I don't have the Bose system and replaced my factory speakers with all infinity speakers. I'm sure there are better set-ups, but for me the sound and the price and the name were easy on the pocket book. We each have our own preference. Sometimes it comes from trial and error/success or simply a major sale. If you want a sub that sounds great, provides excellent bass, but won't make it hard to breathe, I'd listen at least to those that may already have a similar system. It could possibly save some heartache to know at least what something already sounds like in an RX8. It sounds like your local Best Buy sucks! Good Luck.

 

Ouch. What a Best Buy trip!

No need for a full component set in the rear. A simple pair of co-axils will do fine.

And you want "more so bass"? Then what the heck were you thinking when you planned on going without a subwoofer?!?

One sub will sound fine. There is no "balancing." But if you're honestly now looking for a big bottom end, you could go with two.

Sounds like you need to iron out exactly what you want out of this setup. I hate to mention "flip-flop" in this thread, lol, but that last post was quite a change from your previous intentions.

 

I found this site for speaker revies:

http://www.carreview.com/cat/car-aud...S_1805crx.aspx

It's basically just a place where people post reviews about certain products. I saw That Polk had a lot of good reviews, JL, MB, pretty much all the speakers suggested.

What about Rockford Fosgate? They're cheap, and I'm seeing nothing but great reviews about them. I have heard their subs but not their speakers.

2 sets ofT162S Components
T600-4 @ 4 Ohms
2 T110D2 Subwoofers
T10001bd @ 2 Ohms
Power Acoustik Cap
Upgraded Battery if necessary?
4080 Boxes

Firebirdude: Yes, I was very disappointed with their service. What shocked me was when I asked out of curiosity what was required to work there and the manager said at least some kind of background with car audio. This kid had no idea of the brand names I asked.

I wanted to go without subs to have as much trunk space as possible, which is why a big thing for me is the RMS for the speakers. But since I decided to go for the subs I'm going to get 2. Listen to the beginning of "Trina Moe" by DMX and you'll see exactly why lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmPyocJflTc

I basically explained what I want, and to be honest I didn't really know what I wanted until I started looking more and thinking back on my old systems. What I said in my previous post is exactly what I want.

 

Don't have enough experience with their new stuff to make a call. But again, I would strongly suggest listening to the equipment in person before making your purchase. Look at your smaller local shops and bring your own CD if you have to.

EDIT: And I wouldn't have something made by Power Acoustik in the same household as me. If my little brother put some Power Acoustik in his car, I'd disown him.

 

haha... right now i dont have either in my 8..i just got the car...im puttin together somethin custom now....but ive been around seen alot of different brands and i stick with memphis mids high and mmats woofers and amps and mmat scomponents too if i wanna send the extra dollar for something even better....i have a whole bunch of equipment here jus waiting to be put together some i might sell or trade out.

 

Any car audio shop worth its salt will have a listening room that will be quiet, and allow you to select between a bunch of head units, amps and speakers. It should be a sealed room. you need to bring a CD of your own music. Music you love and have listened to a lot, so you can compare the speakers to a sound you already know. NO LOW BITRATE MP3S!

Best buy is not the place to go. Go to the place that specializes in car audio.

 

mmats mmats mmats is all i was thinkin when your described what you wanted...dude im telling you if you can afford it....grab the components from mmats...if you cant afford it grab the components from memphis....amp it! then get the woofer from mmats whichever you choose you will love...this company doesnt sell crap unlike more common brand names that sell some garbage and top of the line so they can build a bigger fan base.........


do some research on the company...... go read the articles on their website www.mmatsproaudio.com

if you decide to go a lil more custom or need advice on tuning and your crossover points blah blah let me kno man....ill be glad to help you.......im mecp silver ive got the facts

go read the thing on the main page about their beginning http://www.mmatsproaudio.com/ourbegining.html

 

Lol OK. So what cap would you recommend? and what farad, considering the end result will be about 1200-1500w? and should I change my battery to an Optimabtery or something like that?

 

I did look at them when you previously suggested them. I see that they do indeed have 2ways, however they have no specs for power handling, how do I know how much to give it? I checked a bunch of other websites and nothing. If I had an idea of how much it can handle I'd look into them more. Also that juggernaut sub? the Rms for the 12" is the same for the 18" 1500w. How can a sub have the same power as one 2/3 its size?

I'm goin for my Silver MCEP starting March. Did you goto an audio school? which one?

 

get a kinetik battery..great stuff http://www.kinetikaudio.com/intro.htm

and for 1500 watt get a 1.5 farad cap

 

for the power handling look at their sq amplifiers and you can throw one of them on the sets and tune and it will handle it jus fine... also i believe the power handling is on the back of the speaker...the most you will ever need to reach their potential is 350 watts a speaker but thats not even needed....150 watts a speaker whether your believe or not is loud and very very crisp even compared to a bigger 800 watt setup..it is jus as loud and 10 folds more crisp and clear... hahaha and about the sub...thats jus the beauty of a quality built speaker...they use the same motor on all the sizes of the juggernaut..dreadnaut has its own size...and then 3.0 and so on....i had a 15 dreadnaut tuned in my older car hitting 146+ on the meter.... you first have to obtain your bronze which you can take the test and obtain immidiately if you pass......then you can take your test for silver and pass and work a year in the field and you get your silver certification...i went to mobiledynamics in toronto canada..

 

Ugh the closest MMATS dealer is over an hour away. You really think that drive is worth just hearing them? I'm going over to the audio shop by me to listen to the speakers they have. Maybe they have MMATS' and they're just not listed as a dealer?

Firebirdude, if they have the kicker components, I'll let you know what I think of them since you asked me to let you know a couple days ago.

 

Some of the stuff I read, well it has left me wondering....

Stop, do not pass go, do not buy crap. Make sense?

Listening to a speaker in most shops is not a real world way of knowing how they are going to sound in your car. Throw the spec sheet out the window, same with what you think are accurate (cough power acrapstik) power claims. Restate your goals and budget. Then keep it simple.

From what I gather you are after the following.

1) respectable output levels.
2) not overbearing bass.
3) good tonal response.
4) not wanting to overhaul the electrical supply system.
5) good product.
6) a system the fashion police are not going to give you a ticket for having.
7) something bought right the first time.

Morel, why is simple. This company is the most respected build house in car audio. Everything they tool themself, from making the magnets to laying of the 6 sided voicecoil wire to making their own caps and coils and plastic housings on the crossovers. The highest build quality in the industry and in my ears, unparalleled tonal response. Sadly though, they are only available at a specialty retailer and not in a big box type of store. In Canada the line comes in from Israel (where it is manufactured) through a Israeli importer who is also the agent for the line in Canada. It took me over 10 years to land this line in my store as they just do not hand it out to anyone.

Yes there are cheaper options that the "specs" say could be better. Again though, put the spec sheet up to your ear and tell me how it sounds.

Eclipse (made by Vifa) components are another amazing set of speakers, same with Focal. Personally I find the top end of the Focal a little to shrill for my liking but if you are hard of hearing on top end frequencies, perhaps they should be considered. Focal and Morel both command some good $ if you go way up the line. Chances are though you do not need to and do not get caught with the mindset that a top of the line Kicker is equal to a top of the line JL Audio is equal to a top of the line Morel. That is far from the case.

A 6.75" component set up front and the 6.75" coax or pointsource in the rear is all you need. Again, throw the savings from the rear speakers into the more important front speakers. Your ears will thank you.

For a sub system, based on the comments you have made, I highly doubt that the 4080 box is the one for you. While it is a great box and serves it's purpose, is it right for your application. To me it is not. This means that you should be looking elsewhere.

I would tackle your sub system differently. Trying to squeeze all the output of the subs through that rattle can of a hole in the backseat can be improved upon. Start by making a grill that goes in there, simple to do. Remove the plastic barriers on the rear of the seats as well. This will make it far easier to get the output of the sub into the cabin. Make sure that the rear speakers have a baffle on them as well or the sub is going to mess with them big time. A single 12" in the correct custom box might be the way to go. On the top end the highly received Morel Supremo, if more ***** and respectable output is what you are after, a Digital Designs DD2512 is the way to go.

Amplifiers you can choose after you nail down the speakers and sub. We can talk more about them and the electrical supply in the vehicle once you have done that.

www.morelhifi.com
www.ddaudio.com
http://www.avhub.com.au/ProductRevie...ctReviewID=163

The above is a review of the supremo, not the one that I was after but one that will definitely do the job.

 

Out of those 7, you nailed 6 on the dot. I dont care so much about the cops, since New york noise ordinance law only goes into effect after like 10PM or 22:00, and I dont blast my music then anyways. So pretty much the more the better, as long as the rest of the music is not drowned out by the bass.

You seem very confident about Morel as this is the second time you mentioned them, and there actually is a morel dealer maybe 15 minutes from me. But even if I go there and listen to them, you said it wouldn't matter because it's not a reliable way of knowing how they'd sound in the car, and I don't know anybody who's even heard of Morel. So how can I truly know how they would sound?

The one thing that concerns me about Morel is their Piccolo tweeters are not so...piccolo (small). IIRC, the diameter of them is 4" because of that wide ring about it. That's much bigger than my OEM tweeter placement, so what can I do about that?

and "Stop, do not pass go, do not buy crap.", I don't understand what you mean.

 

This is one thing that 20 years in this industry has taught me, the uncanny ability to snif out what a customer is really after. I am a do it right the first time kind of person (aside from also being a peace officer).

Go slow here. There are alot of lines that are crap that masquerade as something they are not. Be careful about these lines (power acrapstik for example). Do you need a Morel Piccolo, no chances are you do not. Step back from getting sucked in on the highest product available when what you more than likely should be looking at is the middle of the road. In the case of Morel, their middle of the road is infinitely superior to other companies top end.

Trust is something that is built in this business and it is how my business operates. While I may be a person somewhere in the great white north to you, my advice on this forum and others has aided people for years with their problems and their needs.

Why most shops, mine included, do not demo speakers is simple. A display can be made to make a crap speaker sound good and a good speaker sound like crap. And trust me when I say that companies do this on purpose. Running sound through a sub standard head unit, then a switcher all negates what you will have in your vehicle. Your vehicle is a small confined space with obstacles and crappy mounting positions for speakers, a showroom is not. No speaker in a display will sound anything like how they will sound in a vehicle. That is where experience comes in to give you the highly predictable outcome you are after.

The point I missed, number 6, look at it again. I said fashion police. Nobody likes to open a trunk up and see stuff everywhere and having mismatched amps......

 

+1 to forbidden on the sound wall at stores....dont ever go by those...they are a tool used to sell equipment and thats it.... theres no way your gonna know exactly what you want unless you have heard it somewhere else...etc someones vehicle...the exact setup.... if you want you can tell me how much your lookin to spend and i can put together some possible choice setups...which ill only post if im completely confident in them..meaning i have heard it in a vehicle...another thing you wanna look at is how good the equipment your buying is...you dont want something that sounds excellent but is gonna turn around and break after some good usage...oo and if you go with memphis i believe they have a 5 year warranty if i remember correctly and if you go local you just swap em out.. very nice...but they are able to do that for a reason...its good ****! hahaha...i kno we drive import vehicles but when it comes to stereo equipment that **** better be made in !USA! i strongly suggest that...theres too many things that can be substituted out in stereo equipment.especially amps...sry not tryin to knock morel. but im pretty sure whatever you decide as long as you take the advice from a true audiophile your gonna end up with a decent setup...most important is your amp....and a good tune..a damn good tune..dont get a shitty headunit unless your gonna use an active crossover....oooooo my goodness this could go on and on...lol

 

I've gotta agree with forbidden. You seem quite anxious to dive in and spend money. There's no rush.

I have heard people say time and time again that even listening to speakers on a demo wall does you no good because their not in car. I fully understand the entire acoustical environment will be different in car, but in the real world for the customer.... we can't swap 8 different component set in/out of his car until he finds one he likes. You've gotta go with what you have. You should easily be able to tell a lot about a speaker from it's performance on the demo wall. Will it sound the same in-car? Of course not. But you'll be able to shift through the BS equipment with ease.

Moral and Focal are both outstanding brands. I wasn't sure how much money you were looking to spend. I really enjoyed the Focal PolyKevlar line when I had the chance to listen to them. In fact, I liked them better that the Utopia line! This was before the K2P or Be line was introduced. To each their own I guess. But I will say that if you're willing to spend the loot, these two brands trumpt just about anything mentioned thus far.

Again, iron out exactly what you're looking for. At one point you said no subwoofers. Now you seem to be looking for a decent chunk of it. Decide what you want to achieve before you spend money on something you didn't really want.

 

Oh Ok I didn't know what fashion police meant. I thought it meant cops who tend to bust ***** for sound and tricked out cars, etc. But yes, if possible, I'd like to match everything. I think it looks much cleaner and leaves many possibilities for a very nice trunk set up.

I'm glad that you said that about not always going for the top of the line, it leaves a lot of budget room to be spent elsewhere. That being said, would you say the Dotch Ovations would be a better way to go? and what 6x9's by them if I don't need rear components?

How are these Ultimo 12 subs? They look sexy and can handle 1000w rms. Would you say they're superior to the W7? As far as I knew, the W7 was one of the best subs in its class, and I've personally heard W7's at full power.

Also, I couldn't find an amp section on their site...do they specialize strictly with speakers and subwoofers? Because that's a big plus for me if their dedication lies 100% in speakers/subs.

Thanks again for everything you've done so far, and everyone else too at that. I know I've been a bit stubborn and possibly irritating at times, and I really appreciate you sticking around to lead me the right way.

Firebirdude:: TBH, money isn't so much an issue as the fact I'd rather not spend a grand on a set of speakers. As much as I am picky about my sound, I don't drive so much that I can justify that amount of money as well spent. Basically what Forbidden listed was on the dot. You were the one that changed my mind about getting a sub when you said it's a vital part of a well-rounded system, and better SQ is more important to me than saving trunk space. I'll be completely honest, I may seem like I'm ready to dive in with my money ready, but it's not like that at all. It may be a couple months before I go through with this, but I'm the kind of person that wants to know what he needs beforehand, and then when the time comes, it's a matter of ordering and installing them. So I do apologize if I seem too anxious, but the reality is I'm not anxious at all. I'd just like to know exactly what I need before I actually commit. Like I said before, I'm applying to a school about this, www.mobiletechtraining.com, so while I may buy them before classes start, I may wait until I graduate so I'm fully educated to tune them to perfection.

 

Sounds good my man. I think we've all helped about as much as we can online. Do some due diligence and sample as much as you can.

 

i dunno how much money your spneding to go to this school but be sure you want to do this...i went to the school in toronto...and to be honest i regret it....well i loved it and learned a **** load of stuff... but i dont think it is worth it unless you are going make this audio stuff into a profession and even then dont think its gonna make you rich....people tried to tell me this before i went...but i had to do it...i mean not tryin to discourage you but make sure you want this....i worked in the field and doing boring stuff for old people really sux and those are customers too...just think about it...im pretty sure alot of the people who went to the school with me are kicking themselves as well each time they make the payment...lol but i had fun

 

I think it's around 5K for the 3 categories (Install, Fabrication, Upholstery)

You know what, Money isn't the most important thing to me. I'd rather do something I love and make less than hate what I'm doing for more. And yes I do plan to pursue this as a career, intentions are to open a shop of my own to be exact. I will remember what you said, but I'm confident that this is exactly what I ne I reread the segments and it says you are silver certified when you graduate, and gold comes after 3 years of field experience and passing the Gold MCEP exam. But yes, I've wanted to pursue this for quite some time now, but I didn't want to risk losing work since 75% of my pay goes right to bills but with the saturday program they offer I can keep my Full time job and still go to this school.

 

so have you worked in the field yet...like had a boss with a paycheck...cuz i thought **** ive messed with audio and car electronics before i drove or owned a car this is awesome...money isnt the most important thing to me either but u have to make a living and one day a family may be iminent and money has to be there. i found out the hard way not to mix your hobbies with your work...ooo my goodness youll begin to hate your hobby...then what? now im an appliance tech...been around it a long time....didnt care to much for it but i can do it and its an easy going job where i still have time to tinker with my ****. It probably says you will be silver tested or w/e but mecp standards apply for all...you have to have one year in the field at 40 hours a week with completion and passing of silver test....and gold takes longer than that and i forgot how long...but i believe theres less than 100 people who are gold....you have to remember stuff such as what color is the parking light wire of a late model ford vehicle..lol....but hey man im not tryin to change your mind if anything maybe this will push you to stick with it and i dont think i could change your mind if i wanted to cuz i sounded the same way....but hurry up and try to work in the field before you go....and depend on that job to pay your bills...see what you think........but good luck to you man i hope you do good if you need some advice on the test hit me up...i still remember the practice and the actual test.....i hope you go far ...... jus buy some ****** speakers already..lol..hey if you dont like it you learned something new..lol jk

 

Personally I haven't worked in this field professionally. I've done a handful of installs for friends and customers who heard of me through word of mouth. I can very well begin to hate it, but even at that point my oppurtunites are so wide that I can do other things besides car audio. I'm doing this school not only to learn the advanced knowldge of car audio, but also the custom fabrications and upholstery.

As for knowing detailed information such as color wires for specific model vehicles, it's only a pain till you pass the mecp. after that, shops normally have a database containing that information...at leats that's how it is for all the pro's at avic411. In this day and age the internet is more reliable than a library, and even though you may have to know that information for the exam, you can always find it online after that point, ya know? So it'd be back to high school with hours of studying and drilling things into my head, but I honestly have no problem with that if that's what it takes.

 

Ive been reading a bit on the12volt.com, and I came across a thread that brought up efficiency, and how the average output is 66%. It used some formula where the voltage powering the amp (14.4v) multiplied by the fuse amps equaled the true output. Knowing that it's pretty much impossible to get 100% effiency from the amp, is it safe to say that an amp listed at 200w x 4 at 4 ohms will not blow out a 200w peak 4 ohm speaker, since theoretically it's not putting out 200 watts? Thanks.

 

that would go true theoretcially speaking but too many company underrate and overrate the quipment..but you would be fine jus dont crank the gain....plz dont do that..lol the gain is a volume matcher for the signal line(rca) not a volume ****