Hey all

i'm thinking of 'upgrading' my sound system because i'm so tired of the stock speakers distorting when i turn it up and/or whack up the bass. at the moment i run my ipod through a cassette adapter, and that annoys me because it keeps ejecting itself randomly..

now i dont want to lose my boot to a sub, cause i do a lot of transporting my guitar and amp to band practices, but i do want to be able to have good (not necessarily perfect) sound at at fair loud volume and bass level

i'm also a bit skint at the moment (reversed into neighbour's car and had to pay for damage - not worth going through insurance) so i'm thinking a budget of £100? i'd do all the installation myself obviously!

so i thought, set of 6x9s for parcel shelf, replace door speakers, new 4 x 50W head unit - what do you guys think?

Your going to need a bit more than £100

Some nice comps are these SPL dynamics, really bassy and excellent value for money. Any headunit will do really tbh as long as it has pre-outs for an external amp, and you wont really need the 6X9's with those comps, instead buy an amp to run the comps.

Headunit:

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/jvc-kdg531...80bffe75f659916

Comps:

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/dynamics-s...80bffe75f659916

Amp for the comps

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/jbl-gto752...80bffe75f659916

If you really only want to spend £100 then 2nd hand will be your only choice from the likes of www.talkaudio.co.uk or ebay.

Your going to need a bit more than £100

lol thank god my new car came with a sound system...i too have lived the days off tape player with mps adaptor and shit speakers

EBAY

If you spend enough on a headunit then unless you want to have you ears ringning before band practise then just run the front speakers off the headunit a 4*60 will be loud enough with good speakers ( 80w rms etc )

Greg

cheers for the help guys

arrrghhh I can't really afford more than £100 - do I really need such expensive stuff?!?! *typical student* that stuff you suggested robbm looks ace but probably more than i need! yeah, i thought something like that greg. i was thinking something more like this setup:

Set of 6x9s:

Haha yes, it's from tesco...

4 x 50W head unit (rms):

and now from amazon!

Pair of 6.5" 51W speakers to go with head unit:

from halfarts

i know it's not massively powerful, but I just want to play music loud enough to enjoy it, without distortion!

mind you, it'd be nice to just replace the door speakers, then all the sound comes from the front and not the back..

Hey, I'm a typical student! :p fair enough, tbh you wont really need the amp, they'll work perfectly fine from the headunit.

The cheaper option would be go for that headunit, lose the 6x9's and get a set of these

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/dynamics-t...9ef8788f02d4f27

They are what i have atm and love the sound they produce. the build quality is excellent and dont NEED and amp to run. They are pretty bassy too and heavy for their size, massive magnets.

Are they going into a 6N?

Oh yeah, just to add, the figures quoted on the head unit arnt RMS figures. the RMS of that sony will probably be in the region of 20Wrms.

Edited 9 October, 200718 yr by RobbM

Yeah i think i'll do that, just get some good quality door speakers like those and lose the 6x9s.

yeah they're going into my 6n.

buggggger! 20w rms?! thats awful. does that head you suggested give 50w rms? or will i definitely need an amp if I'm going to get that sort of rms?

no its the other way around the headunit is 20rms but their strange things i have jlb 6x4s in the back of mine and my 50w max sony headunit screws the speakers at 1/2 volume guess thats what you get from buying £20 speakers lol

Greg

so will a 20rms head unit do as long as i get decent speakers?

it will do as long as you get sensitive speakers like the SPL dynamics i suggested. Usually the cheaper ones are slightly more sensitive. As soon as you have the money though, you can amp up the front speakers with a cheap amp to make the most of them. you should be able to pick up a cheap 2nd hand amp to power the for £30-ish then a £15 wiring kit should have you sorted.

If you want 50Wrms though, you do need an amp.

Edited 10 October, 200718 yr by RobbM

reyt, i think i'll do that then, cheers for the advice!

i'll get myself a reasonable head unit, if i can get a decent rms value for it, and use those spl coaxials. will i need to disconnect my dash tweeters for those or do they act like standard door speakers?

erm its up to you, you dont need to disconnect the dash speakers, but i did as having 2 sets of tweeters was a little harsh for my taste. Just have a listen and see what you think. What you could do, to add a little more volume, is use the rear speaker outputs from the head unit to run a set of 10CM dash speakers. But your still going to get some distortion when you have if cranked if you dont amp them up.

A head unit amp is only very small so its not going to give loads.

ok ta

maybe i could get these instead, and use the stock tweeters, which are still ok!

SPL speakers

plus, will i need a crossover? if so, what sort should i get, and how much is it likely to cost me?

yeah you could do. but they'll be getting all the range, so arnt just getting the bass notes which may make them sound a bit iffy but I'm not 100% they could sound fine. If you get coax's then you wont need crossovers. If you jus get the midbass driver you will need one. TBH its easier just to use the coax's lol. or get the comps they do, that will be cheaper than buying the midbass pair then buying the cross over pair.

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/dynamics-s...9ef8788f02d4f27 they are the comps.

yeah i think they'd probably sound iffy, i'd need a crossover.

mm yeah but the coaxials dont have as good a bass response - they;re 60hz as opposed to 50hz on the midbass drivers. i could use my existing tweeters then couldnt i? depending on what wattage they are, but they work well at the volumes i play them at.

so if i got a crossover, how much would it cost? could i get just any cheap crossover and it'd do the same thing or is manufacturer/quality of design a big thing?

I'm constantly loading my car to the roof with band gear... My solution:

Took out rear parcel shelf mounts. Made new ones to hold (kenwood, depressingly)6x9s (only slightly bigger than the stock shelf mounts, but they have sides that extend down to the boot floor to reduce phase cancellation with the shelf out...)

chanaged front speakers for decent ones (infinity refs, as they're tiny in mk3s) My (cheap) amp's mounted in the side of the boot runs a 2x6.5" (yes. Really!!! ... got 2 6.5" bass tubes from an accessory shop... got sick of shifting them in and out of the boot, so built a ported MDF cab) sub in the footwell behind the drivers seat. Upshot is, music'll go loud (without silly bass, admittedly), and the whole boot's empty fot gear.

Sub plugs in on a 1/4" jack, so if I have passengers in the back, I just unplug it and chuck it tin the boot. If i bothered to take an extension cable with me, I could keep the sub playing...

Just a thought

cheers pal, good thinkin there! but i'm not really after subs or 6x9s, so i dont think i'll do that.. plus i give my band members lifts usually haha, so no room in the back seats or the boot! :p

i'll probably end up getting an amp eventually, but i'll do it bit by bit until i can afford one.

You could use any crossover. but I've never put together anything like that so you'd have to go onto talk audio for advice on settings ect, I'm not totally clued up on all things crossover lol. It'd be much easier to buy the comps and mount the tweeters in the wing mirror covers lol maybe even cheaper too.

Oh yeah, and to increase the bass, if you can have a play with some fibre glass, seal up the plastic pod things that hold the mids in the doors that should give you some low down kick. I'm thinking of doing it, it looks pretty easy really.

yeah you're right, it would be way easier to just get those SPL components.. but it's worth the effort (and maybe a bit more money) to get some speakers with a better bass response.

cool, that looks sound, i'll have a trawl round internetsland for more info/materials!

You wont get much better bass response than 50Hz from comps. Unless you pay through the nose your not going to get bassier comps really. the RE audio ones and rainbow ones from CAD only drop to 40Hz and they cost £200+.

£600 boston acoustics only drop to 40Hz

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/dynamics-s...e2265df5b0c8bb2 They are the comps i meant.

If you want sub-bass, you need a sub

*le sigh* you're right. i'll get those, then a sub when i can afford one.

cheers mate, one budget system coming up when i get paid!

OK TIME FOR A RETHINK

what i'm going to do is leave it till i get my next car before i start whacking in bigass sound systems. hopefully i'll have more money by then too :)

so i'm going for coaxials. i've found THESE speakers, which seem to have a pretty awesome bass response and a good enough power rating for me.

but my dilemma is, should i go for a new head unit (i've seen an entry level one that'll put out 23.2w rms) or go straight for an amp...[/