Advice on small system

[silverspace 10+ year member]

just pair of components in the front

two full ranges in back

10" in back with two amps

all JL (once again uneducated opinion from young audiophile)

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

Give us a budget, and we'll work a killer system out for you that will sound just as good as a JL system.

 

[silverspace 10+ year member]

i'm curious, coming from dudes that know about this stuff whats your impression of JL?

 

[MadAudio 10+ year member]

if your worried about installing stuff on your own and not bothered by spending a little bit extra then buy from crutchfield .they will give you all sorts of diagrams and instructions on how to connect it all .plus if you run into a problem you can call them up and they will give you a hand so to speak. and you will probably still save a ton .... lets see for $hits and giggles .

components

Boston Acoustics SX60 $250

sub/s

Kicker CompVR 07CVR84 8" x2 $200

or

Kicker CompVR 07CVR102 10" x1 $130

rear speakers ( if you must plus you didnt state size )

Boston Acoustics SX95 $199

amps..

thats the hard part many to choose from but a pair of good amps would be around $1000

add the amps kit and misc items like small bit of wood for enclosure and your price is around $2000 alot better than your dealer price

the feeling from installing it yourself .... priceless

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

JL is good stuff, but it costs twice as much as comparable products...

 

[MadAudio 10+ year member]

fyi dont be afraid to take advice from a couple of guys with minivans //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[kross 10+ year member]

Rainbow Germaniums would be a good choice for front components. Don't need rear speakers. I don't know what the going price is, I think somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 shipped.

I don't know a whole lot about subwoofers, but people really seem to like RE Audio. You can get a RE SE 10" for a couple hundred shipped.

For amps, the Kicker refurbished ones are an excellent deal, and come with a 90-day warranty. The zx450.2 is about $160, and the zx750.1 is about $200 shipped.

So we're at about $1060. That leaves a lot left over for a box, wiring, and installing.

 

[silverspace 10+ year member]

again, is buying JL products from onlinecarstereo, alright? what are comparible products?

by the way..thanks for the info from all the questions

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

Give us a budget, and I'll show you what you can get thats comparable. Do you want to replace your head unit?

 

[12VoltInstaller 10+ year member]

Ok so heres what you got going on. You have 6X9s in the front doors 5 1/4 in the rear. Your gonna save some time and effort if you do the components in the door or use the location on top of the dash for your tweeter locations. The 6x9s are a smaller size than normal...you'll have to cut a bit to make them fit if you stay with 6x9s or a plate set up.

Do you have the infinity system? Listen to the door speakers...if there are voices coming out your ok. Not just mid bass and muffled voices....If Infinity you have an amp stuffed inside the passenger side of the dash behind the glove box (***** to get to) and short harness/wires to deal with. Honestly...its almost better to run new wires into the doors for the amount of work it will be...with infinity. I also think you have Molex type plugs in the door boots (could be wrong) much more difficult..... not open pass through rubber boots.

The price the dealers shot you is a bit high...but you also have to remember they are there at the drop of a hat...in person to help and guide you and warantee your selections. Thats worth alot if they are good at customer service.

If they are worth their salt, they will work with you on price and negotiate the best deal with all parties involved....just explain your reasons and let them work with you...if they dont....no salt.

You have to remember, our industry has a stigma of the "gimme a deal" sale so when people come in...the sales guys will shoot high. Gotta have some negotiating skills at a stereo shop. But once you work the deal, they are obligated to give you the best service as well. You get what you pay for and you have to pay for what you don't either know how to do or what to select and how to apply it to your vehicle and listening tastes.

For all of you quick to suggest he do it himself....your cutting your fellow installers throats to spite your clean manicured mouse clicking fingernails.

The pro's do what they do for a reason... they get paid peanuts for the time and knowledge they have to possess to be able to be that guy at the store day in and day out with all the answers, tools and abilities.

Most of the best ones don't have time to get on the forums and post thousands of posts...about NFL football on a car audio forum..........

So...on that note...knowing what you know...trust yourself....dont have your buddy do it in your back yard for 150 bucks....an installer that knows that truck and your system askings.......wouldn't put that in for $150 and drive 5 hours....for 150 bucks.

....ask if you can be part of or watch when they do your job....dont be surprised if they say no...but it never hurts to ask.

If you want to try part of it....try the rear speakers first....then maybe the fronts....but remember....is it infinity?

lets get more narrowed down......

ask more questions...post more comments

Im still here all week....... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

p.s. JL hasnt been doing this for as long as they have cuz they dont know what they are doing.....all of their stuff is great used in the right applications....it is more of a consumer line now....nothing really crazy....nothing really crappy.... most of their stuff is respectable and even sounds pretty dang good.... again... they are still here for a reason...but personal choices are everyones right....speakers...you gotta listen to them yourself....no one else can say how much YOU like them!

 

[silverspace 10+ year member]

12voltinstaller.... I appreciate the good/helpful response.

-current situation- returned the infinity speakers (front and back) to crutchfield because technical support couldn't give me the simple explanation that 12voltinstaller provided that the 6X9 kappas wouldn't "really fit". Delved into installing the infinity's myself but found it just wasn't going to work with such vague information from crutchfield. (again coming from inexperience)

For simplicity sake I decided to go with JL for the reason they sounded good to me, in the sea of opinions and choices. Basically I'm looking for good bass response (minimal) and accurate/clear sound. I'm not after huge bass just clean/tight sound, which I realize JL may not be the absolute best answer, but maybe a good starter product?

In terms of the do-it-yourself issue I just don't have the expertise that many of you have in setting up a small system. Many issues that seem minimal to a professional/expert would be a deal-breaker to me which is why I'm kind of at the mercy of an installer which I have a lot more confindence in.

Bottom line I went on JLaudio.com and found a diagram that seems to fit what I'm looking for which is:

keep factory head unit - free sat. radio - asthetics (possible JL OEM intergration unit)

1 pair of XR650 component speakers in front

1 pair of 5 1/4" speaker in rear (what i call full range)

1- 10" stealthbox below seat in back

Amps - whatever is necessary

- Does this seem like a good/minimal setup?

- Is the tweeter mounted in the dash acceptable? As oppossed to mounted near speaker on door?

Thanks for the valued information

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

12volt... I really don't want to turn this in argument, and I agree with you on lot of this stuff. Yes, I know that doing your own install is shooting installers in the foot, in a sense. But, the joy in knowing you installed your own system is hardly describable. I mean, I had my first h/u and speakers installed by BB, and it was nice and all, but when I went and installed a subwoofer, components, rear speakers, a 4-channel, a sub amp and a new h/u by myself, I was immeasurably more satisfied and proud of my system.

Silver, if you have tools, and a free day, I wholeheartedly recommend doing it yourself. I know it's intimidating, but with a little common sense, and some advice from the people who know how to do it right, it's not so bad. It's really not as hard as it seems.

JL is a dynamite brand. They have lots of good products, excellent build quality, great sound quality, lots of features, and a very innovative approach to audio. However, my beef with them is that their products cost much more than their closest competitors.

Here's what I would recommend for you. It would be clean, crisp, simple, tight and functional.

Amp: Kicker ZX700.5

It will provide a good 70+ watts RMS per channel for your speakers, and 420+ watts RMS for the sub. Since it's a 5-channel amp, it's a good all in one solution as an amplifier. You don't have to worry about installing multiple amps, splitting RCAs, power, ground and remote wires.

Front Components: CDT CL-69X

I know that the 6x9 holes in the doors are a little small... I own a Grand Caravan with 6x9's in the front door, and have run into the same problem. You can do one of two things to remedy this: either make or have a spacer made. It will allow the speakers to fit properly. Option 2 is just getting after the doors with a Dremel. I opted for number one. It will be fine to put the tweeters in the dash.

Rears: CDT CL-5EX

Ought to be good rear fill.

Subwoofer: Kicker 07CVT10-2

I know I linked to the 4 ohm version... there's a 2 ohm version out there, but I couldn't find it right of the bat.

Wiring: Knukonceptz 4 gauge, 4-channel amp kit and one additional set of RCAs for the subwoofer channel of the amplifier.

That's all the power, ground and signal wires.

As far as speaker wire goes, I would just go get a spool of 16 gauge speaker wire from Wal-Mart. It's cheap and it gets the job done well. Also pick up some 12 gauge wire for the subwoofer.

And that sir, would be an excellent setup for the money.

 

[12VoltInstaller 10+ year member]

Nobody is arguing...its all about the info for the guy that originally posted his questions.

Hopefully your suggestions will help him out too.

The more expensive products are more difficult for the average joe to get a hold of...so when you tell your buddy....its an all JL audio system or whichever he chooses....he'll have that "man I wish I had that system in my car" feeling from his buddy....

we call that envy.

That my friend is worth every penny spent in this game of keepin up with the joneses

I didnt see if you have posted it was infinity system? I might have missed it... bah

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

oh, and what 12volt was asking was asking is, does your car have an infinity system stock? Those are a real pain to deal with, and really the best thing to do is to bypass them completely.

 

[bizza 10+ year member]

Well I'm not the most experienced one around here, but with $2500 you could get a KILLER SQ setup in your truck.

I'm pretty sure most people would agree on a setup similar to this one:

HU - $350

Alpine 9887 http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=5756

Front Stage - $600

Focal K2P Components http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3400

Rear fill (if you insist...) - $90

CDT CL-5EX http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3060

Sub - $300

JL Audio 10W6V2 http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2059

Amp - $600

Zapco REF1000.4 http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2379

Sound proofing - $150

Raamat http://www.raamaudio.com

Sub box, wiring, proffesional installation- $500

Total: aprox. $2500

Plus, you would be getting warranty from woofersetc, and you could get all this equipement from the same store. And you would be some very happy SOB. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif