Some general help please :)

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tylorert

CarAudio.com Newbie
Hey everyone! I just got a 2012 Chevy Malibu LS. I changed my head unit as soon as I got the car. Heres my setup:
Headunit: Kenwood DMX47S (Simple but perfectly functional)
Speakers: All stock (thinking about upgrading?)
Sub: Massive TW12 in a sealed enclosure
Amp: Power Acustik 2500W amp

I took it for a test drive at night and noticed my lights were dimming. Im not sure what I should quite do. I have seen people with super caps and some with another battery and some say to upgrade the alternator. Im on a tight budget. I have a good lawn tractor battery sitting around the house doing noting that I could wire in with the amp? Or a little 12v sealed led acid battery (UB1280 If I recall correctly). What should I do? Also, Im thinking about replacing the back deck speakers. Im thinking about getting infinity reference and getting an amp for the ones in the back? The fronts sound fine IMO but they are only getting highs. I dont really feel like rewireing my whole car speaker system. Any help would be great! :)


 
Hey everyone! I just got a 2012 Chevy Malibu LS. I changed my head unit as soon as I got the car. Heres my setup:
Headunit: Kenwood DMX47S (Simple but perfectly functional)
Speakers: All stock (thinking about upgrading?)
Sub: Massive TW12 in a sealed enclosure
Amp: Power Acustik 2500W amp

I took it for a test drive at night and noticed my lights were dimming. Im not sure what I should quite do. I have seen people with super caps and some with another battery and some say to upgrade the alternator. Im on a tight budget. I have a good lawn tractor battery sitting around the house doing noting that I could wire in with the amp? Or a little 12v sealed led acid battery (UB1280 If I recall correctly). What should I do? Also, Im thinking about replacing the back deck speakers. Im thinking about getting infinity reference and getting an amp for the ones in the back? The fronts sound fine IMO but they are only getting highs. I dont really feel like rewireing my whole car speaker system. Any help would be great! :)
With headlight dimming, there's a VERY small voltage difference to result in that depending on the type. Especially with halogens the difference between max brightness and noticeably dimmer could be less than a volt. 2012 Malibus from my initial research use H11 bulbs, which are halogen. The important part is figuring out how low the voltage is actually going if you're worried about the power of your system. The thing is 600W RMS isn't enough to justify a major power upgrade, not even an extra battery really. The point to add that is in the 1200-2000W range in my opinion depending on your alternator.

It's not what you'll want to hear, being budget oriented, but my suggestion if it really bothers you: leave the tractor battery out and put a new AGM battery in as the primary. I doubt you've got a new battery in there or it probably wouldn't be enough to bother you and an AGM will give you the best chance at avoiding the dimming short of upgrading your alternator or getting a lithium/super capacitor bank (don't bother with regular caps). Also in my opinion keep that tractor battery out of your car, it will make very little difference for a lot of heavy duty wiring effort exerted.
 
-Buy an agm as your primary battery find someone selling one on offer up
-Skip the deck speaker/ and get a budget Comp set. Recommendation below

-get a small amp for the Comp set. Recommendation below:

Range-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B07YVMJFB9/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=taramps+4+channel+amplifier&qid=1599459956&sprefix=taramps+4&sr=8-6
 
-Buy an agm as your primary battery find someone selling one on offer up
-Skip the deck speaker/ and get a budget Comp set. Recommendation below

-get a small amp for the Comp set. Recommendation below:

Range-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B07YVMJFB9/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=taramps+4+channel+amplifier&qid=1599459956&sprefix=taramps+4&sr=8-6
I created a little list of stuff Im thinking about getting. The deck speakers rattle sometimes with the bass and on the highs you can hear it rattle/buzz. Heres what I am thinking:

Front: JBL 601CF
Deck: 9631F
Amp: Kenwood KAC-6407

Im looking for good clean highs and strong bass. I was going to go full infinity but they can be quite expensive. How good is NVX tho?

I think I might have a champion AGM battery in there. Ill have to look
 
Nvx makes some good stuff for their price points. I’d pick these over the jbl components


skip the rear deck speakers and spend the money on soundtreating your front doors.

$150 for 40x4 @ 4 ohms isn’t good value and that’s got a big footprint. Check that taramps. Run stock rear deck speakers off the deck and bridge that amp to 2 channels for The component set
 
I created a little list of stuff Im thinking about getting. The deck speakers rattle sometimes with the bass and on the highs you can hear it rattle/buzz. Heres what I am thinking:

Front: JBL 601CF
Deck: 9631F
Amp: Kenwood KAC-6407

Im looking for good clean highs and strong bass. I was going to go full infinity but they can be quite expensive. How good is NVX tho?

I think I might have a champion AGM battery in there. Ill have to look
Infinity isn't bad, but I don't think they shine in their price range personally. They at least are reliable, so I'm not knocking the company. NVX is pretty good for the cheap prices. Audiofrog are also good for their range as well as the Polk Audio DB series depending on where your budget is. If you want to go higher quality you could always go with Focal or Hertz, but since you said your deck rattles I'm going to say the best first step for you on audio quality is to sound deaden your doors and rear deck. There's hardly a point in upgrading speakers if the extra power is just going to lead to unwanted resonance. At the very least get some cheap audio CCF like noico and use that between any parts that change their rattle characteristics when you put your hand on them at high volumes. It's tempting to use weather seal from the hardware store, but don't. It's not designed to hold up to the lifespan of your intended purpose and it'll become a gummy flakey mess.
 
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tylorert

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