Volvo Advice Please

[Volvo_S80]

So I just bought a 2008 Volvo S80 Love the car but after some research I found that I cant take the Factory Head Unit out of my particular model :/ So now my I'm wondering what I can do to upgrade my sound again. I have a sub 12 inch alpine type R with a 500 watt amp some 5 1/4 Components Alpiine type r with Infinity 6.5 inch coax with an alpine 4 channel amp 3553 Old and looking to upgrade in the very near future.

So my question is whats my best play here? I have to keep my Factory Head unit and I want to connect my amps. My thoughts are either mount an aftermarket head unit in the Glove box and just give it power (this just makes sense to me for ease of getting what i want)

or use Line converters from the speaker outputs from my factory Unit (I hear that Sound Quality can suffer) also I've read that factory hed units have a bass lowering feature when the volume is up past 60% so bass is near silenced defeating the point of the install. But a sound processor can fix this? I dont know anything about sound processors any Advice would be appreciated.

Overall goal is LOUD and clear

First things first getting the Amps installed Sound processor needed? line converter?

Second Getting new 6.5 Speakers for front, Components are favored 100-200$

Lastly Decent Amp to push 4 Speakers 100 watts RMS ish?

Budget is Medium I'd say. Thanks

Click to read more...

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Processor

 

[Volvo_S80]

AudioControl DQ-61 BLACK (dq61-black) Digital Signal Processor w/

Found this price is do-able Seems like this will do the trick. Any other suggestions for particular processors? I don't mind spending the money if its actually worth it. If there's a cheaper option that's just as good I'm open to that //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif But my goal is quality Maybe not competition Status But Very Loud and clear. Thanks for the input NoLoud4U

also does anyone have any personal Experience With that processor? My Question is I will only have front left right, Rear Left right input but that processor has 6 available inputs for front rear and sub will the sub output work along with Front and rear with only the 4 inputs? If not maybe i could just Jump the rear input over to the Sub input? I only ask because i already have A set of 2 channel RCA and 4 channel RCA Krystal Kable 2 channel for the sub 4 for the 4 channel amp

 

[The Camry]

Hook up a MS-8 sound processor. Love life. Has an internal amp to like 8 channels for 18 rms...not that you should use that. 300$ for audiocontrol or 450$ish for jbl ms8. Its something you have to experience.

JBL's MS-8 - Car Audio | DiyMobileAudio.com | Car Stereo Forum

for more info^^

 

[Volvo_S80]

Expensive for me but Do-able I'll just have to hold off on new 6.5 Comps for a couple of weeks. I don't have any experience fine tuning an audio system so that will probably make me smile when i crank it up for the first time. In the past i have cheaped out just to get what i want now, this car is different because it cost more than 1,500 lol so i want to do it right the first time around. I''ll just have to suffer through the 6.5 in infinity Kappa's for now or just be patient and wait to order new 6.5's before i install.

I have another question also. My car has No USB input but it does have a 3.5mm Jack. I Listen to My phone 99% of the time will my sound quality suffer from the 3.5mm AUX? If so what can i do to fix it?

I read somewhere that i can hard wire a USB outlet to my existing 3.5mm jack Simple as 2 wires cut and splice and i might even be able to get a charge out of it too. Will the SQ be better using USB vs 3.5mm? Anyone have any experience doing this? Thanks

 

[The Camry]

Sound quality - Getting the Best Sound Out of Your Portable Music Player in the Car

read.^^

Youll want something that has a usb port wired into it. Never use bluetooth. Its just another form of compression and it cuts off the high and low end and makes music sound terrible.

Find a way you can use a wire to connect your phone to your head unit through a usb and you'll be golden.

i personally have an ipod that i just leave constantly hooked up. Not that its a good idea security wise, but its what i do.

 

[The Camry]

When you decide to get a new amp and speakers.

soundqubed amp is a good money/quality comparison.

Speakers are entirely dependent on your budget.

From what ive gathered on forums and what not. Sound quality speakers speakers under 200 would be JBL MS62C. however its said they cant get super loud without distortion. If you want loud speakers with a lil less sound quality. You can go with jbl P660. If you have a 200-300 budget. Hertz Energy all the way. I have them and they are Amazing.

The ms8 will take a stock system and make it sound great. It will take great speakers and make them sound golden. It will take high end speakers and blow your mind.

 

[Volvo_S80]

Well I ordered the JBL MS-8 off of Sonic electronics. It had an option to "Make an Offer" so i tried $400 and it came back with $410 so i went for it (after trying for $300 on my Ipad with no success) Fingers Crossed

Also for the Components I haven't set my mind on anything really the hertz are $280 I can swing it but I'm going to do more research. But i do want to put in rear speakers as well I hear the rear doors have space for an 8 inch Driver So I'll investigate that and see what i come up with. As far as an amp I want to upgrade but that might be at a later date, for now i have the Alpine 3553 and a Rockford Fosgate RF2002 I'll decide between the two once its all installed. I went with the alpine with front and rear hooked up in my last car because it was just louder. I'll see what happens after i decide on speakers for the front on this. But now i have the type r 5 1/4 collecting dust, but that's okay, I wasn't Impressed with them overall.

 

[The Camry]

See if there are any car audio stores around your area. Not like best buy but actual stores dedicated to it. Some stores will have a wall where you can listen to different speakers. Thats a start for doing research.

8'' drivers would normally be midbass drivers. If you put midbass behind you. its gonna pull your stage behind you instead of in front of you where you want it. Youll also need an amp that can push those drivers. they usually have a higher rms than speakers do.

Go in and talk to your local car audio store and tell them what you have and what you would like to do. See if they have a wall. Listen to it. dont let them sell anything to you, just use their knowledge as a stepping stone to figure out what it is that you want to do and how to do it.

Most people will tell you that you really dont need rearfill(speakers in the back) because you want the sound stage in front of you. I have however, heard that the ms8 has a cool feature where it uses rear fill in a certain way to give you a ambient room sound to the music. Though ive only read about it, never heard it.

 

[Volvo_S80]

Went to a car audio shop near me today after picking up my Car from the dealer for the first time //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif they had Audison AV 6.5, JL CS-650, Hertz HSK 165, they didn't have the affordable ones :/ but from what i heard JL is out for sure and Audison and Hertz were very similar in sound. they were very bright and i like that I still have some time to find the $280 Hertz hopefully i can hear them. Side note the speakers that are stock in the Volvo sounded sweet they had some surprising bass and were fairly bright but not super loud still very impressed overall.

I'm currently doing some research on sound damping I'm looking into 3m thinsulate and Mass loaded vinyl I've never used these but if i'm going quality I want to do it right. Any guidance to save some money? Cheap but effective products? Also how does the weather work on these products? And should i be using dynamat along with these?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Hertz and audison are sister companies of electro media. What they sound like on a board is not what they sound like installed. That's where that sweet EQ comes in.

 

[Volvo_S80]

So basically your saying I won't be able to really pick a favorite until I hear them in a car? I set the head unit to just flat to hear how (In my mind) they "want to play". the Hertz and Audison just sounded bright, like sharp very high with the tweeters and the JL sounded mellow-er maybe how people describe warm? I didn't mess with any settings should I? As far as the EQ I have my hopes up for the JBL MS-8

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

The C5s are very natural. The higher end hertz and Audison's can do it all. They can be very loud or natural. Even at high volumes they stay maintained. This is a set of HSK XLs active on a JL 450/4v2. On a alpine CDA-117. With a 150db sub stage.

 

[Volvo_S80]

That's Nice Loud and clear