Ok just how does one get a really LOUD stereo in the 4 wheeler?
Well for one you have to decide on the main use for it. Is the car likely to enter any shows or Competitions in the future? If so then higher power and higher end components are usually used, mainly for p-factor (pucker, prestige, ect) but believe me, lower end components sound just a good at a 1/2 or less cost. Also a custom original installation is a major component of these systems. That means lots of time and $$$$
Will it ever see drags at the track? If it will the weight of all this crap is a primary concern. You don't want 4-60lb 15" subs in the trunk when you're trying to get under 10 sec in the 1/4. Smaller subs in sealed boxes usually outperform biggies in the bandpass.
Will it only see the street and the occasional ricer kill? If this is your nitch then what ever sounds good is what you want. Sometimes a Sparkomatic or Road Gear Wal-Mart special will work just fine. Of course ya get what ya pay for.
Ok so what would be a good starting point to replace the existing system in my (insert vehicle here)?
Start with the noisemaker. No not the mill under the hood.
The better stereos (IMHO)
Pioneer (Solid Reliable Last 5+ years easy)
Sony (Reliable Clean 2-3 years)
Clarion (Clean Powerful 3-4 years)
Kenwood (Overrated Clean Reliable 1-3 years)
Uhh ok if you get a killer deal
Balupunkt (Tuner Issues 2 years at most)
JVC (It's JVC)
Panasonic (Poor-Man's Pioneer)
RUN AWAY!!!!
Alpine (Too many issues to list unless u buy the $500 and up stuff)
Sanyo (WHY???? Samsung could do it better!)
AIWA is just getting into the market big. I have not had much experience with them. Reviews are generally good. Same for Eclipse stuff, just really expensive.
Lets say you just want to replace the old set up. New stereo, and speakers. No sub or amps in this set up. Yet...
Clarion DB345MP CD-RW/MP3 Receiver 129.95 Crutch 79.00EBay
Pioneer TS-G1040R 4" Dash Speakers 49.95 Crutch starting at 0.01 on Ebay
Pioneer TS-G1640R 6 1/2" Door Speakers 49.95 Crutch starting at 0.01 on Ebay
Pioneer TS-A6960R 6"x9" Rear Deck 79.95 Crutch starting at 0.01 on Ebay
Get your speaker wire (12-ga!) from Radio Shack, a 30'-50' roll will be more than enough.
Now wait a minute you say! That's six speakers and the radio only has 4 outputs! Never fear! Parallel or series? What is your pleasure?
have no idea
I am yapping about? Look at this:
Got it? Good!
Now this wiring setup should not be used permanently. This will suffice for a few months until you can get some amps. Keep in mind that the front outputs on the radio has a higher stress (due to the Ohm load) on it and it will eventually burn out, usually within 9-18 months.
One thing I really like to do, for the sound clarity, is use the same manufacturer and series speakers through out the vehicle cabin. The Subs don't have to be the same since bass is omidirectional low frequency signals. The mids and highs really need to be matched for clarity.
Now lets choose the amps for this system. We saved our pennies and want more power. You don't have to replace the speakers, they will last for at least 4 years, assuming you don't force a 1,000 gigawatt sub signal to them!
4" 20 RMS
6 1/2" 30 RMS
6"x9" 40 RMS
NEVER MATCH AMPS TO PEAK POWER RATING OF SPEAKER!!!!! You will BLOW IT! RMS (Root Mean Squared
) is the maximum constant power the speaker is capable of. The peak is what it can handle for a short peak or transient in the music, like a REALLY BAD ASS SANTANA OR HAMMET SOLO!!!!
Dash/Door Amp Clarion APA450 119.95 Crutch 69.99 Ebay (50RMSx4)
Rear Deck Amp Clarion APA250 79.95 Crutch 39.99 Ebay (50RMSx2)
NOTE: Be sure to turn the amp output down to match the speakers RMS!
Radio shack for the power/ground cable, 8-ga red/black
will work great for this setup. Ebay for the fuses and distribution hardware. This system will require 1 45-amp fuse. (watts per channel (50) x number of channels (6) x 2 (600) / 13.5 always round up!)
Mount the amps to a sheet of MDF and hook the shite up and enjoy the soothing sound of hard work.
Now ya want da BOOM! Well again you have to decide what type of BOOM you like. Do you want to feel the double kick from "One" (Metallica, 1989) in your chest? Or do ya want Snoop Dogg's LOW Bass breaking windows and setting off car alarms for 1,500 yards in any direction. Or is George Strait or Gretchen Wilson your music of choice?
Bass is a personal thing, like your preffered brand of prophylactic.
Metal, Country, Rock, and Classic Rock love small to medium sealed boxes with 8's or 10's. The sealed boxes produce really tight (virginesque) and exact bass. Larger sealed and any ported box loose some of that tighness, and is comparable to an experienced female around 25 years old who is a college grad. Bandpass is the loosest (crack whore on the corner, it's not supposed to be the size of a nickle outside and GRAND FUCKING CANYON AFTER THAT! Is it?
) and least accurate bass. But man can it throw that shite. This is what is usually responsible for smashed windows and involuntary deification :poop2: 
during competitions. (IMHO Bandpass and Ported boxes are not worth the time or trouble)
Level of construction difficulty
Sealed 3 of 10
Ported 7 of 10
Bandpass 9 of 10
There is another type called isobaric. This is where the subs are in a tube setup and are either facing cone to cone or mag to mag to each other. This type of configuration is only for looks (only seen this setup in EXPENSIVE Lexan or Plexiglas boxes.) You also have to send the same signal, one of them at 180 polarity to make the thing work. Difficulty 15 of 10
Lets just concentrate on the basics. You can buy good ready made boxes for subs at just about any stereo or box store. Or just build your own! Subs to use? Hell it really doesn't matter, as long at they have rubber surrounds, and plastic cones. Metal cones if you have the extra cash.
So let's go with 2 Sony XS-L1200B 12" subs in a sealed box. You can usually pick a pair of these up for 50 bucks or less on Ebay. They will need a 200x2 amp. The Sony XM-2200GTX will work perfect here. It is on Ebay for 97 bucks. You know who wants $180 for it!! :hairraise:
I highly recommend this type of amp over a mono for audiophiles! I am not even going to list Crutchfield here as the boxes they sell are WAY WAY WAY overpriced! (shit a 49"x97"x3/4" sheet of MDF is under 20 bucks! This WAY more than enough for a 24"x24"x24" box! When you build the box, be sure to put a separator in the middle. This allows for stereo bass separation and more PUNCH as well as not getting ANR reduction to you sounds!!
NOTE 2: SCREW and GLUE that box together. It also wouldn't hurt to silicone seal the interior at the joints. This small amount of work will ensure the box is sealed, and produce stronger bass. LET THAT FUCKER CURE FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR!!!! (overnight preferably)
System
Clarion DB345MP
Pioneer TS-G1040R
Pioneer TS-G1640R
Pioneer TS-A6960R
2 Sony XS-L1200B 12" subs
Clarion APA450
Clarion APA250
Sony XM-2200GTX
Misc installation stuff
Approx $400 in parts and 4 hours in your labors and you have one kick ass system that will keep you in sonic bliss for many years to come.
Not bad! :woot:
More
Sub Stuff
Even More
Pt III
Linked to the rest for time savings.
Enjoy!
Well for one you have to decide on the main use for it. Is the car likely to enter any shows or Competitions in the future? If so then higher power and higher end components are usually used, mainly for p-factor (pucker, prestige, ect) but believe me, lower end components sound just a good at a 1/2 or less cost. Also a custom original installation is a major component of these systems. That means lots of time and $$$$
Will it ever see drags at the track? If it will the weight of all this crap is a primary concern. You don't want 4-60lb 15" subs in the trunk when you're trying to get under 10 sec in the 1/4. Smaller subs in sealed boxes usually outperform biggies in the bandpass.
Will it only see the street and the occasional ricer kill? If this is your nitch then what ever sounds good is what you want. Sometimes a Sparkomatic or Road Gear Wal-Mart special will work just fine. Of course ya get what ya pay for.
Ok so what would be a good starting point to replace the existing system in my (insert vehicle here)?
Start with the noisemaker. No not the mill under the hood.
The better stereos (IMHO)
Pioneer (Solid Reliable Last 5+ years easy)
Sony (Reliable Clean 2-3 years)
Clarion (Clean Powerful 3-4 years)
Kenwood (Overrated Clean Reliable 1-3 years)
Uhh ok if you get a killer deal
Balupunkt (Tuner Issues 2 years at most)
JVC (It's JVC)
Panasonic (Poor-Man's Pioneer)
RUN AWAY!!!!
Alpine (Too many issues to list unless u buy the $500 and up stuff)
Sanyo (WHY???? Samsung could do it better!)
AIWA is just getting into the market big. I have not had much experience with them. Reviews are generally good. Same for Eclipse stuff, just really expensive.
Lets say you just want to replace the old set up. New stereo, and speakers. No sub or amps in this set up. Yet...
Clarion DB345MP CD-RW/MP3 Receiver 129.95 Crutch 79.00EBay
Pioneer TS-G1040R 4" Dash Speakers 49.95 Crutch starting at 0.01 on Ebay
Pioneer TS-G1640R 6 1/2" Door Speakers 49.95 Crutch starting at 0.01 on Ebay
Pioneer TS-A6960R 6"x9" Rear Deck 79.95 Crutch starting at 0.01 on Ebay
Get your speaker wire (12-ga!) from Radio Shack, a 30'-50' roll will be more than enough.
Now wait a minute you say! That's six speakers and the radio only has 4 outputs! Never fear! Parallel or series? What is your pleasure?
have no idea
I am yapping about? Look at this:Got it? Good!
Now this wiring setup should not be used permanently. This will suffice for a few months until you can get some amps. Keep in mind that the front outputs on the radio has a higher stress (due to the Ohm load) on it and it will eventually burn out, usually within 9-18 months.
One thing I really like to do, for the sound clarity, is use the same manufacturer and series speakers through out the vehicle cabin. The Subs don't have to be the same since bass is omidirectional low frequency signals. The mids and highs really need to be matched for clarity.
Now lets choose the amps for this system. We saved our pennies and want more power. You don't have to replace the speakers, they will last for at least 4 years, assuming you don't force a 1,000 gigawatt sub signal to them!
4" 20 RMS
6 1/2" 30 RMS
6"x9" 40 RMS
NEVER MATCH AMPS TO PEAK POWER RATING OF SPEAKER!!!!! You will BLOW IT! RMS (Root Mean Squared
) is the maximum constant power the speaker is capable of. The peak is what it can handle for a short peak or transient in the music, like a REALLY BAD ASS SANTANA OR HAMMET SOLO!!!!Dash/Door Amp Clarion APA450 119.95 Crutch 69.99 Ebay (50RMSx4)
Rear Deck Amp Clarion APA250 79.95 Crutch 39.99 Ebay (50RMSx2)
NOTE: Be sure to turn the amp output down to match the speakers RMS!
Radio shack for the power/ground cable, 8-ga red/black
will work great for this setup. Ebay for the fuses and distribution hardware. This system will require 1 45-amp fuse. (watts per channel (50) x number of channels (6) x 2 (600) / 13.5 always round up!) Mount the amps to a sheet of MDF and hook the shite up and enjoy the soothing sound of hard work.
Now ya want da BOOM! Well again you have to decide what type of BOOM you like. Do you want to feel the double kick from "One" (Metallica, 1989) in your chest? Or do ya want Snoop Dogg's LOW Bass breaking windows and setting off car alarms for 1,500 yards in any direction. Or is George Strait or Gretchen Wilson your music of choice?
Bass is a personal thing, like your preffered brand of prophylactic.
Metal, Country, Rock, and Classic Rock love small to medium sealed boxes with 8's or 10's. The sealed boxes produce really tight (virginesque) and exact bass. Larger sealed and any ported box loose some of that tighness, and is comparable to an experienced female around 25 years old who is a college grad. Bandpass is the loosest (crack whore on the corner, it's not supposed to be the size of a nickle outside and GRAND FUCKING CANYON AFTER THAT! Is it?
) and least accurate bass. But man can it throw that shite. This is what is usually responsible for smashed windows and involuntary deification :poop2: during competitions. (IMHO Bandpass and Ported boxes are not worth the time or trouble) Level of construction difficulty
Sealed 3 of 10
Ported 7 of 10
Bandpass 9 of 10
There is another type called isobaric. This is where the subs are in a tube setup and are either facing cone to cone or mag to mag to each other. This type of configuration is only for looks (only seen this setup in EXPENSIVE Lexan or Plexiglas boxes.) You also have to send the same signal, one of them at 180 polarity to make the thing work. Difficulty 15 of 10
Lets just concentrate on the basics. You can buy good ready made boxes for subs at just about any stereo or box store. Or just build your own! Subs to use? Hell it really doesn't matter, as long at they have rubber surrounds, and plastic cones. Metal cones if you have the extra cash.
So let's go with 2 Sony XS-L1200B 12" subs in a sealed box. You can usually pick a pair of these up for 50 bucks or less on Ebay. They will need a 200x2 amp. The Sony XM-2200GTX will work perfect here. It is on Ebay for 97 bucks. You know who wants $180 for it!! :hairraise:
I highly recommend this type of amp over a mono for audiophiles! I am not even going to list Crutchfield here as the boxes they sell are WAY WAY WAY overpriced! (shit a 49"x97"x3/4" sheet of MDF is under 20 bucks! This WAY more than enough for a 24"x24"x24" box! When you build the box, be sure to put a separator in the middle. This allows for stereo bass separation and more PUNCH as well as not getting ANR reduction to you sounds!!NOTE 2: SCREW and GLUE that box together. It also wouldn't hurt to silicone seal the interior at the joints. This small amount of work will ensure the box is sealed, and produce stronger bass. LET THAT FUCKER CURE FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR!!!! (overnight preferably)
System
Clarion DB345MP
Pioneer TS-G1040R
Pioneer TS-G1640R
Pioneer TS-A6960R
2 Sony XS-L1200B 12" subs
Clarion APA450
Clarion APA250
Sony XM-2200GTX
Misc installation stuff
Approx $400 in parts and 4 hours in your labors and you have one kick ass system that will keep you in sonic bliss for many years to come.
Not bad!
:woot:More
Sub Stuff
Even More
Pt III
Linked to the rest for time savings.
Enjoy!
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