What to spend $4000 on?

[burkey22]

I am about to get a Nissan Stagea RS4. When it gets here I want to put a decent stereo in. I'll have about $4000 to spend but I have no idea what to get.

Sound clarity is most important. I won't be entering any sound offs or anything.

I want all Alpine gear I reckon.

I'll replace my six standard speakers and buy two 10" maybe 12" subs. What kind of speakers, subs and amps would people recommend? The car has a decent head unit in at the moment so I'm not too worried about that.

[bless_you]

head unit willl make the biggest difference!

[95GTST]

$4K should get you a pretty decent system... personally with that sort of money I'd go for DLS speakers (sub + splits) and rockford amps.

What HU you running?

[burkey22]

At the moment it's got a Kenwood CD/MD Head Unit but I want to get an Alpine IVA-D300 and Ipod interface ASAP.

[martydaman]

go for 2 12inch alpine type R subs if you want to stick with alpine... they have very low enclosure requirements when compared to other brands so could save space

[wolverine]

contact marty at www.fhrxstudios.com

if you want quality car hi-fi he's worth calling.

[Veilside R33]

alpine are very good but im not a big fan of their speakers or subs, dont get me wrong, they are still very good but for the money you pay i think you could much better.

if it were me i would go with focal speakers, they are absolutely incredible and arent to expensive, alpine deck and amp, and different subs.

but in my oppinion the most important thing about buying car audio, is to buy it on sale lol, pices drop through the floor when stores have slaes, you can save sooo much money!!!

[burkey22]

Cheers. I'll certainly keep that in mind. Do you think sound deadining is worth worrying about? Like I said I won't be entering any comps I just want it clear for my ears.

[mcnamg]

just remember that the stagea is not a light mofo so adding too much sound deadening can be bad so just use it where you need dont want to lose too much performance from weight gains

[martydaman]

nah... deadening is probably not a good option... its more of a complete job... you either do everything or nothing, no half assed attempts. As you stated, your not entering any comps, so i wouldnt worry about it.

[wolverine]

Cheers. I'll certainly keep that in mind. Do you think sound deadining is worth worrying about? Like I said I won't be entering any comps I just want it clear for my ears.

sound deadening is worth every cent.

if you are prepared to do it yourself $100 worth of sound deadening in your doors will make a massive difference to the sound quality. this relies on you pulling the door trims off and installing it yourself. it is unlikely to take longer than 2-3 hrs (so allow a whole afternoon just in case). i think most installers will charge about $250-$300 per door.....

bear in mind if you spend $100 extra on your deck, splits, sub, amp and cables i defy you to hear any difference.

i have sound deadened both doors and under the back seat and wheel arches, i used 2 sheets of serenity max, it weighs 4kg/m each sheet was 1.3x1m.

the biggest sound difference was the doors.

if you lived in Sydney i would help you do it.

[burkey22]

Uh oh conflicting opinions. Oh well I've got plenty of time to think about it. The way things are going by the time I get my car fuel will be $15 a litre and everyone will riding around on electric scooters.

[SLIM V 2.1.0]

I am about to get a Nissan Stagea RS4. When it gets here I want to put a decent stereo in. I'll have about $4000 to spend but I have no idea what to get.

Sound clarity is most important. I won't be entering any sound offs or anything.  

I want all Alpine gear I reckon.  

I'll replace my six standard speakers and buy two 10" maybe 12" subs. What kind of speakers, subs and amps would people recommend? The car has a decent head unit in at the moment so I'm not too worried about that.

i reckon you should spend your $4000 on some souped up rollerblades.

[someonestolecc]

Sound deadening = get it

I'm doing just two doors properly - this will help my speakers greatly.

[CerealKiller]

good speakers without sound deadening can sound like cheap ones. Definately worth it IMO.

[rtwin]

Veilside r33 recommended Focal speakers and I would have to say I definately agree with him there. Alpine speakers, unless you're buying their top of the line stuff are generally quite average. Focal are unbelievable, especially for the price, and mine sound easily twice as good as my friends alpine typer splits. I also like Boston Rallys and JL audio speakers.

Alpine amps are good, but my money would be on an Eclipse amp. If you're hell bent on Alpine however they are a good amp choice nonetheless.

With the headunit, I like Eclipse or Clarion (I have the clarion dxz746mp). Alpine are also good but for SQ the other two are the picks.

Oh and sound deaden your door. I was quoted about $300 bucks for for them to do both front doors so at $150 a door its affordable. It'll make your midbass much better and stop road noise affecting your tweeter's detail.

With subs, I'd go Pioneer (or DLS)! My friend's alpine type r sub sounds shithouse compared to his brothers (much) cheaper Rockford sub (which I though was shithouse before he bought the pioneer class d to power it), and if you read a lot of local car mags Pioneer subs tend to come first in the SQ marks. Pioneer's sound good when you give them a lot of power to play with, and that includes their $250 subs and upwards. They sell ready made subs in boxes too, the amp for a sub tends to be more important imo. DLS are good but generally more expensive and hard to source.

Oh and make sure a reputable shop does the fitting. Proper installation makes a big difference. Don't let your 'mate who knows how to do it' touch anything!

my 2c, hope it helps

[ICE12]

At the moment it's got a Kenwood CD/MD Head Unit but I want to get an Alpine IVA-D300 and Ipod interface ASAP.

I am getting the same Alpine IVA-D300 as my Stagea came with am Alpine MD player. I will then add things as I can aford them.

ICE

[someonestolecc]

This may help-

http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp...studios/faq.asp

System Cost: $2000

Source Unit(s): Alpine CDA-9827 / Pioneer DEH-P5650MP / Clarion DXZ746MP

Front Speaker(s): Boston RC620 / Diamond M361 / Hertz HSK 165 / Rainbow CMX 265 Kick / Morel Pulse / Phoenix Gold ZR6.5 Comp / Vibe ST-60 / Eton Pro-160X

Sub(s): JL Audio 12W0-4 / Image Dynamics ID12V.3 / Diamond M312 / Hertx HX 300 / Boston GS1204 / Phoenix Gold R12D / Digital Designs 2012 / Vibe BlackAir-12

Amplifier(s): Audison SRx3 / Phoenix Gold R8.0:4

Cable: Stinger / Phoenix Gold / Audison

Deadening: G-Spot Serenity Max / Stinger Roadkill / Dynamat Pro

System Cost: $5000

Source Unit(s): Alpine CDA-9833 / Pioneer DEH-P7550MP / Clarion DXZ946MP

Front Speaker(s): Kicker RS6 / Boston Pro6.5 / Diamond M661 / Focal Polyglass 165V2 / Hertz HSK 1600 / Rainbow CS 265 Profi Vanadium Kick / Morel Dotech Mk II / Phoenix Gold X6.5 / Eton RS-160

Sub(s): JL Audio 12W3 / Image Dynamics IDQ12D4.V2 / Diamond M312 / Focal 33A / Hertx HX380 / Phoenix Gold X12D / Digital Designs 2512 / Vibe Space-12

Amplifier(s): 2 x ARC Audio 2100XXK / 2 x Audison SRx2S / Zapco 350 & Zapco 500M / Boston GT20 & Boston GT22 / Tru-Tech T-4.65 & Tru-Tech T-2.100 / Phoenix Gold R4.0:2 & Phoenix Gold R5.0:1

Cable: Stinger / Phoenix Gold / Audison

Deadening: G-Spot Serenity Max / Stinger Roadkill / Dynamat Pro

[burkey22]

Thanks guys you've been a great help. I was thinking about buying all my parts myself off Ebay so I can get them a bit cheaper. How many and what type of amps would I need? I reckon I'll just replace my factory speakers with better ones and have a couple of subs (10" or 12") in the boot. I realise it's probably a difficult question but any help at all but any help at all would be awesome. ICE 12 I've seen the IVA D300 on Ebay for $1500 they're normallly about $4000.

[paulr33]

dont buy it off ebay and get it all in seperate bits, waste of time and effort.

take the car to a good car audio dealer and say build me a stereo

for 2k you should be able to get

1 x headunit

1 x pair of front splits

1 x pair of rear coax speakers

2 x amps

2 x subs

all installed and tuned for 2k easily. my stereo in my skyline is

1 x headunit (alpine cda9807)

1 x pair of front splits (alpine type r 6" or 5")

1 x pair of rear coax speakers (alpine 6" unsure of model)

2 x amps (1 for front spilits and rear spakers, 1 for subs)

2 x subs (apline 12" type s subs in a box)

best 2000 ive ever spent, that was installed took about 2.5 days