Sound quality, Less is more.. Options

[Nibbe]

Lets start from that why everybody always thinks that more is better? Its really fact that one sub sounds better than two or even more ones. And why not get one better quality sub with the same money besides two or even more low quality ones. Its just that youre putting the same money into setting that doesnt sound even nearly as good as it could. Less is sometimes more and it doesnt matter what is the quality of the subs or speakers. Example if you have two same subs in your trunk by taking the other one off your sound quality will definetly gain.

Here is little example of a good setup if your looking for nice sound quality. One 10 or 12" sub that is two ohm able with a decent amp. Into the front some two way speakers with some decent amp. Plus dont forget the cross over and some quality battery (optima yellow top is the thing). And when you want to gain your sound quality from here then dont get more! Change the ice (in car electronics) that you already got to some better ones. Like the front setup for some three way speakers, better quality sub that has more ohm able and then run those with some better quality amps (watts really doesnt matter its the ohms that your putting to your speakers which caunts). Example when you put more ohms to your sub it stays better on with the music and bounces the exactly right time and same in the cross overs that the 0.5farad works quicker than the 10farad one. And if youre this far then dont forget the sound proofing. It also helps with a lower quality setup but when youre really putting on some quality stuff this must be done. Ofcourse the capels caunt too but this kind of things you solve by yourself if your really going this far.

Hope this gives you a little idea how you should build your system to make it sound good. Some good sets starts from 1 000 usds + headunit and i think theres no limit how much you could put on your ice.

(If your looking for some dB then more is more and the watts caunt and then it really is all about that how loud it is. And i promise you that a good sound quality set makes that many dB that everybody would leave from the street where youre listening. )

I didnt want to make this topic too long so everybody that are even little intrested could read this. Theres so much more but i think these are the main points and gives you a idea.

[soven]

Good starter setup for people on a budget. Doesnt need to be expensive and sq is not something exclusive that only a selective few can enjoy. Anyone can tell the difference.

4 channel amp(4x 75rms as an example)
2 way front components (passive)
subwoofer

Channels 1 and 2 for the fronts and channels 3/4 bridged for the subwoofer. subwoofer will get roughly 290rms. Stock battery will suffice, no point spending money here if there are no problems.Upgrade to an optima or Orbital battery down the line.

Upgrade path:
Monoblock for subwoofer. Then use the 4 channel solely for the front components. End up with 290rms x 2 to fronts and whatever to subwoofer(1000rms or something) . Will be more than enough to kill your ear drums

Capacitors are useless and a waste of money. Spend the time to upgrade your ground cables. 9 out of 10 audio problems are due to dodgy grounding. Spend more on speakers compared to headunit,amps as the $$ spent on speakers will give you the most audible difference.

Sound deadening is more important than most people think and is a must if you are any serious about getting the most out of your audio. That is however for another thread.

2 subs or 1 subs...... if you have 2 subs in the trunk and take out one you wont gain in sq unless you had weird problems or by taking one out you get more power to the single one to run it properly. Buying 1 quality sub with the money for 2 in the first place will definitely give you a big gain.

This post has been edited by soven: Jan 19, 2007 - 2:05 PM

[dagreat1]

what about the back seat speakers

[soven]

leave them disconnected. Especially in the celica, it is aweful...it sounds as though all the sound is coming from the far side speaker. Try listening to just the rear speakers by itself The celica cabin is also small enough that front speakers are enough.

[dagreat1]

so you're telling me if i bought some good speakers for the back i might as well send them back?

[soven]

since you already bought it, feel free to use them and see how it goes. using the fade option on the headunit will be good. Fade it more towards the front while the back speakers provides a little bit of rear fill. You might even like having sound coming from the back? if you are into trance etc.

[Nibbe]

Thats true its almost the same if you dont have speakers on the back. I've faded mine (original ones) to minimum. Its better to stay w/out back speakers and spend that money to upgrade the front setup. It shouldnt be a problem for passangers in the back either and atleast in my car it really isnt. They just always tell me how nice does it sound.

[dagreat1]

well i didn't buy them but i was about to... thanks for the info, now i wont

[Negative]

I agree with what they said but the lack of rear speakers is really just an opinion. I upgraded to RF component 6.5"s/tweets in the fanatic series for my rear speakers matched with RF 15" P1 with RF 400x4 watts amp for rears and fronts and a RF 300x2 watts amp for sub. Sony atrac fold down head deck [gotta love 300+ CD quality songs per disc - waaaaay better than MP3] completes the setup. Notice I left the fronts with my stock 8"s and tweets. That's just my opinion. I prefer most of the sound from the rear with the fronts just to supply the fill they spoke of. Since most Celicas got the same size speakers front and rear you can just buy one set and switch them out to see which way you prefer.

One more thing to add to the above ideas - don't cheap out on the front and rear speakers. It took alot of trying to find speakers that outperformed the stock premium sound setup. They would always have better sound quality but not able to hold the wattage from my amps that the stock ones could. Weird I know but both my '95 GT and now my '99 GT had killer performing stock speakers. They just didn't seem to give a damn how much wattage I put to them. The problem I had was purely in sound quality - I wanted better sounding speakers.

Nice write up Nibbe and Soven.