[jgonino]

I think this is the right section to ask about this....


I am buying a new car, and I want to get a really nice system for it. It is a 2008 mazdaspeed 3, with 6 speakers. 1 in each door (4), and 2 tweeters up front.

I listen to Metal, and I think I am getting a bit too much bass for the music i like. I am looking at getting all new components, including a new head unit, a single sub (10, 12, 13.5, 15?) and some new speakers for the car. I will need 4 speakers for the door, and 2 tweeters. I don't need fancy wire, just some decent stuff. I will also need an amp for the sub, and maybe a couple for the speakers.

The head unit needs to play CD's, and should have a lot of features (time correction, crossovers, etc.)

Suggestions? I suppose I am willing to drop a couple grand on this, and I would do it in stages. I want tight bass, and a sealed sub box. I can do all of the work myself, except the speakers which I will get someone to do.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Look into offerings by Eclipse. Their speakers are made for audiophiles. They are easily much better than any other commercial line of car audio speakers, including infinity, polk, etc.

 

[FallenAngel]

Honestly, invest in a few nice speakers, simply adding a sub to stock crappy speakers will result in unclear muffled sound from the speakers and overpowering bass from the sub. If you do decide on a sub as well (I had a nice JL Audio 10w0 before and removed it after a few months), you also have to make sure to implement proper sound isolation and vibration dampening on the trunk, otherwise you'll get lots of rattling which will totally kill the quality of the bass.

 

[MASantos]

jgonino, have you heard of mbquart? They're a German designed and built audio manufacturer. They have some of the best car audio speakers around.

With a couple of grand, you can buy they're 2nd top of the line speakers, the the premium line. They're that kind of company which actually focuses on product quality, and not on the looks. You won't find big neons and cromed surfaces on they're speakers and subs, but you'll find high quality materials and craftsmanship.

This line has speakers, subs and amps.

Regarding headunits, look at pioneer and alpine. They have some units with BB DAC's and without internal amplification. Since you want to use external amplification, get a headunit that focuses on quality DAC and DSP. I'm at work now, but I'll get you some more info when I get home.

You might also consider adding a bateries and some capacitors to drive those power hungry amps.

 

[autosound]

ATM, you have more of an SPL system, but it seems as if you are looking more for an SQ system. In terms of a sub, a single 10" or 12" sub can do wonders but you will have to get a fairly nice one. I would recommend Image dynamics not only because they play very tight bass and hit hard, but with their parameters, they only require a very small box. In most cases fewer than a single cubic foot. This will help cure any trunkspacemidgetitus as well. Take a look into their IDmaxxes. As for your other speakers, it is best to buy component speakers for the front and to amp them with their own amp. To get the best imaging, you may have to build custom speaker pods for them as well. Also, most in who are after sound quality, forego having any rear speakers at all. They say the staging is better with only front speakers.

 

[VeipaCray]

+1 MB Quart Q Series for Sound Quality. The Focal gear is also worth a listen.

MB Quart was owned by Rockford Fosgate for a while, then Rockford dropped Quart. MB Quart went into bankruptcy protection under German law and is now owned by a company called Maxxsonics. I'm not sure of the current quality of the MB Quart gear under maxxsonics. The old stuff I have is absolutely incredible. The Q series amps (manufactured under Rockford) are the best sounding car amp I have heard to date excluding the Audison HV Venti.


MB Quart Q series 6.5" components front
MB Quart Premium 6.5" components rear
MB Quart Discus 3.5" center
JL Audio 12 W7 - slot ported
MB Quart QAA 1000 - monoblock sub amp
MB Quart QAA 4250 - quad mono powering Q's and premiums
MB Quart RAA 2400 - powering discus center channel
Alpine IVAD 310 head
Alpine PXA H701 processor
Alpine VPE S431 video expansion
Alpine Sir Alp1 - sirius tuner
Alpine KCA-420i - ipod adapter
Alpine Blackbird PMD B100 + DOC1

 

[Computerpro3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by autosound /img/forum/go_quote.gif ATM, you have more of an SPL system, but it seems as if you are looking more for an SQ system. In terms of a sub, a single 10" or 12" sub can do wonders but you will have to get a fairly nice one. I would recommend Image dynamics not only because they play very tight bass and hit hard, but with their parameters, they only require a very small box. In most cases fewer than a single cubic foot. This will help cure any trunkspacemidgetitus as well. Take a look into their IDmaxxes. As for your other speakers, it is best to buy component speakers for the front and to amp them with their own amp. To get the best imaging, you may have to build custom speaker pods for them as well. Also, most in who are after sound quality, forego having any rear speakers at all. They say the staging is better with only front speakers.

This man speaks the truth.

Just as a heads up, while MB Quart makes decent stuff nowadays, they are nowhere near where they were in the old days, when they won numerous awards and world championships. Now they are just another mid-grade manufacturer who makes speakers equivalent to Alpine. Good, cheap, entry level speakers.

Your budget is great and you can get a system that is competition grade if you install it right.

I spent six months picking out and saving up for my system, and I was researching the entire time. I spent time at IASCA competitions and listened to everything from $100 entry level setups to the $7000 Focal Utopia BE No 7 setup with pure beryllium tweeters. With a $2000 budget and by buying used, this is what I got

4 bulk packs of Dynamat Extreme (I got a killer deal on this, but I would get raammat as it is the same and much cheaper) ~ $200-$300
Alpine IVA-W200 7in In-dash headunit/DVD player ~ $700
Alpine PXA-H701 EQ ~$300
Focal Polykevlar 165K2P Upgraded Edition 6.5in componet speakers - $1k new, but can get for $500 used if you don't mind no warranty (don't buy on ebay because everyone makes counterfiet Focal equipment)
Zapco 360.4 Reference Pure Class A amplifier ~ $650 new, I got for $300 used with some small cosmetic blemishes

That is the same gear that is currently the winningest in the IASCA circuit. It has won several world championships, and can be had pretty cheaply used.

As for the subwoofer stage, I don't have the cash to get something really nice right now, but if SQ is important to you, I would reccomend an IDMAX. They sound very, very good and have great track records. Definetely build a sealed enclosure that you design using the free computer program called winisd.

As for the subwoofer amp, Audison, Zapco, Focal, Helix, and Brax all make great stuff. I know I'm forgetting some other great brands too, but those are all tier 1 companies.

There are two things that you should keep in mind: first, $100 speakers installed perfectly will sound better than $1000 speakers just thrown in the door panels. Second, sound deadening is very, very important. Seal every metal surface inside your doors with deadening material, and then take abs plastic and seal off the large access holes with that. This will prevent flexing and ensure proper midbass response.

Here are some pictures of my ever-in-progress system:


http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/...1m_1d201f4.jpg
http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/...3m_81ca9c4.jpg
http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/...5m_498cc22.jpg
http://img30.picoodle.com/img/img30/...1m_546cfc6.jpg
http://img30.picoodle.com/img/img30/...1m_93245c6.jpg

Yes, I know the car is dirty and the wires are messy in the back, but it makes no sense to make them neat until I'm done with it as the amps get tweaked and ripped out a couple of times a week.

Anyway, hope that helped and good luck.

 

[jgonino]

Ok, so I got my new car. It is a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3, with the standard 6 speakers and single disk head unit.

What is the first thing I should do? I am trying to sell my old gear, so I will have about 1000 to spend in the next month on this car.

The speakers are located in each door, with 2 tweeters in the pillars like the ones above.

 

[Jaw007]

Memphis speakers rock.I have component speakers ,and subs,and their 5 channel amp The Memphisbelle.Also a Pioneer head unit.

 

[cash68]

You made the same mistake that 95% of anybody who's into car audio makes: You got a sub and didn't replace your speakers. This just makes things sloppy and awful sounding.

First, let's go over some basics, and how most people do sound systems WRONG. The 'average' way people put in a sound system is by getting a new deck, which sounds better than the factory one since it has more power, and more options. Then they usually put in new speakers, which makes stuff sound better but also harsher, but they start noticing the absence of bass. Too fix that problem, they end up putting in an amp and a subwoofer. This is a stupid way to go about getting good sound, and I'll now explain why.

The reason they were lacking bass because they were powering potent 'high power speakers' with only a CD deck.

To understand further, let me explain:

High frequencies= tweeter.
Low frequencies= woofer. With me so far?

A woofer is bigger than the tweeter, so it requires MORE energy to move. Still with me?

When you buy aftermarket speakers rated for "250watts max", what that means is that they can HANDLE up to 250 watts. This means the tweeter can basically handle 250 watts. The woofer can probably handle even more (maybe). What makes a speaker a 'high wattage rating'? Well, tight suspension. Not loose stuff that allows it to over-extend, but a suspension strong enough to keep control of it even at high volumes (high power).

So you have these REALLY stiff, high power speakers, but you're only feeding them power from a CD-deck, which is only up to about 52 watts PEAK, per channel. RMS, the wattage is probably more like 15-20 watts. So a speaker that can handle 200+ watts, you're giving 20.

What happens in this scenario? It's severely, SEVERELY underpowered. As i said earlier, the tweeter is really small, really light, and requires not a whole lot of energy to move, so I'm sure you had great high frequencies, but the bass was severely lacking. Why? LACK OF POWER.*

Read more here:

Chicane_'s 1992 Subaru SVX on CarDomain - Page 3

 

[jgonino]

I understand all of that, and I was actually quite surprised with the SQ of my old car.

Note: I had the subs turned way down, I was not cranking them at all.

I think the problem was that the speakers in my old car did not have any mid-bass, as well as pretty grainy mids.

The thing I loved however, was that my head unit created a really nice soundstage in front on me on the dash. Even with the speakers on the doors, it sounded in front of me.

 

[rincewind]

A 10" sub will sound a lot tighter and faster for heavy metal. I moved from a 10" with splits in a Honda Civic, to a much better (on paper) system in a Nissan Skyline (larger coupe), and it involved a lot of tuning to get the same tightness from the 12". This was Eclipse sub/amp, JVC head and Focal K2P splits (which sound amazing, best audio purchase for the car). I think the car size also has a lot to do with it, as my sub is now about twice as far away than in the Civic. But can't go far wrong with Focal. I just suggest you play with head units that are actually running and try navigating around them with one hand, pretend your driving. I found some (eg anything Alpine) a real pig in terms of real life useability compared to JVC.

 

[J.D.N]

I have Focal components in my car, and they are sweet. Seriously good quality.

I also recommend a 10" sub for metal etc. I listen to a lot of metal/rock and a 10" provides the most pleasing sound.

If you are doing things in stages, then i recommend starting with the head unit, then an amp and sub, then the rest of the speakers.

Alpine head units are probably the way to go if you want to run custom crossover and EQ well.

 

[rincewind]

Oh! and sound deadening. At least your doors. May not need as much (or at all) as some older cars do, but it made a huge difference in mine. Plus, I'm a stickler for rattles and squeaks, so it helped a lot there. Let's your splits/fronts play clearer too.

 

[jgonino]

Looks like I am going to start with a head unit. The only problem is that they way my dash is layed out, I am unsure what it would look like with a new unit in it. It has this really weird multifunction thing in it, and I do not like the idea of having a really large dash kit.

Also, I have some really nice subs with a powerful enough amp right now, so should I just keep them, even though they are 12"?

See this ad I made for more info about them:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f44/fs...ox-cap-311703/