Ask Us About Car Audio, Part 4: Gasp Harder

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Ask Us About Car Audio, Part 4: Gasp Harder

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

I am looking for some input on some mids and tweeters for my 1986 Jetta. I have two 12" subs right now, but I'm looking to replace the rest of the speakers, since they are on their way out. I have this amp pushing my 6x9's right now
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001HBJ1JW/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_FXfQwbF5GT80S
I want to replace my current 6x9's with these
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C76Z5C8/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_ZPfQwbQFEQDZA
I want to replace the 4", that are also in the back deck with the 6x9's with these, since they well fit in the current mounting holes
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0072LABWM/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_xPfQwbB7EKTAQ
I have 3.5" in the dash corners and I can't fit anything larger in there. My plan was to run the 5.25" and the 3.5" off of this amp
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BF6HYBG/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_pOfQwb98S1A5G
and run the tweeters off of the deck. These are the highest rms 3.5" I could find under $200 and I'm wondering if I can do better
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JSS9KTC/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_POfQwbDKWQ7N7
I have no idea what tweeters I want to get, so I could use some input there.
My current head unit is a Kenwood KDC-X695, but I'm looking to upgrade to something that has an aux port in the rear, detachable face, fully supports Android phones over Bluetooth, crossover and subwoofer controls, three sets of preamp outputs, and prefer it under $300 if possible. I was looking at this model for the head unit
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EYH7MG/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_lrgQwbFD6NMCM
Again, I'm wondering if I can do better for the price and still get the features I want.

On a side note, I saw sound deadening questions brought up in the thread without answers. Should I take that as just use dymomat? Eventually I'll do the trunk, doors, floor, firewall, and maybe the roof under the headliner.
Thank for any suggestion, and feel free to shoot down anything I have picked out.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2016 07:35

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 07:18

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Humbug posted:

You seem to know what you are talking about. Your setup seems solid to me. That HU seems to have few and tiny buttons, even for an aftermarket unit though. I guess you are suppposed to use the remote.

Im not sure there is a US-wide available cheaper alternative to dynamat. If you can find a cheaper alternative locally, I would try that. Its only bitumen and adhesive at the end of the day.

Thanks for the feedback

# ¿ Jan 27, 2016 16:07

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

VelociBacon posted:

Recommended 12" subwoofer for an enclosure space of 1.2 cubic feet? Max mounting depth of 7". Thanks!

When it's time for me to get new subs I want these

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107MM1240D/Polk-Audio-MM1240D.html

# ¿ Sep 25, 2016 01:59

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Tremek posted:

Hi guys, I picked up a '97 Lexus LX450 (Land Cruiser) as a winter vehicle that has an ancient and half-dead OEM system in it right now. After doing some reading re: what will fit, I just ordered door speakers for the truck, but the OEM double din head unit is also pretty awful.

So I ask you - I have an iphone, I'd like to be able to sync it for bluetooth calls and probably music playback and maybe even the fancy screen mirroring if it's available. Is any of that available via the iphone on one of these Chinese Android double DINs that are all over Amazon and ebay? Curious what you guys think the right path forward would be, thanks.

I'd go with the Pioneer AVH-4200NEX personally. I haven't heard many good things about Chinese Android headunits.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2016 06:02

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Tremek posted:

Hmm, appreciate the suggestion but that would increase the value of the truck by 25% all on its own, and it commits the cardinal sin of not having a rotary volume knob. I'll keep digging... Looks like reviews are indicating a lot of the Chinese stuff is getting better, and there are apps to do screen mirroring even with an iphone... Might experiment and/or take the poorly-thought out plunge.

I have heard one can get good results from these Chinese Android units if one of willing to root the headunit to run aftermarket software and such. I have no experience with them personally. If you decide to experiment please report back with you experiences.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2016 16:16

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

So I have been researching and plotting for a while. I'm pretty sure I know enough people to have access to all the tile necessary to build me a nice box. I only have so much space available, so that's an issue. I have two Rockford Fosgate 2 P2-D4 12's that are in two prefab lovely sealed boxes. I have been modeling enclosures with WinIsd and have come to the conclusion that for the space available (3.99 ft^3 gross) that I would be best served building a box tuned to 27-28 Hrz and running my subs in an isobaric pair. What are some thoughts on this? I have read what I can find on isobaric pair, which mostly said that I can half the enclosure volume, lower the running frequency, etc. I would tube the enclosure to 21 Hrz for the flattest response curve, but I don't have room for the port. Help me out Goons.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 06:18

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

I listen to house, dubstep, drum and bass, rap, and heavy metal most of the time, but I listen to classical and oldies like Elvis and Frank Sinatra on occasion. I know that there will be some cabin gain to account for also. I am thinking that 27-28 Hrz will be the sweet spot between a nice flat frequency response and a realistic port length. I have also heard it's best to tune a ported box to the fs of the sub. In this case the fs is 27 Hrz. I'm just wondering if I'm going to run into any problems running these subs in an isobaric pair.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 15:39

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Olympic Mathlete posted:

An isobaric setup gets you a lower frequency output with a smaller footprint but at the expense of adding another woofer. Loudness wise they're the same as using a single driver. So no problems as such, it's just a different way of doing things and one that's not really been a thing since driver VAS has improved due to better manufacturing methods and tech.

Well I already have two subs and I don't have enough space to build a box for 2, so I might as well I guess.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 16:06

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Don Dongington posted:

It really depends on what you're going for, SQ, big bass /high volume (SPL), or good value.

For value, Pioneer digital range amps are super good right now, an their class D monoblock subwoofer amps are the best value on the market, so while not exactly the highest quality they're great and easy to install for a novice.

For head units, basically pick the one that has the features you want and will work with your interior. Most of them let you tune the lighting to match somewhat now. Alpine and Pioneer are probably the most popular, with Sony and Kenwood offering slightly cheaper stuff with good features, but kinda awful to look at.

You need one with 6x4V preouts, because anything with 4x or 2v pres is going to be garbage, and will prevent you from running a sub, which you want to do if your going through this effort.

For speakers, Polk, Infinity, Hertz and Clarion are all pretty decent for the price.

If you want to go high end you probably need to talk to someone with money, but McIntosh, Audison, Boston Accoustic and the higher end Hertz stuff are some brands to look at.

If you just want to build a thumper and annoy the elderly, Alpine JL and Kicker have what you need.

Just FYI: Rear speakers aren't really important, and you can get away with some cheaper pioneers ran off the head unit just fine, but it's super easy to wire rear deck speakers to a trunk mounted amp, so you may as well. Don't go through the effort of running new speaker cable into rear doors though. You'll be wanting to fade them right down to avoid making GBS threads up your stereo image. You want to spend most of your money on front component speakers, then sub, then your amp and head unit, with the rears either left factory or if broken, replaced with cheap stuff.

Some people even remove rear deck speakers entirely to allow more sub bass to get through into the cabin. It's a personal thing though.

Just to piggy back off of your post, I would add Focal and Morel to the list of mid to high end speakers. For subs I would add Dayton HO or Ultimax to the list. Awesome quality and value.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2017 06:43

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

I'm interested in the Forscan talk because the lady and I just got a 2012 Explorer Limited. It has the Sync 2, which I heard clips the poo poo out of the signal compared to the Sync 3 system. I have been researching the Sync 2 to 3 conversion thought buying junkyard parts, since going through Ford, or aftermarket can cost $1500-$2500. Any experience or advice is more than welcome. I just want to add aftermarket speakers, sub, and amps, without neutering any functionality of the stock system.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2018 07:05

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

jonathan posted:

It's pretty straight forward. The biggest issue was buying a cheap Chinese obd2 to usb cable and finding the correct drivers for it. It came with drivers on a mini cd but a virus scan came back with a bunch of malware.

The best route is to use the recommended cable adapter from the forscan site. It's probably $60 but at least the drivers are trustworthy.

After that you just load forscan and then adjust 2 or 3 values that are well documented, hit the button, it flashes the dash, do a key cycle and then your speakers are all being driven at line voltage. I haven't measured what the max voltage is, but I've run stereo after and with the volume maxed out I hear no clipping.

There is also another option to enable the subwoofer out connector which is at the back of the cab. You can set it to use its own pre programmed low pass filter or you can set it to full range. I don't 100% know if the explorer has that. Our explorer is a 2014 and I haven't messed with any of the settings.

I also used forscan to route the Canadian mandatory daytime running lights to the orange turn signals instead of the headlights. You can set it to American settings as well. Also I can run my fog lights and high beams at the same time "Bambi mode".

I did watch some tutorials on doing the conversion from Sync 2 to 3, and it seems like the hardest part is finding a new enough car in the junkyard as a donor. One of the videos I watched said to get a Bluetooth dongle to connect to a laptop in order to use Forscan with. Another issue I may run into is the only windows computer we own is a desktop, and I'm going to assume Forscan will not work on a Chromebook.

I really just want to have Android Auto and a decent signal to amplify later down the road when we upgrade the sound system. It seems like much more work than it should be, but that's just how beer vehicles are it seems.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2018 01:34

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

EightBit posted:

Just buy a head unit that allows HDMI mirroring and Bluetooth audio.

I heard from a friend...

At least on our Explorer, that would be more difficult than converting to Sync 3. I have a perfectly good Pioneer AVH 4200NEX, but it's not as easy as just put a different head unit in. Too many features are ran through the head unit, like climate control. There is a way it could all work with an aftermarket head unit, but it would be more expensive and time consuming. With enough money, everything is possible, but I don't have that kind of money.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2018 06:08

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

FuzzySlippers posted:

So I've got a 2011 Rav4 with a factory gps dash screen, rear view backup cam, but no bluetooth. We were pondering replacing it with something newer that integrated bluetooth (we have the external but it's dodgy) and could do nav with traffic data/integrate with our android phones. Is it as simple as finding something compatible on crutchfield, possible adapters for the existing hardware (cam, gps antenna, steering wheel controls), and it'll work with everything? Or am I gonna end up having to run new wiring everywhere / end up with buttons that do nothing? I've installed a new car stereo before but that was ages ago before anything was digital.

I would go to Crutchfield and enter in all of your vehicle's information and pick something with Android Auto from Pioneer, Kenwood, or Alpine. They will tell you everything you need to get to retain all your factory functions. They will even sell the accessories at a discount, or give them to you for free many times.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2019 04:08

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

22 Eargesplitten posted:

My radio isn't turning on after the car was out of commission for 2 years, including a drained battery. What's the first few things to check? I need to reattach the faceplate but it seems connected fine, just might as well reseat it.

Check to see if you have power to the stereo with a digital multimeter first. If you have power to the stereo, replace the fuse for the stereo. If you don't have power, the hunt it's on.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2019 03:04

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

I buy from Crutchfield whenever I need a dash kit or wiring harness because they include it for free, or sell it at a decent discount. Also, Crutchfield is an authorized dealer for everything they sell, so if you are worried about a warranty, that would be my go to. I did but my last headunit from Amazon though because I didn't need any other ideas poo poo, but I did research the seller to make sure they were an authorized reseller for Pioneer.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2019 04:02

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

taqueso posted:

What is the current good but also not super expensive panel treatment stuff like dynamat? and where to get it?

I would check this company out https://resonixsoundsolutions.com/

# ¿ Jan 5, 2020 10:17

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Stick to Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony, and Alpine headunits. Maybe Clarion, but I haven't heard much about them for years.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2020 23:10

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

STR posted:

Clarion has been pretty much OEM and marine stuff only for a long time now. They got acquired by Faurecia in 2018, no telling what's happened since.

Most of the Sony stuff you'll find in the wild is at Walmart in the sub-$100 category; they still make some good stuff for a higher price, but it's pretty much only found online.

Yeah, don't shop for anything at Walmart, especially stereo equipment. I should have added get a headunit from one of those brands with the features you're looking for.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2020 22:19

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

taqueso posted:

Do any of the Android auto head units have capacitive touch? Anything with real buttons?

What about digital outputs?

e: Kenwood has capacitive touch

You can filler on Crutchfield to show all the Android Auto headunits with capacitive touchscreen.

Uncle Lizard fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Feb 13, 2020

# ¿ Feb 13, 2020 22:52

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Charles posted:

Someone asked me about putting a new headunit in a 2015 Subaru Forester, with the Harmon Kardon w/nav.

He said it has a built-in amp? Would replacing the headunit use the factory amp or bypass it?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_130AVW4500/Pioneer-AVH-W4500NEX.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-3VXIVTXLmk9/p_113DDX9906/Kenwood-Excelon-DDX9906XR.html

Otherwise was comparing these two, they look very similar although the Kenwood is 22W RMS vs the 14 of the Pioneer, which is why I am asking about the factory amp.
Will cross post to Subaru thread too.

There is probably a module that they would have to purchase that would use the factory amp. If you punch all the information for the car into Crutchfield they should tell you what you need if you are keeping the factory amp and what you need to do if you aren't. Usually if you aren't changing out all the speakers and adding aftermarket amps it's better to keep the factory amp.

# ¿ Feb 29, 2020 20:38

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Nichol posted:

I feel so dumb. I need a harness to wire my speaker level output into this amp. I can find a thousand harnesses on Ebay that are female (male?) Like what I already have but can't find the other gendered connector to save my life. I'm sure the thing is my amp came with one but I was using this for my sub and am now planning to use this for my coaxial speakers.

So... without just shoving wires in these holes (ha) how do I get one of these?

The make and model number for the amp would be helpful. Does it also have low level inputs?

# ¿ Apr 21, 2020 07:37

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Nichol posted:

It is a clarion xr2210. The manual says it came with a harness but that is 10 years gone so.
It does have low level inputs but the head low level is hooked up to my sub

E: or this: https://www.amazon.com/2-54MM-Femal...7450969&sr=8-30

Ee: or this: https://www.amazon.com/TOOHUI-Conne...7451505&sr=8-57

The steps I would take would be contact Clarion directly to see if they have something for you, or at least point you in the correct direction. If that didn't work, I would look at getting a line out converter to run your speaker level output to the low level input of the amp. I would also consider a new head unit that has 6 channel RCA outputs, if possible in your vehicle, or a new (used) amp. Unless I was looking for a project I wouldn't mess with trying to recreate a proprietary plug, especially when you could get a new amp for less than $80 https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_121755_Pioneer-GM-A3702.html

# ¿ Apr 21, 2020 08:14

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Nichol posted:

This is a fine point to the extent that what I really need is a better head unit, but I've been putting off that investment for eons, I'm trying to save $$ here and it's not so much a proprietary connector as a ubiquitous and standardized one..... hmmm

You could also get real wild and just solder the wires directly to the plug terminals.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2020 09:08

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

PittTheElder posted:

So the stereo in my 2010 Jetta has now failed for the second time in four years (and it didn't have bluetooth support to begin with) so I'm thinking it's aftermarket time, but I have no idea about where to start looking for such things. Any general recommendations on buying stereo systems? It'll be working with my android phone, but based on my limited experience with rentals that had it, Android Auto is somewhat useless anyway, despite seeming useful?

This is a dash unit only swap, not looking to touch the speaker system at all.

Go to Crutchfield and punch in your car information would be where I would start. Android auto on Pioneer and Kenwood is better than I have seen on any offering from a vehicle manufacturer. Even though it could be much better, I enjoy having Android auto rather than not. If you can spring the extra money get a capacitive screen instead of a resistive touch screen. If you don't listen to CDs you can save some money by getting a head unit that is a digital receiver only.

# ¿ May 22, 2020 02:55

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Captain McAllister posted:

I'm looking for a stereo upgrade for my 2005 Tacoma.

Speakers are still factory (until they pack it in).

I'd like to keep the steering wheel controls, BT for my phone (Galaxy S10), and a front USB key.

I don't need satellite radio or even really CDs anymore.

I don't really care if it's touchscreen or not, but if it is I see capacitive is better then resistive. From what I can see, Android Auto is essentially a fancy way to mirror your phone to an in-dash tablet, essentially?

The last time I installed a stereo in a truck was really straightforward - module for the steering wheel controls, dash kit, and a wiring harness. I'd like to go that route again.

Any recommendations of brands to look for, or avoid?

Pioneer, Alpine, and Kenwood are usually the go-to brands. They do make digital receivers that do not have CD drives, and they are usually cheaper. I would go to Crutchfield to top in your vehicles information and filter from there. You can narrow down your choices from there. There is even the ability to filter by digital receivers, and capacitive or resistive touchscreen.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2020 06:50

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 07:18

Uncle Lizard: Sep 28, 2012; by Athanatos

Captain McAllister posted:

Does anyone have any experience with BOSS audio head units?

Crutchfields selection seems...limited, and a lot of head units are out of stock. I went to a brick and mortar car audio place and they said there's such a big backlog they wouldn't be surprised to see next year's models coming out early.

BOSS seem to have a lot of features for the price, but I haven't heard much about them.

Don't buy Boss, ever. They are the lowest quality, and most falsely rated products in the car audio market. Do not buy. I would trust a no name product bought from Alibaba before I would trust Boss.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2020 16:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Ask Us About Car Audio, Part 4: Gasp Harder