Brand/setup advice

[Alex81 10+ year member]

How's it going fellas?

In the process of upgrading my car audio. Currently have Pioneer AVIC 6000 NEX head unit. Just purchased a JL Audio XD500. 10' Alpine sub that was too good of a deal to pass on. Waiting on speaker adapters that will allow me to put 6.5 in opposed to the factory 4x6. Want to get 6.5 components and always preferred JL Audio, particularly amps, subs. Recently looking though it seems many of the Infiniti components are nearly as good as the JL C3, C5, & ZR series I was considering. My basis for this is the frequency ranges the speakers can produce. JL 3 series I mentioned start at 48 Hz. Believe the Infiniti speakers start at 53 Hz which for half the cost seems to be the better buy.

Trying to upgrade the sound quality significantly but don't need the newest or best gear available. Added 1st real home audio/theater and the quality of music in the house makes listening in the car difficult to enjoy.

Which components would you use?

Feel I will probably need another amp for rear channels. If I got another XD500 could I use the subwoofer channel from both amps to power 1 subwoofer?

Appreciate any assistance gentlemen

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[Austin175 10+ year member]

If you don't mind other brands the Crescendo PWX series has proven to be really good an that that expensive either i think $36/per

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

Its all in the install man, i had a set of $600 components and they sounded like $50 coaxials. why? becasue they were in crappy kick panels. infinity is consumer based high end, car audio guru high end. but the jl c3 650 are very good components. but as i said its in the install that will give you a wow factor or leave you dissapointed

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

How's it going fellas?
In the process of upgrading my car audio. Currently have Pioneer AVIC 6000 NEX head unit. Just purchased a JL Audio XD500. 10' Alpine sub that was too good of a deal to pass on. Waiting on speaker adapters that will allow me to put 6.5 in opposed to the factory 4x6. Want to get 6.5 components and always preferred JL Audio, particularly amps, subs. Recently looking though it seems many of the Infiniti components are nearly as good as the JL C3, C5, & ZR series I was considering. My basis for this is the frequency ranges the speakers can produce. JL 3 series I mentioned start at 48 Hz. Believe the Infiniti speakers start at 53 Hz which for half the cost seems to be the better buy.

Trying to upgrade the sound quality significantly but don't need the newest or best gear available. Added 1st real home audio/theater and the quality of music in the house makes listening in the car difficult to enjoy.

Which components would you use?

Feel I will probably need another amp for rear channels. If I got another XD500 could I use the subwoofer channel from both amps to power 1 subwoofer?

Appreciate any assistance gentlemen

You have to understand that home theater and car audio are two different worlds. A car is noisy and is not exactly ideal for music. There's a lot of work involved to get car audio to sound as good as your home theater. You have to consider placement of drivers and install. Sound deadening your car can also make a huge difference as it'll feel more like that home theater experience, keeping the sound inside your car instead of escaping out. Panels and trunk lids tend to resonate as well so it can change the sound completely. You can make even cheap speakers sound good if you implement it right. Don't think that if you get a certain brand you can call it quits. There's alot more to it than just picking out speakers. I'm sure any of the comp sets you mentioned are good, you just have to make sure its setup right.

I think it would be better if you had a separate amplifier for the sub alone because it would be a lot more difficult to integrate 2 amps with 1 sub. I would get a 4 channel amp just for speakers and a mono amp for sub. That way, you can get more power for less as 3 ch and 5 ch amps are quite expensive. But since you already got your XD500, just see how it sounds first with no rear speakers. You might end up liking it.

 

[Alex81 10+ year member]

Thanks 87.

Yeah, I learned when I got the home audio it was not even close to car audio. Feels like I couldn't apply any of what I learned in years experience of car audio. Not trying to get the same quality as I agree with your statements. Level of quality on the stock drivers isn't good. Believe if I add a active crossover with the components in the front so each speaker can produce the frequency range it's capable of

it will do a lot for sound quality

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks 87.
Yeah, I learned when I got the home audio it was not even close to car audio. Feels like I couldn't apply any of what I learned in years experience of car audio. Not trying to get the same quality as I agree with your statements. Level of quality on the stock drivers isn't good. Believe if I add a active crossover with the components in the front so each speaker can produce the frequency range it's capable of

it will do a lot for sound quality

You just need an active capable amp or head unit. I'd recommend hertz hsk XLs they havee that wow factor. JL C5s sound nice but no where near the wow factor the hertz produces. You'll need to start sound proofing your car, learn where is the best place to position your drivers(learn to work with fiberglass) and Maybe invest in a Digital sound processor like a jbl ms-8.

 

[The Camry]

Big brand names will take your money and leave you with mediocre things. You can get really good stuff from JL, fosgate, ect but itll cost you an arm and a leg.

Hertz energy series 279$(what i have) are fantastic.

if you have a huge budget. Clarus C61-2 2-way Speaker System - 12v Electronics 639$

as for amps, their are way cheaper and same build quality. Sundown and soundqubed and crescendo come to mind.

 

---------- Post added at 02:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 AM ----------

 

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/speakers/95925-proper-door-sound-deadening-you.html

also great article on how to get better sound quality.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Big brand names will take your money and leave you with mediocre things. You can get really good stuff from JL, fosgate, ect but itll cost you an arm and a leg.
Hertz energy series 279$(what i have) are fantastic.

if you have a huge budget. Clarus C61-2 2-way Speaker System - 12v Electronics 639$

as for amps, their are way cheaper and same build quality. Sundown and soundqubed and crescendo come to mind.

 

---------- Post added at 02:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 AM ----------

 

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/speakers/95925-proper-door-sound-deadening-you.html

also great article on how to get better sound quality.

JL is actually very good stuff if you stick with mid level up. For SQ based gear they are fairly cheap if you don't pay shop prices. I also prefer Hertz over JL but don't compair them to fosgate. Fosgate is mediocre Chinesse crap.

 

[The Camry]

I knew i was gonna get called out on fosgate >. >

I only know one person with fosgate and he has some p1 or p2 subs. They are LOUD AS ****. serious bass, Absolutely zero sound quality.

Ive got a cerwin vega amp that treats me wonderfully. So theres that.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

If you think they are loud you have no idea.

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

x2^

 

[The Camry]

Well he had 2 12's in a tiny little car. Hence why they were loud. I have a sa-12 with 1000rms to it and thats quite a bit of bass but my car is pretty big as well. but no. ive never had the opportunity to see a nice set up or anything like audio meets

 

[Alex81 10+ year member]

First I've heard of Hertz, will definitely look into them.

Would of agreed on the Fosgate statement but tonight I saw their 6.5 components. It was a well designed driver, and looked very good. Looks are deceiving, but my previous opinion on the brand is altered slightly.

Have any of you heard Focal Access 6.5 or 6x9? Really good deal on a pair of 6x9, that I'm intrigued on putting in the back 2 channels.

JL C3, C5, & ZR are the main ones I'm considering. Not sure what the difference is between the 3. They all have the same frequency range. Power ratings as well I believe. Haven't looked at full specs though, but have a feeling there isn't much of a difference between the C3 & highest quality they make in ZR.

Learned tonight that the speaker adapters that were finally delivered will work to get rid of the 4x6 factory size. Thankfully, doesn't appear to be any quality components at that size, and can finally order some 6.5's. Going to look at the Hertz now. How would you compare them to JL?

 

[The Camry]

Stay away from 6x9. They have more cone area and hence can get louder but they dont have anywhere near the sound quality of 6.5 in speakers. Thats why you dont see any high end components that are 6x9

To be honest. Ive only really heard Hertz and fosgate speakers. Hertz utterly blew me out of the water(hence why i now own them), Ive heard really good things about hybrid audio technology speakers. Idk its hard to really share opinion on speakers because its just that. An opinion. Audio quality is very subjective.

Read reviews, Use the search function on this forum, and use youtube videos to compare Sound quality.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Stay away from 6x9. They have more cone area and hence can get louder but they dont have anywhere near the sound quality of 6.5 in speakers. Thats why you dont see any high end components that are 6x9
To be honest. Ive only really heard Hertz and fosgate speakers. Hertz utterly blew me out of the water(hence why i now own them), Ive heard really good things about hybrid audio technology speakers. Idk its hard to really share opinion on speakers because its just that. An opinion. Audio quality is very subjective.

Read reviews, Use the search function on this forum, and use youtube videos to compare Sound quality.

I have "SQ" type demo videos of my car on YouTube but I don't direct people there when I'm discussing sound system options. Why not? You can't accurately judge a speaker set by a video!! A microphone does not hear the same as our ears, and that's just one of many reasons it just doesn't do a car audio system justice to listen to a video. I do the videos mostly for myself for kicks.

A problem with 6x9s as component systems is the same as why it's not ideal to pair a 1" tweeter with an 8" woofer. The woofer is beaming well before the tweeter begins playing. We fix this by using a 3-way system that adds a small midrange as well as carefully chosen crossover settings.