I’ve heard that JL and it’s a nice sounding sub with good output. Nice find if it was on the cheap! Ranks right up there with the JBL GTI, Image Dynamics IDQ/IDMAX, and other solid stuff.
I’m looking into getting a new sub, but I really wanna do my doors and kicks first. I’ve got some nice 1" aluminum dome Vifa tweets (bishes are almost the size of a DVD, handle 100w RMS a piece), Peerless 3" midranges on the way, and I’d like to do 8" Peerless SLS woofers in my doors. I want to get pounded in the chest with sub and midbass.
Being able to go active with my Clarion HU has definitely taught me a bit about my installs and how erroneous they were. Going active (3-way on my HU) you can basically choose whatever drivers you’d like, set your crossover points, slopes, T/A, and other stuff. Very handy. I want this upcoming install to please me for hopefully a year, lol. Tweets and midranges will be on-axis, so hopefully I can get that “in your face” sound I enjoy without being harsh or overwhelming. The drivers are only gonna run me about $180 shipped for the 3 different pairs, so that’s not steep at all IMO.
I dunno who you talking to but i was just saying what you was saying about the guy who said that and lol @ 35% reduction in sound sounds like he got swindled by a local
tear drop GTI 13" has been a dream sub of mine for YEARS I tell you. Though the impendance on it is kinda funny @ 7 ohms
LULZ @ the BB comments, yeah some of them are duffus, but for every 4 duffuses you get someone who does know their shit. It also dependso n the market as to how good they are. If your in an area where CA isn’t big, your not going to get much, if your in a more ‘paid’ area or an area where it is bigger,m they are better. Competition breeds skill & knowledge. If all you have are folks trying to fix their broken head units why are you going to go nitty gritty?
In terms of my long term goals, those are fudged up at the moment. I wanted to go serious into SQ competitions, but too much of the scoring is on items OUTSIDE of the actual sound quality, and as a daily driver, I dont have the time or resources to take care of some of those other things (fuck fiberglassing everything heh). So right now my goal is to get studio quality sound in the whip for my own digestion and to help with mixing and mastering my own music. I will eventually either get a W6 12", GTI 13" or one of Xtant’s offerings for the ‘trunk’ if you will, but the HX2s actually sound really nice, just need a stronger amp to push them to the fullest. Truth be told I’m more frustrated trying to figuyre out the MORE important front stage. I’m still riding stock…mostly for $$$ reasons - but I haven’t the slightest clue as to what I really want to do with the current acoustics of my car. I purposely got the Murano because he had more space than the Altima for sound to ‘placed’ where and how I want it, but its been so long since I’ve dabbled in the CA market, I’m at a lost for where things are these days. Last time I checked things had started sounding ‘tingy’ and I hated it, I wanted something more ‘live’ and ‘‘organic’ sounding…almsot akin to the digital/analaog debates. But on top of that I’m trying to figure out what to do about the head unit game…I dont’ watch video and have no plans of watching video in the car. But I can’t help but think about how nice it would be to scroll thru music on a bigger screen and in color, while the display fits into the dash with am ore natural look (sorry Alpine’s are fugly, and the big ass rotary knobs sure as hell don’t help…too bad JVC is crap…they used to make some of the more aesthetically pleasing offerings).
All in all I’m sitting with a hiodge poodge of car audio wants and a tight budget (career > credit > house > 2nd vehicle > car audio system), so I’m trying to just make modest improvements (mainly front and rear drivers for now) and if I can find a good deal on a double-din HU as well as a sell for my HU - I might make that move.
McIntosh…tasty…love when I hear some o the quality brands…
IMO, a system makes any kind of music sound better. My friends always rag on me because I have a system and only listen to Metal. To me, Metal sounds like your actually at a concert when you have it loud and can feel the Bass.
I currently have an 07’ HHR LT1. System is a 10" Infinity Sub in a Bandpass box, with a JBL 600.1 D Series Amp. Not Crazy loud, but I’m happy with how it makes my Music sound.
Sounds like you’ve got some pretty nice goals for your system. :clapdos:
GTIs are sexy as hell! My buddy’s father lives in AZ I believe and he managed to get 3 10" GTIs for $180 a piece, because the boxes were dinged up a bit. Subs were in great shape, so that’s an incredible price for them being new. Yeah, their impedance is a little goofy lol.
Are you going to stay with a passive set of comps? I’ve read lots of good stuff about Dynaudio, Hybrid Audio Technology, Hertz, Rainbow, Image Dynamics’ higher-end sets, Alpine’s SPX-17PRO, Polk SR 6500, Pioneer 720PRS set, and some others. The Pioneer would be the best for a budget set, they should be around $280 or less new. Almost forgot, the JBL GTI component set isn’t too shabby and is around $250 new. I really want to hear a HAT component set…
I’m not sure how much you’d have to spend to get a SQ competition-worthy front stage, but even some of the lower-priced sets should do very well in a nice install. The resale value is pretty good on these particular sets, too. We both know install is almost everything, anyway.
I’d stay away from Alpine’s HUs. Aside from the 9887, you’ve usually gotta buy an extra module or whatever to unlock more sound processing features. The H701 DOES seem pretty nice, though, much better than Imprint for sure. I haven’t done a lot of reading about double-din units…yet. There’s some external processors like the Audison Bit-One and Rockford’s 360.2. I think the latter has some BT glitch or something major. :wasted:
Brax and Helix amps have some very nice heatsinks. Simple, but elegant.
If I had it my way I’d ride 100% JBL. Option #2 is 100% JL…after that my brand preferences fall off, and unfortunatly most folks only really know or care about ‘subs’ so its kinda hard learning about other brands for the front stage. I’m still trying to figure out how I want to design the front stage, my original setup was going based purely off frequency coverage, and I had WAYYYY too many speakers. I’m trying to maintain that concept of frequency balance, but cut my number of sources. Oringally I wanted tweeters, and 4" drivers up top, with a 6.5" mid bass woofers in the kick panels, followed with a center channel under my ‘dash’, 6.5" drivers in the rear kick, with two woofers massaged into the side of the trunk daily driver, need to maintain space, with amps stealthed into the roof w/ fan cooling. I’m cutting the front - no center channel, and only one set of componenets, but I haven’t test driven any of the newer stuff…and what I have heard is the Kenwood/Pioneer-Premiere/Alpine/Polk high end stuff…but nione of the harder to find brands.
One of these days I’ll travel to a show, what better place to hear the different brands and get folks opinion?
:bluu:
BTW for a SQ worthy front stage, you dont’ have to spend alot, its as you said - all about the install - but more expensive sets often do better. If I was going full tilt I’d be dropping around 600 on speakers for the front, you could spend more, but that would be my ‘first’ limit, I’d be able to scoop a set of 400 dollar compenents as well as the mid bass woofer that I covet sssooooo much. MY theory is that in a low weight class competition, you can get better balance using the much smalelr woofers up front and less in the rear…mroe bass for less Wattage, as well it will be easier to tune the levels without getting a sense of ‘direction’ from the multiple audio sources. However this is ALL theory, and I dont’ have ANY competition experience, just reading and research.
Baltimore has small scale ones…usually they are SPL competitions with a small “appease the purists” SQ competitions. They have some tricky installs (I heard a guy got 20+ woofers in his focus…and there was even mroe outrageous stuff thogu hI didn’t see it if you catch my drift). Other than that you’d end up having to go south - Richmond has events if I remember correctly, then NC, then ATL is one of the bigger ones (no surprise)…DC…as usall…just sucks.
My car’s sound is great. I got 2 pioneer upperclass speakers on ebay for cheap for the front of the car, and put in a new dash unit. Thing is, the dash unit just doesn’t have enough power to power the new speakers which are rated at 225w. After about 30 mins the unit just “crumbles” into noise and garbage.
I need a new amp for under $100. I just have 2 left side speakers and 2 right side speakers with no plans on putting a sub. I’ll be putting 2 new speakers in the back soon as well.
Recommendations?
Honestly, I hate almost every head unti I’ve come across the past few years. Either too much shine, too many knobs, whatever, none of them look ‘elegant’, which is real important to me along with GOOD searching for an IPOD.
I’m counting down my credit clearing, then the car gets paid off a little early, and by the end of 2010, I’ll have enough money to buy a beater and actually put money into my baby to get her where I REALLY want her. I need to
Build amp rack in ceiling
Want new slotted brakes
change to cold air intake system
Change under carriage protection from plastic to metal (stoopid recall made my car fugly underneath)
Paint job
redo the whole interior including seats/cushions/arm rest/new roof.
Install 4 channel (already have it - Alpine dunno model number off the top) in ceiling
Install new amp for subs
Fabricate sub-enclosures on the side to preserve space, and protect with grill
Upgrade Alt + wiring
Figure out what drivers to get (a a compelte lost atm) for front/back
Find a double din that I like (GL w/ that)
Install audio equipment
Add choice neon lighting in interior
add fog lights
The hard part, rewire my AC and other controls from the PCB that everything is attached to, fabricate new plate for head unit and controls
celebrate for finally completing everything.
I’m not doing any video in the whip though. I wanted a rear screen projector for shows, but I’m not competing and merely want to be happy with what I’m pushin. I want rims as well, but cna’t find anything that looks good on my car…well I did find a couple, but I dunno what they are called shrug. Shoes cost too much in the scheme of things heh.
