- Thread Starter
- #5
So apparently MB Quart is no longer the business. Man, I can finally afford them, and no longer top dog.
- Thread Starter
- #8
Yeah, high end has diminishing returns, especially in a box with hard glass, plastic, leather, cloth and traveling 70mph with 19" low profile wheels. I don't know any of these brands that I see you all referencing. For home audio, I lean towards neutral speakers. Bargains too like Hsu Research. Everyone is always shocked to find out how "much" they are. I dislike very bright speakers (Klipsch makes my ears bleed, sorry to those that like 'em).
Knowing I'm more neutral leaning and I listen to almost everything (not much R&B/Rap) what should I focus my research on.
My top end builds back in pre-2000 were
2x 10" Infinity Ported (reference)
5 1/4" Infinity Reference separates
5 1/4" Infinity Co-axial rear fill
Rockford Fosgate Punch amps (I loved those things)
I would think about exactly what I would want for my system. Set some kind of budget to get what I can for the $. would I be using the existing HU or an aftermarket, how much power i would be willing to introduce, would I be willing to spend the funds on electrical upgrades needed for the supply for the demand, space given up for what I want, wanting to deaden any road noises out of the cabin area/areas, and a few other factors.question would be .. am I more of an SPL type individual or more SQ type?
- Thread Starter
- #10
I'm jokingly calling this my mid-life crisis car. I'm frugal/sensible (not cheap) by nature and spoiling myself on this car and system. Always wanted a hot hatch car and always wanted my clean sound system. I want to do this right (to me) and I will be doing some things myself and outsource stuff I don't have the skills or tools for (the sub box). So priority is as follows:
1. SQ and tuning
2. Clean install
3. For me, don't worry about passengers
4. Enough SPL, but don't want to shake my car apart
5. Budget is to the point of large diminishing returns (aka I don't have one, but don't want to spend just because)
I want to crank up "Under Pressure" by Queen and hear every note, drum and get that light tight punch from the sub and sometimes (less frequent) play "Intergalactic" by Beastie Boys and SPL out a bit.
Most vehicles these days introduce quite a bit of plastics and thin metals that will rattle with just from road vibrations alone. That will be a time consuming battle that can be conquered eventually and not the first couple times. A 3 way front stage comes to mind as a recommendation, as well as a decent 12-15 single sub on decent amps or a nice 5 ch. and a nice /decent HU with time alignment maybe?
- Thread Starter
- #12
Valid points for sure. I would love my hot hatch to be more quiet even just driving. I'll likely have to spend more time than I imagined on second skin installation. I think you are saying, I'll have to do the sound deadening mulitple times to get it all worked out.
3-way front stage would be awesome, but I'd have to drop some serious coin on custom a-pillars unless I find something easier in my research. My tentative plan was to do "stock look" (aka 2way components) and see if I can figure out a more economical a-pillar 2 way setup (2 way in the pillar and driver in the door) . But I have time to research more.
I think the stock options for this car are 1" in the a-pillar and the 4 doors have a 6 1/2" in horribly low positions. I know you are probable saying "He doesn't know his speaker sizes?" I don't, as the car is ordered and on a boat from Germany as we type and I won't have it for another 3-4 weeks and VW is horrible at publishing this info freely. You have to pay for it.
Regarding the subs, my dream back in the day was to run 3x8" JL 6ohm dvc. Also, want it sealed as my bass tastes have changed over the years. I don't know if I can do 3x8" with the look I want, I have to wait and see once the car comes. I was thinking about a fiberglass box that takes advantage of the spare tire well and I could raise the whole platform up, but I'd like to keep it flat for a clean look.
Man.... just typing this out is getting me excited.
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I personally wouldnt put too much time into it until the car is sitting in the driveway to see what id want to do. Maybe one layer of 80 mill. deadner on the front floor boards and front doors and 3/8" CCF . One day you will be happy with the noise levels, another day you will find another rattle somewhere, LOL. Soon it will end eventually. a good single 12 or nice 10" sub would be a decent option ported I feel like. Usually Takes less power to get tuned within proximity of your listening needs.
hispls
5,000+ posts
CarAudio.com Veteran
Yes. But on the bright side, DSP is very powerful and can be had built into amps, built into the head unit, or outboard, and will help significantly in compensating for the acoustic limitations and complications of a vehicle. Power is also extremely cheap so it is possible to overcome a lot of things by brute force rather inexpensively.
Harmon International (JBL/Infinity/Crown family) still makes a fine product so Infinity should be consistent with what you remember... with the caveat that there is, of course, a difference between the 100$ set of components and the 600$ one. Also Rockford Fosgate (outside their entry level) has also held their quality though I would say their MSRP is tough to justify these days.
Two top tier songs for playing loud.
Plug and play into factory locations is certainly an option but in addition to the acoustic limitations of a vehicle you mentioned earlier now you have more uneven pathlengths from each speaker to your listening position and at least one side is likely to be way more off-axis. Kickpanels is generally best you can get starting point but would require some custom fabrication which you may find impractical or not cost effective.
Less than optimum location typically and proper buildout of a spare tire well will be tedious and costly. Assuming your top priority is stealth you can certainly do a lot via brute force just cram something into too-small airspace and throw a ton of power at it, but most modern high power subwoofers these days are designed to perform best in ported enclosure and for best results you'd probably want a proper box all the way to the rear or in a corner and figuring out which way to aim the port and sub(s) to give you the best frequency response will come down to trial and error. Again, if you over-buy on power you can lean very heavily on DSP to get your overall response where you like. You will need to come back with a solid plan on precisely how much space you're willing to sacrifice and the exact physical dimensions of your mounting location to plan beyond that. All things equal I'd take a single more robust driver over more lower capability ones every time if space and physical limitations would allow.
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