looking for sound quality

[Tigger]

what do i look for to compare the quality of amps, subs and speakers?

I dont know my arse from my elbow when it comes to the technical end of it so any hints are valuable.

thanks in advance

 

[Rorrie]

ok when looking at amps, only look at amps that give you rms quote (look at what voltages they are tested at, and into what impedance load), if they rave about there max power rating, 99 times out of 100 they are sh*t! Look for the signal to noise ratio. Also might help looking at current draw and fuse rating, as this gives a hint to if the amp is under/overrated usually a decent 4 channel amp will have about 40+ amp fuse, if its 20amps its not going to be that powerfull unless its unbelivably efficent, but your not going to get that in a cheap amp! Amps DO effect sound quality, so if you can dont scrimp on these!

Speakers - again, look at rms, and the resistance of the speaker, so you can match speakers and amps. quality of speaker, not that much you can compare in stats, really for the fronts the more you can spend the better. Its really about what you like, you do need to get to a local car audio shop and listen, i tried to just go off other peoples opinions for my first set of comps and i didnt like them at all, but i learnt the hard way, you have to see what YOU like.

Subs - pritty much as above, try and match suba nd amp, th sub should get about the same if not a little more than its stated power handeling ( as if gets less, you can work the HU and amp too much causing them to clip and distort damaging the sub - samen goes for speakers) Also try to find out if the sub is designed for sq or spl or sql. Find out what box is best suited, there is a website that tell you when you type in the subs theile/small parameter - il try and find it for you.

Whats your budget and what kind of sound are you going for total sq or sq with a punch?



Hope some of that helps!



Rorrie

 

[Tigger]

all sounds good Rorrie

my budget would be prob around 650-750 all in

was going to just change the front speakers and get 6x9s put in to start off with maybe.

wat the difference in 2way, 3way and 4way spkers?

i go for component or coaxil for fronts?

that jvc amp i was looking at in my other post is 560watt i think - that good ?

cheers

 

[Rorrie]

steer clear of 6*9s and steer clear of any speakers in the parcel shelf, dont touch either with a 10ft barge pole - serioulsy!!! ive posted about this before

have any speaker in the parcel shelf is not a good idea unles you build a sealed enclosure under them, make sure they are running totally in pahse with the sub. This is becasue the sub in the boot will use the whole boot as an enclousre (especially if sealed) (if ported more air will be moving around in boot so same effect can occur). The speakers sitting in the parcel shelf will also use the boot as an enclosure, as the sub is much more powerfull shifting more air, it wil effectily be pussing and pulling the speakers in the parcel shelf, and will damage them

well 2 ways 3 ways are component set and the nuber refers to the amount of drivers in each pair so for instance 2way means a mid range and a tweeter, a 3 way, tweeter mid rnage and mid bass 4 way, havnt seen any 4 way systems but would be a step on from this - they are components

Go for comps, go 2 questions about that, try to spend about £100- £150



that jvc amp is 150W x 2 RMS but 600 max (shows what bulsh*t max power figures are!!! ignore them!) not bad, but porb not great quality.

Makes to avoid are

sony, kenwood, splx, and some items of the following pioneer (some pople will disagree, but IMO good HU but not so great amps and speakers) jvc (new HUs are good, but not a fan of speakers) jbl (well can be OK, but there are better) basically, if it states in max power, and seems boy racerish - its probably not that great!!



If you look on http://www.caraudiodirect.co.ukwww.caraudiodirect.co.uk most of the stuff on there is good stuff,

with your budjet look at

comps £100-£150

subs £150 - £200

amps £150 for amp for fronts (2 or 4 channel) £200 (2 or mono) (or around abouts)

any left over on cabling, materials (mdf ect) and sound deadening