Audio Dummy Here?

[Anquetil]

Hi Guys,

I'm after some recommendations on a cheap Amp & Sub, audio is not my number one priority in the car, so it ceratinly doesn't have to be an award winning setup.

How are these for example, really bad?...

http://www.strathfield.com.au/product.asp?ProdID=76

http://www.strathfield.com.au/product.asp?ProdID=537

At the moment it still has the 4 speaker setup, with a semi decent Pioneer head unit that does the job. Front speakers are shite, rears seem OK, sorry for the lack of detail.

Do you run the sub and rears off the amp, and run the fronts off the head unit?

Where is the best place to install the amp & sub, I value my boot space, next to the battery?

Thanks for any help.

Are there any threads for newbies to read on audio?

[Nav2k]

by the looks of it, it seems u have around less than $400 to spend on a sub and amp.

If u front speakers are good, yes, amp them with a 4 channel amp with 2 channels to the front, and the rear channels bridged to the sub.

leave the rear speakers running off the headunit.

Good subs for $200 might be the Alpine type s or the Fusion few-12 or JL-audio w0's . For $200 for the amp, look at something like a jaycar 4x50rms. This will bridge to 150rms at 4ohms for ur sub and 2x50rms for the front speakers. IMO those 3 subs above r better than that mtx. U'll need some money for cabling aswell, if ur gonna leave ur setup like that, 8Gauge cabling should be enough. 4G would be better, but i dont think u'll need it. Leave about $40 for that + all other wires rca's etc. $20 for wood for a box if u can build it urself. (sorry i went over the budget..but with the amp and subs u should look for 2nd hand or something and get the best possible thing u can when ur on a tight budget..maximise what ur getting).

good luck.

[NuGGeT]

are your speakers stock!?! if so they only have 15watt rms which means you'll most prob blow them with an amp. maybe try and look at upgrading the front ones aswell that way the rears still sound ok but the fronts will be good and u can amp them

[wolverine]

shane

email or pm fhrx.

[predator]

Pretty much same advice as nav2k.. just get some good fronts .. you can do without the sub for a while until you really want good big bass (or maybe you don't care about bass, depends what you listen to).

Best to stay clear of some of the "no-name" brands as while they might often say "800watt" 800watt can mean anything, and they could sound shithouse even at mild volume, and can have bad background hiss, etc which can really shit you when listening to quiet bits of music. Soon as you put it in you'll regret it. For under $200 for a "200watt max peak per channel" (equates to around 50wRMS.. not much more than your face unit), i'd definitely stay clear!!

For a reasonable 4x channel you're probably looking closer to $400 min. Like Nav2k says also, jaycar has some reasonably priced amps in the budget end. Just looking at their latest sale catalogue I have in front of me.. they have a 4x100w RMS (@4ohm) for $379.

I've got a mono amp of theirs powering my 12" sub, and pretty good... I only paid $130 for mine too! (a SAU group buy i organised).. RRP is about $200 - so you could look at that if all you want is an amp to power a sub.

Best just to get 2x best you can afford for front, 2x reasonable for rears.. and wait until you can afford the amps, etc. For many sometimes just 4x speakers powered off the face unit are fine.

[Ouch]

yeah, I agree with the predator. Its no good getting a lot of bits n pieces if your not gonna get quality components cos all you'll end up doing is complicating the signal path which increases distortion. If you look at it another way: say if you had an awesome sub but a crappy amp, all the sub will do is let you hear the crappy signal from the amp clearly. Stay simple and get good bits, that way you can always add to what you've got, and not suddenly decide that what you have is crap once you get something better. A really good 4 speaker or even 2 speaker config if its set up right will destroy some of the no name budget sub n amp packages.

Actually, if audio is not ur priority you might want to consider some 6x9s and ditch the sub idea. True 6x9s aren't good for clarity, and most audiophiles would stay completely clear of those, but they are a good compromise for base. Think of it this way: the oblong shape stuffs up the clarity, but each one has approx surface area of an 8 inch sub - hence good for bass, not clarity. Would probably be ok if u had nice splits (ive never tried/heard this before though). At least you'll save on weight and space. But to get to the full potential of good 6x9s you'd need to run them off an amp though. The head unit will probably underpower them.

But then again, in audio it all depends on how deep you wanna go into it and how picky your ears are. ie: no point getting $800 splits if you cant hear the difference between $400 splits - some ppl can, some cant. Do what sounds good to you. Hope that helps. btw, when ur testing out spkrs on a demo wall, listen out for differences between spkrs on the same setup, same song cos they will inevitably sound completely different when installed in ur car.

[Anquetil]

Thanks guys, I'm taking your advice and holding off on the Amp & Sub till later.

For now I'm going to get some good quality front & rears.

Head unit is a Pioneer DEH-P2050 45x4.

The current rear speakers may still be stock, Clarion 30Watt's? (Sound better than the fronts ATM)

And the fronts I'm unsure, but there yellow.

I know how to access the rears but how do I access the fronts, I have to pull off the door trim right? But how?

[hippy]

its easy ... i'm sure u can do a search and find out ... only advice is if something isn't going out .. dont' pull too hard ...

[Frosty]

door trims are easy

just make sure that you take the screw out of the boor handle inside before you try and yank if off

[Fhrx]

Sub and amp for $400 including cable and enclosure?

Sorry, but with all due respect, do yourself a favour and just go without for now because those four things for $400 is only going to end in tears.

Even using second hand equipment.

[paulr33]

hi shane,

how did u go with your stereo purchase/install ?

[Anquetil]

hi shane,

how did u go with your stereo purchase/install ?

Paul, I've decided to save and go for the good gear later on.

[murray]

ok i no my speakers ( im a sound engineer) and avalanche ARE VERY VERY SHIT never buy them u should put some pioneer/fusion/alpine in never that SHIT stuff