Going a different route, need advice.

[John Doe]

Car Audio noob here again lol waddup playas
Anyway, so as of right now I have a more SPL oriented set up in my 10’ Accord Sedan. 8” Mids, 3” tweeters, & a SA12(meh). I’m bored and over this set up and I’ve been looking to try and venture into more of a SQ oriented approach( not trying to enter comps)
as I’ve been watching more and more vids and really liking what I’m hearing. So...
On crutch field and am planning on buying Audio Frog G60S components for the front doors.
As of right now I gave away most of my amps to all my friends and am left with a Pioneer 4 channel 1200 amp
Questions would be:
Will deadening the whole car suffice or do I also need to use MLV as well for acoustical treatments?
Any recommended DSP’s & Amps you guys recommend? I don’t have much $$$ to spend as times are a little sporadic right now. Just need that’s solid enough to get it done right.
I’m also going to sell my SA and need recommendations for a better quality sounding sub.
Any inputs would be appreciated and let the flaming begin lol

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I don’t have much $$$ to spend

Yet you're planning to buy into a couple grand worth of meme brand speakers and DSP? You're going about improving your sound the absolute wrong way if you think you're just going to throw money at expensive equipment and get some dramatic upgrade.

Deadening is a good start though, the more you can do the better but there is a point of diminishing returns. That will help you regardless of what drivers you use. Ditto with DSP, that will help you regardless of what else you use.
Is something wrong with your amp now? Assuming it has enough power for you and adequate crossover options you're absolutely not going to gain anything by changing that. And if you can't make that Sundown SA12 sound good you need to put some EQ on it and start fiddling with crossover points, gains, box location/position etc. 20-80hz is a pretty narrow bandwidth to keep flat and just about anything can be made to fill this in up to 120dB.

 

[John Doe]

Yet you're planning to buy into a couple grand worth of meme brand speakers and DSP? You're going about improving your sound the absolute wrong way if you think you're just going to throw money at expensive equipment and get some dramatic upgrade.

Deadening is a good start though, the more you can do the better but there is a point of diminishing returns. That will help you regardless of what drivers you use. Ditto with DSP, that will help you regardless of what else you use.
Is something wrong with your amp now? Assuming it has enough power for you and adequate crossover options you're absolutely not going to gain anything by changing that. And if you can't make that Sundown SA12 sound good you need to put some EQ on it and start fiddling with crossover points, gains, box location/position etc. 20-80hz is a pretty narrow bandwidth to keep flat and just about anything can be made to fill this in up to 120dB.

Nothing is wrong with the Amp. I was just curious if it’s fine for what I’m planning to do or should I get a AB amp?
The SA12 was my boys that he gave to me. Had it for years now and still runs pretty good aside from some cosmetic wear.
Tbh, out of all the videos I’ve watched of the higher end brands, I’ve liked the Audio Frogs the most. Any DSP you recommend?
Ive already spent a good amount of money on my pods, mids, tweeters, AGM etc for my SPL oriented set up. What I meant with my initial comment was more that, I’m not looking to spend 1K on a Zapco amp Lol..

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Nothing is wrong with the Amp. I was just curious if it’s fine for what I’m planning to do or should I get a AB amp?
The SA12 was my boys that he gave to me. Had it for years now and still runs pretty good aside from some cosmetic wear.
Tbh, out of all the videos I’ve watched of the higher end brands, I’ve liked the Audio Frogs the most. Any DSP you recommend?
Ive already spent a good amount of money on my pods, mids, tweeters, AGM etc for my SPL oriented set up. What I meant with my initial comment was more that, I’m not looking to spend 1K on a Zapco amp Lol..

Last time I went to a "SQ" theme meetup everyone was using a high end head unit for all their EQ and time alignment. Personally I'd go that route for simplicity but there's about half a dozen outboard processors on the market and I suspect all could get you to the same place.

Class A/B amps are totally obsolete. If your current amp gives you the power you need there's no need to replace it. And go ahead and try some new components if you like, but don't expect miracles. More importantly here is if your mounting/aiming location is on-axis make sure you buy something with good on-axis response ditto for off-axis. I think a lot of people go wrong here by buying some expensive components and using them in the wrong application then thinking some other brand is way better when they switch up. Madisound is usually pretty good about publishing response curves on and off axis so you can see intended use of various drivers.

 

[John Doe]

Last time I went to a "SQ" theme meetup everyone was using a high end head unit for all their EQ and time alignment. Personally I'd go that route for simplicity but there's about half a dozen outboard processors on the market and I suspect all could get you to the same place.

Class A/B amps are totally obsolete. If your current amp gives you the power you need there's no need to replace it. And go ahead and try some new components if you like, but don't expect miracles. More importantly here is if your mounting/aiming location is on-axis make sure you buy something with good on-axis response ditto for off-axis. I think a lot of people go wrong here by buying some expensive components and using them in the wrong application then thinking some other brand is way better when they switch up. Madisound is usually pretty good about publishing response curves on and off axis so you can see intended use of various drivers.

thanks for your input I’ll be looking into those