Ready to jump in to the game

[The Juice 32 10+ year member]

Alright, I am new to this forum & I am new to the major league installers & sound hook-ups. So hello all!

I just got a 2000 Explorer Sport & I am trying to figure out how to install a cool system.

I have a Clarion Face-off cd player so far. My buddy gave me a bass box with a 10" & someone else is giving me a 8" tube. I am on a major budget & I want to know where would u go from here?

From what I see no amps will fit under the seats & I don't wanna screw them into the back of the seats.

Also is there any site that shows step by step installations of systems?

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[duginnz 10+ year member]

welcome to they joys fun and grief of car audio.

my name is doug, my day job is car audio, i live in new zealand.

not really familiar with a lot of the american model names, but i reckon that the car or wagon you have is a 4 door 4wd.

i did a neat little job once for a guy that had something similar, and wanted to carry all his diving gear in the back (read that as no crap to go on the floor behind the back seat)

so we made a plywood sandwich the shape of the rear cargo space and put the amp and changer inside, with the front of the changer visible at the rear edge.

the amp went inside with a fan to push air over the top, and the whole gig covered all the gear and cables, was screwed to the floor for security, was strong enough to stand on, and was about 4 inches thick, so didnt use too much space.

a relay turned on the fan by way of the amp remote wire, and that guy came and saw me a year later with no problems reported.

hope this helps

doug in nz

dugnshel@clear.net.nz

 

[The Juice 32 10+ year member]

I am just trying to find a cheap way to have some nice sounds. I don't know alot about amps, crossovers & speakers.

Here is the ride.

 

[duginnz 10+ year member]

there are 2 ways to learn. 1 is to buy heaps of crap, make lots of mistakes, blow things up and find out how to spend heaps of time and money to create crap sounds.

2 is to ask lots of questions, some of which may sound really stupid.

i went mainly down track 1. wish i'd gone down track 2.

read and listen to everything and everyone. believe almost everything you see and only half of what you hear. ask if you dont know, even if it does seem like a really dumb question. if people say you ask dumb questions and give you crap, just move on and find people that are happy to help, there are lots of us out there.

finally, pick equipment for quality, not price. if its really cheap, its probably crap or its hot, and you dont want it. think about want you want to end up with, and keep working towards it, however slow that may be.

i under stand you have a head unit, and a sub or two so far, you need a 2 channel (at least) amp to run the sub, and that will need a cable kit that includes power cable, a fuse and holder, rca or signal cable (rca means radiola corp of america - todays useless info), a ground cable, which can be a piece of power cable if need be, a remote wire and a length of mildly thick speaker wire to hook the sub to the amp.

if you already have both subs, try one at a time and listen to the difference on various cds to see what sound you prefer. i dont htink that both will look or sound good, but at the end of the day, it's your system and your ride.

and get a good alarm or a f ing big dog.

feel free to email me at any time, any question.

 

[The Juice 32 10+ year member]

Ok, I got some crap this weekend, gonna be upgrading in the following weeks.

DHD & Koiiler Amps. I will be getting a replacement sub & a crossover next weekend.

 

[Matador 10+ year member]

one thing, welcome to the wonderful motha$$$ car audio, but it's way worth it.

one advice, dont' get the DHD amps, that was my first amp, and i used to live in the valley near los angeles, n it used to overheat like in 20-30mins. used to get pissed so i had to get another one. so yeah, try to get somtehin besides DHD.

also, if you are gonan do it urself, online stores are cheaper, such as etronics.com, ikesound.com, onlinecarstereo.com, n others.

 

[The Juice 32 10+ year member]

This is temporary stuff for the moment. I plan on changing everything. I just hate to roll with a tape deck & no bass. I was looking at some Kicker amps. So that is what I have on my "buy" list.

 

[duginnz 10+ year member]

lots of good stuff about kicker.

u say your getting a crossover. do you need some thing special or does the amp(s) your looking at not have a lo pass filter (lpf) built in?

the more pieces of **** you stitch into a system, the more noise, pops and so on you will have to deal with eliminating, and that can be a pain in the arse.

my sub is the only original piece in my entire system. its old, its pretty big, its really cheap, but it still does what i want it too, so havent worried about splashing out on a new one. may do soon tho

doug in nz