Car Audio Opinions
 

Hi Guys,

Few quick questions regarding car audio, i'll start by detailing my current situation followed by hopeful outcome.

[B]Car: 2005 sti [/B]

[U]Current audio:[/U]
Standard speakers front and rear running off a 'decent' pioneer head unit
[U]Parts at my house:[/U]
Monoblock Amp and copius amounts of RCA's cabling, power/earthing cabling etc etc

[U]My plan:[/U]
1) Pick up a 4 channel amp and sub.
2) Run the standard speakers off the 4 channel amp
3) Utilise the mono to power the sub
4) All the while utilising all the left over/spare cabling from previous stereo installs

I'm budgetting about $300 ish for the amp and sub (friends have bulk second hand stuff available) and i'm assuming i'd be looking at around $200-300 if i paid some one to install it (please correct me if i'm wrong).


[U]My questions:[/U]
1) How well will the standard speakers fair when amped and run through the head unit. (A subjective question, but just looking for a little more punch and bass)
2) Are wrx/sti's nightmares to wire
3) Any places NOR that any one would recommend for cheap installation.
4) If my pricing/budgetting is ball park will the sound gains be worth the $300ish to do it myself.
5) If my pricing/budgetting is ball park is the $300ish worth getting some one else to install it. (I can probably do it myself, just would take me a while i havent done a subi before)

P.s if this plan went ahead my cash is good and my beer is cold for any one who wanted to lend a hand :3some:. Else i'll get my nissan technicians (friends) to pitch in. :)

[url=http://www.volatilecustoms.com/]Volatile Car Audio[/url]

Unsure if he is on PWRX but definitely on Antilag.

You'd have to check with Rob re: charge rate for installation.

Also worth checking is the type of wire you're bringing to the party as some installers wont use wire that isn't safe/etc.

You will most likely blow up yoir standard speakers running them off an amp, they will sound shit.

Upgrade the front to some decent 6" components and 5.25" 2 ways in the rear.

I have done a few subi's and they are actually not bad to wire. Only problem I habe found is minimal spacing for front and rear upgraded speakers (hits the windows due to depth ) spacers will sort this and are easily found at Jbhifi etc.

Wiring diagram is found online and just make sure you have the correct one...

You will pay dearly for even a simple install - jb charge $150 just for a deck! Best bet if you don't have a lot to spend is to do it with a mate who has an idea of what he/she is doing...

I'm in Hillary's NOR if you want help with any of it.

Best of luck :-)

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

If people/forum members/friends/little voices in your head tell you to upgrade your speakers, I will argue against bothering with rear speakers. If you [B]must[/B] have rear speakers [I](fuck the passengers)[/I] just utilise the stock speakers for a bit of "fill". You don't go to a gig or concert and have the music coming from behind you, do you?

Personally I would save a touch more and replace the fronts with an entry level offering from say Morel (available from Westside). Awesome bang for buck speakers, will shit on most of the mainstream brands available locally around the same price point. Your stock speakers will not keep up with, nor blend nicely with a sub and you car will sound like complete arse.

[QUOTE=TROLLEY;767141]If people/forum members/friends/little voices in your head tell you to upgrade your speakers, I will argue against bothering with rear speakers. If you [B]must[/B] have rear speakers [I](fuck the passengers)[/I] just utilise the stock speakers for a bit of "fill". You don't go to a gig or concert and have the music coming from behind you, do you?

Personally I would save a touch more and replace the fronts with an entry level offering from say Morel (available from Westside). Awesome bang for buck speakers, will shit on most of the mainstream brands available locally around the same price point. Your stock speakers will not keep up with, nor blend nicely with a sub and you car will sound like complete arse.[/QUOTE]

I couldn't agree with your more about only upgrading the front if needed. I guess i was just curious if the standard speakers had a bit more give in them. I've managed to get a rather good sound on previous cars by running the standard speakers with low bass and picking high freq. Then the sub running mid to low freq with low bass boost but fair bit of gain.

i was fortunate that my old amps were really great. Allowed you to isolate the frequency range for each channel along with bass boost and gain...

My tentativeness about upgrading the speakers themselves came to price. Good component fronts i wouldnt expect much change from 600. If i go down that path i don't want the weak link to be the sub or amp, so the quality and therfore price in those go up. call it another $600.

thats $1200 before i even look at prices of installation and other bits and bobs. I was just hoping i'd net small gain from what i had lying around and throwing in $300

I've been spoilt by the fact friends of mine that i jam with, have some really high quality shit, and any amount of money i spend still wont sound as good. So it's kind of like getting away with average. For cheap. Hahaha but if you reckon the speakers will fry with them slightly amped i may just spend the money elsewhere. Like some new drum skins

As craig said... You don't really need Rears. I chose to have some/upgrade because they were lying around at home.

Spend some decent money on some splits and if you have a decent sub it will sound a lot better than the shutter Oem stuff.

You don't need a 600W RMS sub cranked right up that you have to re adjust your mirrors after each song.

Quality not quantity ;-)

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

[QUOTE=grape juice;767146]I couldn't agree with your more about only upgrading the front if needed. I guess i was just curious if the standard speakers had a bit more give in them. I've managed to get a rather good sound on previous cars by running the standard speakers with low bass and picking high freq. Then the sub running mid to low freq with low bass boost but fair bit of gain.[/QUOTE]

A good place to start (depending upon what functions your gear has available) is high pass fronts @ 80hz, low pass sub @ 80hz. Then tune up/down depending on how your speakers handle.

[QUOTE=grape juice;767146]My tentativeness about upgrading the speakers themselves came to price. Good component fronts i wouldnt expect much change from 600. If i go down that path i don't want the weak link to be the sub or amp, so the quality and therfore price in those go up. call it another $600.[/QUOTE]

[url=http://www.westsidesound.com.au/product/morel-6-5-2-way-tempo-component-speaker-system/]Morel 6.5″ 2-Way Tempo Component Speaker System | Westside Sound & Image[/url]

Go to Westside in Cannington and have a listen to the Morels above. Best value speakers I've come across (in the entry level market). Tell him you're from Perth-WRX and/or Craig with the red WRX hatch sent you and you'll get them for $250 I reckon. Take a day to install with mates, meaning installation costs can go towards these speakers and/or your sub & amp. Your sub and amp will be on par with these fronts so you don't have to worry about any weak links!

I totally understand your reasoning in regards to the weakest link in equipment. I spent stupid money at the start of the year finally completing my audio install. Added one thing (processor) and it fucking snowballed into $600 tweeters and $1000 drivers :o

Cheers for the advice, with the above mentioned setup up, i could probably run the whole system off 1 four channel amps saving a lot of wiring hassel. Run the fronts off 2 channel, leave the back speakers wired to the head unit and change the fade to front. Then bridge the last 2 channel to run a sub.

Saves a bit of coin on cabling, having to rewire the backs, installing another amp. Besides i cant see there being much improvement (from what you guys are telling me) about rnning the rears through an amp.

^^does this sounds plausible.

250 morels, 300 second hand sub/amp. install free. I'd be happy with 500ish to get a decent sound. My previous car was a ss ute. So making the stereo sound awesome was easy... 1 sub behind your seat pnching you in the back haha.

Deffs go with upgrading the fronts, get a decent quality amp and sub and you'll be set, I sourced roughly 3 grand worth of stereo equipment brand new for about $700 online all delivered, same stuff you'll see in the boxes here, just without the markup. I would say that's you're best bet, if you can wait maybe a week buy online. Then get someone well known to the forums to install it for you, or you can always YouTube it and try it yourself if you're keen.

[QUOTE=ThatLegend;767223]Deffs go with upgrading the fronts, get a decent quality amp and sub and you'll be set, I sourced roughly 3 grand worth of stereo equipment brand new for about $700 online all delivered, same stuff you'll see in the boxes here, just without the markup. I would say that's you're best bet, if you can wait maybe a week buy online. Then get someone well known to the forums to install it for you, or you can always YouTube it and try it yourself if you're keen.[/QUOTE]

Out of interest, what did you source and where from. At this point i'm might only need a 4channel amp and a sub.

This is if my previous post was correct in that it would suffice to

Run rear speakers off standard head unit
Run Quality fronts off 2 x Channel from the amp
Run the sub by bridgeing the remaining 2 channel off the amp.

I do have a spare 4 channel amp at home, its just fairly old and seen a battering not even sure it works. haha

[QUOTE=grape juice;767220]Cheers for the advice, with the above mentioned setup up, i could probably run the whole system off 1 four channel amps saving a lot of wiring hassel. Run the fronts off 2 channel, leave the back speakers wired to the head unit and change the fade to front. Then bridge the last 2 channel to run a sub.[/QUOTE]

Yep, do it. It'll keep you happy for a while. Until you catch the audio bug then you will:
* buy monoblock for more sub deebee'z
* bridge the 4 channel amp to the fronts to really get them signing

:D

[QUOTE=TROLLEY;767253]Yep, do it. It'll keep you happy for a while. Until you catch the audio bug then you will:
* buy monoblock for more sub deebee'z
* bridge the 4 channel amp to the fronts to really get them signing

:D[/QUOTE]

The thing is i have a spare monoblock at my house, so the suggested setup is more than possible.

Just requires me to run the extra cabling for the mono. In saying that.. having 2 amps with prevent me running speakers cable to the amp in the boot or conversely sub cable to the amp in the car. Depending on where i place it.

I would of thought that the fronts would not be capable of handling a bridge on a 4 channel amp?

if they can i'm more than happy to run that setup.

means i essential only have to pick up front speakers and a sub (assuming the 4chan at home works)

Yeh dude, it's not power that kills speakers. It's distortion/sending them a distorted signal. If you're careful with your gain settings, you can feed them 200w if you really wanted to. Don't worry about the power rating on speakers ;)

Did you ever see my setup?

Get a good setup sorted so we can put it inside at rana this summer for tunes

[QUOTE=Sharpy.au;767339]Did you ever see my setup?

Get a good setup sorted so we can put it inside at rana this summer for tunes[/QUOTE]

You're a drongo ranga, why would i put anything decent in that dump. Yeah i remember seeing yours but i can't remeber what it was. Wanna freshen my memory

Yeah true, forgot your missus won't let you go there anymore

I don't really have any good pics of it, but it was tidy as fuck:

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/Sharpy_01/Snapbucket/A378FD07_zps9cc885c2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/Sharpy_01/Snapbucket/872E50CA_zpsb0eee925.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/Sharpy_01/Snapbucket/6860E96A_zps5f41dffd.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b364/Sharpy_01/Snapbucket/A80116C5_zps14a6285d.jpg[/IMG]

You take that partition off and the amp and sub were all mounted to this ustom made frame in there, the wiring was so neat too.

If you want you can also look into sound stream tarantula 6" for the fronts at about $110 a pair and they handle 120 watts but are 3 ohm speakers.
I have tried them and they sound great and for what you want will do the job nicely.

What's some of the best headunits out there at the moment? That Suby install above (Sharpy.au), looks sweet. Where was that done?

Looking for:

Single DIN
Bluetooth
SD Card
CD
Digital Radio
USB

Narrowed to:

Alpine CDA-137EBT
Alpine iDA-X305S (No CD)
Pioneer DEH-80PRS

...

Cheers

Rich, CD is useless today unless you're an audiophile and partaking in sound comps where you require the CD player (or want to be able to demo lossless sound). The second and third decks are both fantastic with the edge going to the Pioneer due to it's processing capabilities and EQ from memory.

Cool cool - I agree Re: CD. I don't really need one.

Will grab the Pioneer.
Thanks man.

That was done over east Rich. It was just mdf, wouldn't be hard to do - most decent car audio shops should be able to do it

[QUOTE=RichX;771333]Cool cool - I agree Re: CD. I don't really need one.

Will grab the Pioneer.
Thanks man.[/QUOTE]

Good choice. Dual 16 band EQ is the go. Plus it has dual USB ports and SD card capabilities and hi volt pre outs. Shits all over the Alpine with 2V preouts.

Best place to buy said Pioneer DEH-80PRS ?

Now just to see where I can get it cheapest, based on a $800 RRP.

$290 + Postage out of the US looks pretty nice.

Also - What else do i need to buy to mount this in a Subaru? Mounting Sleeve? Trim Ring?

Around $300 is as good as it will get Russ. I've been keeping an eye on one of these for awhile. Although the Audison Bit ten D offers dual 30 band processing, I reckon for just any old mate who appreciates good sounding music in their car the Pioneer can't beaten. Except by it's big brother the 99PRS :D Another thing I like about the 80PRS is you can run a simple active front stage and sub with all your frequency splitting being done at the head unit, so your amps will only be amplifying a narrower band of frequencies. Mucho niceo

[QUOTE=RichX;771340]Now just to see where I can get it cheapest, based on a $800 RRP.

$290 + Postage out of the US looks pretty nice.

Also - What else do i need to buy to mount this in a Subaru? Mounting Sleeve? Trim Ring?[/QUOTE]

What sites that off ?

Who would you recommend for an install?

A-One? Volatile? Westside? Alberts? ...

I'll always pump up Westside as Fabian there has always looked after me with a couple of things I've purchased and the installation of my front speakers (which wasn't easy as they're 7" drivers).

A-One won't do simple "we'll just pop your head unit in" installs. It's pretty much all or nothing with them (read: FIFO priced, ground-up builds). eg. strip interior, dynamat everything, custom MDF construction, yadda yadda.

[QUOTE=RichX;771373]Who would you recommend for an install?

A-One? Volatile? Westside? Alberts? ...[/QUOTE]

Macey

He's a member on the forums here, Installed my system quite cheap, knows what he's doing, good bloke. Located SoR though, forgot his username though if someone could fill that in, did it for me on a Saturday morning took all of 40 mins if that.

[QUOTE=ThatLegend;771384]Macey[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/members/bumpstop.html"]bumpstop[/URL]

Didn't think they he was doing installs any more...

He can be coaxed to help out perth-wrx members I think :P

[QUOTE=Soksta;771385][URL="http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/members/bumpstop.html"]bumpstop[/URL]

Didn't think they he was doing installs any more...[/QUOTE]

Correct. He got out of the game.... Sad.

[QUOTE=Soksta;771385][URL="http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/members/bumpstop.html"]bumpstop[/URL]

Didn't think they he was doing installs any more...[/QUOTE]

That's the one! Thanks

Yeah says he wasn't working in the industry anymore, pursuing another career. Think he still does the occasional install here and there.

[QUOTE=TROLLEY;771380]I'll always pump up Westside.[/QUOTE]

Is this Cannington? Went in there the other day, had a quick 5 minute chat, seemed "Ok". Gave me an Alpine brochure..

Yeh Cannington. If you go there, best to speak to Fabian :)
Mention you're from Perth-WRX and he'll look after you well.

Have used Westside Cannington in the past and have always had good service.

Macey AKA Bumpstop is one of the best of the best and now a Police officer as well as Hayden. I've known him since Caples, then Technics and finally Westside.

You'd have to know him reasonably well to get him to do work for you but I simply don't let anyone else behind my dash. I do believe he does some jobs on the side. He did the MS8 / JBL set up in the Liberty and my larger setup in the original Liberty.

He's a long time mate and a sad loss to the industry.

So finally got around to doing this, and kind of changed my plan a little bit. Didn't want to spend much more than $2k fully installed. Went a little over that, but have done well (I think).

Originally I was going to to a Pioneer PRS headunit, better amp etc, but was gonna cost way too much and the PRS unit looked a little difficult to use.. dunno, just didn't happen.

Anyway, went to see Ken @ Westside Morley. Great guy, chatted to him for 30 mins or so and ran me through all the different speaker types so i could hear them before making a decision.

Morel Maximo 6.5 2way Splits (Front) - These sounded awesome. (My ear preferred them over a set of Focals)
Morel Maximo 6.5 2way Coax (Rear) - As above
Alpine CDE-148EBTi Headunit
Pioneer PDX 5 Channel Amp
Hertz Energy 10" Sub
Stinger 4G 2-Channel Amp Kit

Cabling
Install

Maybe Not the best system in the world, but i'm sure it will sound really nice over my completely stock OEM system that is ~10 years old.

Cheers

Nice choice. Morel are fantastic value for money. A warmer and more relaxed sound compared to Focals which are lively and sharp.

Yeah, good way to describe it - I felt that the Morel's had more depth to them. Indeed good value too :)