VX SOUNDSYSTEM WALKTHROUGH + lights

[Holliday15]

Hey, just bought my first car, 2001 commodore vx II lumina. I want to put in a system soon and want to know what the best set up would be. Im not looking at spending too much, just want nice quality sound and decent bass. As for the head unit, is there any way i can connect it to the current wheel controls?

Im looking at

Jvc 200 watt head unit

3-way splits in the front

Not sure about rear parcels

Sub in the boot (amp?)


Any help would be appreciated.

Also, i want to put either neon or led lights in the boot...how could i do this cheaply and easily?

Thanks

Adam

[madsav]

Hi mate, check out wow sight and sound they have alot of systems there ,
If your gonna run a subwoofer DONT put rear door speakers in , put a set of 6x9`s in the parcel shelf. if you dont want a sub then run front and rear door speakers . IMO get a set of splits for the front doors and mount the tweeter up in the dash, but im sure others on here will have better ideas then me anyways good luck

[PRAVX II S]

I would recommend a nice pair of splits for the front 2way splits FOCAL entry level splits sound good and 1 10 inch subwoofer. No rear fill speakers.
Power them through a amplifier.
For the head deck i would go pioneer but thats up to you. Make sure you buy one that has good EQ like high pass filter sub control. And a band eq
On my car i got 2way pioneer pro splits and one 10inch subwoofer. Using 2 channel 125x2 rms to the splits and one mono block to the subwoofer 350wrms.
Sounds great. Remember that sound has to be coming in front of you that goes for the subwoofer as well.

[Holliday15]

Thanks, if i didn't want to run a sub, how does

6'' 2 ways in front

(something in the rear doors?)

And 3-way 6x9's in the back parcel?

Sound?

This is the head unit im thinking of:

JVC 200 Watt MP3/CD Tuner With USB - CD Tuners - JB Hi-Fi - Smashing Prices!

[madsav]

Hey mat that sounds like a bloody good setup to me,

[PRAVX II S]

Thanks, if i didn't want to run a sub, how does

6'' 2 ways in front

(something in the rear doors?)

And 3-way 6x9's in the back parcel?

Sound?

This is the head unit im thinking of:

JVC 200 Watt MP3/CD Tuner With USB - CD Tuners - JB Hi-Fi - Smashing Prices!

You wont get good bass out of 6x9s. You are better of getting a subwoofer.
6" 2ways are ok. but 2 way splits sound way better.

[klampy]

what do you mean you wont get good bass out of 6x9s? with an amp theyre equivalent cone area to an 8inch woofer. and pumping into the boot they can be made to sound mega.

splits will always sound better than the equivalent coaxial, so def go splits in the front. and 6x9s in the self will give way more kick than a 6 in the rear door. if you dont want a sub i would highly recommend 6x9s.

[Holliday15]

So 6'' splits in the front
6x9's in the shelf
Anything in the rear??

And that head unit i posted... Good?

And anyway to use it with the wheel controls?

[klampy]

i dont know of any aftermarket head unit that will work with ur wheel controls, but thats not to say there isnt any. and unless youre running a 6 channel setup, IMO you wont need anything in the rear doors if you run them in the shelf.

and another IMO, im not a fan of JVC. i used to work at repco and had a large sound board in my store and out of the range we had, i would always find the Pioneer to be the best quality in build and in sound, next to fusion, and then Clarion, followed by JVC and then we had the cheap stuff, like Jensen and the no namers.

[Holliday15]

Could i wire it then? Someone suggested a wiring loom?

Okay thanks, i will look into the pioneer ones

[TXB-409]

There is a way to work the head unit so you can still use your steering controls, do a couple of searches on jc and on google, I remember reading some bloke was making something so you could do it.

[machone]

not much of a fan of jvc i ripped my jvc head unit out and replaced it with a pioneer unit....JVC are to tinny in sound pioneer have mosfet ... the front speakers replace with a better brand up to you or put splits in....but lose the rear door speakers and put 6 x 9s in the parcel shelf someone said they wont give you bass but thats wrong 6 x 9s are designed to give you a good range especially bass...you can buy a good pioneer 200 watt unit at JB for under 200 bucks with pioneer 6 x 9s for about 100 bucks the rear parcel grill for 30 bucks and it will give you a great sound with out blowing the budget.....also you should be able to buy the loom to connect to your steering controls...if your old stereo is a 2 din unit (original unit) then you will need to buy the tray compartment for under your new 1 din unit...JB also has these for about 20 bucks....then later put in a doof doof and a sub lol...but start off with a good head unit

[machone]

just realized i should work at jb lol

[Holliday15]

haha yeah you should, would be heaps fun working with car audio. Ok sweet, is it that much better getting splits in the front? And do i just leave the rear doors empty or?

[PRAVX II S]

what do you mean you wont get good bass out of 6x9s? with an amp theyre equivalent cone area to an 8inch woofer. and pumping into the boot they can be made to sound mega.
.

Its easier to put a 10inch subwoofer in a box to get good bass.
10 INCH subwoofer bass V 6x9 bass.
I know which one i would pick.

[Killr6]

yeah get splits in the front, and 6x9's in the parcel shelf and leave the rear doors empty.

and you can wire your after market head unit into your steering wheel, but say if you are using an ipod it wont work but CD's and things work with the steering wheel il ask my mate how he done it and get back to you.

[Holliday15]

Okay thanks very much,
i'm looking at pioneer head units at the moment and some of the say they have a Mini-jack input for wired OEM steering wheel.

[klampy]

Im looking at

Jvc 200 watt head unit

3-way splits in the front

Not sure about rear parcels

Sub in the boot (amp?)

Its easier to put a 10inch subwoofer in a box to get good bass.
10 INCH subwoofer bass V 6x9 bass.
I know which one i would pick.

if you run a sub, dont bother with the 6x9s, they will clash and sound muddy, in that case, run6s in the rear doors.

if you dont run a sub, 6x9s in the shelf will be the best compromise between sound quality and thumping bass.

[holden_calais_VT_1999]

hey mate i got a vt and im running 6.5 inch splits in the front 6.5 coaxial in the rear door 6x9 in the parcel shelf and 2 12" and never had a problem with the system never been to a sound comp but the guy at wow and auto barn were both impressed with my system by the way there all response speakers and amps

[wraith]

Oh boy I love car audio threads where all the experts come out of the wood work. It is possible to run a single din head unit with a pocket or something else DIN sized underneath. Usually you will find a double din head unit may be a little bit more expensive.

It's possible and easy enough to get a harness from your factory plug to what's called an ISO plug. Then from that another harness that goes from ISO to which ever head unit you want. If your looking at a cheap easy system that will be better then factory my suggestion to you for the moment is spend the coin on a nice head unit and a set of decent splits that are amplified. Down the track if you find it lacking bass etc then upgrade to a sub. In regards to brands when it comes to speakers choose with your ears not off other people's opinion. Not surprising to find some people enjoy the sound of one over the other irrespective of price.

By the way this head unit JVC KD-R626 is the higher end model of the one you were looking at and is the same price. I have sold countless numbers of these to my customers and a lot of them aren't nice on them and they do fine (I am not plugging JVC because I sell them I do it because I know first hand their good.)

[Holliday15]

Thanks for that mate
I think the head unit i decided on is the pioneer- DEH4350UB
It has everything i want and is advertised to have a jack to connect to OEM steering wheel controls.
Then i'll either get 6" splits in the front or 6x9's in the back followed by the other one. I'll see how that sounds and see what is lacking/needed.

As for the lighting. Im looking at doing a dash conversion. Anyone have suggestions of where to go or how best to do it?

Secondly, i want to get some lights in the boot. Nothing crazy, just something simple that i can turn on and off and sticks on the sides or something. Ideas?

[klampy]

i used to have a red neon that came on in the boot using the boot light switch, so when you open the boot it came on, and when closed it went off. easy.

and to start with for your system, IMO, i would start with the head unit and the front speakers first. get your sound quality first. you may find it to be enough depending on what you like...

[klampy]

Oh boy I love car audio threads where all the experts come out of the wood work.

id like to think your not referring to me in this, as i would like to think i have a decent ear for music and sound in general. check out the link in my sig V V V V

[machone]

[QUOTE=Holliday15;1905278]Thanks for that mate
I think the head unit i decided on is the pioneer- DEH4350UB


there a good unit for the price it has usb i pod

[Holliday15]

@klampy - where did you get the boot light from? Do you have a link or pic or something?

Im heaps confused with the head unit now. Many of them including the jvc and pioneer ones i listed are advertised to be ready to work with steering wheel controls?

Does that mean it will just work? Or only when i buy something else to go with it?