Any other car audio nuts here?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 27, 2018
Messages
840
Location
Idaho
This looked like the appropriate sub-forum to post in but if I am mistaken admins please move to proper place thanks..

So is anyone else here really into car audio? In my car I have re-done everything to my liking. I have replaced the stereo with a JVC KD-R980BTS, my door speakers have been replaced with JBL GX602s, and in my trunk I have 2 American Bass XD-1044's wired down to 1 ohm on an Orion CB2500.1D monoblock. SkyHighCarAudio wiring on all of it, and not to toot my own horn but I am 16 and I paid for this all and installed it all myself (one piece at a time and over the span of about a year, that is). I also am running stock electrical system, I honestly need a high output alternator because even with a 4-farad capacitor I will get some pretty bad voltage drops, it's gone down to 11.5 before but generally it hangs around 13.5.

Here is a video of my system if anyone would like to see it, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fJB9DjOkdw

Are there any other car audio nuts or bassheads on these forums? I know it can't just be me lol.
 
I've always put aftermarket stuff in my vehicles. Some go more in depth than others.

My current system has Dayton Audio tweeters, Lanzar Opti front door mid's, a 4-channel Alpine mini-amplifier hidden behind the factory center stack/screen and an Image Dynamics IDQ12 in a 1 cu. ft. sealed box with some polyfill. It's wired to 2 ohm's and being fed 900 RMS by an Elemental Designs nine.1. I have a second IDQ12 that's waiting in the garage, but I don't need dual subs in a hatchback. It's very loud and very clean as-is.
 
Last edited:
Every vehicle I've ever had that didn't come with Bluetooth ended up with it because I love music! I listen to a wide variety of music, including country.

I'm going one step at a time with my Crown Vic - going for something modest but nicer than stock.

I bought it with a hole where the radio should have been and installed a Pioneer MVH-S501BS head unit. Nothing too crazy but it gets me Bluetooth and sub outputs.

I do have a pair of Rockford Fosgate R168X2 speakers sitting here - they're gonna go in the rear deck and if I like them, I'll get the same for the front doors. If they are not good enough I'll put something more expensive in the front doors.

I just scored a JL Audio e1400D subwoofer amp and a JL 10w3v2-D2 10" subwoofer for dirt cheap - it wouldn't be my first choice for a sub but I've never actually had a sub before so I'm pretty excited. I'm trying to decide on a box - according to my research I'd be better served by a sealed box vs a ported box since I care more about sound quality and just loud bass noise...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Single-Sub-Sealed-10-Subwoofer-Slanted-Truck-Box-Enclosure/173047440717
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Q-POWER-10-...12/231273507154

Any ideas which one would be a better choice? I am trying to waste as little space as possible in the trunk but my 10" subwoofer is pretty old so it has a 5.75" depth requirement and lot of the more compact boxes can't accommodate this.
 
Last edited:
I'm a big fan of a good quality sound system in a car, but I don't go overboard. If the stock sound system meets my needs, then I keep it. If it's decent, but needs a little help, then I will upgrade component by component, starting with the 'weakest link'.. in most cases to improve low-end response.

This is not to say that I only go for the low-end - I feel a balanced sound is important, but I do believe that it is important to be able to 'feel' the music.

In my Fusion, the stock head unit and speakers were pretty good, but the in-door mid-bass drivers did get an upgrade, and now the overall sound is very good.

The next thing I will probably do is add a mid-level amp and a small sub/enclosure to bump the mid-mid/low bass. I'm not really a 'bass-head' and my primary choice in music is prog/symphonic/power metal, so bass is important, but it's not the only thing.
 
absolutely! your system sounds very thorough and very good! I wish I had friends who cared; most of them purchase absolute garbage and actually think it sounds good.

I just put an Alpine Nav/head unit along with Alpine amp & JBL speakers in the Sentra.
I did not put a sub in that car yet; but put one in the cougar.
 
Glad I'm not the only one!

I still have a few things I want to do to my sound system but I need to get a few paychecks under me and get my savings back up lol.

The only other things I want to really do are add tweeters because the bass can make hearing lyrics hard and I want to get a stereo with a flip-out navigation screen because my sense of direction is useless and I have tried using a vent mount for my phone but the screen on my phone is literally impossible to see in just about any level of sunlight.
 
Basehead 20 years in reform.

Started off in the mid 80s with a 1982 Chevy Citation hatchback. Put two pyle 12's in a properly engineered ported enclosure using equations from a loudspeaker cookbook. I was an fledgling electrical engineer back then in high school. I figured out watts and took great joy buying off brand amps and blowing away the Rockford Fosgate PUNCH 45s that were so popular. Magazines has a Pyramid 100 x 100 that I put a fan on and ran bridged to 300W into 4 ohms. Made a heck of a BOOM. and started my home town fame. Later my cousin and I would combine subs and drive to the local crank-un-up with a pair of 15s and a pair of 12s. Pyle Driver was the woofer of choice because I could get 12's for about $30 each 15s for $40. In properly and tuned sized boxes (Huge) and powered with fan cooled Pyramid amps these were as good a any woofer out there.
smile.gif
Sleepers

Had an extra marine battery in the back as my "super cap" as I had about 700 watts on tap. That was bigtime in the late 80s.
smile.gif


4 Good ole Jensen 6 x 9s made the mids and highs but the Pyle bass was thick and on the cheap. Kickers and Fosgates were my favoraite targets since I knew they spent boatloads of money on them and they put them in crap enclosures. We would bust their egos. They stopped laughing quick at about half volume.
smile.gif


ahhh to good ole days.

Now years of cruzing with just the 12s about about 400 watts in my daily driver have lead to a bad case of tinitus. I'm in my 40s now and cant hear squat. Anything will set my ears to ringing so loud everyone sound like they have a sock in their mouth.

So my word of advice to you is to invest in some ear plugs and use them properly. Bass feels good when you seat is vibrating but hearing loss in permanent and there is no surgery that can bring it back.
 
Originally Posted By: cwilliamsws6
Glad I'm not the only one!

I still have a few things I want to do to my sound system but I need to get a few paychecks under me and get my savings back up lol.

The only other things I want to really do are add tweeters because the bass can make hearing lyrics hard and I want to get a stereo with a flip-out navigation screen because my sense of direction is useless and I have tried using a vent mount for my phone but the screen on my phone is literally impossible to see in just about any level of sunlight.


Does your CR-V have factory tweeters? You could easily replace those with something better. That's what I did in the A-pillars on my car:



 
I don't drive enough miles or spend enough time in my car to go all out like that. My younger days I had cars that came with premium audio systems and factory subwoofer which had more than enough kick for me. The one car I changed the audio on all I did was a head unit that had enough juice to power efficient coaxial speakers and a powered Bazooka tube.
 
I thought I had better photos of my new mid-range speakers. I bought the Pyle Pro's on the right for a song from Parts Express, just to try. They were OK but really left something to be desired in the mid range and upper-mid range. So I gave the Lanzar Optipro's a try. They were about 3x as much as the Pyle's, however they are ASTOUNDING. They aren't a big name brand, no. They DO make garbage, yes. But their upper line stuff is actually half decent. I barely fit these bad boys in my doors.


 
I am all stock. Will upgrading the speakers to something decent help? i can't change the head unit due to it being something like a tablet sticking out of the dash. Where I notice my stereo fails me is I like to listen to musical scores loud and the speakers don't due the instruments justice.
 
My CR-V does not have factory tweeters, the only ones I have are the built-in ones on the GX602s I put in my doors but the bass still drowns them out so I want to add more lol.
 
Gotta have some music in my vehicle. It really helps on road trips to pass time and keep me more alert.

In my last truck I had Alpine, JL Audio, and MBQuart, which I heard has REALLY gone downhill in quality from when they started...sad.

I have the stock JBL Synthesis system (10 speakers!
crazy2.gif
), which sounds surprisingly decent. I'm currently looking at a different deck (Alpine) so I can either Bluetooth music from my phone or put everything on a USB, which is AWESOME since you can add/subtract songs on a whim. Just the other day I spent about 8 hours redoing my light rock/pop music to burn to CD for an upcoming road trip. I found I was about 156MBs over what two CDs would take (WAY too many songs I would not want to delete!). Phone/USB...wouldn't matter. Love this new tech...makes it SO much easier.
 
I have JBL in my new Highlander Limited and I'm not impressed with the audio quality at all. It's quite terrible for something that is supposed to be "premium" I'm thinking of replacing the speakers / woofer with something else. Can't replace the radio because it has my navigation and other vehicle changeable settings in the same unit so that's a no-go.
 
Last edited:
StevieC - that is why I never want to own a newer car and try to stay 2010 and older if I can. So many cars nowaday have so many controls including but definitely not limited to the HVAC stuff as part of the stereo that either an aftermarket radio isn't an option at all or if you can make it work you lose a lot of your car's functions.
 
I can change the way the audio sounds in terms of treble, base etc. through this unit but the speakers are just not the greatest so I think with just a speaker upgrade I might be fine. I find the speakers in most Chrysler products seem to be pretty good in the better trim levels from past vehicles I have owned.
 
Originally Posted By: cwilliamsws6
StevieC - that is why I never want to own a newer car and try to stay 2010 and older if I can. So many cars nowaday have so many controls including but definitely not limited to the HVAC stuff as part of the stereo that either an aftermarket radio isn't an option at all or if you can make it work you lose a lot of your car's functions.


You tend to be right. It takes a lot more integration now, but things are still possible.

I was able to upgrade almost everything in my Volt without cutting any wires or making any irreversible changes to the car. I had to do a lot of research, but I was able to find all the OEM pigtails I needed to build my own amplifier harness. I chose a small form factor amp (Alpine KTP-445) and tucked it away behind the factory center screen. Add in a LOC to send signal to the sub and a couple door speakers with the proper adapters to make everything work and she was all set.

It sounds 10x better than stock, looks stock, works like stock (door chimes, signals, etc). I think I invested about $400 total, which is MUCH less than any factory "premium" stereo on the option list.
 
It's getting more difficult to upgrade with aftermarket, luckily the factory systems keep getting better and better. I lost a spare but gained two subs!

BtXgNA1.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top