Anyone here into Car Audio?

[urinalcakemix]

Im just wondering if anyone here is big into Car audio? I must say, I quite enjoy the sound of subwoofers thumping in a car, though most of the time is garbage, I'd like to be the a**hole that goes down the street blasting quality music like- Nile, Meshuggah, Symphony X, Snoop Dogg. Anyone here have any good setups? Im gonna be getting a couple sub's, and new speakers all around before the year is out, Im just not sure which type and size will be good for machine gun fire double bass (I doubt 15" subbies could keep up with George Kollias unfortunately).

So any enthusiats, throw up pics/specs of your systems? Im interested to see your METAL CAR AUDIOS.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

I have the four stock speakers that came with my car. I had a crossover put in so I could use the stock speakers, too. Plus, I have two 10 inch Pyle Driver speakers and two 6 inch Sony Explod speakers in a speaker box with two 3 inch tweeters. I also have a 12 inch Audio Art sub woofer. I love it! also, my car is METAL MUSIC ONLY.

 

[Yippee38]

My old car has a nice setup. I've got a 12" sub with component polk audios replacing all the stock speakers. I've got one amp on the sub and the fronts, and another amp on the rears. I don't remember wattage. It's not really loud, but it's got a great balanced, clean sound. Sorry, no "thump-thump". You can hear the whole song when I used to drive that thing down the road.

I'm just starting on getting my current car set up. I picked up an MTX Thunderform enclosure that's got a 10" sub, and a 250w amp. Now I just have to replace my head unit and stock speakers, get another amp, and find a way to mount it all without damaging the car (don't want screw holes in the floorboard). My car is a limited production, so keeping it stock (or making it so it can be easily returned to stock) is very important.

 

[shaq]

I had a nice sounding setup in my old crappy car, but I'm not allowed to modify my new one cuz it's a lease

 

[J-Man]

I Have a Pioneer Deck (50w with a 50w amp) 4 Boston Acoustic speakers(2 front, 2 rear with 2 tweeters in the front) and that is all, but hey it does sound great listening to Circus Maximus or SymphonyX as loud as i can stand it.

 

[rockyracoon]

- Alpine 700W MRP-F450 4/3/2 Channel Power Amplifier
- Alpine S-Type speakers (2) in the front
- Alpine R-Type speakers (2) in the back
- Alpine R-Type 12'' Sub
- Alpine head unit, not sure about the model but one with glide touch that I don't ever use.

 

[urinalcakemix]

- Alpine 700W MRP-F450 4/3/2 Channel Power Amplifier
- Alpine S-Type speakers (2) in the front
- Alpine R-Type speakers (2) in the back
- Alpine R-Type 12'' Sub
- Alpine head unit, not sure about the model but one with glide touch that I don't ever use.

1 Sub eh? Did that cut it for you, or did 1 leave a little more to be desired? I definitely need to feel my bass, to the point where I get a back massage from it.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

I have an Eclipse head unit (CD3000) .. Ipod compatible. Eclipse 6x9's in back, Boston Accostics in front. An old ass Sony amp .. probably close to 20 years old .. still gets the job done good enough. It's been in 5 different vehicles of mine if I recall correctly. I've got 2) 12" ESA (cheap) subs. They get the job done plenty well for me .. just fine for my mainly metal tastes. They don't even sound that bad at all if a rap tune is played.

Britt

 

[rockyracoon]

1 Sub eh? Did that cut it for you, or did 1 leave a little more to be desired? I definitely need to feel my bass, to the point where I get a back massage from it.

I'm not big on heavy bass, so I'd say it did cut it for me. Plus my amp squeezes everything out of a 12'' sub that you can. My rear speakers also have quite a bit more bass than my front, so that adds just a bit.

 

[spag]

I had always been a "surround sound" kind of guy, where I had speakers in the front and back of the car for fill I guess. I had read some stuff on a car forum about just running really good speaker in the front, and not the back. Said it was a lot more natural sounding, so I did an experiment. I turned the fader all the way forward in the car for a few weeks. I have to admit, I do like it better like this now, it does sound cleaner. When I set up my truck, I plan to go with what I read, about spending what you would have on four or more speakers, on two really nice ones up front instead.

Was thinking of also going with one of the newer Ipod interface units, as 99% of the time, that's where my music is coming from. I have a Ipod interface now that emulates a CD changer with my stock deck. Sounds good, as it's digital from the Ipod, and things like the changer controls on my steering wheel work with it. Plus charges the Ipod when plugged in, AND the Ipod is still functional. I need to go play with head units in a decent store though.

I don't know much about amps and all that, but I did about half a EE degree when I got mine, so I can probably figure it out at the time.

 

[rockyracoon]

I was in Tweeter a while back getting some work done and browsed the car audio(more specifically the head units) section while I waited. I was a bit shocked to find that their product line had decreased by at least 50% since I had made my purchases there almost a year ago. When I asked why, I was basically told it's because so many cars are coming out with those all-in-one audio, nav system, etc. bullshit, and so people can't interchange custom head units(or at least its much more difficult). Pretty stupid if you ask me. And I laugh too, because a friend of mine has a Toyota Prius and will no doubt be staring at the same stupid cartoonish looking head unit/computer screen for the duration of ownership on the car. I guess I'm just saying that all the stock computer screens I've seen in cars with those nav systems look pretty bad.

 

[spag]

They've been making it difficult for a while to change stuff out. As an example, teh head unit on a friends car only output a very low voltage, much less then you typically need to go to another amp or speakers, but then each of the little tissue paper crap speakers in the car, had a little tiny amp built in. Sounded like crap, and you couldn't replace anything without doing everything at once. I had a BMW once, and this was over 10 years ago, that did a similar trick. Head unit again, output an odd voltage, that was mated to a really bad amp in the trunk, and then that fed all the speakers. You couldn't replace the amp without getting some line level amp, but then that kind of amplifies the crappy head unit, so again, you have to gut everything at once at a minimum.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

They've been making it difficult for a while to change stuff out. As an example, teh head unit on a friends car only output a very low voltage, much less then you typically need to go to another amp or speakers, but then each of the little tissue paper crap speakers in the car, had a little tiny amp built in. Sounded like crap, and you couldn't replace anything without doing everything at once. I had a BMW once, and this was over 10 years ago, that did a similar trick. Head unit again, output an odd voltage, that was mated to a really bad amp in the trunk, and then that fed all the speakers. You couldn't replace the amp without getting some line level amp, but then that kind of amplifies the crappy head unit, so again, you have to gut everything at once at a minimum.

I believe that is illegal now. Car companies at one point were making their equipment to odd sizes which was basically forcing people to upgrade with them instead of having the choice of buying the stereo they wanted from the electronics store. Lawsuits followed, and I think all of the car manufacturers now basically follow certain industry size specs. Don't quote me on it, but I believe that to be the case.

Britt

 

[Ostracised]

If you're not looking for the people at home to hear you long before you get to your street, I'd suggest keeping it simple. I've got a really basic setup in my Ranger, and it sounds decent. It's a Kenwood head unit driving Pioneer 5x7s in the front and stock 5x7 in the rear, and an Ample Audio amp pushing 2-8" Kicker CVRs. It'll thump, but I just wanted to feel the doubles when they're being hammered on. A sealed enclosure also helps with good, tight bass. It also depends on how big you're willing to go and the $$$ you want to spend on it!!