More Noobie Setup Questions

[a1k3m1]

Hey guys, Ive been around for a few months now asking questions about all kinda of stuff and you have been really helpfull!!

So now my next thing i wanna do to my car is beef up the Audio system.. Ive been reading around trying to learn things hah to get some kind of idea.. But anyways heres my questions.

Alright at the moment everything in my car is as stock as a sock except for the Headunit, Which is a "Pioneer DEH-P5150UB", Which i brought a little while ago now and i'm very impressed with it.

But anyways my main idea is to get some amps and subwoofers going, and possibly speakers aswell,
My plan is to have a single 12" sub in the boot and leave the rear speakers sock (as i don't have rear passengers).. I don't really have a price limit as i want a good setup to last for a few years, I would prefer to just have the 1 Amp if possible and some kind of slim type sub as i would like to keep some kind of boot space..

Ive been looking at Amps so far and have found the "Kicker ZX 650.4" to be looking pretty sweet, .. As i said i'm just wanting 1 sub and 2 front speakers. so would this Amp be overkill or would it be okay?.. From what i've read you can somehow join wires together and then giving more power, So my logic says with 4 channels i can join 2 together for the sub and have 2 for each front speaker?.. haha does that work?

And with the sub i have read theres 2 types of subs you can get, Sealed and Ported, Im not really sure what they do differently but 1 is bigger then the other and one is better for the Drum'n'Bass type music as i understand, I would also like to get a custom type box for the sub too (one that fits into the side of the boot), if thats possible? .. Would getting this ruin the quality of the sub? .. or is it better to get a sub already in a box and somehow mount it inside the boot? .. Also what sub would you guys recommend with the Kicker amp i'm interested in getting?

As for front speakers i'm completely lost in, hah.. Theres coaxial, component ones, splits, tweeters, heaps hah, i have no idea what will work or fit for that matter..
As said before at the moment i just have a completely stock VY speaker system, So firstly which speaker sizes would fit nicely without modifications into the existing speaker spaces in the doors?.. And second which is best? coaxial, component or splits? .. Im half deaf in one ear so i don't think sound quality is really gonna matter too much. Just again wanting to know what will work best with the amp..

And lastly would be wiring, Im pretty sure the existing wires would suck for something with heaps of power, so what gauge wiring would i need to go to the speakers, sub, and the battery? .. i read that having short earth and positive wires are a good thing? .. im sure i could earth it to the boot somewhere, but what about the positive wire? i cant really move the battery to the back hah..

And im guessing the RCA cables would be a simple RCA cable from the Headunit Outputs into the Amp Inputs?

Sorry about writing a whole novel to ya guys, but i think it would be better doing it this way instead of creating heaps of chapters..

Oh and 1 last thing, here is the link on ebay to the sub box i was thinking about getting the one that goes into the side of the boot... Is it a good idea?
HOLDEN COMMODORE 12'' SUB SUBWOOFER BOX VY VZ LS1 GEN 3 - eBay Subwoofers, Audio, Video, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 23-Jun-10 22:25:32 AEST)

thanks guys!!!

[sweefu]

Hey mate,
Thankyou for doing some research first it makes everything alot easier!

Good thinking to leave the rear speakers stock, its a better way to go and will leave more money for you splits/sub/amp.

Sure, that kicker amp would do well for your situation, and never worry about an amp being 'overkill' call this headroom, if you have some headroom then you don't have to run the amp as hard to produce the power you need, which will keep the amp running cooler at a lower voltage, which is good for everyone. As i said the kicker would be good, but alot of other bigger 4 channel would be fine also, you could look at the Option Audio OAC160 OAC160 - Amplifiers - Option Audio. I rate these amplifiers, they are great value for money.

That box you are looking at is a sealed box. These boxes generally do not play as loud as ported boxes, though they are much more responsive and offer tight 'punchy' bass. This box is also great considering you would like to save space, it also looks really good and factory once installed. One thing to be careful of is to check the mounting depth of your sub when buying one, that box will fit most of your common subs but i know that some of the top shelf subs with larger magnets will not fit. But once again, this shouldnt't pose too much of an issue.

Splits / component speakers are the best to get. They have the tweeter seperate from the woofer and can therefore you can improve your soundstage. Also, they come with a cross over so that the woofer plays the midbass you no highs, and the tweeters play the highs but no midbass, so overall you have a much cleaner sound and much less chance of distortion. Again i'm not sure of your budget, but these were recomended very good in their price ranges on another forum after much discussion, so i will recomend them here.

Boston s60 (~$250rrp)
Diamond audio d3 (~$310rrp)
Crescendo opus3 ($399rrp)
Morel tempo6 ($315rrp)
Pioneer ts-d1720c ($399rrp)

You can fit 6" woofers in the doors without any modification however 6.5" will also fit with very little modification to the rear of the spearker pod. This will not effect how it looks or sounds, your door trim will still for on exactly the same.

As for wiring, you will need a power cable (More than likely 4guage power/earth cable for these amplifiers) A fuse to put nice and close to the battery so that the cable can't heat up or catch fire in the event of an accident. You will also need some speaker cable (How much depends on what your doing). Usually anywhere from 12-16guage is good for these sort of applications. You will also need RCA Cables (2pairs) spend a little bit of money here to get some decent ones that will offer no background noise or interupted sounds, cheaper ones may do this. Something like Stinger Pro Level 3 or Aepro Crystal leads are only $25/pair/6metre run and they perform really well. You'll also need a remote cable that will run with the RCA leads from the back of the headunit to the amp, this is also called a trigger wire because it's purpose is to switch the amp on and off with the headunit, to prevent it draining your battery while the car is off. Your best bet here is to get a 4guage power kit in my opinion. From WOW Sight and Sound and also online you can get an Aerpro 4awg wiring kit for around $45, which will have power,earth,remote and fuse. Then just get some speaker cable and good RCA's and you are set. You just earth the amp to any bare clean metal in the boot with a nice strong bolt. Keep the earth as short as possible.

Hopefully this answers some of your questions mate, feel free to hit back for more info!

Goodluck.

[sweefu]

How did you go mate? Bought anything?

[RachRocks]

IF your interested, i found some Pioneer ts-d1720c ($399rrp) for around $200 on eBay from USA. The price might sway you like it did me.
I just bought some and waiting to recieve them.

[a1k3m1]

hey dudes.. sorry about the slow reply, had a few things going on at home which are sorted now..

first of all huge thanks for the massive writeup, its helped me heaps more now..

alright with the amp, i thought that maybe having a pretty powerful one might blow the crap outta the speakers hah.. Yeh ive decided i like the kicker amp i said about before, kinda fell in love with it ya could say hah.. So how would i wire this amp up? would it work if i ran 2 channels to the sub and the other 2 channels to left and right speakers? for the front and back? or would it me more complex than that?

I kinda like the idea of the factory looking sub box aswell.. but as you say their not as loud, which im guessing that it wouldnt shake the crap out of the car as much?.. Im not really after trying to win some doof doof competitions, just something that makes the music have more energy to it if ya know what i mean...
And as for the sub itself, have you got any ideas on some good sub speakers?. As im not too sure still about this ported type sub's and whatnot, So pretty much something that would work pretty good in the box and probably be 12" in size, and i dunno $400 in price? .. how much are they usually? .. I like kicker and pioneer brands better as ive noticed i think they sound better than the alpine and kenwood ones so i think heh..

So with the split speakers, Whats this crossover thing about? how does it work and what is it? .. is it something built into the speaker or is it a separate unit that connects to the amp? ..
With the budget there isn't really one hah.. Im just wanting to find out whats out there and whats good and how much every things worth.. But at the moment im liking the Pioneer speakers you listed as they look pretty sweet in my opinion..

So with trying to get the speakers into the car .. you say the 6.5" need some modifying to fit properly, how much modifying is really needed? .. just taking out some foam or something? .. or will i need drills, grinders and a few hammers to get it done? heh

And lastly with the wires, I think you've got all my questions on that one.. Just 1 little bit though, out the back on my headunit is a wire i have connected to the power antenna to turn it on and off, im guessing this wire would also be used as the trigger wire to the amp, Would it still be okay to have it connected to the power antenna aswell as the amp? or would something blow up?

i thinks thats about it dude, just pretty much now wanna know what sub do you think is a good one to buy, how much work in getting the speakers in, and how to wire the speakers up to the sub, with a picture would even be more awesome heh..

but thanks again sweefu, youve been a great help!!

[a1k3m1]

any ideas dudes?

[sweefu]

No worries for the help mate.

You will be fine with the speakers, as long as you set the gains/tune the amp correctly but dont worry about this now, that will come later.

As for amp channels, you would run the front channels to the two front speakers (1 channel each) and the two rear channels you would bridge to run the subwoofer.

I recomend you go with the factory looking moulded fibreglass box. from what you have described it would suit your needs well and still maintain plenty of boot space and a factory look. It will not be as loud but with a decent sub will still provide plenty and plenty of bass.

Generally Alpine is fantastic brand, kenwood does some reasonable stuff also. Don't generalise brands and think that one brand sounds better than another, its really not fair to compare like that. Alpine type X stuff is fantastic, which would eat up entry level kicker gear because its top of the range.


For a sub around that price. I'd be looking at
Polk MM 12" - $270
Boston G3 12" - $399
Alpine Type R 12" - $??
Digital Designs 12" (Not sure of model number here - HCVP Help me out??)

The cross over is a small box (about the size of one of those large BBQ matches match box) that has inputs for the woofer, the tweeter and the amplifier signal. Very simple and easy to do, just mount it inside your door with a hot glue gun or anywhere else you'd like. These come with component speakers.

Some 6.5inch speakers will need modifying to fit into the factory speaker pod. This is not hard to do at all. All you have to do is cut off the back of the speaker pod with a sharp stanley knife or saw or something similar, and perhaps put a small circle of that weather gap sealing adhesive foam stuff around the top of the pod to seal the speaker onto it. Very easy.

As far as i am aware it is okay to have the antenna and the remote cable for the amp both connected to the trigger wire of the headunit. I am going to be doing this to my VY next week.
Cant help you with sub wiring until you choose one! Though if you like pioneer etc maybe go to a local dealer and check out what they can do for you. The subs i've suggested are ones i've heard and would recomend, lots more people will be able to give you more help with those but i can vouch for the ones i mentioned.

Goodluck!! Feel free to hit back for more help.

[a1k3m1]

back again dudes, 7 months later.. Finally made somewhat of a move on this project haha..

Ended up getting an Apline Type R 12" Sub and an Apline AMP Combo, coz i thought the Aplines sounded better as you suggested to test them out haha, But yeah worked out good as the Sub was already in a factory Sub Box and the 600W Mono-block AMP came free, So i thought it was a good deal..

I havent get around to getting the Front speakers just yet (Take me probably another 7 Months haha).. But i think ive worked it all out now,

I brought all my cables/fuses/RCAS from Jaycar as i wanted to make sure i got everything (And i know the guys there).. So it worked out good,

I also fixed my problem about using the auto-antenna wire to power the sub, I used the Remote Wire coming from the Headunit, Split it into 2 wires, Wired those wires to 2 different switches that i mounted in the 2nd DIN slot under the radio, Connected 1 Switch to the Antenna and the other Switch to the AMP Remote,.. I figured going it this way can fix alot of problems i might have later on like:

. Having the Ability to bring the antenna down when the radio is still switched on (Since its always up even when im using my USB/CD player)
. And also being able to turn the Sub off when ive got passengers in the back seat, So their ear drums don't get mashed.

I also tried finding a good spot to connect the Earth cable to in the boot, but i cant really find any good spots, Where did you connect yours to sweefu, Since we both got VY's we might have the same screws lol .. I ended up mounting mine to the bolt that holds the rear bumper on, its not all that large but it seams secure, I also thought about bolting it too the Child Seat Restraint bolt that pokes through the parcel shelf, But it didn't look very covert so thats why i used the bumper bolt lol...

But yeah im about to finish the whole lot tomorrow so ill let ya's know how it all went hehe..