Who wants chowder?
calling all audiophiles
Rightyooooo, moving from the engine mods in the calais for now and into the car for a audio upgrade and since i know fugg all about this stuff i was wanting some advice on what is the shit when it comes to this stuff. Basically i want to keep the stock unit and replace the speakers for a better quality sounding system but i don't want to spend a fortune doing it, would rather do that under the bonnet
Anyhoo i was looking at the front doors, rear doors and was wondering if it was worth while doing the amp as well, i'm not interested in a boot full of subs either, just something that sounds good.
Any brand suggestions or feedback from people who have done this is most welcome.
Cheers.
I Believe
been a few threads on this. general consensus is that amping the stock head unit can sometimes cause you grief due to feedback/interference coming through the speakers. if you arent doing the work yourself, get the installer to put it in writing that there will be no alternator noise/feedback audible through the speakers. that being said, since you will be opening the door cavities- dynamat them while you are in there. will make a big difference. i cant help with brands, best if you go somewhere and listen to some different setups (and get a better idea on how much you want to spend). its very hard for someone to recommend brands/units if there's no budget. you can spend $500 or more on one set of focal speakers, or you can buy $50 kenwood ones. same thing with amps.... jaycar, or pioneer/alpine/etc.
Who wants chowder?
i dunno, mabye $500-600. I'm not going to have all the windows down so everyone can hear my doof doof, just want something that sounds a bit better than factory.
I'm still in the process of doing this at the moment. I have dynamatted the doors and replaced the stock speakers with JBL's (GTO Series). They went straight into the doors with no modification required to the pods or anything. They are a 2 ohm speaker which is same as stock. The new speakers on their own sounds heaps better but there is no increase in volume so I will be adding an amp in the next couple of weeks. The amp I have purchased is the Kenwood KAC9405. Has speaker level inputs which makes life a lot easier for installation. Couldn't tell you how it will sound until it's done but I will let you know.
If it turns out that it doesn't sound that great I can always add an LC6 converter in the future which gives a little more adjustments to the sound I believe.
You're not going to get much better than factory with that budget... The factory speakers suit the car very well, aftermarket speakers won't and will require the doors to be sealed and to be amplified to get the same low end response that the stock speakers have. Then if you want an amp, you need a line output converter to convert the speaker output of the stock head unit to RCA for an aftermarket amp. I've been putting it off for nearly a year because of the costs involved to do it properly.
I'm a sceptic...
Has everyone forgotten about phreddy's RCA output mod?
He's a hard man to get in contact with
Does anyone know what he charges for the RCA mod?
Stock head unit doesn't have enough tune-ability for my liking. Would much rather use something like a Audison BitOne or BitTen to allow some actual decent adjustments to the audio.Originally Posted by davey g-force
I'm a sceptic...
True, but judging by the OP's posts, I doubt he's after something of that caliber..
Who wants chowder?
Cheers for the responses, mabye i should just do the speakers for now and add an amp later on then. Is it hard to put in the dynamat in the doors?
Who wants chowder?
I'd appreciate that mate. let us know how it goes.
It's not difficult, just time consuming as you should clean the surface with "Wax & Grease Remover" before applying the Dynamat and getting your hands inside the door cavity is kind of awkward and even more awkward trying to press the Dynamat down firmly so there's no air bubbles. You're sure to end up with little cuts all up your forearmsBut I've done it in my last 3 cars and it's well worth it if you want decent bass response from your front speakers and a door that doesn't resonate.
Not hard at all. I didn't even clean the surface area because my car is brand new. Just pulled off the plastic and away I went. No cuts on the forearms but plenty on the fingers.
This is the stuff I used. Just as good as dynamat and cheaper too
SOUND DEADENER MAT - CAR AUDIO DEADENING (Dynamat type) | eBay
The cleaning is so it doesn't fall off after a couple of years.
Also, don't use a Dynamat copy. They're not all the same like some people claim. There was a site a few years back that did a comparison of several brands of deadener and Dynamat came out as the most effective and resilient product. RAAMmat came out as the best value for money product. [edit] And I just found a PDF of the website, the results are toward the bottom but the whole article is interesting. Here's the link: Sound_Deadener_Showdown.pdf
The eBay link above is for 40sq ft of an unknown product for $200, but you can get 36sq ft of Dynamat, a tried and proven product, for $230 from FHRX posted, last time I price checked.
Changed my Rear speakers (70bux) 6.5inch and then my front component speakers (250bux) and then 300amp and sub kicker pack and im happy
Who wants chowder?
Forgive the stupid question but do you dynamat just under the door skin where the plastic is or the outer skin on the door itself?
Seems people do one or the other so was just wondering.
If you're doing it properly, you do the outer skin and inner frame when you cover the service holes. The outer skin loves to resonate with music which the Dynamat reduces/eliminates and covering the service holes increases midbass dramatically. Doing both makes the door sound very solid and blocks a fair bit of road noise that would usually come through the door.
I did both the inner and outer skins of all doors. Made the doors feel a lot more solid.
Who wants chowder?
Cheers guys. Would one bulk pack do the job or would i need more?
Who wants chowder?
Alrighty, i've bought a bulk pack of dynamat superlite from the states, i'll hopefully have some left over to do the boot as well.
Has anyone here used earthquake speakers? Was talking to a local specialist and he was pushing the earthquake splits for the front, says they're mint but i've never heard of them.
Thoughts?
Earthquake subs were good about 10 years ago, don't hear much about them anymore. I'd be LISTENING to some other brands.
How's the Superlite compare to the Extreme?
Who wants chowder?
Same product, just less weight.
Yeah i've never heard of them, just thought i'd ask. I'll be listening to others for sure.
Who wants chowder?
Well leaning towards these for the front
http://www.ryda.com.au/Pioneer-TS-D1...p/tsd1720c.htm
And these for the rear
http://www.maxaudio.com.my/index.php...productId=2406
May run an amp later on down the track but will be off the factory unit at this stage. Will these be okay off the factory deck for now?
Those pioneers are awesome. I had the old style yellow ones and they were loud crisp clear and tough. My brother bought focals around the same time and they weren't nearly as loud as my pioneers and after a weekend of full volume thrashing they lost some of their poke and volume.
I ran mine through an amp from the start and they were always paired with a sub. Get your bass out of a sub and your mid and high out of your splits and they'll last forever. When u start trying to pull base out of splits though the lifespan goes down
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