Hi,

I'm about to throw the damm Monsoon and speakers by the window see how they survive a 11floor fall.
I have a dead speaker and fed up of the Monsoon.
Well, before anything, I'd like to say I'm an audiophile, but never invested in car systems... have invested in home ones.
Anyways, I have a convertible, and was thinking on a simple HU w/ great quality, front speakers, and subs, going through amps.
great image... kiss approach.

Anyways, was thinking on getting the Focals (I love those from hearing them since last year on other cars)
Speakers: Focal 165-k2p (pretty much the only thing I'm sure of)

As for HU, I was thinking on Clarion 9255, but it's a bit on the steep side.
What kind of HU can I get, without having to spend as much.
I don't care about mp3s, gadgets, etc.
Want a HU that plays CDs (great quality) and radio
How good/bad is the Alpine 9855 compared to the Clarion 9255 ? still ~$1000 less for the Alpine.
Any suggestions there ?

As for amps, I wanted a clean and powerful enough amp to take care of the front speakers, and another one for the 2x 8" subs, that I'll use in the Johnny convertible sub-box.
The subs are just to fill the sound... I HATE boum-boum when listening to music... I just want the bass to compliment and fill.
Any suggestions on 2x 8" subs ? (not too expensive, please)

also, I'm not a LOUD-approach person... so volume is not what I want... but I want enough power to avoid distortion of ANY kind.
Also, am I better with 1 amp that takes care of front speakers and sub, or get 2 amps ?
Any suggestions on the amps ? (has to be from a good brand name, such as RF)

Thanks a lot

 

I might go w/ the Alpine and save the ~1000$... and if I'm too picky in the car, I can get the H701.
The ONLY thing I don't like about the 9255, actually, is the fact that you can't even remove the face-plate for anti-theft reasons.
I just hope the SQ of the pre-out on the Alpine are good and that I won't regret it.

As far as subs,
I was thinking any 2x 8" as long as it has 2 voice-coils and 4-ohms
put them in parallel through one amp, and another for the speakers.
Some I had in mind were, as you mentionned, the JL 8w3v2-D4 or even the RF RFD2208 (which I think was replaced by p38d4).

I just want the subs to fill and not be the primary thing... so we'll probably come back to them later.

As far as amps, I was thinking on not going as crazy with them.
2 reasons:
I don't listen to music TOO loud
I don't want to have the possibility of blowing the speakers.

The speakers (Focal 165-p2k) are quoted @ 200W-RMS / 400W-Peek (4-ohms)
That means that I don't want to exceed those... so getting an amp that will provide ~150W-RMS @ 4-ohm will be plenty, imho.

For that reason, I was thinking on going w/ a T8002 for the fronts.
Another possibility would be the P10002, though... but then I don't know much about the difference in quality from the Power and Punch series... unless someone can enlighten me.

As for the sub amp, a t10001 could do it.
The other idea is to go with a t8002 and connect the subs to each channel, having a Left sub and a Right sub.
the question is: can we make control the low-pass on both channels of this amp ?

But instead of having 2x t8002, maybe 1x t15004 might be the way to go... help me save some $, and amp should be able to handle it.

If the front channels (Focal speakers) are @ 4-ohm, I should be getting 125W out of each channel from the sub (which should be plenty, and on the safe side).. after all, RF amps tend to do more than the specs.
As for the subs, by bridging the 3-4 channel, and putting the 4-ohm subs in parallel, I would get 250W on each sub.

The amp seems to match the system pretty well, imho.
so the whole system would be around 2k$... I would be doing the install myself.

 

no advice ???
I was actually looking @ this page of Rockford Fosgate website:
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...atts.asp#power

Was initially thinking on getting a 1x t8004
t8004 would yield (on average)
front spkrs: 96W @ 4ohm /ch
sub: 522W bridged @ 2ohm

but, the t3002 is exactly 1/2 price, but using 1 of them for spkrs and the other for sub (will cost me the same), but yield the following power (on average)
front spkrs: 223W @ 4ohm /ch
sub: 838W bridged @ 2ohm

even if way under average, I should have plenty power, and should be better having 2 subs: cleaner, and each segment has its own power-supply.

what you guys think ?

 

if you are going to go with rf i would definitely go with the power series over the punch, i personally will not put anything in my car that is sold at best buy or circuit city. get the power it is a stronf reliable amp i have driven mine to 1 ohm for 4 years now and it is still strong as ever and never over heats. It is recommended at 2 ohm by the way. just my 2 cents. if u really like clean sound there as some mcintosh amps on ebay selling for around 300 that will give u a good 2 channel front stage of 50 watts X 2. mcintosh is really under rated and the best u can get. If u dont want to dip into the kind of class i would definitely recommend the 8in w7 subwoofer, it plays very smooth with accurate bass, jl makes one of the best subs. If u like more accurate and punchy bass i would get one 10 w3v2 jl sub. Jl also makes some excellent amps, i would rate them better than rockford any day. just my 2 cents pm me with any questions

 

If your looking for a head unit to put out clean sound, look into eclipse.
Ive owned alpine, sony, kenwood, jvc...and by far the eclipse puts them all to shame. I have eclipses top model from last year and man it was definatly a step up from the monsoon. Its pretty much the ultimate tunning tool when it comes to tayloring your music to the way you want it to sound.
that sounds pretty gay but seriously eclipse is the way to go

 

actually, I don't see any Eclipse model getting close to the Clarion 9255.
as for MacIntosh amplifiers, I can't find anything on them... anyone has any links, info on them ?
As for sub, I'm not going for anything bigger than an 8"... just want enough bass to fill and no boum-boum, especially no rattles/vibrations from it... I'm not looking for loudness.
Thanks.

 

Mcintosh MX406, Alpine 7990, Denon DCT Z1, Nakamichi CD700, and Pioneer Premier DEX-P9. All these units would sound better than the Clarion. Try comparing the S/N ratio on them. Although the 24 bit burr brown processor is nice, Clarion manages to fk up the sound compared to its competition.

For great sq, and very functional ... I suggest the Premier DEX/DEQ-P9. That way you have a great head unit, equalizer, and options to add on later like XM. Great price I found it for too!

www.carmedia1.com

DEX-P9: $ 849.00
DEQ-P9: $ 559.00

 

The DAC's are 20bit in the Clarion. The P9 is an Awesome piece and I liked it when I played around with one. the SQ is good. Just make sure to pair it up with the processor. It is basically a re-invention of the old ODR series stuff.

How can you say the 9255 is not that great of a SQ piece?? It is one of the top 2 decks ever made. That and the Alpine 7909. As for S/N ratio, that can be fudged up alot by using a Noise gate. Thus making the S/N appear higher than what it really is. Going by pure specs is not a good idea because of Manufatures over-rating their specs and some use Digital filtering to make the S/N higher. Should always try to listen before you buy.

The Focals are a greta speaker. Try looking into the Q line from MB Quart and Dyna-Audio. The Dyna's have the lowest efficiency of those ^, but they have a really good off-axis resonse and can play lower than most speakers. Hell, I x-over my 5" dyna's in my kicks at 50hz. That was a big jump in centering the image a bit. I'm biased towards the Dyna's from my experience, but I've Heard excelent sound from Focal and Quart also. It's almost a tose up between those.

You are going to fight The wind noise when the top is down, so you'll want a bit more amplification to hear it. You'll also have trouble with Bass-response with the top down do to NO cabin gain. You might want to look into a professional install of a Pair of 8's in the rear sail panels to bring the bass into the cabin. I've seen and hear dthis type of install before and while it's not super loud, it might just fit your build right. Plus it would be in your cabin area.

For Amps, I agree about going for the Power seriers over Punch. Try looking into MB Quart Amps, Mac amps are great. Xtant, Milbert. There are a bunch of choices for Amps. Can even look into older stuff that was good.