Things you should know about car audio Options

[Niskyspy]

Well, I was doing sub installs for long time and upgraded through about 4 amps and 3 subs in last 8 month.
Three of my friends kinda did the same thing. So here is a couple of things I learned from chaning from crappy amps to almost high end stuff.

>Most of subwoofers are good, for example lets take Alpine Type-E which is the cheapest sub from Alpine. My friend is pushing around 500Watt's through one of them things right now and it sound perfect. Most of the time, when you hear your subwoofer distording or not playing the right sound. Its not your subs falult, it your AMP. I went through a couple of amps from alpine to kenwood to JBL, its a huge difference. So please if you want to get a good sounding system get a cheap sub, but do spend as much as you can on the amp.

>Here's a good example, the firend that I was talking about who's pushing 500Watts through Type-E which is 200Watt RMS rated. His type-E sound as good as my JLW6v2 because he is using a Polk momo amp which is really clean.

>DELETED cuz I dont want people to blow their subs with unclean power

>One more things that I've just learned is that if you like precise sounding subwoofer you will have to buy really good speakers, for example MbQuart (premium/reference) and you have to make a good kick panel for it, so that it can reproduce good mids. It makes the bass 200% cleaner, because most of the bass are tones that are produced by mids ( in first couple miliseconds when drum is hit, you don't hear the bass it self, what you get is a sound of a stick hitting the drum, same as when drum note is passing becaue it goes from low to mid). Because I didn't know of this, I upgraded a lot of components in my car and I never could get the bass to sound the way I wanted. Yesterday I found out that its all about the speakers.

>Please do not buy 4 speakers because the rear speakers are useless, most of the time they just mess up your stage and aligment. Instead of buying 4 speakers for $100 per pair, buy one pair for $200. For example you can get MbQuart Reference speakers for about $240 online and I am telling you, you will never want to go back to 4 speaker setup. If you dont believe me, why dont you go to this summer SPL/SQ shows and you will see what I am talking about.

Well thats it, if you have any questions ask

This post has been edited by Niskyspy: Mar 26, 2006 - 6:43 PM

[runriot95]

I agree with SOME of what you said:

I agree with putting more money into a better set of front comps than buying 4 speakers, but that's more personal preference than anything else.

I also agree that a HQ amp will make MOST speakers sound better and that a HQ amp should be top 2 in priorities in building a system.

I also agree that an amp more powerful than the speakers is better, but within reason. An amp that is TWICE as powerful as the speakers IS NOT within reason. You can, and probably will, blow them if the amp is sending the speaker a lot more than it can handle.

I disagree that most subs are good. This is like saying that most mid-bass speakers are good. There is a spectrum of quality for all drivers, just like you experienced with the MB Quarts.

Those are my 2 cents but I'm glad to see you're learning a few things about car audio. It's kind of fun, and expensive, trying to put together that ultimate stereo set-up.

[Niskyspy]

I agree with SOME of what you said:

I agree with putting more money into a better set of front comps than buying 4 speakers, but that's more personal preference than anything else.

I also agree that a HQ amp will make MOST speakers sound better and that a HQ amp should be top 2 in priorities in building a system.

I also agree that an amp more powerful than the speakers is better, but within reason. An amp that is TWICE as powerful as the speakers IS NOT within reason. You can, and probably will, blow them if the amp is sending the speaker a lot more than it can handle.

I disagree that most subs are good. This is like saying that most mid-bass speakers are good. There is a spectrum of quality for all drivers, just like you experienced with the MB Quarts.

Those are my 2 cents but I'm glad to see you're learning a few things about car audio. It's kind of fun, and expensive, trying to put together that ultimate stereo set-up.

Yea, its fun alright. Especially when you start with really low system and gradually go up, cuz thats where you can hear the difference each component makes. Eh my next upgrade are MbQuart Premium speakers and some stinger RCA's. Hehe it should sound way better becaue my Discus aren't enough anymore