Since we don't have an electronics forum - car stereos...

[Goatweed]

Bad news : my new SUV isn't coming with the upgraded JBL system that I thought it was going to come with. It's a stock Toyota AM/FM/cassette/CD radio, 6 speakers.

Good News : the price of the truck was adjusted $300 less for the error.

so...I'm gonna be in the market for a new head unit and probably speakers/sub/amps for my truck. it's been a while since I've dealth with car audio, but as I recall Pioneers and Alpines were considered to be excellent, and high-end Sony's to be right under them. What's a good radio, or good brand of radio, I should be looking for? I don't plan on getting satellite so that's not a consideration, but I guess CDR/CDRW compatibility as well as being able to play MP3's would be a nice feature.

I like my music loud with solid bass. Any thoughts?

[Keyser Soze]

I bought a panasonic head unit and alpine speakers. Very satisfied. Even had an AUX cable run out the back to plug my iPod into.

[Gooch]

shouldn't this be in Section 8?

[Goatweed]

out the back Keyser? Id want it to be accessible in the front though, I dont wanna hook up my nomad under or around my dash.

shouldn't this be in Section 8?

no, this is about installing equipment, not STEALING it.

[Keyser Soze]

out the back Keyser? Id want it to be accessible in the front though, I dont wanna hook up my nomad under or around my dash.

im sure a good install guy can come up with a more elegant solution. they gave me a cord long enough to place my ipod in my center console.

[Goatweed]

well thats kinda thing isn't a must-have anyway, like I said if the unit plays MP3's off of CDRW's or even CDR's thats good enough for me. I can fit 10 cd's on a CDR and it's rare I'm ever in the car that long anyway.

I'm more concerned with a nice sound, matched speakers and affordability. A custon bub box would be nice, too (so I can position it off to the side, out of the way). I mean I heard the stock radio and it sounded pretty good, but I like a little power with my music.

[IrishAlkey]

Your wife must make a lot of money.

[Goatweed]

she's a kindergarten teacher in the Bd. of Ed. We do ok.

so...noone knows car audio? do I need to turn to Crutchfield catalogs for guidance???

[Kid Afrika]

years ago, I knew all about the latest and greatest. These days, I couldn't really care less.

I think your plan of a decent MP3 cd player is a good one. That, and a single 10" sub should do just fine. A powered sub is probably the easiest way to go and should give you enough sound.

I wouldn't change the factory speakers unless they sound shitty with the new radio.

[Hummercash]

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.//chris

[Mad]

oooh, this looks cool: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.avic-n1.com/">http://www.avic-n1.com/</a><!-- m -->


.//chris

Why would someone living on Staten Island need that?

[Rooner]

Head Units

sony>alpine>pioneer

Mids and Tweeters

MB Quart>Sony>alpine

Subs

JL>Orion>Kicker

Amps

Orion>Punch>Sony

Be sure to get a passive crossover or equalizer. I also recommend a seperate, lower wattage amp for the mids, running through the crossover.

Sub Boxes

Build your own, its easy and you can make it to fit your space exactly. Just be sure all the joints are sealed with a flexible silicone caulk. Use at lease 1/2 plywood, preferrably 3/4. Be sure to make it to the correct air space (cubic ft, usually 1 or less for a 12" sub, products specs will tell you the necessary air space) for optimal performace. Also be sure that each speaker has an individual chamber. If you make one box, divide and seal each side. This avoids speaker flex interference.

For sound, the general rule is 10" subs for hard hitting note, wont hit the low notes in bass. Good for rock music.

12" subs for hard hitting notes and some lows, good all around sub for all types of music.

15" subs for really low notes. Most generally go to 20 to 18 hrtz, human hearing I believe only goes down to 20, so youll just fell thos 18 hrtz notes. Pretty ineffective for most music listening unless you only listen to rap. And even then, the only hit certain notes, and if you dont use a crossover or equalizer it sounds like dog shit. Hope it helps.



Edited By Rooner on 1084901971

[Kid Afrika]

It's been a while since I was in the industry, but I can assure you that most of the shit that you said is wrong.

Sony head units were never superior to Alpine, and I doubt that they are today.

MB Quart tweeters are very harsh and tinny sounding. Not to mention that you can't compare speakers from radio manufacturers with speakers from speaker manufacturers. And anyway, what about Polk Audio?

JL subs are good, but there's nothing wrong with kicker.

I've heard that Punch amps are shite now. I still like my Punch 100 though.

"Be sure to get a passive crossover or equalizer." - Yeah, those are not at all the same. Most EQs have a built-in electronic crossover, but not all. And, passive crossovers rob punch and power from your subs.

Building your own box is fine, if you can calculate the internal space and know about wave cancellation and port tuning. Oh, and if you build a sub box out of plywood, you should be shot. Plywood is much too light and lacks the density required to eliminate resonance. Use MDF or particle board instead. Can you tell me what exactly "speaker flex interference" is?

You're pretty much right about the sizes of woofers, but you don't need 15s to get deep bass. You can get a set of 12s to drop just as low and move nearly as much air in the right box. I built a bandpass box with 4 12s once that hit +10 dB at 13Hz, (141 dB overall, with a mean peak at 13 Hz) so that kind of blows your theory about 15s hitting lower.

I guess I remember more about this shit than I thought. I just don't know the latest products.

[Rooner]

Most of that was spoken through my experience. I always found sony head units to be more user friendly, and put out a little more wattage than alpines. I was never a fan of alpines, not even when eazy e rapped about em.

As far as quarts sounding tinny, Ive never found that, especially the component sets. Its a matter of opinion I guess.

I didnt say anything bad about kickers, when the 1st series competitions came out, I was in love. I dont think Ive heard a speaker SINCE that could match their sound and power. Its just the following series seemed to get progressively worse. Same with the Orion Xtremes.

Like you, Im not COMPLETELY up to date on everything, so the Punch amps could be junk. Its not unusual for products to go downhill quickly.

I dont think crossovers rob punch, yeah, maybe if your using a puny 100 watt amp or something, but you should never be using an amp that small for subs.

I said to use plywood for a box because most people dont want to pay 20-25 bucks for a sheet of mdf. Particle board is great, but if youre unexperienced in making a box, Id make one out of plywood first. I said speaker flex interference for lack of a better term, its when subs sharing the same air space start to interfere with each other during long bass notes, it makes them start to flex in opposite directions when they are supposed to flex in unison.

Yeah, you can get 12s to hit the notes 15s can, but you have to build a box big enough, and your sacrificing those hard hitting notes that are in the majority of most music just to hit those occasional low notes that are pretty rare. It will still hit those hard hitting notes, but the majority of the time it sounds like dogshit. Plus it shortens the life of 12s to hit those really low notes, theyre capable, but not meant to hit those notes. And of course you hit those notes in a bandpass, thats all they can hit is low notes. That had to be a huge bandpass with 4 12s.

So I guess most of what I said wasnt wrong huh?

[Goatweed]

I'm just lookin' to get a sytem that can be loud when I need it to be, but still be "family-friendly". I'd like the bass to have that Metallica "Wherever I May Roam" bass, that kinda kicks you in the ass but doesn't rattle the windows.

As for the sub, I'm seeing I'm gonna have an issue with placement - with all the room this fucking truck has, there isn't a great place to put it, and custom boxes aren't available yet (that I can see on the 'net anyway). I could try to make my own, but I can't even slice a ham, let alone MDF.

I'm more concerned with the head unit, amps and speakers, the sub is something I can always "work with". The truck has a stock Toyota head, double din so I'll need a kit, the front's seem to me 6 and 3/4 inch and are component, the rears are the same size but not component.

I used to like Pioneer door speakers for their clarity so I might stick with those, and I might actually go with a Pioneer head as well - Sony's always had more bass, but if I get the right sub I shouldn't need to rely on the head adding more bass.

I'm gonna ask some of the neighbor's kids where they got their systems done, the guy right next to me has 2 sons who both have nice sounding systems (even though they're always playing some KTU bullshit).

[Keyser Soze]

IEI in Hazlet is pretty good, they did the install in my Z.

[Kid Afrika]

Ask for Don and tell him Kid Afrika sent you.

[Keyser Soze]

ive had all my installs done at IEI, always been fast, reasonable priced, and do a nice clean job