I have some questions for you amazing experts :) Please help

[92supra]

This is going to be long, but please have patience with me... I really need your help.

Alright, let me start by telling you what I have done.

I bought a car over the summer in really rough shape, a 1992 toyota supra with a targa top(the roof comes off). I got her working well mechanically but now I want to work on the sound system. The sound quality and volume without distortion are very important to me because when driving at highway speeds with no roof on the car, I want the music to still sound perfect even though the volumes up high. I love all music...Occasionally Rap with bass, Occasionally classical, rock, classic rock...Really I never know what mood I will be in so I need my system to cater to all of that.

The car had a stock premium 10 speaker sound system option done by fujitsu or some name like that--2x3.5's in the front in a plastic enclosure with 2xtweeters in the front, 2x3.5's in the middle of the car built into the molding of the back seat for a sort of enclosure, then 2x5's in the back in a bit larger plastic enclosure along with 2xtweeters. The stock headunit was not in the car when I bought it.

I figured it would not be an issue to just install an old sony 50x4 headunit I had temporarily until I got a better one, so I did.

The system sounded very good at first, better than any stock car system I have heard. The only problem was it had no bass, so I borrowed some subs and put those in for a while.

It turns out that I should have done more research because a factory amp that I did not even know I had under the front passenger seat caught fire a couple days after I had installed the head unit. I unplugged it and took it out, and it did not even sound as though it changed the system at all being there or not. So I left it out, started keeping a fire extinguisher in my car incase there were any more hidden amps like that, and went on my way.

About a month later my front 3.5 speakers blew, it seemed like a slow thing, one day I just noticed they sounded really bad so I replaced them with cheap pioneer walmart 3.5 speakers temporarily. They screwed and clipped right in.

Well, Now I no longer have the subs or amp, and the head unit stopped reading cd's (sony is crappy anyway), its time to really take this seriously, what should I do?

Would it be worth it for me to bypass my whole stock system and do something different? Or do you think it would be better to keep it and upgrade the speakers with better quality ones of the same size? It would not be hard at all for me to put in 6x9's in the back, fitting larger speakers in the front might be an issue but I am sure I could work it out.

I don't really want to experiment and end up with something I do not like. Ive heard horror stories of people spending too much at best buy and getting a poorly set up system so I really want to learn what I can do myself so that I know whats going on.

The two main companies I think that I want to stick with are infinity and rockford fosgate, possibly alpine... any comments on these?

Here is what I am "thinking" about starting with:

-A name brand head unit (not sony) that has 3 preouts, mp3 support, and xm radio support.

-Infinity 693.5 6x9's in the back built into those 6x9 boxes easily found all over ebay.

-Rockford 100x2 RMS watt amp to drive the 6x9s.

-Leave the front speakers working off the head unit for now.

Would that be a good start for the mid-high end?

I feel clueless...

What would really be my best setup for a great sounding loud and distortion free system?

If I get the job I am going in for an interview at tommorrow, money won't be too much an issue but I still don't want to go too crazy.

Click to read more...

 

[Bumpin-dah8o8 10+ year member]

In my opinion with your situation I say that you should ditch your stock system. For your new setup I would suggest a Pioneer H.U. since they make the best H.U.'s in my opinion but it all depends on ur budget. As for the speakers I look into other brands like Focal, Rainbow, and CDT, but I personally like the Classic sreies from CDT and even though its there entry level speakers they are by far the best in SQ and clarity as for the size I would recommend the CL41 component or 4 inch comp. speakers. As for the back speakers or also called rear fill I say dont even bother cause in my opinion and many others if you plan on getting Subs in your trunk its just gunna come in conflict with the Subs and will most likely cancel out some of the BASS. As for brands you should look into underground companies like http://www.adireaudio.com, http://www.reaudio.com, http://www.stereointegrity.com, http://www.edesignaudio.com, http://www.ddaudio.com, http://www.imagedynamicsusa.com, http://www.orioncaraudio.com, http://www.mmatsproaudio.com, http://www.treoonline.com, http://www.eclipse-web.com, But there are other great subs companies around and all u have to do is ask around, also one quick note is that Stereo Integrity's subs "Magnum D2's" are on back order lately but are great subs for a pop of $300 shipped and here at caraudio.com it has received 2003's best sub of the year award! As for your amp choices id look into Hifonics, USAmps, Orion, MTX, Crossfire, Phoenix Gold, and maybe Trutech along with other great companies. so hopefully this will help you out....Joe and if you need aditional help PM me.

 

[razr1]

yeh man i got to go with this dude. in my opinion you dont got a system with out some rockin subs. and a Neon underground kit. i dont know much. (all of this my opinion of course)

 

[Shugarra 10+ year member]

I'd like to agree with what Bumpin-dah8o8 said and just add that it might help to have a little idea of the budget you are working with. Some of the things he mentioned are cheap and some are very expensive, tru tech and US amps come to mind. Also you can get the RE subs from respl.com and not reaudio.com. Good luck!

Mike

 

[Redford 10+ year member]

please dont rice your Toyota! (NO UNDERBODY NEONS! NO NEONS AT ALL!) leave rice for Hondas

reaudio.com works too, but I initially was going to say the same thing Shugarra

Bumpin said everything I would have said.

 

[92supra]

No way //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif MY supra is never getting riced out, at least not on the outside... no huge *** ridiculous looking spoilers, no underbody, no neon, no crazy vinyls...As far as outside goes I am going to try to land some used MK IV supra chrome rims(durable enough that I don't have to worry about scruffs yet still stylish) then repaint the body red because its fading in some places(this is just a daily driver car)

But first I plan to put this really nice sound system in, build custom fiberglass where needed to accomodate for it, and then work on making the interior decent(because thats still pretty rough, cracked up seats etc... I'll have to find decent used seats or sparko racing seats to replace, maybe do some recarpetting.

As far as money goes though for the system, I have actually probably a quick $1000 I can spend and more coming much later on, so no matter what order I do it in, its going to be a work in progress.

(which is almost crazy because my car has only cost me $3500 total so far not including my labor)

I really would like to start with some really loud and clear bass... Ive come to realize that in order to put in any of the mid/high end stuff in the front its going to take a lot of fiberglass work because my door panels just don't accomodate for it, and I would rather save that fiberglass work for summer unless I can find someone to donate me a heated well ventilated garage around here to work in lol.

But anyway, I think I need some high powered subs and amp to start. I am not sure whether I want 1 12", or 2 10", or a better/worse brand? What do you recommend?

My car can take any bass I hand it, there will be no rattling anywhere I can assure, and if I have problems with power I will get a alternator and battery. The rear interior is out and ready to fiberglass when summer comes, so aside from some carpet I put back there, theres really nothing that could rattle, the hatch and license plate are well secured too so I am ready for some big bass.

I listen to all kinds of music and I like to put it up loud with no distortion.

What should I do for bass? I want to have the potential crazy very loud pounding you can hear outside, but I also want it to be very clear and accurate for songs that demand it. Sealed/ported? Brand? 1 or 2? 10, 12, or 15's? what kind of amp? what type of wiring? Hmm let me know //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[92supra]

Stereointegritys website is not working for me at the moment, it could be down temporarily. Those magnum d2's sound awesome and at a great deal but I can not find them anywhere?

Do XXX's compare in quality/price? Or Brahma? or anything else really?

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

XXX is very nice as well, costs quite a bit more and requires more than double the power as the Mag, As everybody else said, just get nice components, a good amp for them that sends no less than 100rms to them. I think two Mags would be good for you, get very loud and sound very good and you could keep them sealed. You could probably pull all that off for under a grand not counting electrical upgrades

 

[Bumpin-dah8o8 10+ year member]

Right now you could get 2 12" or 15" RE-HC's for 300 bucks shipped and its a great deal in my opinion since they are able to pound like crazy, as for the box you should go ported tuned to maybe around 25Hz or so. For your amp maybe look into maybe 2 Hifonics Brutus BX1000D, wire your subs in parallel and hook each one up to either amp but make sure all your settings are the same on both amps so they wont be out of sync. as for the amp kit and other accesories you are going to have to get a 0/1 gauge wire kit which is 3000 watts max and a distribution block to power both your amps off on main power line from you batt.(amp kit) you will also need another pair of RCA cables so you are able to do a "Daisy chain" or link both amps together and the final thing you need is maybe 12 gauge wire to wire your subs. Oh yeah and of course a H.U.

Joe