lower my car or buy audio equipment???

[ruso]

Hi,
Can't decide weather to lower my car or install some audio equipment. Pretty bored of having nothing to do to my vx commodore. SO was thinking of going and buying some audio equipment to install. Is it possible to use the stock VX headunit and run some; 6X9's on parcel shelf, 12"sub in boot, with amps. Don't know what to buy??? or how many amps or weather I should use the stock headunit??????? ANY advice is appreciated cause I can't decide.

If anyone has any good setups or advice on what to buy with $1000 or less whilst using the stock headunit please let me know.
Cheers

[headspin]

Unfortunately I would buy yourself a new headunit. Reason being the stock headunit isnt very powerful and even the cheapest brand name head unit should do a much better job. Some companys make OEM interface units so that you can use your stock headunit but for a decent one itd be more than a new cheap deck and the deck will give you more features. If your looking for a cheap system id probably go for pioneer gear. Its relatively cheap for their lower end stuff but it still has good bang for the buck. Dont buy no name brands because 99% of the time they sound like crap. Found that out the hard way . When youre looking at decks id reccomend you get one with 2 pre outs so that you have the option in the future of hooking up more than one amp. Hope this helps.

[ruso]

Thanx headspin. I think I'll purchase my headunit for now (pioneer $400-500 range) and then start saving for the rest of the gear. Cheers for the advice.

[mattman]

Pioneer DEH-4850 or whatever it was I had in my old car... kicked along very nicely even with just 6" pioneers in the back and stockies in the front - no amp.

Think they go for $350-400....

I don't think you get *alot* more quality/features until you hit the real high end gear.

[ruso]

Yeh think I might go pioneer headunit. My brother just said he doesn't want his sony amp no more cause he doesn't need it, so I scored that for free. It's 2 channel so I might bridge it and hook up a subby to it and run the stock spkrs for now. Or should I hook up 2 rear 6X9's to the amp instead of a sub???

[mattman]

Depends on whether you want subs or not... My preference is total stock look... everything 6" under normal covers.. but that is just me (having stock stacker helps )..

Have you got the 6x9's yet? Maybe just throw em in with the amp and see how they go... if you need more bass then the Pioneer HU will drive the 6x9 nicely and chuck a sub on the amp.

[ruso]

Havn't got nutta yet. Need to decide wat I want to do then go out and spend the money. Might just go with 6X9's and leave the sub for later.

[garfa]

haha so you want to know if you should spend money on lowering or audio? could you have asked a more biased forum?
keep the stock h/u. pm pheddy and ask for some info on his RCA mod for th stock h/u. i dont know how much you know, so pretty uch pheddy's modification to the h/u makes it so you get really good quality sound (same as a $400-$500 pioneer h/u or simular) and it will cost bugger all.
i priced putting in a sub into a mates car, for a 12inch jaycar inc amp, wiring even carpet and the plate to mount on the sub box to conect the speaker wires, all for $396 then just get some 1/2 decent speakers (no need for 6x9s because of the sub) and a jaycar amp and you will be rocking for 650-800ish.
or you could waste 400-500 on a h/u plus the wiring connector and then have a couple of hundred left to put a crap sub and un-amped speakers in.
really its no contest, you will end up with a great system if you save you money and mod the stock h/u.

[ruso]

garfa how'd you hook up the amp and sub to factory h/u???

[garfa]

ok. you know how an amp usually requires rca plugs on the head unit to send the signal to an amp? well this guy with the user name phreddy worked his magic on the stock vt/vx h/u to have rca outs on the back. they are very clean so you wont notice a difference in sound quality compaired to a pioneer like you said.
so pretty much its a hugely cheap option to get a good stereo in a car for a lot less than it should cost.

[ruso]

Cheers garfa - i sent phreddy a pm

[semi]

plus the stock head unit probably look 'cleaner' than an aftermarket one in the VX console

[garfa]

true, less likely to be broken into aswell.

[antvt]

get enough audio gear in the boot and it will also lower your car...best of both worlds.

[ruso]

like your idea antvt ...maybe i'll get my front lowered and then put enough gear in my boot to lower the back...how sweats that...lol

[phat_com]

untill you go ova a bump and max out ya shockies and fark 'em
don't yet a jaycar sub because for a 12" its like 299 and you can get a nice boxed cadience sub for that price (JB hifi)

and if you want a nice clean looking headunit go to the wreckers and get a calais headunit and stacker because it would have rca preouts and look stock

[garfa]

untill you go ova a bump and max out ya shockies and fark 'em
don't yet a jaycar sub because for a 12" its like 299 and you can get a nice boxed cadience sub for that price (JB hifi)

and if you want a nice clean looking headunit go to the wreckers and get a calais headunit and stacker because it would have rca preouts and look stock

yep and the calais hu has 3 preouts? probably not... just mod the stock h/u. cheaper.
and so this jaycar 12 inch is $152. so how about 2 jaycars! also dont assume the cadence is better than the jaycar.

[ruso]

U rekon I should try the calais h/u or should I not bother and just put a decent pioneer h/u in. What about Sony h/u's how do they go?? I've seen them going for $300 and they look decent. Or should I stay away from them.....

[garfa]

ok pretty much i dont mind what you do but
sony are shit.
the calais h/u is a waste of time and money.
and the modded stock h/u is the best option you have because it will be so cheap. unless you want mp3 support.

[ruso]

Has anyone heard of an amplifier with brand name; 'Audio Focus'. Their made in USA. It is 70WATTS by 2channel. Attached a photo of it. Basically I was wondering if it would be good enough to power a 12" sub, if it were bridged???? It reads mono on the back so obviously it can be bridged but how much power will it have??? Tried doing the maths but couldn't work it out.

Here's some more details which are written ontop of the amp:
- Audio Focus
- Car Power MOSFET Amplifier
- 70watts X 2
- model: AP 720

- has a fused attached on the side: 15A 32V

[garfa]

yeh ok its probably like around 40Wrms per channel, so say around 70-80Wrms bridged. well yes it could drive a sub but it sort of like saying could an excel do as burn out? yes it could with cooking oil and 4 guys lifting up the back! thats amp isn't really worth much effort, go for something from the jaycar range, cheap with heaps of grrrunt!!!

[ruso]

Garfa I hope you don't take this the wrong way because I'm greatful for any help I can get, but are you certain that it will ony give 70-80Wrms bridged.

After reading 12Voltking's post on 'bridging amps' he calculated that a 50watt by 2 channel amp could put out 200watts if bridged. Attached some of his post below. Sorry if I'm wrong but I'm just confused how a 50watt amp can put out 200watts bridged, yet a 70 watt amp cannot??? After using the calculations below and substituting numbers I got 280watts......

""Imagine you have a two-channel amp that puts out 50 watts into each channel when driven into a load of 4 ohms per channel. Since we know P and Z, we can plug these numbers back into our power equation and find V. 50 = (V^2)/4 -> V = sqrt(200). So, we're seeing a voltage of 14.1 volts across each channel.

Now, imagine we bridge this amp, and use it to push just one of those 4 ohms loads. When the amp is bridged, the voltage is doubled. Since we know the voltage (2*14.1 volts), and the impedance (4 ohms), we can calculate power. Remember that P = V*V/Z. That means P = (28.2^2)/4, which is 198.1 watts. It should be clear by now that the new power is approximately 200 watts - quadruple the power of a single, unbridged channel!""

[Scooter79]

I when I bought my Calais the stacker was playing up. Had a problem with the laser. So I bought a second hand one off ebay that had been serviced. BIG MISTAKE! It had a problem with the motor and only worked for a week. Plus the stock cassette head unit ate a tape and would not eject it. All I had left was the radio. I bit the bullet and bought a Pioneer DEH-P4850 for only $245, and the sound quality is so much better than the Eurovox. You also have a lot of special functions in the head unit if you have a sub. I had a Pioneer in my last car and could never fault it.

[ruso]

Hey all!
Just saw this headunit on ebay.
NEW 2006 JVC KD-DV6205 DVD/VCD/CD/MP3/WMA PLAYER
It's going for $389.00.
I was looking at buying PIONEER DEH-P6850MP player for $375, but I then noticed that JVC was only $14more and thought it might be a damn good buy.

Has anyone had any problems with JVC before?
Also is it worth buying it, if I won't be buying the screen for a few months???

Can't wait to get a new h/u

[mouce]

I threw a JVC KDG-615 into my car almost a year ago now (with a 12 disk MP3/CD changer in the boot) and the only problem it's had has been with crappy wiring that the previous owner left hidden in the dash. It's a damn nice unit.