I've got $750 to blow... where do I put it?

[sjv13 10+ year member]

After having a brief spat with home audio, I'm back here. I decided I'd rather make a kick *** car stereo than have a low end 2.1 home stereo. My question for you all is: Where should I invest the money? My sig shows my current equipment. And I have also sealed off the 6.5s in the doors well. My initial thought was to get rid of the Polk PA660 4 channel amp which I am using to run my front stage. It's not that it sounds bad, but to me it just seems like it's not on par with the other equipment I have. So here is what I was thinking:

1) Get a new 4 channel amp (going more for SQ here, and 75rms per channel is plenty for the front stage).

2) Do the big 3 (buy a yellow top, buy some 0g, pay someone to run the wire) in order to future proof my electrical for a possible substage upgrade

3) Dynamat (but I'm leaning away from this because I dont know how much longer I will have this car, plus my doors are pretty solid and non-holey).

4) Just get a new battery (no big 3) and try to run an upgraded substage (around 1000rms).

Any other suggestions would be great too! Thanks!

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[lnsomnia]

Start with that big 3 plan of yours! And I personally would upgrade my sub and amp. Probably a PSI platform 2; they're rated at 1500rms. But that's just me! I would spend the rest on a solid amp, and then upgrading the 4 channel amp and speakers if there's money left over.

Again, that's just me.

 

[The Audio Guy]

Custom box?

New alt?

New subs?

upgrade amp?

Deadener?

Tons of things

 

[Silver-N-Black 10+ year member]

Big 3 - Under 100 bucks. Make sure to use OFC wire.

Sub Amp: Alpine MRX-M50 ( Sell the amp )

Sub: Alpine Type-R 12" ( Sell the Sub )

Use the rest of the money on Sub's and Amp.

When you get your new ride focus on the front stage

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

Custom box?New alt?

New subs?

upgrade amp?

Deadener?

Tons of things

Did you even read my post? lol

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

Big 3 - Under 100 bucks. Make sure to use OFC wire.Sub Amp: Alpine MRX-M50 ( Sell the amp )

Sub: Alpine Type-R 12" ( Sell the Sub )

Use the rest of the money on Sub's and Amp.

You dont think I'll need a new battery? I just have a normal car battery right now. Not agm or anything. What brand of 0g do you recommend I go with?

 

[Silver-N-Black 10+ year member]

You dont think I'll need a new battery? I just have a normal car battery right now. Not agm or anything. What brand of 0g do you recommend I go with?

I'd buy a spool from Sky High Wire. How big of a sub stage do you plan on going with? 1000RMS? 2000RMS?

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Keep everything you have and add a JBL MS-8. It will do more to give you a fresh change than any other upgrade you've listed. Your amp is fine, you have good enough equipment everywhere else, now top if off with a DSP.

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

Keep everything you have and add a JBL MS-8. It will do more to give you a fresh change than any other upgrade you've listed. Your amp is fine, you have good enough equipment everywhere else, now top if off with a DSP.

Hmmm... could you tell me more about this? How/where does it install? How much can I get one for? Is it really a night and day difference?

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Hmmm... could you tell me more about this? How/where does it install? How much can I get one for? Is it really a night and day difference?

This will go between your Pioneer head unit and your amplifiers. It retails for $799. It does automatic equalization with a very powerful equalizer algorithm. In my experience it was a big difference in sound compared to manually tuning with an older Alpine H700 equalizer. After the automatic equalization is done you go in to the 31 band graphic EQ and draw a curve to how you want it to sound. It's not the most simple thing to install and tune, but in capable hands it does wonders.

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

This will go between your Pioneer head unit and your amplifiers. It retails for $799. It does automatic equalization with a very powerful equalizer algorithm. In my experience it was a big difference in sound compared to manually tuning with an older Alpine H700 equalizer. After the automatic equalization is done you go in to the 31 band graphic EQ and draw a curve to how you want it to sound. It's not the most simple thing to install and tune, but in capable hands it does wonders.

Does it require my hu to have a cd player? Because mine doesn't. What about just upgrading to an 80prs and using the mic and whatnot for auto eq. It would be much cheaper

 

[argenis69 10+ year member]

my pocket is open, if you need a place to put it, lol

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Does it require my hu to have a cd player? Because mine doesn't. What about just upgrading to an 80prs and using the mic and whatnot for auto eq. It would be much cheaper

it doesn't require a CD player.

the 80prs is nothing compared to the JBL MS-8. Pioneer is fairly disappointing in the noise, menu structure, and build quality department. And the MS-8 is flat out a better investment. A lot of people jumped on the 80prs, and after dealing with it, a lot jumped back off. I avoid Pioneer completely after spending 10 years helping people deal with their problems. There are 3 other manufacturers that put a lot more care into their HU design (Alpine, Kenwood and Clarion).

I agree your effort should be one of two things:

1. a MS-8 as described above.

2. focus your efforts on making the front doors as good as you possibly can, including the amplifier quality, and door treatment (absorption, seals, deadening).

both options should result in you running active and not bi-amp. you want to take control over the crossover points and slopes.

the sub and sub amp you have are fine. no reason to change if you are happy.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

the latter option (improving the front stage amplification and installation) is my preference. processing can try to fix acoustical issues but not entirely. and what you have for amplification is certainly limiting. a good amp can do wonders for clarity and usable volume. and proper installation gives you the midbass output and midrange clarity we all desire. the less a processor has to fix, the better you will sound.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

the latter option (improving the front stage amplification and installation) is my preference. processing can try to fix acoustical issues but not entirely. and what you have for amplification is certainly limiting. a good amp can do wonders for clarity and usable volume. and proper installation gives you the midbass output and midrange clarity we all desire. the less a processor has to fix, the better you will sound.

Yes, improving the installation will address so many issues that people may not even be aware of until they get the car apart and start fixing problems. No amount of EQ would get your standard door-mounted woofer to sound its best, and the doors are just one of many possible places to focus on.

One could easily spend $750 on materials from Sound Deadener Showndown and spend a couple of full weekends doing nothing but sound deadening the entire cabin. I know I still have a lot of areas I want to address with my car, but I keep tweaking other things. It's easier to understand putting in a new set of speakers than it is to justify puttng in some boring layers of stuff under the carpet and panels.