Upgrading my budget system [Help Wanted] 6/29/2016

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Awesome thanks, While I mess around with EQ'ing and get better at all this stuff I'll look into the sub woofer you recommended My only question is how do you decide on a size? or how many woofers? Why two 12s or one 15 or 18? I'm really having a hard time being able to decide or pick. I also will look into building a box, I've wanted to build a custom box so I'll look into it, and try it out.
oh and how do you decide where to mount them? some people mount them down or facing up or facing into the box... it's so confusing how do you know what you want?

What car do you drive again?

 

[Jcdanible]

What car do you drive again?

Jeep 2000 Grand Cherokee With Infinity system.

I've been trying to research online how to know how big of a box for the sub you have or to fire the sub down or have it ported and it's just all so confusing. I have absolutely no idea how to find the proper box size. I would assume you pick a sub woofer first and based on that you will know how big the box needs to be and then...?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Jeep 2000 Grand Cherokee With Infinity system.
I've been trying to research online how to know how big of a box for the sub you have or to fire the sub down or have it ported and it's just all so confusing. I have absolutely no idea how to find the proper box size. I would assume you pick a sub woofer first and based on that you will know how big the box needs to be and then...?

Depends how much output you want, doesnt take much to get a jeep loud. Sub face up, port facing rear. Box tuning will depend on your music tastes. With a single 18, you can get into the 140 db range easily with your current amp and it should cost less than two 12s. You can lower the sub level on your head unit to blend in the sub better and keep it from overpowering the sound spectrum.

 

[Jcdanible]

Depends how much output you want, doesnt take much to get a jeep loud. Sub face up, port facing rear. Box tuning will depend on your music tastes. With a single 18, you can get into the 140 db range easily with your current amp and it should cost less than two 12s. You can lower the sub level on your head unit to blend in the sub better and keep it from overpowering the sound spectrum.

Hm, I might be interested in doing that. I do want it to blend more than over power but I also really like my bass a little bit louder and to bump. I would be interested in one bigger size sub than two 12's if that was the case. Dont need an insane amount of output because I really am not a sub guy at all, I love my bass but I'm not wanting to turn it up so all it is, is bass. I mainly listen to rap, but I literally listen to rap, pop, country, hip-hop, R&B, hardcore, old school rock, some metal, reggae, ska, Basically Everything. (In order from what I listen to most to what I listen to least) I honestly would be fine with a single 12 too, I understand with a decent box, good sub, and proper amp they will get a lot louder than my current two 12's, and sound a lot better.... But a single 18" sounds cool too.

 

[Jcdanible]

Depends how much output you want, doesnt take much to get a jeep loud. Sub face up, port facing rear. Box tuning will depend on your music tastes. With a single 18, you can get into the 140 db range easily with your current amp and it should cost less than two 12s. You can lower the sub level on your head unit to blend in the sub better and keep it from overpowering the sound spectrum.

Oh also! What shall I do with my old (Although just bought them) Tweeters that are currently in my car. They will be replaced with the component system but is there a point to keeping them to add to the high notes, give it more volume?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Oh also! What shall I do with my old (Although just bought them) Tweeters that are currently in my car. They will be replaced with the component system but is there a point to keeping them to add to the high notes, give it more volume?

no, its a different tweeter and when you have multiple different tweeters the soundwaves they produce will not be similar so it becomes distortion and creates a nasty beaming effect which will make your highs overly sharp and ear piercing with the ssss and shhh sounds.

 

[Jcdanible]

no, its a different tweeter and when you have multiple different tweeters the soundwaves they produce will not be similar so it becomes distortion and creates a nasty beaming effect which will make your highs overly sharp and ear piercing with the ssss and shhh sounds.

Oh alright so what would you recommend as far as building my own box? You were talking about an 18" sub and that's kinda what I was thinking but I'm not sure because my next car will be an f150 and I want to prep for that a little bit.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Oh alright so what would you recommend as far as building my own box? You were talking about an 18" sub and that's kinda what I was thinking but I'm not sure because my next car will be an f150 and I want to prep for that a little bit.

You can do a 15 instead if you want.

Box building, just get some box designs from a designer and follow the blueprint, use birch or 11 layered pine ply, titebond 2 wood glue.

 

[Jcdanible]

You can do a 15 instead if you want.
Box building, just get some box designs from a designer and follow the blueprint, use birch or 11 layered pine ply, titebond 2 wood glue.

Ok so after a long day everything is hooked up and working fine actually first try. I just have a few questions... What settings should I adjust on my amp(s) sub and 4 channel? Also what would you recommend doing for wire management and I guess the most important... Where do I even begin with my head unit? I'm not sure how I should begin to eq or if I should setup time alignment? Also how can I know how loud my system can go without potentially hurting it...? Thanks!

Sorry... To add for my 4 channel amp it has: channel -1/2 filter off, hp, lp then crossover which I understand is controlled by my passive crossover for fronts but what should I set it out since I also have rears...? Then gain idk what to set that at... Another filter of either off hp or lp then another crossover and this is the -3/4 channel settings then there is bass eq and another gain. Not too sure what to do there.

Also there is a high cut for passive crossovers, I'm assuming that's for the tweeters? To cut them

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Ok so after a long day everything is hooked up and working fine actually first try. I just have a few questions... What settings should I adjust on my amp(s) sub and 4 channel? Also what would you recommend doing for wire management and I guess the most important... Where do I even begin with my head unit? I'm not sure how I should begin to eq or if I should setup time alignment? Also how can I know how loud my system can go without potentially hurting it...? Thanks!

If its the 80 prs, to just start you off, have the volume around 50, sub level at +0 and all your amplifier gains minimized. play your hardest hitting bass song and raise the sub amp gain until it stops getting louder, then back it off. sub level is in sub 2 in the options, the sub's low pass crossover is there as well, keep it at 80hz to start off.

Then with the 4 channel amp, just raise it up until it starts sounding nasty or distorted then back it off, its a lot more easier to tell mids and highs limits than bass. In the front crossover, have the high pass filter at 80hz to start off, you can adjust it later on if you want.

Then do the time alignment. Basically take a tape measure and measure the midway point of where your front mid and tweeter meets. Then get the distance from that point to your ear in the driver's side in inches and enter it into the time alignment. Do this for left and right. Then you can do it for the rears and subwoofer.

Afterwards, use a song where the vocals are dead center for example echosmith - bright(just a tuner song) and make fine adjustments to the left or right side time alignment values(doesnt matter which) until you hear the vocals right in the center of the dash.

Then finally do the EQ, usually you dont want to boost that much, most i'd go is +3 or so to fill in dips in the sound spectrum but if you do that, you should not listen as loud. Most of the times, you'll be cutting frequencies that sound annoying. You just need to play different types of music and play around with the EQ till you like what you hear. Just raise and lower each frequency so you know exactly what frequency handles what in the sound spectrum.

If all this sounds too hard, just plug in the tuning mic that comes with the 80 prs and get a stick or something to place it right by the driver side headrest and let the system auto tune the EQ and time alignment for you but you'll still need to redo some of the levels, you can use the speaker levels and sub level for this, no need to do anything with the amp.

Zip ties are your friend for wire management.

 

[Jcdanible]

If its the 80 prs, to just start you off, have the volume around 50, sub level at +0 and all your amplifier gains minimized. play your hardest hitting bass song and raise the sub amp gain until it stops getting louder, then back it off. sub level is in sub 2 in the options, the sub's low pass crossover is there as well, keep it at 80hz to start off.
Then with the 4 channel amp, just raise it up until it starts sounding nasty or distorted then back it off, its a lot more easier to tell mids and highs limits than bass. In the front crossover, have the high pass filter at 80hz to start off, you can adjust it later on if you want.

Then do the time alignment. Basically take a tape measure and measure the midway point of where your front mid and tweeter meets. Then get the distance from that point to your ear in the driver's side in inches and enter it into the time alignment. Do this for left and right. Then you can do it for the rears and subwoofer.

Afterwards, use a song where the vocals are dead center for example echosmith - bright(just a tuner song) and make fine adjustments to the left or right side time alignment values(doesnt matter which) until you hear the vocals right in the center of the dash.

Then finally do the EQ, usually you dont want to boost that much, most i'd go is +3 or so to fill in dips in the sound spectrum but if you do that, you should not listen as loud. Most of the times, you'll be cutting frequencies that sound annoying. You just need to play different types of music and play around with the EQ till you like what you hear. Just raise and lower each frequency so you know exactly what frequency handles what in the sound spectrum.

If all this sounds too hard, just plug in the tuning mic that comes with the 80 prs and get a stick or something to place it right by the driver side headrest and let the system auto tune the EQ and time alignment for you.

Zip ties are your friend for wire management.

Thanks, and before I get started on all this, I'm having struggles even using the head unit. I'll just press the volume knob in to go to the menu and it instantly closes. If I hold the volume knob it will show the menu until I let go of the volume knob then it goes away and goes back to the home screen. Also If I hold the OFF or SRC button it shuts off then I'll hold the volume knob and it will show up with the opening starting options like language but if I try and select anything it shuts off. Also If i press the OFF or SRC button again it will go back to normal mode. I have no idea if I'm doing something wrong or if the head unit is in a demo mode or messed up or what... I have no idea....

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks, and before I get started on all this, I'm having struggles even using the head unit. I'll just press the volume knob in to go to the menu and it instantly closes. If I hold the volume knob it will show the menu until I let go of the volume knob then it goes away and goes back to the home screen. Also If I hold the OFF or SRC button it shuts off then I'll hold the volume knob and it will show up with the opening starting options like language but if I try and select anything it shuts off. Also If i press the OFF or SRC button again it will go back to normal mode. I have no idea if I'm doing something wrong or if the head unit is in a demo mode or messed up or what... I have no idea....

There's loads of tutorial vids on youtube straight from pioneer. sounds like its in demo mode.

 

[Jcdanible]

There's loads of tutorial vids on youtube straight from pioneer. sounds like its in demo mode.

Oh boy now it doesn't turn on.... It did beep at me though rapidly. Reset it and it's working again but still won't let me access menu and I took it out if demo mode. Is there anything I have to check? I'm aware you can update them. Or maybe the voltage is too low? 12.5

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Oh boy now it doesn't turn on.... It did beep at me though rapidly. Reset it and it's working again but still won't let me access menu and I took it out if demo mode. Is there anything I have to check? I'm aware you can update them. Or maybe the voltage is too low? 12.5

Voltage is fine, check your wiring.

 

[Jcdanible]

Voltage is fine, check your wiring.

Wiring is fine, It is turning on fine after reset but it just won't open the menu and I can't get the remote to work. Also should I be switching from standard mode to network? (the more advanced mode) I've read that there are two modes... Also should i do the firmware update for bluetooth?