Car audio newbie - need some help deciding

[mschmidt10k 10+ year member]

Hi ... I just bought a new car, a restored 1970 Mustang Coupe, which came with the following sound system:

Pioneer DEH-3400 Head Unit

240 Watt American Legacy 5x7 in front dash

2 x 600 Watt Pyramid 6X9 speakers in the back tray panel

I've already got the Pioneer unit swapped out for an Alpine CDA-7897, but I'm a bit unsure as to what to do next. What kind of speakers/amp/sub, etc, would you friendly folks recommend? And how should I set it up (location, placement)?

My budget is around $1500 for the moment, and I'll probably get everything installed at a local car audio shop, but I just want to make sure they won't rip me off. So any help would be appreciated.

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[Bavarian3 10+ year member]

first thing. take those pyramid prodcuts, poor a good amount of gasoline inside and around em. Get urself a match, spark it and drop it on em.

For speakers get urself a nice component set up front. Focal, Crystal, Infinity, Adire, Rainbow. Theres tons of speaker companies. Leave the rear fill empty. For a sub it depends on how loud u want it to be, how good u want it to sound, how many subs u want and what size subs and how much room u have in ur trunk. Then u can pick what amp u want.

 

[mschmidt10k 10+ year member]

Heh. Thanks for the advice on the pyramid speakers - nice.

Please pardon my ignorance here, but where would you actually recommend that I place the different audio components? For instance, in your sig, you've got the Crystal component set up front (in the dash?) - but where are your amps & the Resonant Engineering speakers located?

For a sub, I'd take sound clarity over volume any day - but what's the benefit of having more than one (got quite a bit of space in the trunk if need be)?

 

[Aurorav8 10+ year member]

Heh. Thanks for the advice on the pyramid speakers - nice.
Please pardon my ignorance here, but where would you actually recommend that I place the different audio components? For instance, in your sig, you've got the Crystal component set up front (in the dash?) - but where are your amps & the Resonant Engineering speakers located?

For a sub, I'd take sound clarity over volume any day - but what's the benefit of having more than one (got quite a bit of space in the trunk if need be)?

Kick Panels would be an ideal spot for your front stage, other options are in the doors, or dash...stock location if you want to keep it simple.

The only benefit of having more than one sub would be for volume as I see it...if you want nice, clean, tight bass look into some of the more mentioned subs around here (i.e...eD, RE, Stereo Integrity, etc...).

 

[Bavarian3 10+ year member]

Heh. Thanks for the advice on the pyramid speakers - nice.
Please pardon my ignorance here, but where would you actually recommend that I place the different audio components? For instance, in your sig, you've got the Crystal component set up front (in the dash?) - but where are your amps & the Resonant Engineering speakers located?

For a sub, I'd take sound clarity over volume any day - but what's the benefit of having more than one (got quite a bit of space in the trunk if need be)?

http://gallery.caraudio.com/pp/showphoto.php?photo=1993&password=&sort=1&cat=501&page=4 the Resonant Engineering 10" SE subs in the trunk with the JBL 1200 hooked up to them. Then the profile amp hooked up to the components that are in the kick panels.

 

[b0mbrman 10+ year member]

Hi ... I just bought a new car, a restored 1970 Mustang Coupe...

Wow, pics?
(Of the outside, I don't need to see your Pyramid speakers //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif)

 

[mschmidt10k 10+ year member]

So ... after a long day of reading specs & reviews (and a couple of visits to friends' houses to listen to what they have), I've narrowed the selection down to this (thanks for all the help, btw):

2 12" Magnum D2 subs

HiFonics BX1500D mono amp to run the subs

Focal*165K2 component speakers up front

Alternatively, I could go with the RE 10" SE subs that Charles has and the Crystal CSC-643S component speakers. Whatcha think?

Lastly, what kind of amp would you recommend to run the component speakers? I was checking out the Hifonics ZX6400 and Alpine MRV-F340?

 

[mschmidt10k 10+ year member]

Here you go, b0mbrman ...

 

[b0mbrman 10+ year member]

Oh hell yes...

****...I think I want one now...

 

[b0mbrman 10+ year member]

For the subs, in that price range and box requirements, also check out the Edesignaudio.com K series...

For comps in that price range, but with a very different sound, also look into the Adire Koda 6.1

Some value brands of amps these days are Autotek, Avionix, Cadence, Hifonics, JBL, Planet Audio, and Tsunami--in alphabetical order...

 

[mschmidt10k 10+ year member]

What do you mean by "very different sound" for the Adire Koda 6.1? Crisper, sharper or what?

 

[Tobe18 10+ year member]

You guys probably get tired of people asking, but i did run a search on how to start new threads and it didnt turn up anything, so ill just ask. Someone please tell me how to get started here. thanks. Tobe

 

[Radar 10+ year member]

look at the very top left corner of the screen it should have a new thread button

 

[b0mbrman 10+ year member]

What do you mean by "very different sound" for the Adire Koda 6.1? Crisper, sharper or what?

Hmmm...the Focals are sharper, more defined...The Koda comp set is fuller, sweeter to the ears

 

[mschmidt10k 10+ year member]

Ahh, I see ... well, this last week has certainly been most informative in the car audio sense of the word. I think I got my system spec'ed out now

2 x Magnum D2's wired up for 1 oHm load (in parallel)

running off 2 x HiFonics BX1000D mono amps

2 x SI 307's for the front

running of a Zapco Ref. 350

I think that would probably end up sounding halfway-decent.

And, btw, let me just say that I'm super impressed with Nick over at Stereo Integrity - he very patiently answered any question I had about their products & amps to drive them. Kick ***.