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Old 01-26-2009, 12:53 AM
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Originally Posted by 99NBMZ28
well not only did i install my type r's i also did my own big 3. i have heard a few sony systems, one on a 2000 watt amp and i can tell you that they were alot more shitty than my type r's. neither could handle low notes really good and the overall SQ was not what i would want. even the higher end sony stuff isnt really worth it when you could spend your money to get something alot better. it sounds like you have your mind made up already so as long as you are happy with it thats all that matters.......until someone is louder at a stop light lol.

FWIW heres my type r's on a 1500 watt amp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpSdIzwfwc8
Thanx I guess lol. Yea I am not concerned with beating anyone in a "my sub Is louder than your sub matchs" at the light, as well as drawing any attention towards a cop that might be near while we are blasting our systems. My old 6x9 on my other car can handle lows very well because of good speaker placement. An 808 kick from the Outkast CD, no problem. People think they get a sub, and it is suppose to blast. That is not true. You are suppose to balance the system where it sounds like one. You might not even use 1/2 of the watts that you have. My system will be able to output 948w RMS (2008w Peak), which is plenty. But yea I was happy with my last Sony system, so most likely I will be happy with my new setup.
Old 01-26-2009, 10:30 AM
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rofl try adjusting ur fade, how bought flip ur rcas hook the rear rca's to the front speakers and see if there is more bass
Old 01-26-2009, 10:36 AM
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only difference between front and rears is the positioning, assuming same speakers and you didnt change something on your headunit. the way front and rears are positioned you will hear different frequencies better from one or the other but its not the output itself.
Old 01-26-2009, 10:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Flaring Afro
only difference between front and rears is the positioning, assuming same speakers and you didnt change something on your headunit. the way front and rears are positioned you will hear different frequencies better from one or the other but its not the output itself.
x2 i agree 100%
Old 01-26-2009, 11:46 AM
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how about people just start posting pics of their stereos and explain why they did what they did so this thread doesnt turn in to crapola!
Old 01-26-2009, 12:02 PM
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plz forget about the sony HU, get somthing better, dont do the same mistake i did .
look at the kenwood KDC-MP438U (3 pairs of RCA output is what i needed), i was in bitween the one i have right now and this kenwood and for my bad luck and not lestning to advice i ended buying the sony here the thread that i started Kenwood vs Sony HeadUnit
Old 01-26-2009, 01:32 PM
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Originally Posted by transaman98
how about people just start posting pics of their stereos and explain why they did what they did so this thread doesnt turn in to crapola!
thank you transamam98!!!
Old 01-26-2009, 01:48 PM
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Well +1 on planning out your equipment.


-20 on buying all Sony, as somebody who has competed in USACi for the last 3 years Sony is defiantly not the best way to go. Budget equipment at the least. Why do you think nobody who really competes uses Sony in sound quality or spl applications? If you think those subs sound good grab a set of the bottom image dynamic subwoofer and try them out. They also don't handle power very good. You have them all ran to Sony amplifiers which don't really put out what they advertise. If you ran any decent amplifier on those subs they would most likely give out after a few days of extended use at high volume (not past distortion). And my first two systems were Sony systems fyi.
Old 01-26-2009, 03:20 PM
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Originally Posted by M-ManLA
Woofer cone is too stiff, sensitivity is low, you need at least a 500w amp to make it hit hard. I personally think that the Type-E is better (and less customers returning them because they blow, mostly around the surrounds), and the Top of the line Type-X is better.
a woofer cone being stiff is a bad thing all the sudden, and 500w isnt anything at all but type arrgghhss do need 700 to 1000 to make them really move as long as you have your gains set correctly, and the sound of them is horrible in a sealed box i think, with a type-r 12" get a 2.5cu box and tune it to about 32-35hz and it will get loud.

but i wish you luck on your install

Last edited by #8sprkplug; 01-26-2009 at 05:01 PM.
Old 01-26-2009, 03:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Engine_HP
plz forget about the sony HU, get somthing better, dont do the same mistake i did .
look at the kenwood KDC-MP438U (3 pairs of RCA output is what i needed), i was in bitween the one i have right now and this kenwood and for my bad luck and not lestning to advice i ended buying the sony here the thread that i started Kenwood vs Sony HeadUnit
I also went with a Kenwood head unit. I went with the excelon X791 (I believe). Came with two sets of pre-outs and a separate pre-out set for subwoofers. Crazy eq options, allows you to play music off of a regular flash drive and easily hook in an IPod. I love mine.
Old 01-26-2009, 03:32 PM
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Originally Posted by ItsNotStock
On a side note- Steve Meade is my hero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNx9HJJR_Ys
ya i wish i could have a setup like him someday, or galamonkey....video of his new van with 24 15'shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSFcW1ZsGr0&feature=channel_page




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZifr...eature=channel

his old excursion with 4 18's all fi and sundown of coarse
Old 01-26-2009, 03:34 PM
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Originally Posted by M-ManLA
No did you see the vids where the chicks hair was flying. Man that is TOO much SPL.
impossible
Old 01-26-2009, 04:08 PM
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wow, this is quite a thread.. never thought someone showing off their system plans would stir so much controversy.

As far as Sony bashing.. well, I'm not a fan of Sony car audio either, mostly just due to reputation, I'll admit that I have limited personal experience with Sony car audio. However, I'm of the mind set that install and tuning makes the system, not the gear. As long as the gear is not total and complete junk... A great installer can build a car with gear from Best Buy, that will perform better then a DIY'er who does not know anything, installing the best components money can buy.

Way too much weight is put on specs. The OP justifies his head unit choice saying that the S/N ratio of 120db is the best. And it's true that i may very well be the best rated S/N ratio head unit out there. But does it matter ? Probably not. I doubt many people would be able to tell the difference of a 105db s/n ratio vs a 120db s/n ratio. I don't understand how the higher s/n ratio creates a "warm" sound (especially if by "warm", you mean the traditional definition of more pronounced midrange.).
Regardless, the deck in question should do just as good a job as any other deck on the market, so there is no need to ridicule the selection.

What I really don't understand is the use of one brand for the whole system. Unless someone else is footing the bill, or you truly feel that that one company's products are better then ALL others across the board, then I always recommend people pick and choose from the best components they can afford, provided they fit their needs as far as features, cosmetics, ease of install, reliability record, etc .. It's rare to see someone serious about car audio stick with one brand for everything, unless that brand is sponsoring the person. However, I respect that the OP said he is a "sony freak" and therefore is just picking components that meet this requirement. Can a better system be built for the same budget ? Perhaps, but this is what the OP wants, and in the end, that's all that matters.

As far as some other things mentioned....

- tuning your system for a month: tuning is all dependent on who's doing the tuning. For some, yes, it takes several attempts by ear. You tune some, listen for awhile, find things you want to change, tune more, repeat. For me, I take the car to a guy with many years of industry experience, who uses top end measuring equipment, and his own very good ears, to tune my car in a matter of hours. We might follow up and fine tune from there once in a while. But to suggest that you are "supposed to spend a month tuning" is not accurate.

- breaking in a sub for 20 hours: I'll agree that a sub may play a little differently after getting some playing time on it, but there's no fancy procedure you need to follow or anything. Just play.

- getting a cap, implying "you are supposed to do it". big false. A cap may or may not help in some cases. In many cases, it doesn't do a thing.

- "Whatever you do make sure to mount the tweeters as high up as possible" - really ? on the top of the a-pillars near the ttops perhaps ? Tweeter position is dependant on what your priorities are for imaging, staging, tonality. I've yet to find a "perfect" location for tweeters in an f-body, and I think I've tried them all. Each has a trade-off.

-"No components in the rear. It is stupid to do realizing that most car receivers output more bass on the rears than in the front." :
I've never heard of a car receiver boosting bass on rear outputs. Ideally, a head unit should have flat response on all of it's full-range pre-outs.

- "Bass is better if they are facing the rear of the car,because when the waves bounce back from the trunk area, then The energy from the bass will make your system louder that what it really is." How can a system 'sound' louder then it really is ? Either it's louder or it isn't. Subs can be louder by a db or 2 based on how they are facing. It will be different in every type of car. It does have to do with phase and loading.

- as far as everyone chiming is saying, "I head X sub or speakers in a car, and they sounded like Y, I heard Z in another and it was better". So much of car audio is in the install and tune, that unless you know all the details of the install and tuning, you can't really make comparisons. For example, say I had a system with a 12" JL W7 in a sealed box, but the box was only .7 cu ft, and the amp was only 250 watts RMS, with a bass boost circuit turned on. This setup will most likely sound worse then ideal because of the small box, boosted bass and most likely clipped power from overdriving the small amp. But unless you know all of these things, you'll think the W7 is an over rated piece of crap, compared to the JBL GTO 12" sub (JBL's entry level model) installed in a proper sized box, with adequate power, and tuned with an EQ by someone who knows how to blend it in with the front speakers and normalize any frequency peaks.

To the USACi competitor claiming Sony is not used in competitions. I'm surprised you forgot about Jason Syner.

To the OP, enjoy your system .
Old 01-26-2009, 04:15 PM
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Jason and the futuristic civic?
Old 01-26-2009, 11:21 PM
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so what should we all take from this thread? a good install, properly placed system components, and a little education can make or break a system. just move on...
Old 01-27-2009, 12:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Genesis
Well +1 on planning out your equipment.


-20 on buying all Sony, as somebody who has competed in USACi for the last 3 years Sony is defiantly not the best way to go. Budget equipment at the least. Why do you think nobody who really competes uses Sony in sound quality or spl applications? If you think those subs sound good grab a set of the bottom image dynamic subwoofer and try them out. They also don't handle power very good. You have them all ran to Sony amplifiers which don't really put out what they advertise. If you ran any decent amplifier on those subs they would most likely give out after a few days of extended use at high volume (not past distortion). And my first two systems were Sony systems fyi.
There has been. Actually a few times that Sony has been used. As for budget system, I wonder how you would justify a $300 head unit as budget. This system is easily over $1700, but I just get discounts and deals. Research your prices SON!
Old 01-27-2009, 01:01 AM
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Originally Posted by #8sprkplug
a woofer cone being stiff is a bad thing all the sudden, and 500w isnt anything at all but type arrgghhss do need 700 to 1000 to make them really move as long as you have your gains set correctly, and the sound of them is horrible in a sealed box i think, with a type-r 12" get a 2.5cu box and tune it to about 32-35hz and it will get loud.

but i wish you luck on your install
Yea I never said it was bad to be stiff, but it is too stiff lol. I can barely punch though it. Yea you do need about 700w to push them. That was the point I wanted to make. And thanx. I'll let you guys know when I get it completed.
Old 01-27-2009, 01:02 AM
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Originally Posted by ItsNotStock
I also went with a Kenwood head unit. I went with the excelon X791 (I believe). Came with two sets of pre-outs and a separate pre-out set for subwoofers. Crazy eq options, allows you to play music off of a regular flash drive and easily hook in an IPod. I love mine.
I think most HU does that now. Even the cheaper ones.
Old 01-27-2009, 01:13 AM
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Originally Posted by Mike @ FbodyAudio
wow, this is quite a thread.. never thought someone showing off their system plans would stir so much controversy.

As far as Sony bashing.. well, I'm not a fan of Sony car audio either, mostly just due to reputation, I'll admit that I have limited personal experience with Sony car audio. However, I'm of the mind set that install and tuning makes the system, not the gear. As long as the gear is not total and complete junk... A great installer can build a car with gear from Best Buy, that will perform better then a DIY'er who does not know anything, installing the best components money can buy.

Way too much weight is put on specs. The OP justifies his head unit choice saying that the S/N ratio of 120db is the best. And it's true that i may very well be the best rated S/N ratio head unit out there. But does it matter ? Probably not. I doubt many people would be able to tell the difference of a 105db s/n ratio vs a 120db s/n ratio. I don't understand how the higher s/n ratio creates a "warm" sound (especially if by "warm", you mean the traditional definition of more pronounced midrange.).
Regardless, the deck in question should do just as good a job as any other deck on the market, so there is no need to ridicule the selection.

What I really don't understand is the use of one brand for the whole system. Unless someone else is footing the bill, or you truly feel that that one company's products are better then ALL others across the board, then I always recommend people pick and choose from the best components they can afford, provided they fit their needs as far as features, cosmetics, ease of install, reliability record, etc .. It's rare to see someone serious about car audio stick with one brand for everything, unless that brand is sponsoring the person. However, I respect that the OP said he is a "sony freak" and therefore is just picking components that meet this requirement. Can a better system be built for the same budget ? Perhaps, but this is what the OP wants, and in the end, that's all that matters.

As far as some other things mentioned....

- tuning your system for a month: tuning is all dependent on who's doing the tuning. For some, yes, it takes several attempts by ear. You tune some, listen for awhile, find things you want to change, tune more, repeat. For me, I take the car to a guy with many years of industry experience, who uses top end measuring equipment, and his own very good ears, to tune my car in a matter of hours. We might follow up and fine tune from there once in a while. But to suggest that you are "supposed to spend a month tuning" is not accurate.

- breaking in a sub for 20 hours: I'll agree that a sub may play a little differently after getting some playing time on it, but there's no fancy procedure you need to follow or anything. Just play.

- getting a cap, implying "you are supposed to do it". big false. A cap may or may not help in some cases. In many cases, it doesn't do a thing.

- "Whatever you do make sure to mount the tweeters as high up as possible" - really ? on the top of the a-pillars near the ttops perhaps ? Tweeter position is dependant on what your priorities are for imaging, staging, tonality. I've yet to find a "perfect" location for tweeters in an f-body, and I think I've tried them all. Each has a trade-off.

-"No components in the rear. It is stupid to do realizing that most car receivers output more bass on the rears than in the front." :
I've never heard of a car receiver boosting bass on rear outputs. Ideally, a head unit should have flat response on all of it's full-range pre-outs.

- "Bass is better if they are facing the rear of the car,because when the waves bounce back from the trunk area, then The energy from the bass will make your system louder that what it really is." How can a system 'sound' louder then it really is ? Either it's louder or it isn't. Subs can be louder by a db or 2 based on how they are facing. It will be different in every type of car. It does have to do with phase and loading.

- as far as everyone chiming is saying, "I head X sub or speakers in a car, and they sounded like Y, I heard Z in another and it was better". So much of car audio is in the install and tune, that unless you know all the details of the install and tuning, you can't really make comparisons. For example, say I had a system with a 12" JL W7 in a sealed box, but the box was only .7 cu ft, and the amp was only 250 watts RMS, with a bass boost circuit turned on. This setup will most likely sound worse then ideal because of the small box, boosted bass and most likely clipped power from overdriving the small amp. But unless you know all of these things, you'll think the W7 is an over rated piece of crap, compared to the JBL GTO 12" sub (JBL's entry level model) installed in a proper sized box, with adequate power, and tuned with an EQ by someone who knows how to blend it in with the front speakers and normalize any frequency peaks.

To the USACi competitor claiming Sony is not used in competitions. I'm surprised you forgot about Jason Syner.

To the OP, enjoy your system .
I never said that the SNR ratio made a warmer sound. And yes, a system can sound louder. If you place a speaker in a well built box, or will you place a speaker in a bigger box that is ported an has dynamat, what will sound louder? The speaker that is ported because the sound is controlled, is "breathing", and the dynamat will control the sound. Why do you think that studios spend thousands of dollars to tune the actual "room" to specs. I also never said that there was more bass being output throught the preamps. Just on the receiver's internal amp. And yes you do want to put the tweeter up high, but where it will be hitting your ears. But yea like I said before. I will enjoy the system thanks.
Old 01-28-2009, 09:00 AM
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I'm bringing this thread back. I removed the last few posts. Please keep it clean.


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