsure of is what kinda wiring kit i need and will that amp run they speakers good
I found the easiest way to trim the plastic to fit them in was with a 20" panel saw, the speaker mount has 3 'levels' moulded into it, a bit like a plastic garden pond liner? And to fit my speakers I needed to chop off the smaller of the 2 levels just leaving the larger outer ring there. The saw goes through the plastic like a hot knife, and the square steps of the 'levels' keep the blade square and cutting where it needs to cut.
Already cut the first level off in the first pic, and you can see how it ends up in the last.
Bit ghetto, but it keeps the stock covers fitting with no loss of strength to the door card.
It's a bit more of a pain on the 3door because of the window rail is right behind the speaker so I've had to space the rail out a bit, you also need the make speaker spacer rings and bring the door card out a bit.
Hayden - You could do with a better head unit. The one you posted to above only has a 2 volt pre out you really could do with one that is around 4 volt or more.
What do you play your music from mainly, Ipob, USB, Phone or CD's?
Just jumping on the bandwagon here, the spec of that Alpine is: '2 x RCA PreOuts (2V, Rear/Subwoofer Selectable)'
What about if you want an RCA output for the front speakers? Or you have to use the line level input on an amp for those?
My Pioneer only has one set of RCAs on the back, so it's rear or sub for them, shame they can't be switched via the software for front RCA output, as assume you'd get a much better signal from an RCA than line level input? Long time since I've really looked into headunits, thinking about amping my front speakers though, only if it's to give them just a bit more power.
(24-07-2013, 12:04 PM)tigerstyle Wrote: Just jumping on the bandwagon here, the spec of that Alpine is: '2 x RCA PreOuts (2V, Rear/Subwoofer Selectable)'
What about if you want an RCA output for the front speakers? Or you have to use the line level input on an amp for those?
My Pioneer only has one set of RCAs on the back, so it's rear or sub for them, shame they can't be switched via the software for front RCA output, as assume you'd get a much better signal from an RCA than line level input? Long time since I've really looked into headunits, thinking about amping my front speakers though, only if it's to give them just a bit more power.
Good point that, surprised I missed it. If you getting rid of the 6x9's you can use the rear pre outs.
Birk the 9812 was a really good head unit. I had one before I bought the 9855 back in 2005. I would say it might be worth getting the 9855 second hand over the one linked to above.
I currently run an alpine Ida-x100 over my 9812rr simply because I prefer the USB feature than using cd's but I have sacrificed sound quality and features because of it which is a shame.
Putting all my gear in the new car this week, can't wait.
Yeah the glide bar is a pain but apart from that the 9855 has been a really good deck. I'm going to be wiring the fronts (Focal 165VR) active soon and luckily the crossovers on the deck can sort that out without any other processor.
I was thinking of getting the 178BT but you need a separate processor to go active. People keep telling me to go for a Pioneer DEH-80PRS but I've never really liked the Pioneer interface/menu system.
Over the years I've got the Ipod module kca 420i and a kca-410 which I have a cheap bluetooth module to stream music from my phone to, but I mainly use my Ipod through it at the moment. I do wish there was a USB module you could get.
CD's sound awesome compared to any other source through it but I hardly ever play CD's now, Ball ache to burn them all the time.
I was running Alpine type R components up front which I replaced with some Focals 165VR that are amped using an Alpine MRV-707 (which will be replaced with an Alpine PDX-4.100). At the moment I'm running passive but I will be going active when I install the PDX-4.100. I do miss the type R components thought they sounded better than the Focals, I might go back to them if I can't get the sound I like through them.
In the boot I've got a 12" Infinty Kappa 100.1SE and sometimes swap to two 12" Alpine Type R running off a PDX-1.1000.
I fancied the focal's when I was on the hunt, but I managed to get the hertz at a good price from a local dealer. One of my mates has just put a set in his mk5 r32 and they sound really nice just off his pioneer double din, will be even better when he amps them.
I can't be bothered to mess around with running mine active, I'd say the 140rms per side will be adequate
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