Audio newbie from Southern California

[SavageDad]

Long time car guy, new to audio...for years I've thrown cheap aftermarket decks and cheap amps into cars with whatever old subs/speakers I had laying around or a friend did, but considering entry level audio equipment has improved a lot since I slapped my first amp in an 88' Hyundai Excel 20 years ago I thought I'd find a community dedicated to audio and get a little audio education while I try to figure out a decent sounding budget (heavy focus on budget according to the wife) build for the Magnum.

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Long time car guy, new to audio...for years I've thrown cheap aftermarket decks and cheap amps into cars with whatever old subs/speakers I had laying around or a friend did, but considering entry level audio equipment has improved a lot since I slapped my first amp in an 88' Hyundai Excel 20 years ago I thought I'd find a community dedicated to audio and get a little audio education while I try to figure out a decent sounding budget (heavy focus on budget according to the wife) build for the Magnum.

welcome. How budget as in 100 dollars for everything? 200 for everything? 500 for everything or 1000?

 

[SavageDad]

welcome. How budget as in 100 dollars for everything? 200 for everything? 500 for everything or 1000?

Thank you, budget as in my stock head unit errors every time I hit the nav button so I'm due for a new deck and figure I may as well do speakers at the same time. Trying to stay around $500-600 deck, door speakers, and rear speakers combined. 6x9s front and rear, though I'm reading a lot of posts recommending 6.5s over 6x9s, leaving the 3" speakers in the dash alone. Nothing fancy, no subs (unless I can find an Art of Noise side pocket enclosure) because I actually use my trunk space and I don't want to have to rip them out every time I go to the track. So I want decent bass, well as much as I can achieve on a budget without subs and a warmer sound. I listen to mostly metal and country with a little Pitbull here and there depending on mood.

 

[SavageDad]

Currently looking at this deck, may pull the trigger this week so I can throw it in over the weekend. I just need backup camera capability, android mirroring, and a touch screen, beyond that I don't need much as long as it's affordable and not an eyesore.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BECUP8O/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=Z5XPOE20SGGB&coliid=I3K7T5SEZA8K8

 

[SavageDad]

Budget doesn't include install materials, wiring, sound deadening, harness adapter to maintain Uconnect and steering wheel controls.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thank you, budget as in my stock head unit errors every time I hit the nav button so I'm due for a new deck and figure I may as well do speakers at the same time. Trying to stay around $500-600 deck, door speakers, and rear speakers combined. 6x9s front and rear, though I'm reading a lot of posts recommending 6.5s over 6x9s, leaving the 3" speakers in the dash alone. Nothing fancy, no subs (unless I can find an Art of Noise side pocket enclosure) because I actually use my trunk space and I don't want to have to rip them out every time I go to the track. So I want decent bass, well as much as I can achieve on a budget without subs and a warmer sound. I listen to mostly metal and country with a little Pitbull here and there depending on mood.

i'd recommend getting the head unit, good front door components on a 4 channel amp and using rear 6x9 subwoofers on the rear deck (powered by the other two channels of the 4 channel amp.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Currently looking at this deck, may pull the trigger this week so I can throw it in over the weekend. I just need backup camera capability, android mirroring, and a touch screen, beyond that I don't need much as long as it's affordable and not an eyesore.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BECUP8O/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=Z5XPOE20SGGB&coliid=I3K7T5SEZA8K8

thats on the black list of do not touch... unless you want a dead unit, basically a brick doorstop within a week or two. along with junk sound quality.

Might have to give up the tablet and navigation aspect for quality, reliability and superior sound performance with a Pioneer AVHX2700BS touch screen head unit instead. It does everything else you ask for much better.

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-AVHX2700BS-BLUETOOTH-MIXTRAX-Receiver/dp/B00O8B7BCW

 

[SavageDad]

thats on the black list of do not touch... unless you want a dead unit, basically a brick doorstop within a week or two. along with junk sound quality.
Might have to give up the tablet and navigation aspect for quality, reliability and superior sound performance with a Pioneer AVHX2700BS touch screen head unit instead. It does everything else you ask for much better.

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-AVHX2700BS-BLUETOOTH-MIXTRAX-Receiver/dp/B00O8B7BCW

Good to know, thank you! I'm kind of hung up on the touch screen and mirror link purely because I want to use my phone for my primary music source and navigation while controlling it through my deck allowing me to getin the car connect my phone, put it to the side, start my commute, and then forget about it until I get back out of the car.

 

---------- Post added at 08:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:00 PM ----------

 

I was looking at amps and reading a lot of good reviews on the DS18 line of amps.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Good to know, thank you! I'm kind of hung up on the touch screen and mirror link purely because I want to use my phone for my primary music source and navigation while controlling it through my deck allowing me to getin the car connect my phone, put it to the side, start my commute, and then forget about it until I get back out of the car. 

---------- Post added at 08:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:00 PM ----------

 

I was looking at amps and reading a lot of good reviews on the DS18 line of amps.

That pioneer will do everything you want and more, has mirror link, touch screen reliability, time alignment, crazy good EQ and crossover functions and its reliable.

For speakers, these will do real well,

Precision Power PPI P65c3 6.5" 3-Way Component Speakers w/ AMT Tweeter

the 3 inch midrange will be in your stock location, the tweeter can be mounted on the A pillar or sail panel and the woofer will be in the doors. This would eliminate the need for rear speakers, they will overpower almost any rear speakers and sound 1000x better than if you get cheapo speakers in the rear and front.

This amp is one of the best budget amps that put out ridiculous amounts of power for the price.

Precision Power PPI P900.4 Phantom 4-Channel Amplifier

The subs can be added much later on for the 6x9s, that ppi amp will power them just fine. For now however just amp your rear speakers. They can handle all the power and they can sound quite a bit better with actual power going to them vs the 5 watts your stock head unit puts out.

Tang Band W69-1042J 6"x9" Subwoofer

 

[SavageDad]

That pioneer will do everything you want and more, has mirror link, touch screen reliability, time alignment, crazy good EQ and crossover functions and its reliable.
For speakers, these will do real well,

Precision Power PPI P65c3 6.5" 3-Way Component Speakers w/ AMT Tweeter

the 3 inch midrange will be in your stock location, the tweeter can be mounted on the A pillar or sail panel and the woofer will be in the doors. This would eliminate the need for rear speakers, they will overpower almost any rear speakers and sound 1000x better than if you get cheapo speakers in the rear and front.

This amp is one of the best budget amps that put out ridiculous amounts of power for the price.

Precision Power PPI P900.4 Phantom 4-Channel Amplifier

The subs can be added much later on for the 6x9s, that ppi amp will power them just fine. For now however just amp your rear speakers. They can handle all the power and they can sound quite a bit better with actual power going to them vs the 5 watts your stock head unit puts out.

Tang Band W69-1042J 6"x9" Subwoofer

I didn't realize it had touch screen as well, that was my hangup. It all looks good, but is there a better option for the rear to add mids and highs so my rear passengers aren't just listening to bass?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I didn't realize it had touch screen as well, that was my hangup. It all looks good, but is there a better option for the rear to add mids and highs so my rear passengers aren't just listening to bass?

More like the mids and highs from the front will overpower the bass for the passengers. Most new guys have no idea what a powerful front stage can do. It'll Fill up the whole vehicle and then some. World competition cars usually get rid of rear stage and you can clearly hear every detail sitting in the back easily stilll.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

if it was my money..

Refurbished: Kenwood DDX372BT DVD receiver - Newegg.com

 

---------- Post added at 11:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 PM ----------

 

CXS64 V.2 - Image Dynamics 6.5" 4 ohm Component System

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

X100.2 - Phoenix Gold Xenon 200 Watt 2 Ch. Amplifier

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

if it was my money..Refurbished: Kenwood DDX372BT DVD receiver - Newegg.com

 

---------- Post added at 11:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 PM ----------

 

CXS64 V.2 - Image Dynamics 6.5" 4 ohm Component System

5 band eq, no time alignment, no active capabilities and its refurbished. Tell me why its better than the 2700bs with 13 band EQ, time alignment active capable and brand new

he might want a 4 channel to power what he has in the back instead of 2. Seems he's dead set on the rears.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

5 band eq, no time alignment, no active capabilities and its refurbished. Tell me why its better than the 2700bs with 13 band EQ, time alignment active capable and brand new

he might want a 4 channel to power what he has in the back instead of 2. Seems he's dead set on the rears.

those pioneer units don't sound good. I honestly didn't notice that it was referb. but there really isn't anything wrong with referb..

just because the pioneer has more features doesn't mean its better. last highend pioneer deck i had got BLOWN OUT THE WATER by a 3 year old X991. they just sound bad(top line one with the dolphins lol). unless your getting the higher end units with the brownbur DACs they sound bad. a friend swaped the pioneer 2800 for a JVC and the JVC sounded better. the JVC was actually decent i was surprised. hey hated the layout of the pioneer.

the thing you don't see is in pioneer specs is they failed to tell the whole truth.. for example their preamp outputs are listed at 5 volts but they don't tell you what the output impedance is equally as important. on the kenwood is pretty low measured below 500ohm.

this was the JVC my boy replaed his pioneer unit with..

KW-V420BT | Multimedia | JVC Mobile USA

its a very decent h/u for the money its good to see JVC make a comeback..

and after hearing that PPI ill never touch them again until they change companies..

plus the image dynamics sound GREAT. they blow the highend JL and alpine offering out the water..

another good sounding comp set is the new kenwood set. i was surprised. pretty much rivaled the CDT CL pro with the upgraded tweeters and xover! a 300$ set.

i was in a hurry and honestly wasn't paying attention earlier. thanks for correcting me money..

http://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-DDX372BT-Double-Bluetooth-Receiver/dp/B00PV45GXQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459319556&sr=8-1&keywords=ddx373. i compared the new kenwood DDx970s to the pioneer avic-7200 and ill take the kewood hands down if i wanted transparency. not to mention it was cheaper.. iknow nes nav and the other isn't but you can use your phones nav so what ever.. when the 9903s comes out I'm getting it. the DAV is a 32 bit instead of the 24..

BTW this was done at a shop with a phil collons and pink Floyd tracks at the typical studio quality sampling rate. the amp was a wetsounds **** if i know the model number it was over a grand and the new power poly kevlars. which BTW sound fcuking amazing..