car soundsystem

[bartboy9891]

Ok, so my friend has a 2001 Audi A4 1.8T quattro manual, and he is looking for a good soundsystem for it (mainly just a sub and an amp, but speakers as well as long as the price is right) He's looking for something in the $500 range. any help or just pointing me in the right direction will be helpful.

[Lilleput]

The TH-Series Blaupunkt speakers are amazing and diddent cost that much, cant remember what i payed for a 4-2-1 set up but it couldent be more than $450

[jensked]

On the JBL! website you can see the prices. It's a very good brand and you can definitely find something in your friends price range.

http://www.jbl.com/car/products/defa...=US&Region=USA

[bartboy9891]

@Lilleput: are Blaupunkt sold in the US?
@Jensked: are there certain JBL components that you can recommend? I was eyeing the GTI series but they are a little pricey. do you know if the GTO's suffice?

[bone]

i wouldn't be picky and just get the cheapest you find, you'll be highly dissapointed

at least go for a decent brand, not necessarily the top range of their products, but they should have a good reputation

imho, for composets and 2/3-way systems you're best off with MacAudio, the purest sound for the littlest money

and also get a good amp, and preferably one with a remote bass boost controller. i hate it when you have one setting, and it's always the same. rock, hiphop, normal radio, they all need their own settings, so you definately should be able to alter it without having to go into your trunk (or whereever you'll install it).
might as well get a condensator (transl?), gives a much clearer bass.

and final advice...don't get it in a store. way to expensive.

check ebay, there are always guys who sell their complete setup caus they got another car or sth, might make a great deal there. or go to tuningevents, prices are much cheaper there, wile many will still give a warranty

[Lilleput]

Originally Posted by bartboy9891

@Lilleput: are Blaupunkt sold in the US?
@Jensked: are there certain JBL components that you can recommend? I was eyeing the GTI series but they are a little pricey. do you know if the GTO's suffice?

Yeah they are: http://www.blaupunktusa.com/BlaupunktUSA

[jensked]

Originally Posted by bartboy9891

@Jensked: are there certain JBL components that you can recommend? I was eyeing the GTI series but they are a little pricey. do you know if the GTO's suffice?

I don't know much about car audio and how much noise your friend wants to make, so i couldn't say if a 520Watt amp is enough. I've got a 800Watt amp at home that drives four Mackie's and I know that's pretty loud. in a car, you are probably better off with less power, but then again, i'm not the superloud-type.

[bone]

you better have to much amplifieing than to little

an amp playing at 10% will give better sound than one playing at 90%

and you might also wanne check out sony xplod series, great bang for bucks (you can use that here as well )

[Buba]

I think its also quite important which kind of music it should play and if a hard bass should be at hand...

Buba

[bartboy9891]

my friend listens mainly to rap/hip hop. so bass is a must, however he doesnt care too much for the overpowered noise that you get from very high powered subs + amp. he is looking for clarity over power.

So far, he is interested in the JBL GTI series, blaupunkt VW100, and several different JL's and Alpines as well. He's not so sure about the Xplod line since he says many people he knows who have em have had problems with them.

@bone: since you seem to be very knowledgeable in this matter, what brand amp do you recommend? 400-500watts is ample amount. and i am fairly sure that MacAudio's arent sold in this area.

[jeffy777]

I've had good luck with Eclipse amps:
http://www.eclipse-web.com/

[mautzel]

Personally, I can recommend Kenwood amps - had one two years ago and was very satisfied with it, got it used from ebay (and that's probably where it went again after they stole my stereo system ) Keeping that in mind I wouldn't spend a fortune on components such as amplifiers and subwoofers any more...

[MXM]

^ I had bad experience with Kenwood (from the cheap part of the line-up, and about 4 years ago). When I experimented with my setup, I wanted to put tweeters and mid-bass through separate amplification channels (with active crossover before the amp, dumped the idea later), and tweeters were incredibly noisy from this amp. Also when I powered subwoofer from it, it gave quite a loud "boom" impulse on power on/off.

Since then I was using Phoenix Gold, and I couldn't be happier. True power is much more than what manufacturer prints, and quality is all I could ask for. Plus it has those great 24db/octave crossovers, so my sub is not producing any high notes and delivers the punch where it's needed But again, it's quite noticably more expensive, so I can't say all PG are better than all Kenwoods, but that's my experience.

For a cheap setup I can recommend 2-way system powered from head unit + subwoofer bridged over 2-channell amp. That way you can always expand the system, say connecting your speakers to this amp, and buying something more powerfull for sub, or if you buy another sub to pair with this one.
Just remember to do all the sub-box calculations if you plan to do it yourself, don't blindly follow manufacturer's recommendations, they often sound bad, and are tuned for high SPL (I like my bass, low, not loud). Or you could just get an active subwoofer, they are ok (some are very very good), if you don't need scaleable system, or just not interested in subject.

Don't bother with expensive speakers for back, all the important sound should come from front. Especially highs. That's why 2-way is needed, to place tweeters on dashboard, and orient them to get a uniform stereo-picture. 3-way is just too much work to get it sound right, and a newbie can easily make it sound worse than 2-way.

[Buba]

Originally Posted by MXM

For a cheap setup I can recommend 2-way system powered from head unit + subwoofer bridged over 2-channell amp. That way you can always expand the system, say connecting your speakers to this amp, and buying something more powerfull for sub, or if you buy another sub to pair with this one.

Totally agree... I have a JVC HeadUnit, cheapo Lightning Audio 4 channel Amp (got it for half the the usual Price and its the RockfordFosgate cheaper brand, I am actually quite happy with it... It has 440 watts rms -> plenty for a Golf, since the trunk is kind of in the car and not really separated) and it powers a Helix 12" sub... and 3 way Xplod for the back.
Front speakers were from the previous owner and are powerd via the HU.

Thats pretty much around 500 Euros...

[bartboy9891]

thanks for all the info! so far, my friend has decided to go for two 10inch subs, or one 12 inch sub. a 2 channel amp, probably 400-500 watts. not sure what his thoughts are on speakers at the moment. he may run out of money before he gets to em
he seems to be aiming too high for the moment, though if he buys everything off of ebay it might fit into his budget

[bone]

Originally Posted by bartboy9891

my friend listens mainly to rap/hip hop. so bass is a must, however he doesnt care too much for the overpowered noise that you get from very high powered subs + amp. he is looking for clarity over power.

the overpowered noise you might hear comming from some systems will be most of the time due to a lack of amplifiers. they haven't got enough watt, so they turn up the bass boost to the max. gives more bass, but a realy shitty sound

realy, don't save money on an amp, it's the single most important thing in an installation

[bartboy9891]

Originally Posted by bone

the overpowered noise you might hear comming from some systems will be most of the time due to a lack of amplifiers. they haven't got enough watt, so they turn up the bass boost to the max. gives more bass, but a realy shitty sound

realy, don't save money on an amp, it's the single most important thing in an installation

thanks! that clears things up, no pun intended.