Car Audio question, what should i get?

[ChrisP1]

Im looking to spend UP TO $1000. I want some serious sound, give me a good setup. I like rap music and i really like a clean bass sound, none of that muddy crap. I want names and brands, in a list, i don't know much about it. This system will be going into a 1999 Ford Explorer. I want to replace my front two speakers and i was either 2 15's or 2 12's, which is best? What should i get for an amp? I need answers.

 

[Emerson]

alright... first off if your willing to spend the dough, get pioneer, id personally go for the option of 1 12" and a couple smaller ones so the 12" would handle the big noise (bass) and the smaller ones will handel all the small noise (clarification), also go with premium wireing, which is the gold plated wires that are used on the pioneer sound system in the pioneer car, if you supply your own wiring it brings the installation costs down, YOU NEED AN AMP!!! from my experiance the cheaper the amps are the longer they last (i know it soounds silly) it all depends on the wattage of the speakers, if you need to go into strathfeilds or repco or watever store you have and ask them to help you, get a few quotes, and compare prices, for front speakers deffinatly go for 9" i know its sounds peuny but they are the best for the front sound, also look into getting tweeters they are insane!! hope it helps and good luck!

 

[Dustin]

This is a really long post:

NOT RECOMMENDED:
-------------------------------------------
Boss
DHD
Dual
Jensen
Legacy
Optimus (Radio Shack)
Lightning Audio (lower end models)
Pyle
Pyramid
Sony
Soundstorm
Thump
Verge
Volfenhag


AVERAGE:
-------------------------------------------
Bazooka
X-site
MA Audio Visonik Cliff Designs (Anaba Group) (Execpt for high end amps)
Low end Alpine
Kenwood
Lightning Audio (high end)
Pioneer (minus high end head units and premier series)
Lanzar
Audiobahn
Crunch
MTX (minus amps)
Panasonic
Rockford Fosgate
Blaupunkt
Kicker (subs)
Alpine (low end subs and speakers)
Polk
Audiopipe
Concept
Cerwin Vega
Infinity
Alphasonik
Digital Audio
JVC


GOOD:
-------------------------------------------
Autotek
Hifonics (for the price)
MTX (amps)
Profile (price is AWESOME)
Pioneer premier and high end HU’s
Ma Audio, Visonik, and Cliff Designs high end amps (especially for SPL applications)
Phoenix Gold
Directed
Orion
PPI
Viper
Alpine (higher end subs and speakers, lower end head units)
Kicker amps
Avionixx
Alumapro
Audiomobile
Boston
Clarion
Crystal
Crossfire
Earthquake
JBL
Memphis
Soundstream
MB Quart


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
-------------------------------------------
Alpine (higher model head units)
Cadence
Eclipse
JL Audio
Elemental Designs
Helix
a/d/s
Adire Audio
Arc Audio
Brax
CDT
Diamond
DD
Focal
Image Dynamics
Kove (borderline good/highly recommended)
McIntosh
MMATS
Morel
OZ Audio
PPI (old stuff before they were directed)
RE Audio (resonant engineering)
US Amps
Zapco
Linear Power
Incriminator Audio
Ascendant Audio
Stereo Integrity
Sound Splinter
Audioque
Xtant
Tru Technology
TC Sounds
Rainbow

This is a write-up a guy did on SiN for a guy that had a budget of $1000.

Front: (~ $170 - $250)
You want something really nice, usually a 6.5" component set. If you can fiberglass or build some kick panels, or mount them in the doors on an MDF baffle, it's better than sticking them in the stock mounts. You should also look for a really good crossover (either active or passive --- active gives you much more control, but requires more amps). Brands to look for are CDT (Don at Island Sound ([email protected]) has some really good deals, look for the EF series), Resonent Engineering (for both components and subs... the XXX line are some of the best out there - you'll have to call for prices), or Focal.

Rear: ($60)
Some inexpensive 6.5" coaxials will do the trick. Pioneer, CDT, whatever. NOT Audiospawn (=audiobaun).

Amp(s): (~ $200 - $400)
You got some choices here. First of all, you really won't be happy with the sound coming from your components unless you amp them. You can either buy seperate amps for sub and speakers, which many people do because of the bling in your trunk (I mean, 2 or 3 amps does look pretty impressive), or a single 5 or 6 channel amp that powers everything. I don't think an active crossover is in your price range just yet, so I won't worry about it for now. I've got a DEI 1100d5 5 channel amp, that puts out around 1100 watts, ~ 75 on 4 channels for the speakers, and 600 at 1 ohm for the sub. I'm not touting Directed, I'm just going to try it out. Hifonics makes some really good amps, PPI is a good brand, Pheonix Gold amps are really good, and Profile makes some nice ones for the money. Depends on how much power you want.

Sub(s) ($200 - $400)
Again, you've got more options, depending on the kind of output you want. I'm not the expert on this, but I'll do my best. I'll save the enclosure suggestions for the next topic. If you want SPL (just getting loud), go for some Audiobauns... they're gonna sound like crap, but definately be loud. If you want SQ, You can do multiple smaller subs, or a good large sub. Brands to go for are RE (the SE and SX series are good for SQ, the XXX is good for SQL, and the MTs are SPL), Ascendant Audio (Atlas = $150ish, Avalanche = ~$350 both mostly SQ, with the Ava being more SQL), Incriminator Audio (get very loud, ask NGSM13 for a dealer's contact info), and Adire Audio (Brahmas are reputed to be some of the best SQ subs out there, and their other lines are very good as well). Sorry if I missed any, or got info wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's right.

Enclosure: (~$50)
You're probably best off to build it yourself. Most people on the forum here can design one for you for 10 bucks, or you can get a program like BassBox 6 Pro and come up with a design yourself. Buy the 3/4" MDF at Home Depot (or where ever), some wood glue, some silicone or thicker consistancy glue for sealing it (and the carpet), carpetting (walmart - $7 a roll, in the auto section, near floor mats), and a plate connector (for getting wires into the enclosure).
There's always been debates about whether to go sealed or ported, and most decide to go ported, because they like the extra output in the lower frequencies. I'm sure you can find all sorts of debates on this forum and others on the net about this issue. Sealed is probably a good one to start with, because it's easier to do, and harder to fry your sub with. For a 15 inch sub, you'll probably need around 2.5 cubes - 3.5 cubes (cube = cubic foot, aka ft^3). For ported you'll need around 4 cubes to 6 cubes. A 12" sub needs around 3 cubes ported, and a 10 can live with 2.5 cubes.

Wiring: ($30 to $50)
You don't have to do anything fancy here. If you're under 1000 watts, you'll probably just need 4 gauge wire for power, and 12-14 gauge wire for the speakers. Knu Konceptz has some really good deals on twisted pair RCA cables that work wonderfully, and are really fairly cheap. Ebay is a good place to get wire kits as well.

Electrical Upgrades: (~$250)
I don't have much experience here, because my car came with a pretty decent setup. Ok, what I've learned so far is that most people upgrade the big three wires first (the power and ground wires between the alternator and the battery, and the ground to the chassis and the ground to the engine block), then replace the battery (usually with an Optima Yellow Top or a deepcycle of some sort), and finally a new high output alternator. Like I said in the previous post, I don't know too much about it, but this is what people usually do.

OK, I'm sure I missed some stuff, but those are the basics. Good luck!