Sound System

[Galzzly]

Ok, I've been doing some digging...

Here's the subs that I've seen:
Diamond: D312D4
Diamond: D312D2

Amp:
Kenwood: KAC-8103D 1000W Mono Amplifier

and Speakers:
JBL: GTO-527 - 13cm speakers
JBL: P-552 - 13cm speakers

I'll apologise in advance if I've made entirely the wrong choices there.

 

[Kneel]

Ok, I've been doing some digging...

Here's the subs that I've seen:
Diamond: D312D2

Amp:
Kenwood: KAC-8103D 1000W Mono Amplifier
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/5371.html

and Speakers:
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/4889.html
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/2196.html

I'll apologise in advance if I've made entirely the wrong choices there.

Would be my choice, coaxials basically suck compared to components, please please please amp the front speakers too trust me you would regret not doing it when you turn up the volume and blow the fronts If this is within you're budget that should be a pretty sweet setup for you.

 

[knightrider]

not bad knightrider, don't forget you'd need a wiring kit for that too

pisssst - I seen the Vibe good/Alpine ok thing too - I just bit my lip and said nothing

yea, but i would buy the best wiring kit poss as when u upgrade the system you dont have to re-wire it.

also with regards to fli, they are just old gear from vibe re-branded so that they can sell it.

Not bad but i wouldnt wast my money on it.

 

[Galzzly]

Nice one, that sounds like I almost made some good choices.

Hmm, yeah those speakers don't look too bad, and are about the same price as one of those that I picked anyway, so that's ok.

Question though, stupid as it may be, will I be able to wire up to the amp that I chose, or would I need a separate amp?

 

[Kneel]

the amp you chose was a mono amp, so only meant to power the sub however its pretty much spot on for the sub you picked, so I just looked afor a seperate amp to power the fronts. If you only want 1 amp in the car you need to look at a 4 channel amp. If you'd like I can have a look around but I would suggest to give caraudiosecurity a quick ring, tell them you'r budget for the amp and ask them which amp they recommend.

 

[Justin]

FLi is pish! steer well clear.. I used to be right into my ICE but lost touch with it..

looking to put the IDA X0001 into the car aswell, with a small space saving sub, and some new speakers..

Anyone know if there are any ipods the IDA isnt compatible with?

 

[Galzzly]

the amp you chose was a mono amp, so only meant to power the sub however its pretty much spot on for the sub you picked, so I just looked afor a seperate amp to power the fronts. If you only want 1 amp in the car you need to look at a 4 channel amp. If you'd like I can have a look around but I would suggest to give caraudiosecurity a quick ring, tell them you'r budget for the amp and ask them which amp they recommend.

Thanks, I'll have a snoop around for what I need, and see if I can do it myself.

I'd feel better if I could find everything that I needed myself, maybe that's just me though. lol

 

[Galzzly]

Didn't take me long, but I've basically found the 4 channel version of the amp that I originally posted:
Kenwood: KAC-8403 4-channel Amplifier

 

[Tigger]

Subs - good choice
Amps - kenwood aren't best quality
Speakers - cheap stuff compared to the subs you selected

Best thing to do is start at the HU, add a good set of components in the front and then look about amps & subs

 

[Galzzly]

Well, I know what HU I'm getting, so that really isn't a problem. It's only a matter of time before I get it ordered and installed.

As for the Amp... I have to admit, I made an assumption, due to there being a set on caraudiosecurity with that sub/amp... didn't really think about it.

Who makes good Amps? So I know what to look at and what to stear clear of. Same for speakers too

I really appreciate all of your help. Thank you.

 

[Tigger]

Don't always go by figures & specs when choosing amps - I tried that and gave up lol. I went along with the amps from a selection that were "reccomended" by the people who installed mine. they have years of experience (with all brands) where-as I'm in the learning stages from their advice

The cheap "do the job" makes would include
Sony
JVC
Kenwood
Vibe & FLi
Fusion
Kicker

Alpine & Pioneer will have fairly decent amps for a few quid more.
Better amps are pretty expensive depending how far you go

 

[Galzzly]

Ahh, thanks, I've gone through the Alpine and Pioneer ranges, and heres what I found:

Alpine: MRP-F250 Amplifier
Pioneer: GM-6300F Amplifier - 4 channel amp

There were a couple more Alpine ones that were £195 and £200 respectively, but I don't think that I really wanna go much further than £150 on the amp if I'm honest.

 

[Kneel]

hmmm, they are underpowering you're sub and speakers by a lot. What is you're absolute maximum budget on everything, eg how much do you want to spend on sub,speakers,amp?

 

[Galzzly]

hmmm, they are underpowering you're sub and speakers by a lot. What is you're absolute maximum budget on everything, eg how much do you want to spend on sub,speakers,amp?

I think about £400 overall. Can maybe stretch to a little more. But around £400 seems good.

I like the Diamond subs (either) that I found above, so it's the amp and speaks that I'm concerned with mainly now.

 

[Kneel]

Ok no problems, if you can stretch to £450 with that sub. I would go with:
Pheonix Gold Components:
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/3157.html

And either of these amps look up to the job:
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/2896.html
http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/4586.html

Edit: sorry, using this sub http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/5159.html

 

[Galzzly]

I'd probably go with the Alpine amp, as that's one of the one's that I'd seen before, which I thought may have been a tad too much.

But if it's better sound then I'm probably gonna be all for it.

Would there be much of a difference between me using the D312D2 over the D312D4 (they're the same price inc enclosure)?

I like the speakers, look like a good choice.

 

[Kneel]

The D4 is 4 Ohm, the D2 is 2Ohm. The amp will give more power in 2Ohm mode so I would recommend the 2Ohm sub, as from personal experience it wont make any real difference to the sound. The speakers are the same speakers I had in my clio and they sound amazing, well worth the money.

 

[Galzzly]

Ahhh that makes more sense to me now about the Ohms. I think that I was under the impression that the fact that it said 4Ohm meant essentially more power. As I have said before, it's quite the assumption which I probably shouldn't have made.

So long as it provides some good sound I'm happy.

I think that that sounds like a pretty good set up to me. Once I've sorted out my insurance, I'll have to work on getting the gear to me. Most likely in stages.

Last question (I think) did you stick any form of sound proofing in your car or not?

 

[Kneel]

Yeah I got a fair bit of sound deadening in lol. I had the front doors, rear quarters, boot floor and boot lid all sound deadened.

I'm not 100% sure what relevance the ohms has to the sub, I had both a 2 ohm sub and a 4 ohm sub on my old amp and it didn't make any difference tbh. The amp that I have recommended sends out more power on 2ohm mode though so it'll be more powerfull I think.

 

[Galzzly]

Yeah, that's what I thought. How much does it cost to get the deadening done?

That's cool about the sub, I'll stick with the 2Ohm sub then, more power will probably mean better sound.

Thank you very much for you help with this, I can take a guess that I've been a bit annoying by asking so many questions. But I would rather be better informed and make a decision than go blindly storming in like a bull in a china shop.

 

[Kneel]

dont worry about it mate, I'm still learning stuff so I ask questions just to the audio shop around the corner lol. The deadening was £30 each for the doors and I think it was between £90-£120 to get the rear of the car done and that was using ivanhoe stuff.

 

[domjolly]

not sure if someone has said it yet mate coz didnt read all of them..... but a 10" sub will give more punch bass and a little more controlled if i remember rightly than a 12" so all depends what sort of sound you want as well... sound deading is always a good investment as well

 

[Galzzly]

dont worry about it mate, I'm still learning stuff so I ask questions just to the audio shop around the corner lol. The deadening was £30 each for the doors and I think it was between £90-£120 to get the rear of the car done and that was using ivanhoe stuff.

Where'd you get that done? I could do with finding somewhere for when I finally sort mine out.

 

[Kneel]

theres an audio shop round the corner from my house and I know them pretty well so I just took it there. have a look in yellow pages for a local audio shop and take it down.

 

[Galzzly]

Good plan.... I know what I'm going to be doing after work. TBH there's a place up the road from me. Not sure if they'll do the sound deadening there or not. I'll have to check.

 

[Galzzly]

Just been havin a think... would there be a massive impact if I went for the 10inch Diamond D310D2 Sub over the 12inch Diamond D312D2 Sub?

 

[Spammy]

General theory on sub sizes is you get a tighter sound out of the smaller subs.

 

[Spammy]

I had a 10" and didn't regret not having a 12" at all. Sounds dodgy eh.

 

[Galzzly]

Haha, can't say it much better than that really can you, really?

Thank you for your reply.

 

[Tigger]

Sorry for the late response to your PM mate;

Best way to secure things is having an mdf structure to fix everything to, then fabricate it all over with something nice/subtle. Boot carpet or other material.

I'm afraid using the spare-well will mean the wheel will have to come out. Time for a can of tyre weld or an AA membership card

Trev

 

[Galzzly]

Sorry for the late response to your PM mate;

Best way to secure things is having an mdf structure to fix everything to, then fabricate it all over with something nice/subtle. Boot carpet or other material.

I'm afraid using the spare-well will mean the wheel will have to come out. Time for a can of tyre weld or an AA membership card

Trev

Hmm, this is awfully tempting. To be honest, in the 2+ years I've been driving I've had to change a tire once. And that was because they were doing some construction work at my workplace and there happened to be a stray nail.

I'm already a member of RAC anyway, so that's not a problem.

Also getting rid of the spare wheel would get shut of some excess weight too.

By doing that, is it the best way of stealthing to maintain boot space, or are the stealthboxes from autoacoustics just as good?

 

[Spammy]

I had a false floor in mine, the amp went under the un carpeted panel, the floor could be removed for access to the spare wheel and I used the bold holding the rear light in as an earth.

 

[Galzzly]

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past couple of days, as to how I'm going to lay out the boot to maximise space with what I need as well as provide me plenty of boot space to play with should I need it.

 

[How15]

hi mate, i'd say to u to for the alpine route, my whole set up is alpine and amped, a 4 channel for the components and 6x9's (hush u!) and a monoblock with a 10" sub. after playing with this set-up and working with friends car's i'd say amp everything, it's the only way for an even, balanced sound and full control. mine looks like this..


since then i've got a stealth shelf, some chavs tried to crowbar out my rear window for the 6x9's and put horrible marks in the boot!!! :dapprove:

 

[Kneel]

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past couple of days, as to how I'm going to lay out the boot to maximise space with what I need as well as provide me plenty of boot space to play with should I need it.

the stealth boxes or whatever they are called from auto-acoustics look OK but I've always just made a false floor and bolted everything down to it for the sake of not being hit by a flying sub if in a crash. I never use my boot though and even ended up driving around once with a drum kit on the back seats and a bass drum in my passenger seat, it was entertaining but it meant my boot had a nice tidy install lol.

 

[Galzzly]

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past couple of days, as to how I'm going to lay out the boot to maximise space with what I need as well as provide me plenty of boot space to play with should I need it.

the stealth boxes or whatever they are called from auto-acoustics look OK but I've always just made a false floor and bolted everything down to it for the sake of not being hit by a flying sub if in a crash. I never use my boot though and even ended up driving around once with a drum kit on the back seats and a bass drum in my passenger seat, it was entertaining but it meant my boot had a nice tidy install lol.

Haha, that sounds like much fun.

All I'm thinking of is when I go away for weekends or whatever with my girlfriend and I need the boot to put stuff in.

I'm not sure how I'd go about making my own sub enclosure (if I do) cos I suck at that type of stuff. But yeah, be sure that everything will be bolted down nice and secure, I don't want everything flying all over the shop.