Need a good system advise.

[Tony1234]

Hello all,

I was out of car audio over 20+ years and now want a good systems in my Odyssey van. Since I was out for so long, I would like to know what is the good systems today including head unit, amp, front separated mid and high speakers, 10" sub.

I was completed before. My old system was Nakamich head unit, McIntosh and Zapco amps, ADS mid and high separated speakers, 12" M&M subs, Zapco pre amp.

Thank you,

Tony

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[Austin175 10+ year member]

Welcome an for starters to start of right would be your H/U which the pioneer 80prs if using a single din h/u has become the standard for the price quality/features you get it it's worth every penny 5v preouts, full active capability with time alignment, 16 band EQ etc

 

[Tony1234]

Thank you, Austin175. Any other Hi-End h/u that very good right now? My Nakamichi h/u was about $700 20 yrs ago.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

I'll have more questions, but to start, what model year is your Odyssey?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Thank you, Austin175. Any other Hi-End h/u that very good right now? My Nakamichi h/u was about $700 20 yrs ago.

Pioneer stage 4 dex-p99rs is pretty much the Cadillac of head units. It lists over 1000$ but is top notch all around and packs in more processing power than you could have bought at any price 20 years ago. I believe Sony also has a premium priced head unit that should have a ton of features but I have not seen them in person nor seen reviews. The P99rs I have seen in person and it's really fantastic if you like EQ, crossover, and DSP options and money isn't a limiting factor. The only argument against it would be if you like a full screen type multimedia player. Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine are pretty much the best head unit manufacturers these days so stick to those and they'll perform as advertised.

Zapco still makes high end amps. I think McIntosh isn't what they used to be (they were bought out by Clarion IIRC). Zed Audio still makes great amps (he made many of the great amps in the era you remember... rodek, autotek, lanzar, hifonics, ESX, Planet Audio, Alphasonic, Crunch, etc. etc). He sells Zed branded amps and also does some designs for Phoenix Gold, Mosconi, and Focal. I always give him a plug since he is just a great guy to deal with and an accomplished engineer.

As far as speakers, A/D/S hasn't been in the game for ages and M&M died with "the Godfather" back in the late 90's (I loved mine back in the day). On the bright side speaker technology has come a LONG way and there's plenty of great options in that department.... that said conventional wisdom these days is that mounting location, processing, and deadening/sealing trumps just buying expensive speakers and throwing them into stock speaker locations.

Not saying you want to cheap out, but you can buy 1000$ components and put them into the stock holes with no prep work and be blown away by 200$ components with some care, planning, and prep put into mounting. Also, if you buy a multichannel amp and/or head unit with built in crossovers you can avoid passive crossovers altogether and buy components (mids, tweeters) separately at Madisound or Parts Express and have endless options for matching and blending mids and highs.

Subwoofers have also come a long way. Since power is CHEAP these days a 12" woofer that'll sound great and legitimately handle 1200W continuous power for 8 hours straight is something you can expect to find. Virtually all car subwoofers are designed to function best in ported box and there have been many advances is high excursion/low distortion technology. Things have come a LONG way.

 

[kr15 5,000+ posts]

These guys in here are pointing you the right way. You might be amazed what quality costs these days. The prs80 is in the 280$ or so range, and is a stellar deck. Many sub advancements as well. There are still traditional sq subs, but also subs like the fi q, which will give you alot more output than you remember

 

[dsw1204]

The Pioneer DEH-80PRS and Pioneer Stage 4 DEX-P99RS are pretty darn good head units. Lots of processing power, lots of features, and pretty sharp looking units. However, they will be significantly more difficult to navigate than your old Nakamichi head unit, especially while driving. You have to go through different menus to do almost anything, including basic equalization adjustments. For me, I want simplicity when I am driving. I want to keep my eyes on the road as much as possible. Thus, I am still using an Eclipse CD8051 dead head unit which is similar in operation and performance to your Nakamichi. But, it is old school and lacks most of the modern day features (bluetooth, USB, satellite radio, etc.) If you want to stay simple with your head unit, Alpine makes some quality head units (CDE-164BT, CDE-HD149BT, CDE-HD148BT to name a few}. Oh, by the way, it really also depends on what model year your Odyssey is. It seems like around 2006 or so that almost every car manufacturer has started making their cars that have everything integrated into the sound system, thus making an aftermarket head unit addition all but impossible. If you have an older model Odyssey, then you will probably be okay in finding an aftermarket head unit.

For speakers, if you stay passive, I'd look at Morel. I'm running the Morel Tempo Ultra 602 two-way components and absolutely love them. For 6.5" drivers, they have plenty of bass and the mids and highs are phenomenal. I can play music for hours at loud volumes and not get ear fatigue. But, there are other manufacturers that are very good, as well, such as Hertz, Focal, Hybrid Audio Technologies (HAT), Image Dynamics, DLS, etc.

If you want to go active, there are plenty of quality raw drivers at partsexpress.com. Since I am not running raw drivers, I cannot help here but there are many people here who can give you plenty of info in that regard.

There are quite a few high-end amplifier manufacturers out there (Sinfoni, Mosconi, Audison, etc.). I am running Arc Audio and, again, love what I am running. I do, one day, want to upgrade to a Z series Zapco amp. Zapco has me sold on their high-end line. They are just more than I can afford, currently.

 

[Tony1234]

Thank you everyone for your info. Been supper busy and just have to left this project behind. Please advise for two vehicle.

1. Honda Odyssey 2010.

2. Honda Accord 2017 sport.

I will do Focal mid and high but not sure which one yet, if you know which is good please advise.

Amps will do Zapco Z, I guess 6 Channel.

I am looking for advise of head unit, sub, and etc.

 

[Tony1234]

Thank you everyone for your info. Been supper busy and just have to left this project behind. Please advise for two vehicle.

1. Honda Odyssey 2010.

2. Honda Accord 2017 sport.

I will do Focal mid and high but not sure which one yet, if you know which is good please advise.

Amps will do Zapco Z, I guess 6 Channel.

I am looking for advise of head unit, sub, and etc.

 

[dsw1204]

Thank you everyone for your info. Been supper busy and just have to left this project behind. Please advise for two vehicle.
1. Honda Odyssey 2010.

2. Honda Accord 2017 sport.

I will do Focal mid and high but not sure which one yet, if you know which is good please advise.

Amps will do Zapco Z, I guess 6 Channel.

I am looking for advise of head unit, sub, and etc.

I am guessing with the model years of your vehicles, it is going to be near impossible to put in an aftermarket head unit. Thus, I think you should forget getting an aftermarket head unit and get a good DSP like Helix DSP.2 or Mosconi 6to8 V8.

With the sub, are you looking to go SPL or SQ?

 

[Tony1234]

Thank you, SQ for sure.

 

[Tony1234]

Wow, when you were mention DSP. It came to my head right away that I had Rockfordfosget DSP on one of my car before when it just came out long time ago.

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

MMats HiFi-6150D 6 x 150 RMS at 4 Ohm Audiophile 6 Channel Full Range Digital Amplifier

https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/product/hifi-6150d/

amazing 6 channel amp made in florida top notch

https://www.vertexaudio.com/ZED-Audio-Minotaur-III-p/zed-minotaur-ii.htm

https://www.vertexaudio.com/ZED-Audio-Draconia-II-p/zed-draconia-iii.htm

sub my fav sound quality sub

Flatlyne 12 Incriminator Audio 12" 600W Flatlyne Series - SSA STORE

Flatlyne Series Subwoofer

JBL W12GTi MkII DVC Subwoofer 12" Competition Sub - Fully Tested & Working! 50036119061 | eBay

or if you can find a jbl gti

dsp top out there is a

https://www.amazon.com/Audison-bit-One-1-Bitone-processor/dp/B004XVG02E

Bit One - Audison Signal Processor for Amplifiers

but you wouldnt need to go top end headunit then.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

DSP?!

Have John Kuthe show ya how to install one and turn it on.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

Hello all,
I was out of car audio over 20+ years and now want a good systems in my Odyssey van. Since I was out for so long, I would like to know what is the good systems today including head unit, amp, front separated mid and high speakers, 10" sub.

I was completed before. My old system was Nakamich head unit, McIntosh and Zapco amps, ADS mid and high separated speakers, 12" M&M subs, Zapco pre amp.

Thank you,

Tony

How much $ u talking about per car $500 or $3000 each? u say u want sq so u want 1-10 u want more $ in mids or sub or amp or u want to put more $ in amp for whole system?