Sbeast702

If you had 600 bucks to spend on the stuff below, what brands and models would you get?

2 - 6x9's
2 - 6.5's
2 - 10's w/ boxes or tubes
2 (or 3?) - amps to drive everything

Can you even make it happen for 600?

1st MP3 in NH

NO F-ING way unless your scrapping the bottom of the barrel of shitty audio. I would suggest buy an alpine 5 channel V-series amp, $250, run a 4 guage power kit, $60 for future expanasion with RCAs if you have an aftermarket radio or the alpine has high level in so just tapp extra lead onto your speaker wires and runthem to the amp. Also throw in a JL audio 10W04 with a well buit box, $99 for the sub and $85 for the box. ANd replace the front speakers with the JL TR 5x7" coaxles or 5 1/4s if you like.
This will run about $600 unistalled at a reputable dealer or about $100 less through the internet with no warrenty.

The 4 channels of the amp can be bridged to just the front which I suggested be replaced or to all 4 speakers, the rear stocks and the JLs.

Tubes suck!

the only other altenative is to use the basslink by infinity and replace the speakers but that will take you to atleast $400 with barely acceptable equipment. this doesnt leave enoguh $$ to run another amp fro the speakers.

1st MP3 in NH

Get certified, go work for a dealer and get accomidations. Hell I only paid $44 apiece for my 8w3s. I love working at Tweeter, let me rephrase that I love getting discounts though manufactures.

Invincibleredp5

hey 1st MP3 is there anyway u could hook it up with a deal then? u can make a profit and we could get better deals.

-JASon

1st MP3 in NH

best I can do is sell the stuff I already have. If i sold you things on accomidationsor evfen store purchase directly I would be fired instantly. Plus for accomidations hte store manager and rep have to sign your order foarm first.

Dave Cameron

Plus you were getting Blaupunkt hardware, some of the best value for the dollar on the market!

Dave Cameron

Nothing is impossbile, it is often a question of how much you are willing to compromise. In this instance, none of the hardware you purchased would be particually good at all, or worth keeping as you upgrade.
This might be a good case for a phased budget- break down your shopping list into two, maybe three smaller list and make a project of it.
You might want to try it like this-
The interior speakers as one round- 6.5 and 6x9
Second round amps
Third round sub
Many of us on the board will bicker as to what order to do this in, but I figuire like this,
Speakers will set the stage for the rest of the install, and possbily make the most immediate tonal difference to you. Remeber, shop and listen! Then purchase some you like the sound of.
Second kick it up a notch, in volume that is- to aviod ruining your new speakers go for some more powerful, high current amps. If you auditioned before you purchased, you will already like the sound of the speakers, but with the amps your will get to hear things from the speakers you probably did not hear before due to them being so faint. Also you will then be able to "turn it up" for friends and strangers.
Last a sub. Last becuase unless you get a amplified woofer you will need the amps you bought in phase two dirve those subs. In addition, keep some space in the trunck as long as you can before giving up space for a sub. (that is the dad in my talking there!!)

The sub will be the icing on the system, as have the rest of the system already established to keep up with all the boom boom boom your car will be making now. To install the sub first you would get the boom but probably that would be all you ended up hearing!
For Six hundred, you might be able to get the interior speakers, and a decent four channel amp if you shop well and don't have taste that runs to caviar!

Master_Chief

You can pay some guys $600 to break into a car and take THEIR audio gear.

douggie

I'll have to agree with Dave. Nothing is impossible. It just depends on what you want.

The reason why there are so many different brands of audio stuff (and many different models within the same brand), is because audio is a matter of taste and everyone has different needs. Some people are perfectly happy with the stock audio system while some (i would say most of us here) can never be satisfied.

Just forget about winning any competitions. It'll be just for your own personal listening pleasure. It's your car and it's your audio system.

I'm sure $600 can get you a pretty decent system. Check out eBay and compare prices online. Could even consider used stuff, especially for amps.

Take a look at the Pioneer stuff, they are cheap and relatively good for the price. Stay away from the Plye, Road gear, Pyramid stuff and you should be pretty okay.

Heck, even Jensen stuff isn't that bad if you know what u're doing with it.

Sbeast702

Wow... thanks alot everybody for the really great ideas... I really think I can do this project for 600 if i kept it all low amp stuff and kept the brands to semi-name brand type stuff like pyramid and jensen. But I agree also that if i did it in phases and spent only a few hundred more I could do SO much better... I've been pretty much in love with pioneer stuff all around, so I think just for the hell of it i'm going to do a ALL pioneer setup, mainly because I already have a sweet pioneer 7300 HU and 1 pair of nice pioneer 6.5's.. and I think it's cool when I see systems that are loyal to one brand... the stuff i have are about a year old so i guess when i look at it i'm already in the hole about 450 bucks... so this is the phases i'm prolly going with, unless i hear some serious disagreement

Phase 1 - Buy the 4 channel 300 watt amp (prolly the pioneer GM-X364). 4 guage wiring kit, etc... Install the HU, 6.5's in the rear doors and amp. Cost : $150 (ebay) and a few hours

Phase 2 - Buy the 2 subs, 2 Pioneer 700 watt TS-W2541DVC, with nice boxes. Store in garage. Cost: $300 (ebay).

Phase 3 - Buy 2 2-channel Pioneer GM-X962 760 watt amps to drive the rear deck 6x9's and 2 subs, buy 2 4-gauge amp kits. Install everything. Cost : $350

Total Cost : $800

Should be pretty nice. Another pitfall is I have no idea how I need to install all this... but I'm sure I can figure it out... basically, i run two of the amps off the hu and then run the other amp in line to the bigger amp and connect all the speakers to the respective amps right? And then tune to taste? Am I going to have a problem if i run one 6x9 and one of the 10"'s off one 760 amp and then do the same with the other amp? Please feel free to let me know if i'm out of my f*ing mind

douggie

You said "...run two of the amps off the hu and then run the other amp in line to the bigger amp and connect all the speakers to the respective amps"... i don't really understand what u're trying to say, but i think there's something wrong. The wiring depends on what type of HU u're using.

And dude, if u're tight on budget, forget about the rear door speakers. Does not give that much improvement. I would rather you get a component set in front instead.

Get a US Acoustics 4065 or 4085 to power the front and rear deck speakers. www.thezeb.com has great prices on them. Good reviews from many many users too. Good clean power that fit tight budgets. Much better than Pyramid.

Note that u need to LPF the signals going into your 10" sub, so might be a problem if you run it together with your 6x9. Better have an amp driving all non-sub speakers and a separate one driving your sub. The JBL BP600.1 is a great run for the money for a sub amp, can be bought off ebay for less than $200 shipped.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1376065550

That Pioneer sub that you chose is not bad for the money!

Aaron

my us acoustics has been nothing but trouble since i got it (4085). now it quit working altogether after less than a month. i'm thru with budget poo.
just a heads up cuz' i read the same things about us acoustic and then you have a bad experience. now i'm thru with em'.

Sbeast702

What I meant is, I think the way I have to do it is run 2 of the amps from the rca jacks on the back of the HU and because I only have 2 on the back of the HU then I have to run the 3rd amp in parallel or in line with the more powerful of the 2 already powered amps right? Like this:

---- RCA~~~300AMP
|HU|
----- RCA~~~760AMP~~~760AMP


*sigh* look at me gettin my bbs ascii art on heh... anyway... is there any reason that I really shouldn't do it this way?

My logic behind this madness is that pioneer doesn't make a 1400 watt amp to adequately power the 2 700 watt subs, so if i hook a 760 amp up to the 2 subs, then i only have about 380 watts per sub, then theres no reason to buy those badass subs...

but, if i hook one 700 watt sub and one 200 watt 6x9 to each amp then that will more than adequately power the 6x9 and i have 560 watts left for the sub....

but... if this is a dumb idea all together... then maybe i'll just get 300 watt subs and one of those 760 amps which will power the subs just fine... or... get off the brand name and get a 1400 watt amp..

douggie

Ok, i see what you mean. but unless your 760W amp has a pass-thru RCA, you can't hook up an amp to another amp. What you might need to do it to use a RCA splitter to split the rear RCAs into two sets, then feed each amp a set of RCAs

The other thing is be careful of the power ratings from the manufactures. 700W peak and 700W RMS makes a hell of a difference. What you're saying above is all peak power and typically we're more interested in RMS. When you actually reach peak power, it's the time that all distortion goes to party and kills your speakers. That sub you mentioned takes 350W RMS, so find an amp that has roughly the same RMS wattage. RMS wattage is when everything runs clean and without much stress to the system. Your equipment will last longer too.

Sbeast702

Sweet... thanks for the info... Does anybody think a battery and/or alternator upgrade needs to happen with this addition of 3 amps, 2 speakers and 2 subs?