advice on new car audio system

[calvin]

a few days ago i took my car to mickey shorr to have a system put in,i knew i wanted a good system, i knew i wanted it to be professionally installed...ive never done it before and i have no time to do it..i dunno how badly i got taken on this,the price seems outrageous,i think if i told anyone i spent that much on the cars system they would laugh at me(im laughing at myself,and crying at same time...deep down inside)

the installation took about 14 hrs across 2 days,they rewired the whole car which i requested (they dont charge hourly rates for installation,although they did charge labor for individual items which i list below)

what i got is 2 sets of infinity 6.5 inch component speakers (originally it was only 5.25 in front but they said 6.5 would fit there to) 289.95x2

the installation fee on the speakers was 150

pull radio fee of 75$(lol?)

4 channel rockford fosgate amplifier,400 watts (100 to each speaker) (330$)

receipt says: "4" channel amp (wires?) 62.50

"4" GA power wire:22.50

OEM integration accessory:22.50

RCA cables:12.95

4GA amp kit (whatever that is) 35$

OEM2 OEM interface/remote TRI:25$(k,dunno what this is either.it wasnt a remote because i didnt have radio or HD for the radio installed until next day and paid for that after hearing the old radio with new system)

radio: Kenwood Excelon KDC-X891 CD Receiver: 379.95

HD radio tuner: KTC HR100TR:100

materials fee:4.95

thats everything on both receipts (without taxes) (x.06)

(no subwoofer,didnt want boomy sound and definitely didnt wanna spend more for another amp+sub)

totalver 1800

not as loud as I would have expected..audio quality is great..reception is alot better but i still get static or distortions sometimes...

car is a 98 camaro, i thought tweeters would be able to be mounted in door (they said so) but afterwards they said door wasnt deep enough for tweeter+pod so i have ugly tweeter pod on each door+back seat tweeters sticking out 2 inches from the interior panels.

what do you guys think? did i get taken? tell me what your guys opinion is? should i be depressed or just **** it up and stop whining?

only way i can justify it is that im restoring the car,previous owner trashed it out. this is my first large upgrade..old system was blown(front speakers didnt work) and the radio had a cassette deck(it did have RDS though which was nice)...

Click to read more...

 

[daicacharco 10+ year member]

yeah .. price is over priced ..

for 1800 my system would be complete ..

 

[Savstyle 10+ year member]

oh boy, yeah you got taken.

Ive spent 800-900 on my system. If i had a place install it it would have been 1200-1400

 

[calvin]

i wouldnt mind at all if it sounded what i expected it to sound like...it doesnt go as loud as i expected it to go and i get some sort of noise in the backround sometimes...

a family member was saying that its very clear sounding and you get to much treble(dunno if that means anything as far as my problem,ive adjusted the bass and all the different settings...)...sometimes in some songs theres a (white?)noise in the backrund like as if its static but its obviously not...its consistently there but....cant explain it...youd have to hear it...

i was bullshitting myself and i came up with "maybe its playing the songs so clearly that you can hear things you wouldnt normally hear and alot of the time its not gonna add to the experience positively"

i looked the prices up online for the expensive parts peakers,amp,radio,HD tuner and their prices were mostly good...the tuner was 100 at the store and online i only saw it for around 199(i was complaining at the time and they said theyd give me a good deal)

only thing i dont know about is the speakers...i know their infinity 6.5's but not specifically which ones they are...maybe i have gimp speakers and they ***** me on the price of those? i dunno,in any case im gonna be taking apart my doors and looking at speakers to make sure at the very least that theyre what i bought and i might try and get a exchange on speakers...

i dunno, for 1800 i would of expected to be able to hear my car a few blocks away,but then again..without a subwoofer is that possible?

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Yes it's possible without a sub, but you need KILLER speaekers and those Infinity's obviously aren't the ones.

You could have done a LOT better buying online and having them install it all. You would have had subs/amp included in that $1800.

You're hearing either bad recordings as "bright" speakers will make that more pronounced, and/or you've got some ground hum/alt whine in the signal.

I've got $2k in my system in sig, including an HO alt and dual batts. Of course I installed it all myself.

Time for you to start learning because if you can resto a car, you can throw in a system...

 

[calvin]

i can exchange the speakers for different speakers within 30 days, i was thinking i should make sure at the very least i have infinity perfect 6.1's (pretty sure their not)

JBL C608GTIMKII 6.5" 2-Way Component Speaker System Model C608GTiMKII Part No. C608GTiMKII

Power Handling, RMS 150 Watts

Power Handling, Peak 600 Watts

Frequency Response (±3dB) 50Hz - 21kHz

Sensitivity (2.83V @ 1m) 89dB

Impedance 4 Ohms

Crossover Frequency(ies) 3.5kHz, 24dB/oct

Mounting Depth 2-11/16" Woofer, 1-1/8" Tweeter

Deep-anodized aluminum woofer cone

1" Edge-driven, pure titanium dome tweeter

Laboratory optimized passive crossover network

i-Mount tweeter mounting system

Perfect 6.1

Infinity Kappa Perfect6.1 6.5" Component System (Pair)

Anodized aluminum woofer with butyl rubber surround

1" anodized aluminum dome tweeter

2-way crossover (high-pass and low-pass, 3500 Hz at 24 dB per octave)

Surface- and flush-mount adapters included

Frequency response 75-23,000 Hz

Power range 25-100 watts RMS

Peak power handling 400 watts

Sensitivity 90 dB

Top-mount depth 2-5/8"

eventually ill get another amp and 1 or 2 sub's but for now this will be good as soon as i have the right speakers.

to me it looks like the JBL are louder but are they better? which ones would you choose? feel free to list one if you like any others.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

I've used JBL's in the past and really liked them. YOUR ears need to decide what you like best though as specs won't tell you what your ears prefer....

And your system will sound MUCH louder once you add a sub or two.

 

[calvin]

i ended up getting the kappa perfect 6.1's and adding a 500 watt rockford fosgate amplifier for a 500 RMS,1000 max 12" subwoofer (rockford fosgate punch stage 3)

the speakers themselves were a good bit larger (could of gone without the subwoofer and still had great bass) and the tweeters that came with the infinity kappa perfect 6.1's were able to be flush mounted unlike the other tweeters that i had previously.

the subwoofer doesnt sound right (good enough for now) because the enclosure its in has the wrong amount of cubic ft....gonna have them custom build me a box in a few weeks.

thanks for the comments.

 

[calvin]

its been working fine except for the fact that the system cuts out usually at the end of my 25 min drive to work, i think its the amplifier for the speakers (the 400 watt RF 4 channel amp)...

the first time that it happend i thought the speakers blew, what happend is the speakers just go off and the sub is still going...the speakers werent working for 5 minutes, I popped the trunk to investigate what had happend and the amplifier was burning hot to the touch

(speakers worked when i turned amp off thru radio and was able to use amp again after another 5 minutes of cooling down), the subwoofer amp was just warm understandably (i dont turn the subwoofer that high,i dont want my trunk rattling) *subwoofer was still working at the time to...

sometimes i can just turn the volume to a low level and it will come back on,other times i have to turn the amplifier off for a few minutes and then turn it on. I get a burnt smell occasionally (lol) ...the speakers still sound great and the amplifier is still working but i want to get some opinions on what i could do to resolve this issue, everything has a 5 year warranty so i can get anything replaced but i dont want to abuse the warranty...

ive alrdy taken in 2 subwoofers and they replaced em both time because they said they were damaged (definite burnt smell,worse than what is happening now), the 3rd time they replaced it with a deep mount 10 inch and they said that should hold up better...(i havent had any problems with this subwoofer)...

questions:

im under the impression that i should be able to play at loud volumes for long periods of time, #1,shouldnt the amplifier be able to hold up and cool itself enough during a 30 min drive to work?#2,do i need to have them upgrade me to a different amplifier that can withstand long drives at loud volumes?

im not really satisfied with what i have at this time, im thinking it should be louder than it is(gain is set low,if amplifier didnt overheat i would increase the gain)...i think the kappa perfects can go alot louder...i should be able to hear these things from a block away(with windows/doors closed)....currently max volume u can hear it from maybe 250 ft away with windows/doors closed max...

#3

is it performing or no?

 

[budahbuddy803 10+ year member]

it could have been way cheaper, so yes. Buy it online and attempt to diy if you have the time if not its gunna be pretty expensive

 

[mjf 10+ year member]

so they charged you for a wiring kit as well as 4ga wire?

think about it.

id probably say its wired incorrectly if its overheating.

 

[Famous_78]

He didnt even have the common curtiosy to give you a reacharound huh?

 

[Igno 10+ year member]

so they charged you for a wiring kit as well as 4ga wire?think about it.

id probably say its wired incorrectly if its overheating.

yep I was looking at that too?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

 

[yne721 10+ year member]

so they charged you for a wiring kit as well as 4ga wire?think about it.

id probably say its wired incorrectly if its overheating.

could've possibly been just the fuses needed to run an amp? i just got my system installed in my car from mickey shorr not too long ago, and i had two amps, but instead of getting two amp wiring kits, the guy suggested I get one amp wiring and use all the spare wire from my first amp, to wire up my second amp since my amps are literally right on top of my battery, so I don't need 20ft of cable for each amp, so he sold me one amp kit, and the fuses needed to wire the second kit seperately...

so long story short, maybe he sold you the 4ga wire, and then the "amp kit" we're seeing is just a kit full of the fuses needed?

don't know about the price though, i had a headunit installed, speakers installed, two amps and a sub installed with all wires ran and i barely paid 400.

 

[connersdad19 10+ year member]

if i was you i would go and see if there is anyway to get your money back....in no way shape or form should you have paid that much for a setup....And i would not have them build you a box...i am sure someone here would be able to build you a nice box for cheaper then what the will charge....I am sorry to hear that you got took that way....I Hope u enjoy it.