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Car audio system

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 6:37 pm
by Quickslvr
Hi,


I will be buying a CD/MP3 Receiver, Amp and Subwoofer and will need to change the 2 rear and 4 front speakers as well. The brands i am looking at is 2 X Boss Amp at 1400KW or a Boss Amp at 2 X 2500KW, a Sony CD/MP3 Receiver, 2 X Sony Xplod 12" X 900W Subwoofer. I'm a newbie in sound systems..need advise. Thank you

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 7:08 pm
by Slither
just my opinion but i wouldn't get the xplode subbies, no offesne to anyone that has them but if u want good quality bass for your system they aren't the way to go, that said if u don't have a lot to spend then they r a good option!!

again just my opinion!! :wink:

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 7:43 pm
by FTO338
Sony products looks good & with a reasonable price, but if u after quality, then i would suggest look else where.

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 7:53 pm
by Stas
Sony dont have many possitives in car audio...
they would fall under the third group in affordable car audio..... as for BOSS aahhahahahhahaha (rubbish) a BOSS amp has the pontential to send voltage back up the RCA's and blow the head unit..... i wouldnt install if it was free;)

sony dont quiet fall into the kenwood, pioneer clarion group.....and far off alpine

considering the value/ features for money i like the alpine.... might not draw you young ones eyes with the flash pics and animations but they sound good!!!! and their not as expensive as they seem :)

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:07 am
by Quickslvr
I ain't look for the best but good enough considering average. Whats the brand one would recommend for a CD/MP3 Player, Amps and Subwoofers?

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:34 am
by FTOluv
Dont get anything related to Sony. They are rubbish, that BOSS crap is even worse.
If u want something affordable yet excellent sound quality go for the Clarion 12" subs and the Clarion deck. and dont forget that front splits are the most important speaker in yr car.

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 3:54 am
by thecook
yeh like everyone said, Boss is crap!!!
dont by something because of how much maximum watt it can provide, its just advertising crap, u wouldnt even reach that amount and if u could it'll probably only be for a split second.

sony is ok for sub and headunit i reckon, coz headunit is only there to play the music, and sub from sony are just there for the doosh doosh.

if your on a real budget for audio gear, JB, strathfield, autobarn, etc are the places u'll find the stuff your looking for

i reckon any headunit with pre outs for speakers n sub is good, n wateva functions u want, such as sub control, mp3, cd rw etc... that'll be fine, its just like choosing a video or dvd player for your tv at home

theres heaps of brands out there u can choose, i reckon u should start with alpine...

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 9:57 am
by TheSentry
If your looking for a budget amp go to JayCar and look at the Response range. They r excellent value for money and put out some good power. I have a 2 x 150w rms Response amp bridged running a 12" JBL and it hits pretty hard. They also get a pretty good rap from the blokes at http://www.caraudioaustralia.com

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:12 pm
by Stas
considering i work in car audio.....tell me what sorta buget u have and what u want and i can see if you can get into the aalpine equipment as they are reasonable in price....... now is the best time to buy as all companys have released their 2004 range and alpine range is the best ive seen, i bought a clarion a month ago its not as sexy as the NEW alpines but it has 24 bit DAC priced at $849 retail (top deck)

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 7:35 pm
by Quickslvr
Will you be able to work out something for me? I want to add two sub and two amps in the car, maybe about 1K or lesser will be better of course. :)

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 8:12 pm
by Slither
IMO your lookin for too much with too small a budget

u mentioned before too that u werent going the best but average, why then r u goin for such a big setup?? not to mention that if your budget is only 1k u need to factor in the cost of cables and sub boxs!!

as for the headunit if its not goin to b powerin any speakers or just the front splits anything that looks good with an amp and sub out would b fine, go for the one u like the look of best

if your going for a good ice setup for 1k then id reccommend goin the one amp to power 1 10 or 12 inch sub and put the remainder of your cash on a good pair of splits for the front and if u've got anything left some 4 ways in the rear for filler

my 2 cents

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 10:43 pm
by SilentBob
for 1k...hmm this would be my budgetory recommendation

head deck - 200 bucks, something basic with mp3 and pre-outs(2 of em), JVC make some decent cheap head decks

Amp - maybe 300-400 bucks, 4 channel which can be bridged for one sub....something like a Cadence or similar

Sub+box - bout 200 bucks, something in the decent entry level range, my phoenix gold 12" cost around this level

Front Splits - bout 200 bucks, maybe some entry level Hertz or similar..

Add a couple bucks for some cabling and DIY it(trust me, it aint hard, just time consuming)

Forget rear speakers, not needed in an fto, especially if you want to go quality rather than quantity of sound...

a setup like above would give you decent bass with good mid-high performance due to running it off an amp
forget 2 subs/2 amps, your budget is to small
why buy 2 crap amps and 2 crap subs when 1 decent amp and 1 decent sub would do a better job.???
forget brands like your sony's and boss...go dedicated audio brands..

jump into a local JB hi-fi and compare, read up on the net like on caraudioaustralia.com
work out what you want them walk into a JB and say 'do me up a package for this, this and this...' should be able to save a few bucks, but dont listen to hard to their 'recommendations'...listen to what sounds good to you

Thats my 2c(from experience of doing a similar setup on a very similar budget)....

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 12:04 am
by FTOluv
Any Alphine gear is gonna set u back a fair bit, as i have said before, Alphine has great products but is waayyyyy overpriced for what it is.

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:09 pm
by GPXXX
what type of music do you listen to? different setups can sound different for varying types of music...

for $1K (assuming you have set aside some extra for cabling/installation/labor), i would go for:

2x 4ch Cadence Q-series amps (great bang per buck)
1x 12" JL Audio or Kicker subs
1x pair of Hertz or Phoenix Gold Tantrum front splits
1x MP3 head unit (from whatever is left from your budget)

$1K is a pretty basic setup and yes, i wouldn't bother wasting my time and money on Sony or particularly BOSS products...

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 8:49 pm
by fto617
guyssssssssss
is sony headunit realli sh*t????
OMG i bought one from hk for around 980AU
i think its calle the MEX5DI
omg does dat mean i wasted my cash and got gypt again???
i ahvent even installed yet since i kille dmy gearbox :(

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:48 pm
by FTO338
fto617 wrote:guyssssssssss
is sony headunit realli sh*t????
OMG i bought one from hk for around 980AU
i think its calle the MEX5DI
omg does dat mean i wasted my cash and got gypt again???
i ahvent even installed yet since i kille dmy gearbox :(
U serious? For 980AU in Hong Kong u could of get lots of much better brand :!: :!:

Well i guess is too late now, u either stick with it or sell it.

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:03 am
by FTOluv
fto617, i dont wanna be the one to tell u this, but spending that much money on a sony is soooooooooooo not worth it. u could have bought a top of the range clarion deck for that price and that would eat the sony deck u have.

But look, at least u know now to not but the Sony speakers :)

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:08 am
by ruchi
FTO617, as long as you're happy with it and it brings you enjoyment then you haven't wasted any money. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, all that matters is that you're happy with it. :wink:

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:01 am
by TimmyD
i always thought it didnt really matter what type of head unit you get, its just branding.. but it does matter on the speakers and amp quality / branding.

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:28 am
by GPXXX
to a certain extent, Timmy is right... but damn, for $980 i could get a much nicer headunit than what Sony has to offer for that price... most of them come loaded with lots of features nowadays anyway, so it's really a matter of preference in terms of looks, functionality etc...