my ultra specific advice thread.

[pow3rslave]

from what i've seen (and posted in the past) advice threads in audio seem to be "i need speakers, what should i get?" so i'll try to be a bit specific about what i have, what i'll be running and so on.

for Xmas i scored a $695 of JB hifi vouchers cos i couldn't get cash, and thought this'd be the next best thing.

my car already has
4" Pioneer in dash speakers ( know 4"s are shit, but they work) which are pioneer ts-g1047 100W Max / 20W RMS @ 4ohm.

Polk 6x9's which are these
EX693a Car Audio Speaker from Polk Audio
Peak 180 w, ?? RMS

Head unit will be a carpc, so only giving lineout from that.

What i need is
2X12 unported subs (i'm going to build boxes, so unboxed is better
monoblock or other to power the subs.
4ch amp (or two 2 ch's) to power the 4"s and 6x9's
from the Planning A System On A Budget
i was looking at this
Alpine Electronics of Australia

i know i'm not going to get quality gear for all of this for 695, so i'm willing to go a bit over out of my pocket.
i'm able to install all this myself and wiring isn't necesarry in the equation because i've got all that from my last setup.

the setup will mostly be used to listen to hip hop/metal so the ability to bump a bit is ideal.

any help/advice as well as brand/model suggestions anyone could give would be awesome, given what i think are decent brands is probably way off.

[holdenboy]

Firstly thanks for providing that info, saves alot of questions down the track. Although i do have one

The front speakers, are you willing to modify the front door interiors and buy / install some 6" component speakers?

With you're budget, its probably better to go with a quality single 12" sub.....in most cases it will be louder than 2 cheap 12s and you'll have more room in the boot

The best bang for buck at the moment as fas as 12" subwoofers go is the Pioneer TS-W308D4
Less than $200 each from most stores.

Amps, a nice looking little monoblock that produces some power is the Kenwood KAC-8105D, 500wrms at 2 ohm which is ideal for the Pioneer sub. I realize you will need to have a 4ch amp for the speakers because of the carPC, so something like the Kenwood KAC-9405 if you want something to match the monoblock.
So thats $200 for the sub, $240 for the monoblock and $300 for the 4ch.....$740 all up sounds about right.

Theres plenty of other options out there, and im sure other will suggest them.....these are just what i would pick for the budget youve got. Probably the most important things to look for are matching the impedance of the subwoofer/s to the impedance of the amp (for example, that Pioneer sub has dual 4 ohm voice coils, wire each + and - together and you get 2 ohms.....a matching amp should produce the subs rated power or more at that same 2 ohms impedance) and making sure the speaker amp has high pass filters on both front and rear channels. This is important as you have 4" front speakers and they tend to distort and any volume when bass hits


Alrighty, hope that helps.

[HCVP]

I'm going to advise that you actually don't worry about a sub. (for now)

Unless your spending mega bucks on a set of high end 4'' speakers to go in the dash location, then your going to have a very limited amount of volume coming from the front, and you will basically be relying on the rear fill for all your sound duties. The fact that your front speakers are currently only rated at 20 rms, means any amplifier will pretty much go to waste on them. That means money wasted also.

Instead i would look at a decent set of fronts (6-6.5'') and a 4 ch amp so you can power both them and then 6 x 9's that you currently have. But that would depend if you open to some modification to the front doors like Holdenboy said. A set of VR/VS door pods are cheap to pick up and are an easy fit.

If your not happy after that then of course you can look at adding a sub at a later date, but in the mean time if you choose your components wisely then you would atleast have some decent full range sound.

Put aside what's left out of your budget and save it until you can afford to buy a sub. In the mean time you can research enclosures ect and when the time comes you shouldn't have to upgrade anything else unless you get bitten by the bug !!!