Car Audio Help

[Lee Cable]

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_in...roducts_id=5126

£59.99

+

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_in...roducts_id=3823

£109.99

=£168 plus P+P

Seriously, you won't get much better for that price.

OK and shotgun paul fits them?

[CurtisRider]

OK and shotgun paul fits them?

id happily do it....george is more than capable too

[george_seamons]

I don't mind doing it if you want. I'm nearer than Paul, and I put his in his Cav for him anyway

[Lee Cable]

shotgun george does it will i need the adapters? so that they will fit in the doors?

[george_seamons]

No idea, I've not done a Corsa before. I needed them on my Astra, and thats kinda similar, so I guess so, yeah.

[Lee Cable]

sweet just one set? for the front??

[george_seamons]

Yup, if you're just upgrading the front I doubt it even has rear speakers?

[CurtisRider]

I don't mind doing it if you want. I'm nearer than Paul, and I put his in his Cav for him anyway

that was different.....and ive learnt all that stuff now plus...lees is basically, screw them in...not, cable here, amp there, rewire headunit over there....confusion for a novice

all the adaptors they say you may need.....

Edited November 26, 2006 by pauloliver

[Lee Cable]

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/p...ts_id/2000.html

this one i guess?

and yea it does either side of the parcel shelf

Edited November 26, 2006 by radical rider

[Danny]

Already ordered some m3 style mirrors for my corsa, and some lexus lights. Looking at trying to make the sound a bit better and stuff

Once they arrive. Package them up nicely and send them back where they came from.

[Lee Cable]

and whys that danny?

[george_seamons]

Try to get the adaptors off ebay. Will be much cheaper. They are such a rip off for what you actually get. I managed to pick mine up for £4.99 instead of £13.99 just by looking around.

And Lexus lights ARE gay I'm afriad Lee, no doubt about it. They're soooo last year. And every other gimp has them.

[Lee Cable]

Try to get the adaptors off ebay. Will be much cheaper. They are such a rip off for what you actually get. I managed to pick mine up for £4.99 instead of £13.99 just by looking around.

And Lexus lights ARE gay I'm afriad Lee, no doubt about it. They're soooo last year. And every other gimp has them.

ok dokey, will get them off there, and george, bungay is in suffolk...

[george_seamons]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUTOLEADS-SAK-3001-V...1QQcmdZViewItem

Not as cheap as mine, but better than £13.99.

[Lee Cable]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUTOLEADS-SAK-3001-V...1QQcmdZViewItem

Not as cheap as mine, but better than £13.99.

Ok i have added that to fav's will get the HU and speakers ordered tomorrow, and the door thingys aswell, and george, bungay is in suffolk!!!

[george_seamons]

Ok i have added that to fav's will get the HU and speakers ordered tomorrow, and the door thingys aswell, and george, bungay is in suffolk!!!

I know, dumbass. Hence the changing of profile. It's just me in Suffolk though. There were loads of people in Norfolk. And techincally, where I live is actually Norfolk.

[nmt_oli]

Right, pretty good advice so far.

What you do depends on budget, as has been stated HU is the place to start. good make, pioneer or alpine recomended, sony JVC and kenwood are not too bad right now (sonys HUs are definately improving) but i would only touch there higher end stuff. I wouldnt touch any other makes unless i was doing a budget build. (ect stuff like nakamichi). Keep it simple, and look for future proof and upgradeability of you system, so 3 preouts if at all possible.

Upgrade HU -> Upgrade factory speakers -> amplify factory speakers/ add a sub -> which ever you didnt do last time -> custom speaker enclosures for bigger speakers/better placement ect.

thats is a rough guide, steps can be move around or jumped if you have knowledge or doing a full build in one go kinda thing.

Ive experimented a lot in my golf, and im finally happy. Origonally used a line dirver with my mp3 player as HU, and a cheap HU for the radio. first with facotory replacement speakers, was a bit shit, but better than 20 year old radio and perished speakers.

then put some 6" subs in the rear shelf free air, gave a bit of bass but distorted is the volume was turned up (due to no enclosures).

then i got a 10" jbl, and amped up facory replacement speakers. thought it was the nuts, but was still missing mids as the front speakers wer 8cm jobbies.

then upgraded HU to a sony one (a good sony one, i got it as a bargain ex display deal), didnt notice any difference as i was still using line driver.

made pods for 6.5" door speakers, and removed line driver as mp3 player broke. re set the system up and my god its amazing. seriously good soundstage, with nice components up front, and only little rear speakers (i like have some rear sound to help stop sub seperation, and for passengers on the rare occasion i have them). the 10" really drops and kicks.

nick Prawn will testify to the sound, hes the only one on here whos heard it in its latest incarnation. Best bit is, all looks facotry now. no holes in shelf, facotry fit rears, and front pods blended into door pockets. jsut got to finish the boot build now. got my amp rack on the right, just need to build the sub fluch on the left so i have more useable space.

[delusional]

Do people think that running comps without an amp is alright then? I'd been told (and read on lots of car audio places) that if you don't have an amp comps are a bad idea and full range speakers will generally sound better. Would that just a bit of car audio snobbery coming through there?

I'm trying to upgrade my car stereo bit by bit, but it's unlikely to get an amp in there for a long time (if at all). The next thing on my list is a decent HU with aux in so I can connect up my mp3 player. I'm glad to see the recommendations here as I was looking at a Sony (CDX GT200), but figure I'll go for that Alpine with an aux in adapter instead now! It'll look neater not having the aux in cable trailing all over the front of the HU as well

[george_seamons]

Its true that components won't be anywhere near there full potential without being amped.

Bearing in mind the average headunit is, what, 45w per channel? That 45w MAX, so nearer about 15w RMS. Your standard, crappy speakers will be designed to run at this power.

As soon as you put your component speakers in, they will be underpowered, being as they are designed to run at anything from 30-150w RMS.

Whilst you won't get their full potential, you will beneifit from a much clearer sound, and being able to position the tweeter away from the woofer, providing a much better soundstage.

Its always easy to add an amp in afterwards, and an amp powerful enough to power just components will be cheap as chips. I had this powering my compoents, and it was fookin awesome. So thats £70 to get 100% improved sound out of your components. It will make the bass drop lower, and just generally improve your whole listening experience.

So to sum all that up, an amp isn't scrictly needed, but will greatly improve the sound of things

...how much are you looking to spend Delusional?

[JTM]

I seriously cant stress how much difference an amp makes to a speakers performance. Head unit will kick out around 20w rms, and most speakers are rated to at least 50wrms. You ideally want to over power speakers with the amp. S0 50wrms speakers with 75wrms amp. Its called headroom. Basically the further the volume goes up on a amp, more chance it has of producing a clipped/distorted signal. If your well withing its range, ie. 50 out of 75 wats then you will get a clean signal right up to full volume

Dont bother with rear speakers, if your front end is as strong as it should be, you dont need them, especially in a car as small as a corsa. Sell all the wings and mirrors and shit and put the money into something you will actually be able to enjoy and not look like a chav with!

sign up on talk audio and get these http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=187592

wont do better for that price

[nmt_oli]

Dont bother with rear speakers, if your front end is as strong as it should be, you dont need them, especially in a car as small as a corsa.

Now, i don't want to open a big debate here, but i would personally keep rear speakers to some degree, ie upgraded in OEM location.

While a lot of audio purists say you don't need it, i find in my golf it does sound better with them there than not, it is most noticable in how it affects sub separation as my sub is in the boot.

On some tracks, if i have them faded out i find it very easy to hear the sub behind me, and everything else in front, now people say this shouldnt be the case as sub is undirectional, but that is only true to some degree, but i can "find" a sub with my ears, especially as i let mine play fairly high (cut off at 250hz).

With the rear speakers faded in the soundstage is improved and somehow more balanced. the sub blends in much better, and instruments sound as if there in a semi cirlce in front of me, and to the sides, with voices dead ahead in the windscreen due to good tweeter placement. Nick will verify that on a good vocal track, you will feel surrounded by music, yet the voice aims straight at you and feels liek it just flows through your head. such a nice listening experience.

This is just my opinion, and maybe a unique characteristic of my car, as i agree a good front set up is more important, i just find my rears actually add to my soundstage, rather than ditract from it.

[JTM]

Good argument.

What sub/amp you got? And what front end etc? What ways is there for bass to enter the cabin? What size are your mids?

If you find seperation, the better way to resolve that woul dbe go have a 3 way front end, but obviously it involves a lot me more/effort. Fading to the rear slightly will yes, stop the seperation, but the sound stage is being dragged backwards. What crossover points are you using?

Not arguing, just intrested

[CurtisRider]

just a quick note to make lee look less of a gay chav, the m3s and lexus lights are only costing him 30quid, he already needs a new wingmirror anyway, so whilst hes at it he may as well have something a little prettier for feck all money more and corsas look gay either way, so it doesnt matter

i think rear comps are very much needed, i prefer having a nice all round sound, its also good when you have passengers in the back, cos they get some volume too, without having just the sub pound them into pulp/give them a heart attack, ive got 17cm comps all round (tweeters in the doors) and it sounds great, with a sub to support them with the lower frequencies itll sound whoresome (thats when i bother to put a sub in )

my old cav had (well, still has) front comps and a sub and it doesnt sound quite right, nor does my friends car with a sub and just rear 6x9s, infact thats the most godawful setup ive ever heard....but he loves it

so yeah, surround sound wins in my ears

[JTM]

just a quick note to make lee look less of a gay chav, the m3s and lexus lights are only costing him 30quid, he already needs a new wingmirror anyway, so whilst hes at it he may as well have something a little prettier for feck all money more and corsas look gay either way, so it doesnt matter

i think rear comps are very much needed, i prefer having a nice all round sound, its also good when you have passengers in the back, cos they get some volume too, without having just the sub pound them into pulp/give them a heart attack, ive got 17cm comps all round (tweeters in the doors) and it sounds great, with a sub to support them with the lower frequencies itll sound whoresome (thats when i bother to put a sub in )

my old cav had (well, still has) front comps and a sub and it doesnt sound quite right, nor does my friends car with a sub and just rear 6x9s, infact thats the most godawful setup ive ever heard....but he loves it

so yeah, surround sound wins in my ears

surround sound huh?what decoder you using etc?

when do you ever go to a gig and the band is playing behind you?

you have to take into account, if you have shit speakers that arnt amped up front, OF COURSE your just gonna hear boom boom boom

this is why topics like this go nowhere, people are comparing their £50 systems to other peoples £500 systems

[CurtisRider]

surround sound huh?what decoder you using etc?

it was a little joke dude, stop taking things so seriously...

when do you ever go to a gig and the band is playing behind you?

when i go to the bar?...i think you missed my comment

its also good when you have passengers in the back

cos front comps dont really throw much sound towards the back, but then that doesnt matter if you dont care about the sound for the passengers, either way, i think having all 4 comps running sounds more 'full' than just 2 front comps, i was merely backing up nmt_olis comments on how it sounds better with all 4 in his car too

you have to take into account, if you have shit speakers that arnt amped up front, OF COURSE your just gonna hear boom boom boom

i dont know what the standard speakers are in my car, but they certainly are on par with my alpine type s comps in my other car, even though they are amped up with an alpine amp...very odd, seeing as the standard headunits only pumping 20w max, and my other car has a decent alpine headunit (i would of thought maybe the sound quality would have been far superior, but it really isnt noticeable). they dont just go boom boom boom, they have a nice range of sound, maybe im just lucky that seat specced my car with some decent oem cones i certainly dont intend on upgrading them anytime soon

this is why topics like this go nowhere, people are comparing their £50 systems to other peoples £500 systems

lee only wants a simple headunit setup with some speakers, he wasnt asking for a full blown, accoustically refined, mind blowing piece of kit....so we are trying to help him get what will sound good on his budget-which seems to be a nice headunit, which is ready for a amp/amps and some speakers to make a wothwhile replacement from his standards so he can enjoy some reasonable quality sound until he gets a proper car, which he can then get a proper speaker setup to fit (bear in mind his corsa only takes weeny speakers, and his next car will more than likely be bigger and will take some slighly bigger and better speakers)

if he said he had a budget of 500quid, im sure the outcome of this topic would be far different...