Car Audio questions

[RectangularBox]

Ported usually gives deeper "shakier" tremor bass, where sealed will give you more punchy bass. Which are you looking for? Often the sealed subwoofers can be more accurate and some ported subwoofers at high volumes have trouble with bottoming out and "slow" out of sync bass notes. 

I would say a sealed would fit best for my listening style.

[OmanGS]

Well, we can help you decide on a pair of subwoofers but as for door speakers, it's kind of hard to recommend a pair when you don't have a car yet. Like said before, the sizes will vary from car to year for the door speakers. A lot of japanese import cars support 5" and other variations where some cards will support up to 6x9. 5 1/4 is usually a safe choice, but I would wait until you get your car.

 

The dash kit you buy will also logically vary depending on year. 

 

You'll want something ported, and for the love of god don't get a sony Xplod, Dual, Jenson, Pyramid, Boss, or one of those stupid square Kicker L(x) series subwoofers. Sound waves are not generated well by a square cone. 

 

Ported usually gives deeper "shakier" tremor bass, where sealed will give you more punchy bass. Which are you looking for? Often the sealed subwoofers can be more accurate and some ported subwoofers at high volumes have trouble with bottoming out and "slow" out of sync bass notes. 

 

5 1/2 Clarions are always cheap and a nice upgrade to stock doors speakers. Would you think he should perhaps look at that?

[helping]

I would say a sealed would fit best for my listening style.

Do you know anyone good with wood work?

5 1/2 Clarions are always cheap and a nice upgrade to stock doors speakers. Would you think he should perhaps look at that?

Yes, but I honestly would only recommend brands instead of something specific since the door speaker compatibility is up in the air.

[Hans Christian | Teri]

On another note before I'm gonna hit the hay, for head units I can really only recommend Pioneer. They make fantastic units and contrary to the rest of the aftermarket HU scene they actually look and feel good as well.

[helping]

I'll post some recommendations and will @ you in a bit

[RectangularBox]

Do you know anyone good with wood work?

A friend of mine is pretty good with wood, but I would feel more comfortable with something I buy.

[Recon-UK]

I recommend Focal 165KR's for your door speakers, however they may be a bit of a mismatch if you do not add in a decent sub, balance is what i prefer.

Oh, and amplification is the best way to go in my opinion with this set too, rather meaty set

[Recon-UK]

Here those speakers.

 

[RectangularBox]

Here those speakers.

 

That looks insane! I'll have to look into it after I finalize my car choice.

[Recon-UK]

With these kind of speakers, you will more than likely need some sound dampening in the panels too, as they really do kick.

Not only that, but the listening experience for you will be better too, and you will not need as high a volume, as you will be losing less sound.

[helping]

A friend of mine is pretty good with wood, but I would feel more comfortable with something I buy.

I can't really recommend a box. You might want to look around for people that can fabricate you one or a local audio shop that can build one. Most of the boxes you can buy online are terrible, custom is the way to go.

Get something like http://www.amazon.com/Rockford-Fosgate-P3D415-15-Inch-Subwoofer/dp/B0019FXDR2/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1389670614&sr=8-15&keywords=15+inch+rockford+fosgate

+ a sealed box to manufacturers spec.

One good subwoofer is better than two mediocre ones. 2x the subs does not mean 2x the bass. 

Pair that with an amp like http://www.techronics.com/caraudio_13048_Alpine-MRX-M100-1900W-Mono-Block-Class-D-MRX-Series-Power-Amplifier.html?gclid=CM-PlKnv_LsCFeJF7AodgVEAqw

Get a bass knob with that http://www.amazon.com/Alpine-RUX-KNOB-Remote-Control-PDX-M12/dp/B003KEGS90/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Some people like getting amps with higher output than the subs. With a pairing of equal power, you will clip before you max out the sub, which is why I cannot stress enough set your gains with an oscope or do a lot of reading and learn how to find where you start clipping with test tones. With a higher output amplifier you obviously risk overheating and destroying your subs, so I'd prefer matching outputs because you're probably not going to push the amp to max anyway.

Door speakers depends really, on some you won't even need an amp for it since the receiver can power it just fine. Treat the phrase "peak wattage" as "ナンセンス" and gloss your eyes right over that number pretending you never saw it, I don't even know why it's even mentioned. 

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/CD-Receivers/DEH-X6600BT Dual RCA out and bluetooth, since I assume you're going to be playing from your phone.

Be sure to set your high and low pass frequency filters so that only the subwoofers are playing bass. Component speakers are best choice, be sure they're playing mid and high out of the tweeters only. 

Up to you if you need a 4 channel amp or not, will depend on speakers too. http://www.amazon.com/Alpine-MRV-F300-4-channel-car-amplifier/dp/B00BLQA9BM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1389675422&sr=8-3&keywords=alpine+amp+4+channel

 

Along with this, you will need your dash kit for specific make and model, a wiring harness, and some speaker wire since you'll be replacing the door speakers, might as well out with the "good enough" stock wiring. 

 

Pick up a reel of good quality thick gauge wire to do the runs to power your amp(s). If you need a new battery, depending on how taxing your system is, you can pick up an optima yellow top at autozone for like 200~250$. A quality battery is more important to deal with voltage drop during powerful bass notes if your stock alternator can't handle it. You should think about getting a digital voltage meter inside your car that you can see. The alternator runs at 14 volts, below that is tax on the alternator, below 12.6v is tax on the battery. If you're constantly below 12.6v then your alternator is in need of an upgrade. If you have a decent alternator and battery then dropping below that threshold is ok every now and then, just not sustained below.

 

Some people bandaid that with a capacitor, but a better battery is the proper way to solve that problem. If your lights dim just a little bit under heavy bass notes then the capacitor will solve the problem. Otherwise, battery. 

 

Aside from amplifier runs, you will want to change the stock electrical wiring to thicker (i.e. 1/0) and quality gauge from the engine to the chassis, chassis to battery, and battery to alternator. This will drop the resistance of the system significantly, reduce voltage constraints, and overall reduced stress on the car electrical system, the alternator, and your amp. It's integral to make sure that your amp is on a sanded ground point with decent wiring and a good terminal. You can get a cheap (10-20$) volt meter to test for resistance on your grounds. <0.5 ohm is a good ground, the closer to 0 the better. 

 

If you have an alternator under like, 80 amps, it's likely that it's not going to be able to drive a power hungry set up. A class D amp will usually ballpark an 80~85% efficiency. This is why you should pick a class D amp. For example, assuming your equipment draws around 800w RMS at arbitrary power out of potential RMS (sub+4ch door+receiver), you have an efficiency multiplier of .80, so that will demand around 1000w. Divide that by alternator output (14v) you're looking at ~70 amp draw, not including current required by the onboard electronics  and other inefficiencies. 

 

If you run into power issues, the alternator is only to be changed if you have dimming issues after changing your stock wiring and you can verify you have a good battery, so stick to practice instead of theory before buying anything since there are too many variables to be certain. 

 

If anything else feel free to ask. It will be much easier to put something together if there's a car to work with. 

[Aphexx]

how handy are you with tools really? I remember my first ventures with wrenching. I've stripped so many bolts and screws 

 

my first piece of advice would be to say cool your head a bit. a new car. your first car is a great and exciting experience but live with your car first 

 

start with a stealth install first by changing out the stock speakers those are easy to get at and require simple tools.... usually. find out the proper dimensions of the speaker housings and get a good quality 3 way speaker from a good company. 

 

after that you can come back and see what you need to replace the head unit and get subs and an amp. 

 

and another protip tighten everything down in the car before you install the amp and subs. nothing makes me giggle walking down the street more than hearing someone with a Booming stereo system in a car that rattles.   BOOOOOOOM bzzzzzz    BooOOoooOOOOM bzzzzzz BOOOOOOOOM bzzzzzz