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quote:Alright AI, I am the lucky owner of a 1966 El Camino that hasn't gotten a new sound system since well before I was born. Something to consider with an old car, do you want it to look vintage? Are you doing any kind of restoration? If you just want tunes, and don't mind skipping out on radio and such, you can bypass a head unit completely, and just run an MP3 player or iphone directly to an amplifier setup straight from the headphone jack. Then there's also one less component to steal. Kick panels will allow you to install front speakers without modifying the doors or door panels, often with better sound due to them being in a real enclosure. That's what I plan to do on my 1966 car. But it has a pristine untouched dash with the original radio in it, and it looks great so I don't want to mess it up with a modern head unit, and I never, ever listen to CDs or the radio. Food for thought. Plus it'll save you money. Now you're looking at two speakers, two kick panel boxes, a subwoofer and one 3-4 channel amp.
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Dec 4, 2012 22:27
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Head units are a minimum of $100 for something basic with ok sound quality, to skies the limit on features. I typically spend between $250 and $350 on a good adjustable one.ErectorBeast posted:And I could always install one later, right? Yup. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2012 22:42
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chem42 posted:Are any shallow mount subs worth a drat? I'm looking at something like this for my Jeep Comanche: I bought the 10" version of that sub for my wagon and I'm just now getting around to building a box for it. I asked a guy on my volvo forum who has the same sub how he likes it, and he said it's solid but only good if it's in the cabin with you. If it were trunk mounted you wouldn't hear it. So basically good enough, but not as good as a full size. As for sound quality, most people don't know how to tune their stereos. Just play with and fiddle with all the settings so you know what they do. If you can't tell the difference then leave it default. But each car has its own characteristics and amplifies/dampens its own frequencies. My estimation is that you hear lovely subs because lots of guys just don't know how to tune it or cross it over at the right frequencies. It's either chopped off at a low frequency and then turned up, or it has the "bass boost" all the way up so you only hear 60hz and below. I generally set all my subwoofer stuff to have flat response and then cross it over at around 100-120 hz depending on what car it's in. I then cross over the cabin speakers at around 80hz so they don't distort with low bass. The rest is eq settings and gain balancing. That's one good reason to get a higher end head unit, is adjustable sub gain and crossover right in the dash, so you're not walking back and forth to the trunk to tweak your sub.
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Dec 5, 2012 07:50
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Big Daddy Keynes posted:This is very much in LoydDobler's area of expertise. Imma burst your bubble and tell you that the kickin rad eq is... not. Anything you buy in 2012 is going to have vastly better eq options than that can provide, so bypassing it is your best option. If you insist on using it, you can do some RCA converters if you can figure out the wiring and buy the DIN connectors from digi-key, but there's nothing off the shelf that will do it for you as far as I know. You can still leave it in the dash so it looks awesome if you want. The stereo adapters that go in there don't interfere with it. Like so:  (imagine the eq in the pocket under the stereo, it's the same housing)
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Dec 5, 2012 19:09
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The head unit will be running line level voltage so not a lot of current. If the sound is clean, it's fine. The only risk of running the head unit at high volume is reaching its limits and clipping or distorting. In fact, you want the highest level of output from the head unit so that you can have more amp headroom. I wouldn't recommend doing anything based on testing a half-installed system. I've blown speakers by hooking up only one channel, some amps are balanced in such a way as running only one speaker will be running it at half impedance, which will overcurrent the amp. Most modern amps will go into current protection mode fortunately. Otherwise for odd noises, as a general rule try grounding things better.
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Dec 6, 2012 18:33
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jonathan posted:I don't like the deck because the interface is counter intuitive. Browsing music is hard, you can't browse by artist then album, only artist OR album. I don't have any suggestions for you, but yeah this is infuriating, Kenwood did this too on their USB input. I tried to hook up an external drive and the browsing was a god drat nightmare. It's like the people writing stereo software don't actually like music or use stereos. the spyder posted:I have been out of the game for some time and need a set of 6.5" Component speakers for my weekend/fun car. I have a Alpine CDA103-BT head unit and I think I still have a 4 channel amp (4x75w RMS) kicking around. Since my last set of old school Rockford Fosgates got stolen, I am wanting to keep this fairly cheap, like some Infinity Kappa CS's. Any other brands I should consider? I have a small 8" infinity sub to toss in the hatch off the other 2 channels. The Polk db6501 is a great speaker set for the price, very good sound quality and with a good door enclosure, quite good for midbass. They won't be as bright and harsh as the tweeters on the Kappas will be. I've been running a set for 5 years now, no complaints at all and I get compliments on sound quality from people who ride in my car.
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Dec 12, 2012 05:36
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jonathan posted:Sub 20hz you can't hear, but you can feel it and it's also linked to making a song sound good due to psychoacoustics. I think bottom line is you want a big loving speaker and a big loving amp. Most car speakers cut off around 20-25 hz and most car amps have subsonic filters, just because you can't drive them with 220V like you can in a home theater. You're pushing 14v at around 60A realistically. The head accountant at my work is a home theater freak and he has 2 subs wired to 220 at 30 amps, each on their own breaker, and he's thrown the breakers before. So yeah, home is not car. The most you're going to get out of a car without adding extra alternators is around 600 watts, so that super super super low poo poo you want is probably not ever going to really satisfy. You can try though. That's why tuning is really important.
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Dec 15, 2012 05:56
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The flattest response will come from a small sealed box. If you have the space, a nice beefy 12" in a 1 ft³ box will do you right. A 15" will go deeper but you give up more cargo space. Ported boxes and band pass boxes have peaks that are tuned in. I would stay away from any box that forces you to use a shallow mount sub, those tend to be a compromise. Like I plan to use one in my daily driver wagon, but I'm already satisfied with the bass I get out of 4 6.5"s in the doors. I just want a little more. In my convertible I'm unsatisfied with a single 12 in the trunk, because it's too hard to hear it while driving. Each car has its own problems and advantages.
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Dec 15, 2012 08:16
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Knyteguy posted:Side note: does anyone have any input on these speakers: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_975B57X/HELIX-Blue-B57X.html?search=975b57x&skipvs=T ? That category is littered with multiple price point options from Pioneer, Kenwood, Infinity, Polk audio, Alpine, Kicker, JL Audio, and Focal. I haven't been following car audio lately but I've never heard of Helix and wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole unless they were the only manufacturer that made speakers in that size. I literally would trust any of the other 8 brands before gambling on something that probably only gives crutchfield higher profit margin. Maybe do some research and see where this company came from and if the reviews are positive. Maybe they're the hot up and comer, but somehow I doubt it. They're supposedly a Rockford subsidiary out of Germany, but still.
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Dec 18, 2012 04:58
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Knyteguy posted:^^^ Thanks for the tips; I'll pass. Not trying to play Guinea Pig... I'll check out Focal and perhaps Infinity (wasn't sure if either company was any good) The only problem I have with what that article is saying is that you often don't have a choice where to mount the woofer, but that's not true with a tweeter. A tweeter will have a much larger impact on the directionality and staging of the sound, and if you could mount the woofer up high right next to it then that'd be great but you can't. So the implied advice is mount the tweeter by the woofer, which is really bad advice if it's down low in the door. My cars have a tweeter mounted high either on the dash or the top of the door, with a woofer down lower. They sound fantastic. Don't worry about trying to control speaker positioning until you're spending a ridiculous amount of money on custom gear.
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Dec 18, 2012 17:16
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Knyteguy posted:me thinking of a way to use the existing speaker wire, Aren't you already using the speaker wire to drive the speakers? Something tells me you haven't thought this all the way through yet. But no, you do not want to put converters on your preamp signal just to save wiring hassle. You want RCAs from your preamp to your amp, because they are clean and compact and coaxial, so the signal is shielded and resists interference. Besides, line level converters usually step the voltage down from speaker level, not the other way around. They're not just a wiring adapter. Don't be afraid of gutting your truck. It's way easier than gutting a car. Yank the seats out and the trim should all just unsnap so you can run the wires under the edge of the carpet. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Dec 18, 2012 |
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Dec 18, 2012 22:21
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I personally use factory speaker wiring only because I run subwoofers so I clip out the low frequencies from the cabin speakers and therefore don't really push that much current. Stock wires are more than adequate unless you're pushing stupidly high current through them. They're also wired through the door jamb in a really reliable manner, usually better than what you can do when adding new ones. Basically when you use a good aftermarket head unit wiring adapter, you can run RCAs back to the amp, then 4 pair of wires right back to the head unit area along the same path, then splice in using the adapter and never touch your factory wiring. It makes for a few extra feet of wire but unless you have some nasty interference it's fine. It's never been a problem for me and is way easier than running new wire to all 4 corners of the car.
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Dec 23, 2012 07:34
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willie_dee posted:This might not be the place to ask but I thought I'd give it a to anyway. Try buying new junkard cards and new clips from the dealer? Often that little plastic crap is fairly inexpensive even brand new. Other than that I'm not sure how they're held on in a Miata. Also worst case just run some long sheetmetal screws through them into the door. It's not like screw heads are out of place on the interior of a car. It sounds like you have hardware missing, on my Volvos they always run a screw through the panel right where the pull is, knowing that sees the most force. lighter fluid posted:So I was wondering if anyone could help me out a little. I'm new to car audio, but after having blown out front speakers for a few years I decided to get a new stereo system for Christmas. Your head unit will put decent power to those speakers, I'm satisfied enough with my Kenwood with similar rating (through similar Polk speakers) that it's been almost 4 years and I haven't bothered to install my sub or amps in my wagon. It doesn't go loud enough to be heard in the next car, but it's loud enough that you have to turn it down to have a conversation. All while remaining clean and relatively bassy. Your Chevy runs a lot of the car's noises through the audio system apparently. That adapter retains those features. Try reading the description for more detail than that. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Dec 24, 2012 |
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Dec 24, 2012 06:35
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I'm gonna go with an insulting reality slap and tell you that spending any money on a tape player of any kind is a loving retarded decision. IT'S 2013 ON TUESDAY DUDE. Just go buy the digital files from Amazon or itunes now that they have literally everything. Then you can play them on numerous devices made this century. If your tapes are so drat special that they don't exist anywhere except for your tapes, get a small player, patch it in to your pc, and rip the audio to digital files. Rip them as a big wav and you can fully edit and eq the sound, level the volume, and then break the tracks up. Also you will then have them at your fingertips and can back them up for all eternity. The future is now, it's great, join us.
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Dec 28, 2012 16:56
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jackyl posted:What the gently caress did I do wrong???? 99% of the time it's just a bad crimp joint or a blown fuse that doesn't look blown. Bust out your multimeter and find out where the power stops. Don't have a multimeter? Go buy one. Even the $10 made in china ones will work well enough for automotive diagnostics. If you get a $4 one from harbor freight just get two in case the first one dies. That's what I use and it works great.
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Dec 29, 2012 06:46
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atomicthumbs posted:What do I upgrade first? Also, when I upgrade the speakers, is it possible to keep the stock speaker grilles, or do I have to change them out? Upgrade front door speakers first. You will have to get creative with the mounting, and you want them mounted as solid as possible, they will come loose if you don't. Retaining the stock speaker grilles is unlikely, but more likely on those later models. If you find a shallow speaker that fits the standard opening it'll look pretty clean and sound good. Take the stock speaker out and measure both it and the hole to see what you can get away with. As for the rest, you can mount anything on the rear deck, the 240 used to have standard 6x9 holes in the metal for you to mount to. If not get the largest speaker you can fit on the deck, even a 6-1/2" will add a lot of bass using the trunk as the enclosure if you mount them right. the posted:Thanks for the advice, but I'd really like to keep it under $200. It's not a car I'm planning on putting a lot into (a point A to B car) so I just want a decent sounding setup that I can connect my Android phone to. Don't add an amp, because then you have to add a bunch of wiring that blows your budget. Use the extra budget to go with some higher quality speakers or go up in price on the head unit. Just so you're aware, that boss unit has no CD player, are you okay with that?
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Dec 30, 2012 22:07
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What is that white plug in the stereo hole in your photos, at the top just out of view? Is that the factory plug still in place? If so, you already have the patch loom (or factory adapter) you need, you're just freaking out over the wires. If not, you're not that far off anyway. The good news is that it's really not that complicated, just tedious. If they cut your stock plug out of the car, the overall simplest solution but most time consuming will be to get a stereo harness from a junkyard car and cut out as much of it as you can, then just splice in the matching colored wires, restoring your car to stock, then use that patch loom from crutchfield. And even with the patch loom, you still have to separately wire the rear speakers (which it looks like they did there). Otherwise, just cut off all that poo poo and splice your stereo's harness to the car. There are a total of 11 important wires, and a max of 14-16 depending on how fancy your stereo is. 8 speaker wires (usually green purple white and gray, in pairs with one striped and one solid), constant power (yellow), switched power (red), and ground (black). Optional are dimming lights (blue or orange), power antenna (blue orange pink or brown), and a remote turn-on lead for an amp (blue). e: you can't use the old stereo's plug, those are always brand specific and change every few years so you'll be cutting that out regardless. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Jan 9, 2013 |
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Jan 9, 2013 09:12
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Geirskogul posted:Protip: If you're a bit confused as to which speaker wire pair goes to which (happens on older cars, all four speakers had a striped purple/purple wire combo in my Plymouth) take a AA battery and make quick contact on the pair (with the car off and battery disconnected, as it already should be during an installation). The appropriate speaker will give a weak "pop" to locate it. In addition, the speaker will move towards you if you have the + speaker terminal on the + tip of the battery, and the other way if you have them reversed. So you can figure out the polarity of the wiring and get them all correct.
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Jan 9, 2013 21:14
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It's there to improve sound quality by hopefully cutting down on alternator whine. Either way it shouldn't hurt.
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Jan 10, 2013 07:25
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the posted:How do I make sure I get the right "dash mounting kit" for a 98 Civic? Civics are quite popular, the odds that anything that says it's for your car being wrong are pretty low. Otherwise order from someone reputable enough that they take it back if they send you the wrong one.
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Jan 11, 2013 06:43
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They surely sell a factory pocket, which always look better than aftermarket. Case in point: vs. 
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Jan 18, 2013 06:10
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Yes it does, look again. The other wires are for raising/lowering power antennas. edit: Unless you got a unit so cheap it doesn't have a tuner function. Did you? LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Jan 27, 2013 |
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Jan 27, 2013 08:08
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Bose is all super low impedance so you can't just use any speaker with them. Gotta be Bose.
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Jan 28, 2013 19:17
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Reggie Died posted:I noticed that, while there is significant resistance when pushing the cone in, I hear air escaping through the binding posts. Is this a concern? FWIW I think the sub sounds fine (CSS SDX10 in a .9cf enclosure), but it's audio so.....you can always do better. You should be able to goober up the inside with silicone or putty of some kind, right over the electrical contacts. I doubt it makes any difference in the world, but if you seal them up you'll be able to stop wondering. I hate wondering about stuff like that.
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Feb 4, 2013 19:42
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It's only steep because it's far more than just an audio in. It fully interfaces with the car so you can hide the ipod and control it all from the head unit, with song display and steering wheel controls if you have them. Most interfaces that do that are around that price, and from reading the reviews it's probably worth it. If you want to just add an aux in, you have to find some sort of small harness that patches in to a cd changer plug or something in the back of the head unit. Incidentally I love reading the reviews for things like these because if it's a good product you can kind of tell that the people giving it low ratings are really just morons. Like one guy rated it low because when he pulled the bezel off the stereo he dropped the clips. And one guy clearly ruined the connector by not being careful, so he's bitching about how he has to jam the connector together a couple times to make it work. Everyone else says it's awesome.
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Feb 6, 2013 15:41
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So how is the MP3 searching on those newest head units? I don't use an iPod and my real goal would be to have a big SSD hooked up to a head unit with a large library of tunes on it, somewhere around 60 gigs. From what I've seen, searching leaves a lot to be desired, but I haven't looked lately. It just seems they cater to iPods and nothing else. I want to be able to find either a specific artist, album, or track with a minimum of clicks or menus. It also needs to support custom playlists with ease and simplicity. Is there any particular unit or brand that does this really well? In a perfect world I'd have a head unit with wifi and a giant hard drive right in it.
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Feb 25, 2013 20:29
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BombermanX posted:Hello, You can't electrocute yourself with automotive voltage, but you can pass a shitload of current through jewelry, so take off any rings or bracelets before starting work. It won't shock you it'll just heat up and burn through your flesh to the bone. Start by reading all the guides on crutchfield.com and you'll have all the info you need. That or google car amp installation and terms like that.
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Mar 23, 2013 06:18
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Knyteguy posted:The second question is, does anyone have a recommendation on a decent set of 6.5" component speakers in the sub $150 range? If you go scratch & dent these are close, I use them in my car and they're pretty impressive. Good clean sound, good bass. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DB6501/Polk-Audio-db6501.html Also crutchfield is having a sale on infinity components so maybe surf those and see what works. I was very impressed with infinity kappas when I ran them except the tweeters are very, very bright.
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Mar 27, 2013 17:31
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Molten Llama posted:Along that line, I'm not sure if my Infinity tweeters have mellowed with use or just rendered me deaf in the upper register. Kappas are the only speakers I've ever run a negative treble setting in the head unit on. But good god they sounded nice when dialed in.
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Mar 29, 2013 06:44
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There was sort of a misinformation thing going around a while ago where people were talking about having too little power for speakers and blowing them. The problem is only that if you play a weak amp at high volume the signal will clip and overheat the speaker because there's lots of full current DC running through them when the wave clips. The thing they all neglect to mention is that clipped audio sounds like complete poo poo long before it blows a speaker, but they listened to it that way trying to show that they had a loud system. I heard a guy doing that in stop and go traffic on the freeway the other day, I couldn't believe it. Just the nastiest distortion and popping I've ever heard, and he was riding with some hot chick and they both looked like they thought they were the coolest people on the road. So yeah leica, you won't ruin anything by running good speakers with a weak amp unless you ignore the bad audio quality.
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Apr 5, 2013 20:08
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Like I said, clipping won't happen without you knowing it, it sounds like absolute poo poo. Unless you're a moron teenager pretending you're competing in dB drags you'll be fine. And I know you're my age and appreciate the finer things in life, and would not tolerate clipping.
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Apr 6, 2013 06:46
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The Wonder Weapon posted:I'm looking at a head unit (http://www.crutchfield.com/p_070XML8150/Dual-XML8150.html) for my 2002 Audi TT. I've installed a few head units back when I was in highschool, but that was a decade ago, so I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I do so now. I saw three things that gave me pause: This channel might help: http://www.youtube.com/user/Enfig/videos?query=audi+tt In one of the install videos he shows that there are some side blocks you can buy to adapt an aftermarket radio into the slot, I'm surprised that crutchfield doesn't carry them. I think the note about accessory power means it won't work with the key in position 1, but I'm not 100% on that. Also he shows that pretty much any stereo with a protruding knob or button of any kind will prevent the cover from coming down, but detaching the face (if it's detachable) will allow it to come down. Also note that Crutchfield does carry the wiring adapter and removal tools but because it's such a cheapass stereo it doesn't include them for free. They're $15, worth every penny. Make sure you add them on regardless. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Apr 26, 2013 |
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Apr 26, 2013 22:33
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Lowclock posted:It's pretty much always worth it unless you don't care how it sounds. Being able to move and angle the tweeters in different ways helps you set up a sound stage without tons of processing, and they usually have way better crossovers and drivers than what you find in coaxials. Seconding this. I've gone component in every car I've owned since 2004 and I'll never go back. They really sound that much better.
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May 11, 2013 04:25
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hassan posted:A friend confirms my Crutchfield.com search as the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997 being my ideal purchase, but I wanted to run it by you guys first. I can't speak to that exact head unit but I've run Kenwood Excelon head units since about 2004 (I've had 3 of them in various cars) and I've been pleased overall with the sound quality, durability, and features. I only play MP3s from a hard wired player.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:17
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hedgegnome posted:Hi! Just make sure the focal isn't too deep, it might hit the window glass and keep it from rolling down.
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Jun 20, 2013 17:35
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Holdbrooks posted:Where do you want to mount it? I have two of the JL HD900/5 under the drivers seat of the fiat that are awesome. And I just put a monstrosity of a hifonics Brutus brx5000.5 in the crown vic. The JL is like $700 but sounds very clean and is really tiny. The hifonics sound ok and is huge/glows blue but it was only like $250 I'm shopping for a 5 channel as well, thanks for the recommendation. I'm noticing that JL also has a 700w version that is $300 cheaper, so for those of us that don't quite need that much power and want to spend a little less, it has excellent reviews as well. I really like the alpine PDX line of amps too, not sure if that'd be better or worse than the JL. Anyone with experience on those?
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Jul 8, 2013 18:34
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It says it might be 50% off if you get the right head unit, basically as long as you're not getting a super budget one. Did you add it to the cart and see what they really charge? It sounds like it might be the only source of illumination control, and if you don't use it you might have to hunt down an accessory power wire separately. Other than that, if you can live without the "radio stays on until you get out of the car" feature along with light dimming and audible chimes, you should be okay without it.
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Jul 16, 2013 19:55
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johnny sack posted:edit: lastly, on a distribution block such as this, does the input HAVE to be 4 gauge and the output 8 gauage? Could the input be 8 gauge and you just tighten the screws a little tighter? I honestly don't know about this, but the power cable from my battery currently is 8 gauge. In my experience with a block like that, the screws are too short to handle a smaller wire and you have to fill the gap in the block somehow. On the other hand, it's all just one big solid block of metal so there's no reason you can't put the input into one of the 8 gauge holes and leave the 4ga hole unused.
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Aug 13, 2013 17:49
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some texas redneck posted:They probably do have a constant connection just to remember which song it was playing, but you could connect both switched and constant to a switched circuit. It would definitely forget what song it was playing, but if you go with a really basic radio, it won't be a big deal. He'll also lose any bass/treble/balance/fade settings. What I would do if you're really, really committed to not having a microamp current draw is hook the memory power wire up to a small pack of rechargeable batteries that are also hooked up to switched power with a diode so they are charged when the key is on but only power the stereo memory when the key is off. But of course at this point you realize that you already have a rechargeable battery and it's already hooked up in the same circuit and it has vastly more capacity than a small set of dedicated batteries and you're totally being anal about parasitic draw for no reason.
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Aug 14, 2013 20:13
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Holdbrooks posted:It will sound way better with some crossovers. I have a pair from a set of infinity kappa comps I had in my fiat before trade-in that you can have for shipping or a platinum forums upgrade if you don't want to paypal. I'm sure focal wants decent cash for theirs. BosozokuTruck at geeeeeeemail if you want them. Take this deal. You are a good dude Holdbrooks.
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Aug 16, 2013 05:41
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