Wasted so much $$, now what do I do?

[Forty-Ouncer 10+ year member]

Where do I go from here?

I have wasted so much $$$ dicking around with my system only to end up dissapointed and stuck with a permanent hole in my wallet. I started to build what I thought would be a sweet *** system but boy was I wrong...

I remember back two years ago when I first got my car and put in a nice little budget system. It rocked hard and made me happy. I had..

Pioneer cheap entry deck

2 10" pioneer entry subs powered by a Rockford Fosgate 300S

5 1/4 infinity refernece coaxals for front (running of 45x4deck)

6.5 infinity reference coaxals for rear (running off 45x4 deck)

and it was sweet ***! my front speakers werent even sitting fully in the doors, the factory hole wasnt big enough.

Since that time 2 years ago I have gone through 5 decks, 7 amps, 6 pairs of speakers, and have just been left dissapointed with every purchase.

I now must have wasted several thousand dollars on what is supposed to be 'top end' audio without much of a difference. What did I do wrong? Why did I waste all this money? Here is what I have now and just dont feel happy with it.

Deck: Pioneer IVA-C800

Fronts: MB QUART PSE216 Premium 6.5" Components

Rears: MB QUART DCE216 Discus 6.5" Components

Front/Rear Amp: Kicker kx600.4 75wrms x 4 @ 4ohm

Subs: 2 MB QUART PWE304 12" Premium Subs

Sub Amp: Tsunami 1100db 1100wrms x 1 @ 1ohm

And i just dont feel that there is a great enough difference for the amount of $$ extra that I paid. I guess maybe I just expected more for the $$. I feel I should have just kept what I had before and been $2430 CDN richer ($1895US).

My sub amp broke after about 10 minutes of playing time. Im flat broke and cant afford to buy anything else without selling something first.

So now I wonder where do I go from here?

I think I need a new deck, one that will let me customize the EQ and crossovers. I need to find subs that can pound and sound good without needing monsterous watts. And I want to be satisfied with the sound.

I dont know where I was going with this thread, I just feel shitty for all the money I've wasted. Im a student going through school and spent everything I had on car audio rather then my education. I think with a nice deck Ill be able to get what I want out of my highs. I guess bass is just where Im having problems. You guys got any ideas?

One more thing. How come out of the two Alpine decks I've had (9813, c800) the subwoofer preout (even when set to maximum level) is quiter then any other preout from the other 4 shitty decks I've had? Hooking up the amp to high level input sounds much louder and cleaner...

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[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

What exactly are you let down by? Control? Quality? Bass? Everything?

Did you listen to everything you have before you bought it? Or did you just take people's word for it? No pair of ears are alike.....

 

[cjjackson85 5,000+ posts]

That's what you call high-end equipment //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

It's all in the install...

 

[traksta15 10+ year member]

im in the same boat you're in (payin for my own college), but seriously you should spend more money..............

J/K................

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

was there any kinda warranty on that amp?

 

[60ndown 10+ year member]

you need to learn somthing about car audio instead of just spending money.

start reading-start learning.

 

[Forty-Ouncer 10+ year member]

I call what I have high end equipment compared to the stuff you find at bestbuys and futureshops.

I think I need to just do a lot of tweaking and change the installs.

Like i said I think I need to change my deck and subs. the one I have is fine for playing movies and xbox on, but has no EQ or Xovers. Ive had an alpine cda-9813 and Pioneer DEH-5500MP in the past and both were great (except for the crappy sub output on the Alpine, 4V my a$$). What should I look to now? I want something that has an EQ and Xover in it. No internal amp needed. I was thinking of getting an Alpine 7998.. Anyone out there have one? something similar? better?

Also what should I look to for subs? dont wanna spend too much. Maybe $300 and its gotta shake my car and sound good. I listen to all kinds of rock music (punk, heavy, alternative, etc...)

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

what do youw ant out of the highs? I heard MB Quart has harsh sounding tweets?

Maybe you should save up more money and get some real good stuff instead of doing upgrades all the time.

Just do it right the first time type thing.

 

[El Ropo 10+ year member]

IMO, you shouldn't need rear comps unless you're running 5.1 or above surround. Actually, no rear speakers works great for most people with a great front stage, and great sub stage.

I'd look into the new Kenwood excelon HUs. The x889 can be had for $300 USD with 1 year warranty (Infinite car audio). It has killer Time alignment, cabin placement, and other digital adjusments that make the music come alive when setup correctly. The Sub output voltage seems quite strong to me, and the xover points are very flexible, more so than a top of the line Eclipse, but the kenwoods don't have the ability to do a "pro mode" with 3 way xover setup like some other top end decks have.

Your comp amp is certainly questionable for a front stage amp. I'd look for a US made amp that was designed with SQ in mind. Like an old soundstream reference, or check into zed audio (zedaudio.com), they're making some really nice amps, but I'm not sure if they ship to Canada. Many other companies make better sounding amps than alpine for a front stage application.

I'm sort of curious what size and configuration your sub box is, and who did your install. Those tsunami amps are supposed to be really nice. I've never heard of one failing pretty much out of the box. Your subs are dual 4 ohm, so the amp would see a 1 ohm load, which is perfect...

 

[boom boom room 10+ year member]

Well ill give you some personal input i get from my system...

If u like rock then screw paying to much attention to bass... ull just ruin it by hitten hard..id sugest one or 2 10"s sealed running at loww power ratings just so it dusnt interfeer with the music, and u still get some bump.

My front stage is bleeding loud with the low end CDT componets, they are expensive but there sound quality is amazing... i got mine for 199.99 and they smoke components that cost over 5 bills. plus if u want more CDT makes high end stuff that will cost a pounding 8 - 10 bills if SQ is what you like.

i suggest for ur deck stick with alpine, there awsome decks if you buy the right models. my 9830 is a standard model no funky visuals and it has everything u need to make ur system sound awsomee. i kno people who have all diferent kinds of decks and are waiting to buy there alpines.

amplifiers im not to knowledgeable on, i love US AMPS they have amazing power and there outputs are just amazing, underrated so there power is even higher then what is posted on the box

but id say in car audio its only 30% equipment and 70% install. Make sure ur enclosure is done correctly, ur speakers are ran properly and not all over the place..**RCA.s ran directly parralell to the power i beleive causes distortion, not sure though**