Help.... But with a Little Twist

[polishstud 10+ year member]

Hello everyone, so for the last couple weeks I have been browsing this forum and found an overwhelming amount of information. So I am hoping you can all help me out.

Instead of asking you guys to compare and contrast or conjure up a list of possibilities based on a spending limit, I have already narrowed down a list of items from the searching, however I have not had enough time to research everything so I hope you may assist me....

I have a Scion Tc, and I also record music for a hobby so my ears are sensitive to sound. Now from the speakers that I have heard, I was impressed with Focals 165k2p, and Boston Pro60. I have heard the Polk sr6500, they were ok at best (but not my cup of tea). However the things that I wasn't impressed with was the prices. Lol.

Now here are a few questions, for the Scion I would like a good system, not top of the line, ( I assume I will be running it Active, and am looking forward to adjusting everything //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif as I already do with my recordings). However I need help with the amp. ( Out of my system this is the only object where money is not an issue, because I will reuse this for the later setups that I will do)

In addition to the amp, I need help deciding whether or not to put coaxials in the back or another set of components as I do normally have passengers, (but I am a fan of full and rich sound so the more speakers the better).

The components that I have been looking at, are the ones that seem to be most popular on these forums:

The PG Rsd65cs and the ID Ctx65cs, I have not heard any of these so I am taking your words/opinions on them. The only thing that I would ask out of these has the softer or more mellow tweeter?

I also understand that these are not that high end of a set-up.... so what would be, without paying over a grand for components like the focal utopia's? I would like to learn from all of you, what would be considered a high-end setup..... speakers and amp wise?

Now for EQ, I was looking at the Rockford Fosgate 3 sixty.2. Please feel free to post any and all opinions on it. Especially if there is some thing better or cheaper or both.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

Sound Deadening: It seems the forum favorite is Deamplifier Pro, however Right now a larger Scion forum sponsor Elemental Designs is selling its Edead v1se for 80cents a square foot. I was thinking of using some of that and covering that with Second Skins spray on Spectrum. Then using some of their luxury liner to seal of the job nicely.

Overall, What I really would like is just a list of what is a great Low end setup..... a great middle level setup.......and a great high end setup, and while we are going in this direction a supreme setup.

I figured this would be much easier if you guys point me in the right direction so that I can later get to the research instead of spending countless hours through some of these posts where people don't have a clue what they want, and then waste server space.

Any help would be appreciated, so Thank You in advance, and Have a great day.

P.S. Just in case some of you ask, I am into Sound Quality not SPL. Money is low now but In the future I would like to know what is good so that I can save and purchase it.

And the Scion doesnt need a high end system as this would be my first time with car audio, however the better the system, the happier I will be ...... so once again thank you.

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[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

For a decent component that is not too harsh, look into pioneer premier components. I just picked up a pair of the TSD1720C's, and they blew my old polk MOMO components out of the water in sound quality. They get decently loud, but the silk dome tweeters are just right. Not too harsh, not too soft. the midbass is by far better than the MOMOs (both were put in triple-thick butyl deadened doors with ensolite over the top

As for deadening, if your on a tight budget, edead is okay. I personally would go a different route. If your set on getting edead, i would reccomend putting something foam-based over the top of it, such as ensolite ( made by raamaudio, i think the website is raamaudio.com)

 

[polishstud 10+ year member]

Thank you for the reply, It is greatly appreciated.

Ensolite is very similar to the Luxury liner I listed above. I was actually looking into getting Raammat instead of edead, however like I said they are having a sale of that stuff and at 80cents a square foot, It almost seems like a good deal haha //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif.

However I am a little afraid after reading about some stuff on this forum about edead possibly falling off, or splitting apart because of the adhesive. I wonder if that was just a bad batch or what..... but it has made me think twice before pressing the purchase button. Thats why I brought it up on here, to get opinions on whether its worth buying at 80 cents. lol

I will defintately look into those Pioneers now. So once again thank you.

 

[lyttleviet 10+ year member]

Don't use the Elemental Designs stuff. Go with Raammat BXT (budget) or D-Pro (non-budget). Overkill = SS version of Ensolite not luxury liner IIRC..

If you are looking for a nice budget component set, you've listed some of the popular ones on here... Also check out for a little bit more....

Focal Access

Hertz HSK165

Morel Tempo 6

For amps, I love the Arc KS line as a nice budget amp setup... They aren't cheap, but they perform much more than they are worth. Stout amplifiers with big balls and just enough bells.

The 360.2 is a great processor. Problem is, a lot of people run into the blue tooth chip failing... RF fixes it but you have downtime etc... A lot of people look into Arc Audio's processing or even Zapcos.

 

[AznrMix88 10+ year member]

I love my Tempo 6s

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

That's a very broad question. You talk about how you like Focals, Bostons and Polks, and then go on to say you are looking at low end IDs and RSDs. If your ears are sensitive, chances are, those lower-end components won't do your music justice. If you want to go active, I'd encourage you to DIY and not get a premade component set. You can get much more bang for your buck.

As far as deadening goes, I wouldn't recommend eDead. It's been shown over and over to be pretty crappy stuff. It'll do for floors and wheel wells, but for doors, your trunk, and whatnot, stick with the good stuff like Damplifier, Dynamat or Raamat.

I've never been a fan of equalizers. I try to do as much tweaking as I can using crossover points, slopes, individual speaker attenuation, phase, placement and gain adjustment, and then just polish it off with a little equalization. For example, on my last 4-way active setup, I only used the 3-band parametric equalizer built into my head unit sparingly. I liked it more than when I was using an outboard 9-band EQ because it allowed the music to flow naturally without sounding overly processed.

I wouldn't recommend putting aftermarket speakers in the back. If I were in your shoes, I'd leave the stockers and power them off the head unit. What would be especially nice is if you could get a head unit with a defeatable internal amplifier. That way, when you have no passengers, no rear speakers. More speakers does not equate to fuller sound. More speakers equate to more difficulty perfecting your imaging and staging.

As far as making suggestions for low, mid and high-grade systems, the sky's the limit... the possibilities are endless. If you'd like some suggestions, shoot me a PM and I'll gladly make you some recommendations for an amplifier and speakers.

Oh, and feel free to AIM me. My s/n is the same as my username here on the forum.

 

[Hoodlum007 10+ year member]

Between the IDCTX65's and PG RSD65's the ID's are the better speaker set hands down in every area. The ID's have better midbass, better power handling, more defined and quality mids as well as smoother detailed tweeters.

I have owned both the RSD's and the ID CTX comps and you can not compare the quality on both.

 

[Powerbass1267 10+ year member]

Second Skin ftw