New Car System

[-RoBBo-]

Fancied a change, so time for the old stuff to be sold, and a completely new audio set-up for the car.

I only have basic knowledge of car audio, how to fit etc... just don't really know much about specs.

So any advice would be helpful.

Looking for a new:

AMP/AMPS?

Front door speakers (possibly back aswell)

Decent subwoofer/subwoofers.

Got a fair bit to spend, so i wont be skimping.

Cheers

Matt

[nmt_oli]

http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....showtopic=83809

http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....showtopic=87638

http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....showtopic=82218

http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....showtopic=73949

Have a skim through those, i seem to remember some fairly detailed stuff coming up in previous posts.

1st, make sure your HU is good and up to scratch, if you want amps, sub and speakers, you want at least 2 sets of preouts, i would only settle for 3 sets (front, rear, non fading/dedicated mono sub).

Either, front components + sub + 4 chan amp, or Front comps + rear speakers + sub + 2+4 chan amps, is the usual combination.

I personally have a Pioneer HU, feeding a 4 channel JBl amp which powers my front 6" infinity components, and rear factory replacement JBL coaxs. I also have a 2 channel amp, bridged, powering my 10" JBL sub.

High quality wiring is used throughout, and it does sound very good. All i need to do now is soundproofing/sound deadening as the car rattles with the base, and at motorway speeds i need the stereo loud.

My set up surprises a lot of people.

[BONGO]

i'll only ever use an Alpine head unit. Personal preference, in that i've had 3 and none have ever ever ever skipped. They play discs my home stereo's give up on, have strong lasers for copies, excellent after sales service, and good prices for the functions they hold.

[JTM]

How much do you want to spend?

What Car?

What do you listen to?

[Nuke Bowel]

i'll only ever use an Alpine head unit. Personal preference, in that i've had 3 and none have ever ever ever skipped. They play discs my home stereo's give up on, have strong lasers for copies, excellent after sales service, and good prices for the functions they hold.

I agree.

If i was you I would go for a complete alpine system.

You could chuck an alpine V12 amp in there, they are really cheap on ebay these days.

Thats what I have, 2 of them.

Soo nice.

Alpine Head unit

Alpine V12

Edited January 30, 2007 by ilukeee

[JTM]

Dont see how people can advise on what to buy without knowing the answers to my questions??? Its like someone asking what frame to buy and people saying koxx/ashton before they know what he rides.

[BONGO]

Dont see how people can advise on what to buy without knowing the answers to my questions??? Its like someone asking what frame to buy and people saying koxx/ashton before they know what he rides.

A head unit is a head unit though. Well, definately not... but a good head unit (Alpine) will play ANYTHING without skipping, accurately, to an extremely high quality, at an excellent power.

I didn't mention apeakers, subs, or amps, for the reason you just said :P

[guineasmithpig]

Best Alpine headunit you can afford

Focal components in the front

Infinity 2 ways in the back

Focal 13in sub

Alpine amps - monoblock for the sub, 2ch or 4ch for door speakers

and just buy the best of what you can afford all round. i'd like to be goin for the focal polyglass kit, V12 series amps, and to be honest the Infinity ref5012 coaxials i have, just spazzed into the foam-based parcel shelf of my fiesta, have performed better than any 6x9s i ever had or heard (unless you want bass without needing a sub, but in this case they are ideal). i'll be slappin them in the back doors of my estate when i finally get it and the 13in sub has plenty of beef and clarity, so i'd probably go for a single one of those. personally, i'd probs go for 2 smaller ones for my kind o music, but if you want deeper bassy stuff, 1 13 works a treat.

if you wanna go nuts, have a look at diamond audio stuff. expensive, but velly good!

[RicH_87]

dude you are mental! if you wanna get rid of that cash so badly i'll gadly take it...

<understatement>seems a waste on a car stereo.</understatement>

at least buy something good/you actually need.

[BONGO]

dude you are mental! if you wanna get rid of that cash so badly i'll gadly take it...

<understatement>seems a waste on a car stereo.</understatement>

at least buy something good/you actually need.

each to their own...

I just spent 1000 on a stereo last week. Because you don't think it's good, i shouldn't have bought it??? nah, it's good to him...

[guineasmithpig]

Dont see how people can advise on what to buy without knowing the answers to my questions??? Its like someone asking what frame to buy and people saying koxx/ashton before they know what he rides.

well, the kit i suggested is what i've seen to be the best product for the different areas of an audio setup. my advice would be, if you can't afford at least £200 on a headunit, £100 on front components, £60 on coaxials, £150 on (each) sub, about £400 for amps for such a setup, and obviously cabling and soundproofing varies from car to car, don't bother until you can afford! So i guess your looking at about a grand+ for a high quality setup. you could do it for £200, but then whats the point on spending £200 on something crap? better to save up for quality kit that you'll never have to upgrade. what type of music you listen to would determine the size/type of speaker you go for. obviously if your talkin SQ+ or sound off car, then things are a bit different! but a good all-rounder system should suit most tastes, with only the sub ruining things if you ain't careful.

Edited January 30, 2007 by guineasmithpig

[-RoBBo-]

How much do you want to spend?

What Car?

What do you listen to?

its a 206...but that will probably soon change

can't really narrow down what i listen to...BIG Oasis fan etc...mostly rock n roll

I already have 2 good Alpine headunits, so they arnt an issue

So let's say about £600-900 on speakers etc...

[guineasmithpig]

well, if its oasisy rocky music, go powerful, high quality door speakers, with a tight 10in sub, or even one of JL Audio's 8in subs.

[-RoBBo-]

dude you are mental! if you wanna get rid of that cash so badly i'll gadly take it...

<understatement>seems a waste on a car stereo.</understatement>

at least buy something good/you actually need.

Bar-humbug richard

I ended up getting alot more on-top of that, was able to pay my big loan off aswell, and still have more than i had before.

Plus my systems been pissing me off for months, as i spend most of my time in my car. So in my eyes, its money well spent.

[BONGO]

if you need 2 amps you've done something wrong. I get 120dB from a 400watt amp, becasue it's set up right.

Talk to some proper audio shops that do this sort of thing everysecond of their day, not halfords...

Everyone has different views, which ain't much good to you, to have 20 recomendations, all different. Mine is ridiculous and cost £1300 including the head unit. If you can spend 900 you could potentially have an amazing sound.

[JTM]

Head units do sound different.

Alpines are ALWAYS bright headunits. The highs are always very high! lol So if you were to combine this with a speaker set which are also naturally peaky on the highs, your gonna hurt your ears. You want a relaxed speaker set with a alpine unit. Are they decent enough head untis first of all?

How confident are you at fibre glassing etc?

I love oasis too, and they are a seriously hard band to get sounding right in a car. Ideally a 3 way front end and 10in sub is what id go for. Which you could probably just about do with £600.

Your not gay are you and need to buy things new? Like all home/car audio, 2nd hand is the way to go. Especially for decent stuff, cos halfords gimps dont buy good stuff, so its always been well kept.

Bongo, did you get rear speakers??

Id 100% tell anyone to avoid buying rear speakers to be honest, especially in a 206 sized car. Bongos car is quite large (still shouldnt have got them though you gummy twat )

[nmt_oli]

Wev'e had the rear speaker debate before i believe, so lets not get to into that.

I personally prefer my small rear speakers, and others have agreed when ive faded them out and back in. Due to speaker placement in my car, sub seperation on some tracks is annoyingly noticeable with no rear speakers.

[JTM]

Yes we have and I still think, while you have a more valid reason than most, it is still not require with the right equipment and placing etc.

Anyways, would you agree, for his budjet and car, no rears are required? They are in a awful place in the 206 aswell.

[Danny]

Do Alpine do USB headunits yet? At the price of flash disks now (4gb for ~£25) i want one with a couple of disks

[nmt_oli]

Yes we have and I still think, while you have a more valid reason than most, it is still not require with the right equipment and placing etc.

Anyways, would you agree, for his budjet and car, no rears are required? They are in a awful place in the 206 aswell.

Most likely, if he can get good mid response from his front speaker locations. My homemade pods definately need some stuffing, sealing and deadening behind, as now ive fiddled a bit with new HU, im getting much more mid kick out of them, and the enclosure isnt helping the sound one bit.

Where are the std front and rear locations in a 206? what size speaker can you fit as std? Most likely the front doors will need deadening to get the best response from the speaker, if thats the location. If the rear speakersare door (or if 3 door, quater panel) mounted then yes i completely agree, they will be useless (mine are either side of the parcel shelf, much more audiable up there).

[BONGO]

Bongo, did you get rear speakers??

Id 100% tell anyone to avoid buying rear speakers to be honest, especially in a 206 sized car. Bongos car is quite large (still shouldnt have got them though you gummy twat )

i bought 2 sets of 5 1/4" mid's tweeters, both sets fitted into the doors, as i often fill the car up and can't have them in the shelf for when the shelf isn't in...

gummy twat

[mark145]

Do Alpine do USB headunits yet? At the price of flash disks now (4gb for ~£25) i want one with a couple of disks

They don't do USB headunits of such they do an adapter for any Alpine Unit. The only bad thing is its quite a bit pricey £150.

So really your just as good staying with CD's.

[JTM]

206 speakers are all in the doors. So rears are a waste of time plus the car is small anyway. Id say spend £400 front end and £200 on a sub/amp. All second hand.

The 206 speakers are quite large if I rmember, 17cm i think? So buying good mids will give you a really punchy front end. Which is nice. You will want to be budjeting at least £40/50 for sound deadening of them doors, being a french shit box they rattle like f**k. I dont think they have sepearate tweets though, so.................ill ask again, how good are you with your hands??