2011 VE Series II Ute, 800 - 1100 to spend! :D

[DK-VX]

Hey guys , so tax time came around, and after buying a new SV6 ute on Saturday, I want to find a sound system for $800 - $1100 to install when I go to pick it up!

Looking for something that gives me a decent quality with a flare of bass, and something that can be played through the stock VE head unit !
Chances are I'll be heading down to JB-HIFI for my gear, so anything you find from there is a bonus!

But let me know what you guys think in relation to a decent system for a good price, Any money left over is going towards personalized plates ;D!
The only thing I've really looked at, is this system that Walkinshaw quoted me for, charging $1860:




· 1 x Premium Multi Channel Amplifier

· 1 x Premium PEQ Remote Subwoofer

· 1 x Premium 500 Watt Dual Voice Coil 12inch Subwoofer

· 1 x Custom Tuned Subwoofer Enclosure

· 1 x Premium High Performance 6inch Full Range Speakers in all doors

· 1 x Installation by a trained WP technician to ensure peace of mind with your investment.



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Let me know what you guys think! Is 1860$ worth the system above? If not, post me one you think is worthy for my ute !

[DevilDRake]

No idea if it's worth that much, what brands, what RMS rating, is the Sub 500W Peak or RMS? etc.

[acex1138]

i just did my own setup with my tax return, ended up installing

2x Clarion 700W single voice coil subwoofers I bought through Autobahn for $120 each. absolutelty rogered them on price for these

1x Pioneer 600W 4 channel amp.... got it a while ago for $499 from autobahn and hooked it up to the subwoofers, as its what I had sitting around. Didnt like the results for it pumping the woofers. So I went and saw my mate at JBHIFI

got :

1x pioneer 800W mono amp which im running both subwoofers off in parallel. sounds absolutely sweet.

Speakers I had already which were recently purcahsed

Massive Audio 6.5" splits $148
Massive Audio 5 1/4's $128 all from cartoys got on sale 3 months ago.

Now got the 4 channel pioneer amp powering the speakers. and she sounds pretty damn good and setup cost a reasonable amount, this being said tho I did all the wiring myself, but as long as you pay attention and are prepared to spend an hour to learn how to install it and another hour installing, you save yourself so much money, feel good about the job you did, and you know the quality going on, i've seen a lotta people getting ripped off by package installations and stuff.

All though this stuff is my trade field, I do reccomend you pick this up yourself not having the money to do setups and needing to learn how to fix problems got me into this stuff, you also cant go wrong with a lot of the prepacked wiring kits.

[DK-VX]

No idea if it's worth that much, what brands, what RMS rating, is the Sub 500W Peak or RMS? etc.

The details of the Walkinshaw system are on here:
WP Audio Upgrade « Horsepower Factory

i just did my own setup with my tax return, ended up installing

2x Clarion 700W single voice coil subwoofers I bought through Autobahn for $120 each. absolutelty rogered them on price for these

1x Pioneer 600W 4 channel amp.... got it a while ago for $499 from autobahn and hooked it up to the subwoofers, as its what I had sitting around. Didnt like the results for it pumping the woofers. So I went and saw my mate at JBHIFI

got :

1x pioneer 800W mono amp which im running both subwoofers off in parallel. sounds absolutely sweet.

Speakers I had already which were recently purcahsed

Massive Audio 6.5" splits $148
Massive Audio 5 1/4's $128 all from cartoys got on sale 3 months ago.

Now got the 4 channel pioneer amp powering the speakers. and she sounds pretty damn good and setup cost a reasonable amount, this being said tho I did all the wiring myself, but as long as you pay attention and are prepared to spend an hour to learn how to install it and another hour installing, you save yourself so much money, feel good about the job you did, and you know the quality going on, i've seen a lotta people getting ripped off by package installations and stuff.

All though this stuff is my trade field, I do reccomend you pick this up yourself not having the money to do setups and needing to learn how to fix problems got me into this stuff, you also cant go wrong with a lot of the prepacked wiring kits.

Yeah, I'd normally do the jobs myself, I'm currently in the army, ironically enough; studying to be a mechanic, but I just have no time to work on the cars anymore, working way too much now haha.

[sweefu]

Hey guys , so tax time came around, and after buying a new SV6 ute on Saturday, I want to find a sound system for $800 - $1100 to install when I go to pick it up!

Looking for something that gives me a decent quality with a flare of bass, and something that can be played through the stock VE head unit !
Chances are I'll be heading down to JB-HIFI for my gear, so anything you find from there is a bonus!

But let me know what you guys think in relation to a decent system for a good price, Any money left over is going towards personalized plates ;D!
The only thing I've really looked at, is this system that Walkinshaw quoted me for, charging $1860:




· 1 x Premium Multi Channel Amplifier

· 1 x Premium PEQ Remote Subwoofer

· 1 x Premium 500 Watt Dual Voice Coil 12inch Subwoofer

· 1 x Custom Tuned Subwoofer Enclosure

· 1 x Premium High Performance 6inch Full Range Speakers in all doors

· 1 x Installation by a trained WP technician to ensure peace of mind with your investment.



-

Let me know what you guys think! Is 1860$ worth the system above? If not, post me one you think is worthy for my ute !

First of all, they haven't even quoted you anything.. What are you actually buying? Secondly, I wouldn't let JB touch my car. I've seen a lot of JB stores do very rough work, messy wiring, generally below par.
What are you looking to gain from your new stereo? (What made you want to upgrade?) I could suggest some gear and a better installer. Where are you located?

[DK-VX]

First of all, they haven't even quoted you anything.. What are you actually buying? Secondly, I wouldn't let JB touch my car. I've seen a lot of JB stores do very rough work, messy wiring, generally below par.
What are you looking to gain from your new stereo? (What made you want to upgrade?) I could suggest some gear and a better installer. Where are you located?

The $1860 was for the above mentioned items, the sub, box, speakers, etc.
And I pretty much wanted a clear sound when played loudly, with decent bass without distorting.
Right now I'm based at Albury-Wodonga, but also travel down to Victoria to see the family most weekends, wanted to upgrade the system since the stock system in the VE isnt that great.

[acex1138]

respect to you bro just got kicked from my 8th recruitment attempt lol.

+1 to not reccomending JB to do anything. The last thing you want is a cut and soldered harness, which is my main reason for bashing them. On top of that, you dont really have great brand selection, they usually just peddle whatever crap is being pushed onto them from bulk deals, normally if you can find the brand you like there, the models are usual out of date or overpriced.

I just got my pioneer mono block from JB, but when I went in there I had the sales man attack me and try and sell me an outdated kicker that was way overpriced, when I told him the model pioneer I wanted, he kept tryna talk me on to a model he had on the shelf. I ended up going back later when my mate was on shift, told him the model number, and they wanted twice what it would fetch on ebay, and my mate ended up undercutting ebays price.

So jb's can be good for supplying stuff, but deffinately not installation.

When I got my Clubspec Evo one of the most heart breaking things to find after it had been listed on the sales documentation "after market high quality pioneer IPOD headunit professionally installed with reciepts" I was thinking good, pull the unit out, harness convert good to go. When I picked the car up all was good, and there was a reciept from jb hifi, so im thinking awesome. Got back to adelaide, pulled the unit out and it was one of the worst cut and solder jobs i've ever seen.

My friends Mitsubishi was done at JB modbury, same thing happened to hers, she kept saying she didnt trust me before I had my trade certificate, a month after getting hers done at jb it stopped working, got me to have a look same job, ended up having cold solder joints and no insulation over any of the solder connections.

Theres a great place if you were in adelaide in modbury area of this guy who does audio work, seen a few of his installs including stealth installations, has to be somewhere like that near where you are.

What i reccomend is try looking around for a professional place that doesnt really use the word professional to try and butter you up, someone who's got an established reputation and even has work they've already done to show you.

Now if you dont have any of those options and have to resort to using one of the mainstream places due to your posting location, research exactly what you want, based on what you've seen and what you want to achieve. pick out A specific amp, specific subs and ask for them by model numbers. make sure it will all work together and go around to these places and tell them the exact ones you want and how you want them wired. Dont let them talk you down.

Another option you might be able to do, if your mechanic knows their gear... before I learned my trade..... actually part of what got me into it, I inherited a volvo 240 that used to belong to an raffie avionics techician who did his own mods and stuff to get everything working I kept taking it to my mechanic who after him fixing a few things said, i can actually teach you these things if you wanna hangaround so then you know what to do with your next car. If you have a small time mechanic who isnt always on the clock, you can probably get them to do your setup.

My local has two mechanics, ones an all rounded and one is engine and basic electronics, he did the first install I had and then taught me how to fix/modify it, so if you've got a local who's got experience in wiring, its a good option too, I know a few in NSW who do it, too bad your in VIC

[HCVP]

JB can't / won't help because they are unfamiliar with the VE range, they are not audio specialists.

I'd forget about the sub to be honest, especially in a ute. Unless you some sort of bass head, your money will go much further if you leave it out.

Out of an $1100 budget i'd be looking around -

$500-600 speakers
$150-250 amplifier
$100 Line out convertor
$200 Installation
Any left over money could be spent of some sound deadener in the crucial area's.

The WP system can be purchased in components elsewhere for about a 1/4 of the price.

[acex1138]

hcvp's on the money. if possible anywhere to cram 6x9s in there? i'd be picking them and sticking them in the back of the cab if you can then you wont need subs.

And for sound deadener, you can spend heaps on using a dymat knock off, or even more on real dymat.

Top tip if you can see your company clerk and tell him your getting leaks in a storage shed or something he'll hook you up with something like flashtac. Its aluminium with a bitumised backing. Awesome sound deadener

It will make quite the difference.

[CrazyWombat]

As for fitting 6x9s in the rear of the sv6 ve ute, look behind each seat in the side panels and you will see a square indentation.

Remove the covering panel of this and you will see a factory hole for a 6x9 behind it. (The hole is used for subs in the ssv ute)

If you do fit 6x9's in the UTE cab, make sure you disconnect that piece of crap dash center speaker which will distorts at about half volume.

[HCVP]

Ok enough with all suggestions about putting 6 x9's and rear speakers and so forth in the cabin of a ute. I don't know how many times it needs to be said, but i'll say it again and probably keep saying it, MUSIC DOES NOT COME FROM BEHIND YOU !!!!!!!

A 6 x 9 speaker is bascially a full range 8'' subwoofer. So you will get the low fq response from the larger cone surface area, but at the same time you will also be muffling the mid and high. Not to mention completely ruining your sound stage by having half, if not more of it, coming from behind you.

Moving on, if you spend a sufficient amount from the budget on the fronts, you really shouldn't need to add a sub, even more so in a ute cabin. You won't be getting anything below say 50hz with much authority, but it won't matter.

For a while i avoided using subwoofers in systems because they are difficult to integrate. A front stage can be easily set up and with just some basic EQ and time alignment. Quite often adding a sub can be a backwards, or sometimes sideways step. Sometimes it can work really well, other times you'll swear it sounded better when it was simpler so you end up chasing your tail and never rest long enough to just enjoy listening.

If i was spending the money in this position i would be buying the very best speakers i could afford for the front of the cabin, and ensuring a good installation. Spend the bare minuimum on the amplifier to run them as this is going to have the least overall impact, and save up and invest in a good signal processor.