new member new to car audio

[96caprice]

Hello every I have 96 caprice that I am currently fixing, my plans for this car are fresh paint new wheels and interior and a very nice sound system.

I have shaved the handles and doing body work getting it ready for paint. I have painted a lot of my interior pieces and installed some seats from a 97 bonneville.

the trans has been rebuilt with a trans go hd 2 shift kit the rear end has 373 yukon gears and a tru tak posi unit the engine has had the heads rebuilt and kn intake, exhaust is a pypes x-pipes into some 40 series flowmaster,

slowly but surely I am on my way to get this thing back on the road so I am need of a sound system that will be loud and functional I am leaning more to SQ for this car but I want some subs that will pound lol I have some ideas that will be posted hopefully in the right section.

right now I have kicker ds 6.5 comps infinty kappa 6x9 2 way kenwood kdc bt742u HU bazooka mga4150 4 channel amp.

I am looking to get rid of this stuff except for the amp. i was thinking of getting a double din.
And from reading on this forum image dynamics id max twelves sound like the type of subs i need and I am open to suggestion on some components so thank you every one in advanced for all the help.

ps sorry for poor grammer.

[MisterDeadeye]

Do you have a budget?

Those IDs should be great, but you also might want to check out SSA. They've got some monster subs that sound great. As for your speakers, are you planning on running active or passive? Do you want to put speakers in your rear doors? You won't be happy with any speaker's performance in the rear deck if you're running 1,500W plus to some subs.

[destined2race]

First off why do you want to keep the bazooka? If your putting alot of time and effort into the car id sell all of that and get new stuff(guess you could keep the Kappa 6x9s for rear fill and focus on a nice front component set)

[96caprice]

my budget for components will be around 200 and i dont plan on running rear speakers just front speakers, I am really the one that will be in that car so im not worried about the back and rear deck speakers,also I seen some custom speaker pods for my car that an house a 6.5 and 5 1/4 speaker next to each other i thought that would be a cool idea but if they wont sound well together then im good lol.

as far as subs go i have never heard the id max in person just read about them so still open to suggestions specially if they are cheaper, also I am a noob to car audio so active and passive are french to me lol if there is something i can read so i can get a better understanding to better answer your question i would really be appreciate it. thank you

[96caprice]

not so much against selling just thought since it still worked why not keep it, but i would like to here your opinion on the amp that would be great.

[MisterDeadeye]

First off why do you want to keep the bazooka? If your putting alot of time and effort into the car id sell all of that and get new stuff(guess you could keep the Kappa 6x9s for rear fill and focus on a nice front component set)

Have you looked at the "specs"? If they're true, then it's not that bad of an amp, honestly.


Active and passive are referring to the crossovers for your woofer and tweeter(or other speakers if you're adding more like you mentioned). Active crossovers mean you're using your head unit or amp to cross your speakers(actively). You get to choose where to cut off the frequencies between the two, and depending on the amp, you might be able to change the slopes(how quickly the frequency cuts off). Passive crossovers are the boxes that come with component sets you buy. They're pretty much plug and play, but you might benefit sonically by changing the cutoff and slopes.

I got conflicting information regarding your amp, so I don't know if you'd be able to run active. You should check the crossover section for both sets of channels and see what the knob goes to(should be 55-590 or 55-5,900) or something like that. Crutchfield said that both are 55-590, then the actual specs said 550-5,900. So, I'm guessing it's the former, which means you wouldn't be able to run active unless you got a different amplifier.

And if you're going for loud, you could put a midbass driver in the door, then put a mid and tweeter elsewhere, resulting in a three way setup, but that gets much more complicated regarding crossovers and power. If you want simple, just get a $200 2 way component set.

[audiobaun]

welcome ..i too am recouping my 98 chevy truck,engine rebuilt trans shocks ect..i dont want anymore car notes, and the vehicle runs excellent, and best of all..its paid for! ya those kappas are good speakers.id recommend putting a baffell over them to keep the subs from damaging them for sure..amps,id look to replace possibly good old school eclipse,zed made,amps for t5he bang for your buck,and will rated power rms, and much more,along with being easier on your electrical system...you know like 12-8 ga power wiring,rather than 4ga, and 1)-25-60amp fuse verses 4-30 amp fuses.i would recommend you go ahead and get a min of a 200amp alternator and get the big three done first to be ready for whatever amps/components you decide to put in, to have all the electrical you need.ive done a downgrade of a 255 ho alt to a 200, with 2 redtops, and the big5 rather than the big 3,and ran 2ga for supply than 0ga, as it is more than my needs of running old school amps,and adding a 600 kinetick at the fused dist block soon.id get the power source done first, then work on deadining/choosing equipment..just me/what ive done

[96caprice]

hmmmm i think i get what your saying about active and passive, using passive crossovers would just be the boxes hooked up to the tweeter to the woofer and then to the amp right? but for active would you use the boxes at all if not how would they be hooked up as far as the amp goes the frequency hz knob for the front and rears channels is confusing to me might make sense to you guys idk its as follows 600,55,110,240,330 then there is a button that says x over frequency multiplier 1x,10x.
in the manual it says that on x1 mode the frequency is 55hz-600hz and on x10 mode the frequency is 550hz-6khz.

but yea I am looking for loud but this car audio is kinda confusing for the most parts but i think a little more research i might understand. what would be the down side to two diffrent size speakers next to each other, and i would like a little more info a three way setup , thanks guys a appreciate the patience

[96caprice]

lol yes that is the best part of having a older car is no car note. the big three , alt and batts are all on the list, i plan on getting my alt rebuilt to a 200 amp and my trunk is pretty sound deadend, awhile back when my car was running i had to memphis pr twelves they were great speakers but these cars have such big quarter panelsthat it rattled a lot so I put two layers of fat mat in the whole trunk and some touch foam in the deck lid fame braces so the trunk is good, my interior is completely strip out, on the advice of one my friends who sprays bed liners said it wouldn't be a bad idea to lay some in the car floor since he said it would be free i said why not probably couldnt hurt to kill some road noise and vibrations so those are my preemptive plans for my sound system.

[audiobaun]

lol yes that is the best part of having a older car is no car note. the big three , alt and batts are all on the list, i plan on getting my alt rebuilt to a 200 amp and my trunk is pretty sound deadend, awhile back when my car was running i had to memphis pr twelves they were great speakers but these cars have such big quarter panelsthat it rattled a lot so I put two layers of fat mat in the whole trunk and some touch foam in the deck lid fame braces so the trunk is good, my interior is completely strip out, on the advice of one my friends who sprays bed liners said it wouldn't be a bad idea to lay some in the car floor since he said it would be free i said why not probably couldnt hurt to kill some road noise and vibrations so those are my preemptive plans for my sound system.

anything free is deff a pluss!!! i put fat mat in my truck,and used a heat gun on it,,any issues with your experience of seeping/running? rumors stating that it does,found out after i installed of course.but like to know before i cover back up w new carpet

[MisterDeadeye]

hmmmm i think i get what your saying about active and passive, using passive crossovers would just be the boxes hooked up to the tweeter to the woofer and then to the amp right? but for active would you use the boxes at all if not how would they be hooked up as far as the amp goes the frequency hz knob for the front and rears channels is confusing to me might make sense to you guys idk its as follows 600,55,110,240,330 then there is a button that says x over frequency multiplier 1x,10x.
in the manual it says that on x1 mode the frequency is 55hz-600hz and on x10 mode the frequency is 550hz-6khz.

but yea I am looking for loud but this car audio is kinda confusing for the most parts but i think a little more research i might understand. what would be the down side to two diffrent size speakers next to each other, and i would like a little more info a three way setup , thanks guys a appreciate the patience

Okay, it looks like your amp would be 2 way active capable. When you're running active, each speaker gets a channel rather than two per channel, so on channels 1 and 2, you'd have the woofers(or tweeters), then on channels 3 and 4 you'd have the others. The 1x and 10x refer to the frequency range. To explain all of this relatively quickly, people can usually hear frequencies between 20Hz and 20,000Hz(or 20kHz). Subwoofers will often play from <20Hz(in the extreme low end) to 80-100Hz(in the extremely high end). Woofers(can be from 3-15") typically play between 65Hz to as high as 2-3kHz, depending on the speaker, its size, and the enclosure it's in. Midranges(can be from 2-5") typically play between 300Hz(on the extreme low end) to 4-5kHz(on the extreme high end). Tweeters typically play between 3-20kHz, some even higher(or lower).

In a two way(plus sub) setup, depending on your equipment, the response could be like this:

Sub: 15-80Hz
Woofer: 65-2.5kHz
Tweeter: 2-20kHz

Your crossover points will depend on your speakers, but in this hypothetical situation, let's assume that all of these components play their stated range at a constant volume, ie., flat. In this case, you might want to cross the sub at 70Hz, and the woofer at 70Hz. This means that the frequencies they play will be cut and then crossed at 70Hz. You'll typically see crossover slopes ranging from 6-48dB/octave, which means that the cut off can range from not very steep to very steep. The slope is basically like graphing a line in Algebra. With a low pass filter, for every octave to the right(ie., higher octave), the sound level will be decreased by 6-48dB, depending on your amp's/head unit's capabilities. Now, the crossover slope in your amp is stuck at 12dB/octave, which is typically fine unless you're trying to make your speakers perfect. If you want to run active, it's possible, but it won't be a competition worthy SQ setup because of your amp's crossovers.

Three way active setups are much more complicated, in that you will need a band pass filter, instead of just a low pass for the woofer, and high pass for the tweeter. A band pass filter is the same as saying that the midrange is using both a high and low pass filter.

So in a three way(plus sub) setup, you might see this:

Sub/woofer crossed at 70Hz
Woofer/mid crossed at 500Hz
Mid/tweeter crossed at 2kHz

Or something. I typed this on my phone, so forgive me if none of this makes sense.

[96caprice]

misterdeadeye thank you for taking the time to explain all of that to me i feel the more times i read the more its starts to make sense i will continue and read and learn, I am not really looking for a competition worthy setup but more like an above average all around setup.it seems to me that this amp might not be suited to my needs but again thank you I will be looking forward for more of your knowledge in the future regarding other car audio things.

audiobahn I have no complaints against fat mat its still stuck on the quarter panels really good as the trunk floor and deck lid, had no problems i just cleaned the metal with some dish soap and wiped it down with some alcohol and the rolled it on, i have heard of people complaining of a tar smell on hot days and it falling of but not me maybe its just poorly prepped surface idk. prep is key to any application thanks again guys for all the help. and free is def a plus i am painting my friends 5.0 for free aside from the material, so he offerd to spray my car with bed liner because he has some material left over after some jobs. so bartering is effin sweet lol

quick question i have two diamond audio

[96caprice]

that need knew surrounds is it possible to order knew ones ???