Suggestions for my VT sound...need lots of advice!

[Dylan VT]

Hi everyone.

Eventually I want to have a much better sound coming from my VT than what I currently have. The speakers are stock and sound TERRIBLE for loud heavy metal.

The CD player is also an alpine 6 stacker in the boot, and instead of just controlling it through remote to turn it on and off, you have to sort of tune it into the radio to get the sound coming out. That may be regular for a lot of you but I've never come across it before. :

My question is...because the CD player is a good one, should I just replace the speakers? Will that give me a much better sound? Or will it still sound bad because it's going through the tuner for the radio?

If I'd be better off buying a new head unit and amp and whatever and all that jazz (plus speakers) could I still keep my CD player or should I just sell it to someone and get everything new?

Thanks guys.

[Wagon_Wheel]

WTF?! U tune the stacker through the radio...... GAY! lol never heard of that before, but yeah that could possibly reduce quality a bit.
What sorta headunit have u got?
Upgrading the speakers will give u slight improvement, but the speakers wont be fully powered running from the headunit, I definatly suggest running all speakers from an amp.
You might be able to keep the headunit depending on what it is as i dont know.

[Dylan VT]

Aside from the CD player in the boot, everything in the cars sound system is stock. The head unit, speakers...everything.

I'm thinking if I can't keep the CD player I'll just buy a different head unit and take out the stock one, and then get an amp, change out the speakers and be set, but I'd like to keep the CD player if I can.

I'm just not sure if I'll be able to hook it up without having to tune it through the radio because the quality probably gets reduced there, but I'm not sure.

[klaw81]

The CD stacker must be an FM transmitter type. It will work with any head unit, but it is possible that the quality of sound is not the greatest...I know this is the case with FM transmitters from iPod's and the like. Although from memory, there were some stackers that actually plugged into the radio aerial, rather than actually transmitting the signal.

In any case, you can upgrade all the other components (including the head unit) without touching the stacker, and it should still work fine. I imagine your first priority should be replacing the front speakers, and maybe the head unit, with better quality items.

[Wagon_Wheel]

Yeah, definatly new headunit, and with the new headunit, it will sound a bit better even with the stock speakers, if its a good quality head unit, but with good speakers hooked up to an amp itll sound sweet.

[StoneX]

New head unit, keep Alpine stacker as it'll work with any head unit you buy, but use the head unit's internal CD player for most music as it'll be better quality. Then whenever you can upgade the speakers, then amps, sub, etc.

[Dylan VT]

Sweet. Sounds nice guys. I can't wait to get some GOOD sound.

[Joe_222]

If you really want good sound take that stacker and throw it in the bin, changing cd's is easy.

If money's no issue replace everything, if not the h/u the last thing to replace, the biggest change will come from the quality of your speakers then your amp then your h/u, get $500+ splits, if you really like your music anthing else will sound great at first but after a while all their little flaws will get on your nerves.

[Joe_222]

Also, soft dome tweeters, nothing too harsh like boston or focal

If you listen to metal all day on harsh tweeters you'll get a headache

[StoneX]

I like metal and hard rock... I went for Morels, then Dynaudio because they're high end speakers with soft dome tweeters... I found them to be weak sounding... I have now gone for Boston Z6's which sound so much better for everything I listen to.

[Dylan VT]

Thanks for the advice guys.

...and I'm not likely to get a headache. I DO play metal all day and everyday, and I sit infront of this in my loungeroom whilst doing it!

I think I'm going to put a holt on my car mods. Although the speakrs don't sound great, they still at least play music. I saw Nevermore on the weekend and now I'm going to buy a 7 string!
Keep the advice coming though guys because I'll need it soon anyway.

[Joe_222]

Nice, i've got a guitar like that except mines a copy and a piece of sh!t (can i write swearwords?)

Didn't mean metal would give you a headache, just saying tweeter selection would be important for you because of all the high notes.

off topic a bit but what did you have running your dyn's stone?

[StoneX]

Audison LRx2.500 (rated at 200Wrms x 2 @ 4 ohm).

[buzurk]

I'd start off with a new headunit, some really good splits, withe dynamatted doors, and a single DD 1012 Subby, To power it all you can just use a 2ch amp and a response 800wrms mono

[vt com]

just boughta vt and im going down the same track except I have most of the audio gear already.

alpine 9827 h/u
pioneer tsc-160r splits
jaycar 4x130rms amp
eplison 600rms monblock
jaycar 12" dvc sud
just need to sort out some rear fill and all should be sweet.

later on I will upgrade the h/u init with a double din dvd