first post for a new user. Focal? Infinity kappa?

[1549 10+ year member]

hello! I am pleased to say this is my first post. ive registered on two car audio forums because I am working on a project camaro, and Im now to the point where I am about to choose my stereo system components, and I've been out of the loop for quite some time now. I am after sound quality over quantity.

to keep things short, ive got some certain components picked out that I am unsure of, and have some questions about. if anything at all, please, please read #6 as it is one of my biggest questions.

critisicm, comments or suggestions are very welcome, any of those with personal experience with the components im considering would be especially welcome!

1. I like alpine's decks, and was looking at the 9885, but ive heard some good and bad about them. after that, ive considered Pioneer DEH-P800PRS -- 350 bucks

kenwood excelon KDC-X991 --400 bucks.

2. the stock speakers are 6 3/4" openings in the door with no spot for a tweeter. ive considered q-forms in the kick panels so that i can run components. Ive owned kappa's before and was impressed, so ive considered the kappa perfect series, and have had focal k2's reccomended to me as well. I dont have a clue which provides better sound, but I know with the kappas I would need a woofer to make up for the lack of bass. i am interested in the focal's though, they look promising but id like to have some feedback on them, especially if some of you have heard both the kappa perfects and the focals.

3. the rear speakers are in the back seat side panels and are 6 3/4". ive been thinking of throwing a set of coaxials back there and tuning them to my liking with the amp crossover and the reciever's front/rear fade. i figure if the kappa perfects get thrown in up front, i can tune these coaxials to provide some minor fill sound and some much needed bass to round out the system.

4. the amp ive thought about is a JL audio 300x4, pushing 75 watts to four channels. are the JL amps clean and stable? I know I like the JL sound quality in their subs, but I dont know if there are any other comparable amps that i should consider in the same price range.

5. im holding off on a subwoofer and its amp for now, I plan to get the rest of the system together, tuned, and broken in before I decide what ill need to blend everything in well. tentatively, i think id gravitate towards a JLw6 with a 500 or 600 watt JL amp pushing it.

6. I originally looked at crutchfield.com for the stereo system, because I have always shopped there and been treated well. with that said, i started looking around and found that i could find a lot of the stuff cheaper on ebay and amazon, places like that. this is the only way i could afford the nicer kenwood, and pioneer recievers listed above, as well as the kappa perfects or the focal's. what scares me is that I have heard some conflicting reports after doing some research on audio forums about ebay being an outlet for factory castoff's, fakes, and otherwise defective speakers that arent of the same quality as what i would get by buying the same speaker from an authorized dealer. for example I can find some focal k2p's there for about 450 bucks whereas id pay near 800 from any other "authorized" dealer that ive found, but I'm scared ill get 450 dollar paperweights for speakers that either wont last long, play well or play at all because they are rejects or second-hand parts. i could really, really use some solid advice here.

thanks for any help guys, its good to join ya and bask in the knowledge.

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[MrDave 10+ year member]

Do you have instant messenger or anything like that?

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

HU: 800PRS

Front Comps: Pioneer TS-C720PRS

Sub: IDQ10V2.D2

Amp: Alpine PDX-5

Amp Kit: KFX-AK44

Extra RCA: KARSS2.6M

Run the 720PRS's active from the HU with the 4 amp channels.

SE will supply all the necessary HU install for free just like Crutchfield does.

Forget about the rears for now. Put your attention to the front and sub stages, get them dialed in to where you like them, and cruise with that for a couple/few months so you get acclimated to such a setup. After that time, if you still feel the need for rear speakers, then get some decent coaxials and power them off the HU.

 

[SQChevy 10+ year member]

1) My preference would be either Alpine or Pioneer. I've never been a big fan on Kenwood, not that they don't make good headunits, but for the purpose of SQ they just don't show up often.

2) I had some Infiniti Kappa's a while back, and while not the perfects I thought they sounded great at the time. Then I got into car stereo competitions, and realized what I thought sounded good was just ok. I've used a few lines of Focal speakers and would suggest them over the Infiniti Perfects if you can fit them into your budget.

3) I'd hold off on the rearfill. If you set things up right in the front, then rearfill is unnecessary. This will allow you to spend more money of your front stage and amps instead. At a later date, if you still feel you want the rearfill then I would do it later.

4) JL does make pretty good amps. I had the Slash series 300/4, 300/2, and 1000/1. They all worked very well. They do cost a bit more but you don't try to overheat amps by dropping ohm load to get more power. You might also want to check out Audison, Focal, or JBL (there are others but those come to my head).

5) That's a good idea. This will give you time also too possibly match the sub with the speakers you decide to use. Often the sub will blend well with the speakers, but it's not necessary to have them match.

6) You can get good deals on ebay, but you do not have the factory warranty. Make sure to check out peoples rating on ebay before buying from them and make sure to ask them that if the speakers blow, assuming power is within the proper range, what kind of comfort do they give. IE: If already blown will they refund your money or if they don't work. Just be careful and not too wary to buy at the first good deal you get. I've sold high end product before at about half of market price because it was used. They were in good working order and I just wanted some money back on them. Just to try and put your mind at ease somewhat.

I hope this helps.

 

[1549 10+ year member]

great! thank you for the input. if you, or anyone else happens to run across this thread, i had a couple questions about what youve told me below, some clarification would be awesome.

1) My preference would be either Alpine or Pioneer. I've never been a big fan on Kenwood, not that they don't make good headunits, but for the purpose of SQ they just don't show up often.

what would you think about an eclipse deck? ive noticed the 5100 seems like a nice unit, so id guess that or a 9887 alpine?

2) I had some Infiniti Kappa's a while back, and while not the perfects I thought they sounded great at the time. Then I got into car stereo competitions, and realized what I thought sounded good was just ok. I've used a few lines of Focal speakers and would suggest them over the Infiniti Perfects if you can fit them into your budget.

Ive been told enough times now that the kappas are nice but not the best for the money... if i were to throw in these other speakers as my options what would you think?

Hertz HSK-165's, Focal poly-kevlar 6 1/2"- the ones that are inbetween the k2p's and the polyglas line.

3) I'd hold off on the rearfill. If you set things up right in the front, then rearfill is unnecessary. This will allow you to spend more money of your front stage and amps instead. At a later date, if you still feel you want the rearfill then I would do it later.

Ive already got a set of infinity reference 6 1/2" coaxials, had them in the car already. if i moved those back to the rear seat area and gave them some clean power, then faded them 80% front 20% back would it degrade my sound quality?

4) JL does make pretty good amps. I had the Slash series 300/4, 300/2, and 1000/1. They all worked very well. They do cost a bit more but you don't try to overheat amps by dropping ohm load to get more power. You might also want to check out Audison, Focal, or JBL (there are others but those come to my head).

Ive found some audisons in woofersetc.com that are in my price range, and ive also got a line on a TRU tech billet b475 that I can pickup for a good price, around 650 or so. would the TRU amp be worth the additional 300 bucks over a comparable JL/audison? the fellow offering the TRU amp is on this forum and is known to be trustworthy, so im not afraid of the transaction, i just dont know if the additional cost of the TRU amp will outweigh the benefits of it for what I'm doing.

5) That's a good idea. This will give you time also too possibly match the sub with the speakers you decide to use. Often the sub will blend well with the speakers, but it's not necessary to have them match.

Roger.

6) You can get good deals on ebay, but you do not have the factory warranty. Make sure to check out peoples rating on ebay before buying from them and make sure to ask them that if the speakers blow, assuming power is within the proper range, what kind of comfort do they give. IE: If already blown will they refund your money or if they don't work. Just be careful and not too wary to buy at the first good deal you get. I've sold high end product before at about half of market price because it was used. They were in good working order and I just wanted some money back on them. Just to try and put your mind at ease somewhat.

ok... well if i went the route of millionbuy.com or woofersetc.com, do they have a good reputation? or am I getting blems/second rate parts with no warranty? im primarily looking at subwoofer amps and possibly a reciever from them

I hope this helps.

it has, thank you very much.

 

[PaulD 10+ year member]

ok

 

[PaulD 10+ year member]

2) I had some Infiniti Kappa's a while back, and while not the perfects I thought they sounded great at the time. Then I got into car stereo competitions, and realized what I thought sounded good was just ok.

You found out what most of us did when we start competing in SQ, sounding good and sounding accurate are NOT the same thing. Unfortunately, it's hard to judge SQ with most popular music.

 

[SQChevy 10+ year member]

I'll try and respond to these questions as I did before. I didn't get your PM by the way and I'll try and take care of that later today.

1) Eclipse seems to make some good decks. I don't like the way the interface works, but that is a personal preference. They seem to make good product and several people here love them. A head unit is a lot about personal preference. Just make sure if has 3 sets of outputs and has the controls you want in there.

2) Of course my vote would be for the Focal's. I haven't heard the Hertz speakers and cannot vouch for them. I know I like the K2p's and will put them in my next vehicle and the poly-kevlars are kinda like the old Kp's if I remember right.

3) Having rear fill isn't bad. It's just not necessary if you have a good setup. You can use them if you have people in the back or the equipment that you want to run. It should degrade your sound, but you may want to set them up loosely (no wires hidden yet) and listen to your system with and without the speakers and see which you prefer. I was shocked to find that I liked the way mine sounded without rear speakers.

4) I know nothing about TRU amps. If you can get a good deal on the Audison, I would probably suggest going with that as Audison has a very good reputation. I would pick Audison over JL if the price for both is comparable.

6) I've never purchased from miilionbuy.com or woofersetc.com. Someone else will have to chime in on the review of service with them.

 

[1549 10+ year member]

great. thanks for the help. ive been going //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif over this whole thing.