car/truck sound systems [Archive]

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Walkerallen

04-23-2011, 01:54 AM

Ok guys i have some questions. i have a 94 s10 blazer square body with a small system:naughty:. i have two 15'' Memphis subs, and two 12'' kicker comps. a boss 3600 watt amp for the kickers and a Rockford Fosgate p4004 amp for the 15s. and no i dont listen to rap!!!! just good ol' rock and roll. mostly uncle ted. now my question is what are the best speakers in your opinion for vocal quality? the dash speakers are 4x6s and the rear door speakers are 6 1/2s. also what radio would be the best that has a ipod port and 2 sets of rca OUTPUT plugs?

playasridebmx

04-23-2011, 02:38 AM

the big name companies all seem to have good quality high and mids.. its just how much your willing to pay to get it.. check crutchfield they carry just about everything in the audio department. and on a side note bag the blazer, havent seen a bagged 4door in a while.

Walkerallen

04-23-2011, 04:07 AM

its a 4x4 or i would. i was thinking about a 0 offset wheel instead of a +16 and about a 3-4inch suspension lift, blocks and torsion keys so it dont change the steering, ride quality and body roll. i have sony explode speakers in it now but the stock ones sounded better.

300rman

04-23-2011, 10:43 AM

Pioneer makes awesome radios. Stay away from Sony. Its high priced junk.

As for the highs. Run the dash speakers and door speakers off of an individual amp. Stay away from standalone Equalizers, get a Head Unit that has a good built in Equalizer. Not something that only lets you adjust highs, mid, and low, but something that actually lets you mess with frequency balancing. And get a good amp that has crossovers so you can tweak.

DO NOT cut all the bass going to the door/dash speakers. filter out everything below about 80-100HZ, and let them play the rest. This sound spectrum is crucial to a "full" sound.

get some decent 3-way speakers or even better, some Component speakers. JL audio comes to mind.....stay away from some of the large name-brands like KICKER for this area. Extremely high priced, you don't get the performance you should get. They make awesome subs though, I have two 06 model 10inch L7's in my truck.
Honestly, the cheap Roadmaster speakers you can get at Walmart for like 25 bucks a pair sound amazing. They are crisp, clean, and tough. I would take these over a $100 dollar pair of kickers any day.

Anywhere you can saw the speaker holes larger, INSTALL 6x9's!! I would honestly install 6X9's in all 4 doors and install a component set in the dash that was focused on highs only. (I know the front doors don't have speakers....that can be fixed)
I ditched the 4X6 that were in my doors, jigsawed the hole bigger and installed 4 way Volfenhag 6x9 that i got for free. HUGE difference in the midbass.

Walmart also had Roadmaster tweeters, they fill in the ultra-highs great.

But, I would recommend the tweeters in the link below. Yes, you have to cut holes where you mount them, but they look great mounted and sound AWESOME. I have 4 in my truck, I want to expand to 6 or 8. You have to run them off of an individual amplifier that has high-pass crossovers built in. Filter out everything under 3.5K-4K Hz and you wont believe the sound difference.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=275-035&FTR=nd20fb

When you start to get into this stuff, you will realize FAST that crappy MP3's will NOT sound good. They will sound muddy and rough. Sounds HORRIBLE. makes the upgraded stereo worthless.
If you use MP3's, 10MB or greater for a 3 minute song is about what you want, but a lossless format is much better. Too bad lossless takes like 60MB/song.

Once you start playing high quality music, you wont believe the little bits of sound and instrument notes that you simply couldn't hear before.

And forget about the drive ins....a stock radio would last 2 movies without an issue, and you could start her up and drive away.....now my battery lasts for a half of a movie.....:lol:

Here is a pet project of mine. It plugs into the wall or clamps to a car battery for tailgater parties. Pioneer H/U and 4 roadmaster 6X9's. The H/U is connected to an active EQ I got for free, and the speakers are connected to it. The thing ROCKS the house, but on really low volume, the EQ makes a slight bit of "white noise". Every EQ I have ever tried in any application does this, which is why I recommend to avoid them if the sound would bother you. (watching movies it will drive you insane) If you just listen to music, you can probably get away with a decent active EQ for your truck and cut out the individual amp for that section.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n313/NightBiker07/DSCI1150.jpg

This thing is a straight up NOISEMAKER....18" of insanity.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n313/NightBiker07/100_0465.jpg

pogo

04-24-2011, 12:10 AM

300rman has it about down pat memphis has always offered me the best all around sound and with crystal clear highs u can still make out the bass. no offence but i think you might be over doing the bass. 10s give you the perfect sound withou distortrion two jl 10s on an amp and your door speakers on a smaller amp of there own you will be amazed. his stereo eq segestion is right on. clarion or pioneer would do you great justice i have never had a problem with pioneer but every kenwood i have had has had cd problems the eject mechanisim gives out then you have to dismantle to get your disc out. hoped i have helped a little

Walkerallen

04-24-2011, 03:05 AM

Damn 300rman. You know some stuff about radios. All makes perfect sense. Now I have another question. How do I get rid of the "road noise" in the subs?

twitch101

04-24-2011, 11:59 AM

Jl is over priced for what they are. Ive got 2 alpine type s 10s under my rear seat and for shallows the sound great. Have them in a sealed box getting a little over 400w a piece. (you can over power when sealed ;)) sounds great for everything i listen too and keeps the bass close unless you open a door. I also run alpine type r 6.5 components in my doors. Highs on one amp subs on there own. I run an avh-5200 i think. Forgot lol. Had to do some fiberglass work to fit a double din in my dash. Sounds great in my 96 chevy

Walkerallen

04-24-2011, 04:02 PM

ok i found a few different kinds of component speakers. what are your thoughts on them? i like the sound of tweeter up front by me. what do you guys think?

dash speakers

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_12429_Power-Acoustik-KP-462N.html
http://www.hifisoundconnection.com/Shop/Control/Product/fp/vpid/1606336/vpcsid/0/SFV/30046

door speakers

http://store.mmxpress.com/index.php?c=cspeaker&n=760560&i=B001RNPA86&x=Power_Acoustik_XP_694K_6_Inch_x_9_Inch_Four_Way_ Full_Range_Speaker

http://store.mmxpress.com/index.php?c=cspeaker&n=760560&i=B000P4DWYM&x=Power_Acoustik_KP_694N_KP_Series_6_Inch_X_9_Inch _380_Watt_4_Way_Full_Range_Speakers

http://www.hifisoundconnection.com/Shop/Control/Product/fp/vpid/7775525/vpcsid/0/SFV/30046

Walkerallen

04-27-2011, 08:33 PM

What are your guys thoughts on the speakers?. Oh and the road noise is really starting to get annoying. I also bought a pioneer deh7700mp and it makes the sound 10x better than the junk vr3 that was in there.

jonesmary150

04-28-2011, 02:43 AM

great 300rman.....very great post.

300rman

04-28-2011, 10:40 AM

Well, first you have to determine what is causing the white noise you are experiencing. Most likely you are experiencing either Alternator Whine OR a ground loop.
look around in http://forum.realmofexcursion.com/accessories-electrical/ for some answers to your unwanted background noise.

STAY AWAY from Power Acoustik......

YOU WANT STANDALONE TWEETERS. the sound difference is incredible. The ones I linked to in my earlier post cant be beat for the price. tweeters fill in ultra highs (think cymbals or real high guitar notes) A good set of dash components will fill in the high spectrum, the door speakers will fill in the highs and mid bass.

As for the subs...thats overkill for rock. one 15 and 2 10's would be perfect. use the 15 and tune the box LOW for the low notes, and tune the 10's for 35-40HZ.

All I have in my truck are 2 10" L7 kickers, and they are too much for rock. they are tuned at 35HZ if i remember correctly(sound engineer drew up the box years ago)

JL is overpriced if you buy it new. If you dig around, you can get JL for comparable prices to other name brand stuff. When you start getting into that stuff, how you like your sound will determine what you buy.

BEFORE you go buying 6x9's for the doors, make sure they will fit. Regardless of what you do with the rear, you WANT speakers in the front doors somehow. If doorrs are impossible, go to the kick panels and make some fiberglass pods to fit speakers into those.

Anyone that does sound professionally will tell you to eliminate the rearward speakers altogether. in a concert, all the sound is in FRONT of you.

Go to http://forum.realmofexcursion.com/
it is a GOLDMINE if information, and they can point you in the right direction for component speakers and such. The guys on there dont fool around, some of them have stereos that would drown out a rock concert.

because you are just jumping into the area of real car audio, I would recommend you go to walmart and get these to get you kick started for your door speakers.

http://cdn.propertyroom.com/ImageServer/Sellers/Seller1/Images/CtrImgs/1_308201054717773.jpg

Or, find a pair of these. They are about the same, maybe a little better.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=volfenhag+6x9&cp=11&qe=dm9sZmVuaGFnIDY&qesig=H9Wv2PP9wJ6OoDIiB8xDhg&pkc=AFgZ2tlOQm_Z1XRZYuseHNVxN6NpKfsw-eLMBcY1mTVz1jxnDaON5it8z2Qp0EHvXsI_LqXFpoWNORGFTZP SEbqT3fIZ_D1zZQ&safe=off&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=17406554416084714205&sa=X&ei=HHq5TeSnLsbY0QGWuoTjDw&sqi=2&ved=0CDEQ8wIwAg#

It all depends on what you like to listen to. My radio does rock exactly how i like it, but i have to fiddle with the EQ that is in the radio if i want country to sound all warm and fuzzy. My radio makes 99% of my passengers plug their ears or wince at the highs, and the lows for drums and stuff really make it sound awesome. Best part is, ive built it with CHEAP amps and cheap speakers (cept the subs).

STAY AWAY FROM KENWOOD RADIOS. As previously stated by someone else, the CD loading mechanisms suck, and the knobs arent very durable. They do look sharp and sound pretty good though.

250Eddie

04-28-2011, 11:09 AM

If i was to say the BEST door speakers HAVE to be components nothin better theres no 2 way 3 way or 4 way speakers that are gonna sound louder and cleaner then components, If i was to recommend a brand i would go with memphis components, they arent WAY to expensive like MB Quarts or polk audio, YES polk audio has to be the best mids and highs but they also cost about the same ammount as a TRU NOS 250r, so if u wanna have some loud clean music go look at the memphis website and uve see some of the prices, in my old show car i had 22 mids and highs all components and if i was pulling up to my house u was able to hear the music clearly 2 to 3 blocks away give it i had a 2k watt amp for the mids but it got the job done, Not only winning me 11 1st place trophys at the car shows all over miami.

JayBone

04-28-2011, 11:27 AM

If you take the $$$ you plan to spend on this stero and put the money in a ROTH IRA now you'll get the most from your investment. Sounds really boring and lame. right?? It would be the smartest thing you could do with your money.

300rman

04-29-2011, 10:12 AM

cox

04-29-2011, 05:07 PM

Please tell me your not running two different sizes of subs at once. That will cause noise cancellation, no joke. I have competed in car audio and ill tell ya that its a money pit. JL is high priced garbage. Yes, including the infamous W7's. I have ran all sorts of HQ equipment, everything from JL to Fi to RE XXX's to memphis or Orion ect. Get rid of your boss amp. Stop looking at the max power rating and only go by the RMS rating. In my opinion the old skool Phoenix Gold equipment is the best. Expensive equipment? look up Rainbow, RE XXX, Focal, Audison. All of your questions can be answered on Realm of excursion, google it and learn. Hope it helps ya...

This was LOUD.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g55/Bodar/Car%20audio/Picture001-8.jpg
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g55/Bodar/Car%20audio/Picture009-4.jpg

300rman

05-01-2011, 12:53 AM

Sundown is also a top contender for high-power amplifiers

running two separate size subs may not be as loud, but IF they are set up properly, you can get a real nice sweep for music.

and I wouldnt say JL is garbage...just hugely overpriced. their subs are amazing SQ drivers. better can be had for much less money, but they are far from junk. Their 1000Wrms monoblock amp goes for about a grand brand new in the shops around here......you can get triple that power for a grand.

Walkerallen

05-02-2011, 09:14 PM

how are boss audio speakers?

300rman

05-03-2011, 01:05 AM

how are boss audio speakers?

Even more garbagey than Power Acoustik......

Visit Realmofexcursion.com all you ever need to know about speakers......

Chazz of Blades

05-03-2011, 01:44 AM

I picked up a pair of cheapie duals the other day, Sound Storm Laboratories, I don't remember the model number, but for 5x7s they sound pretty damn good, especially for under $20 a piece new. I got these NIB at a yardsale though, quality may have dropped since they were made, but they are nice plastic subs with a top mounted tweeter.

corndawg

05-03-2011, 01:21 PM