Vincent

I'm a guy who's always hardpressed with money. Whatever I earn (I have no job so...), I have to spend wisely. I'm also a guy who has way to many interests. Videogames, comics, movies, music and for almost a year now... my 96 3.2 TL.

Because I love music, I love bass. I love being in my friends car with it's two 12" Infinity subwoofers, the way the whole car shakes is so nice. But I don't have a job like him. My car with the factory system (whatever came with the Premium package, and I had a Pioneer deck put in) is just not cutting it.

So, what are some ways to get a good sounding subwoofer system without spending $600+? My parents won't help because they don't approve of loud music... :P

What about those deals on eBay where they give you subwoofers, amp, wires and box for a single (and attrictively cheap) price? Those look extremely tempting...

Thanks to all in advance.

I'm Batman

Remember you get what you pay for. With that said maybe you should consider used equipment. Just remember that a lot of subs get used pretty hard so shop wisely.

Blue_TL

get a job

Mr Zipps

HAHA... That is what I was thinking...

tumas

usually if you goto caraudioforum.com's classifieds you will find cheap (price-wise) systems f/s.

VTEC11

All great advice there.

Brian_C6

find some dual voice coil subs. JBL makes an affordable one. Buy a sealed box and throw them in. You should be around $350 there. Now a nice amp. You'll probably need a 400x2 (2ohm stable / bridgable) amp. Depending on the name brand, you're probably looking at $200-300 for a decent one. Series / Parrallel your wiring and you'll pull some serious power from it. You're bass is all set there. The amp will run hot (and may shut off after an hour of full volume) but you'll get some serious sound from them. Now keep your stock HU and convert the speaker wires to RCA's. Run those RCA's back to a crossover. I'm sure you can find a high / low variable crossover for under $100. This will control your high / low signal. Send low to the 400watt amp. Buy a junk 200watt amp( prob $150) and use the high signal to power that. Send the wires to you stock speakers.

$350 = 12" Dual VC w/ Box
$250 = decent amp for lows
$125 = half decent amp for highs
$75 = variable crossover
$30 = line level converter
$50 = wires, fuse blocks, rca cables, etc.
--------

$880 or so total. That is about the best you can do for decent sound. For another $200 you can replace the stock speakers? I dunno

Maybe you can replace the variable crossover and 1 amp with a nicer aftermarket headunit. Some headunits have decent power and built in crossovers. I guess it all depends on if a headunit is important to you. I don't like how an aftermarket headunit looks in my '02 so I kept it stock.

Good Luck,
Brian

I'm Batman

Good thing $600 was too much

Brian_C6

He could cut some corners... maybe go with 2 10" and custom make the box. He could sneak out of it for $250.... now we're down to $700. Maybe he doesn't buy a crazy amp... I dunno. I haven't purchased shit in so long. How much is a decent 400watt amp now-a-days?

Brian

shawhite

hey Brian C6 do you have a clue what the hell you are talking about..

Vincent

I've already tired that... nothing yet. :'( Maybe in a few months?

Thanks for all the advice Batman. $880 is a lot but I'm guessing I'll have to try it.

About the subwoofers, I can usually find some cheap Infinity ones (which I really like). I know of a place with really cheap boxes (like $80 for a double 12" enclosure).

And do I really need two amps? I've never seen a system with two amps or maybe I have and don't know it (yes, I know what an amp looks like). My Pioneer deck can seperate the his/lows to the front and rear speakers... maybe it can seperate it to the subwoofers and speakers?

shawhite

personally i would start by just adding subs.. maybe 2-12 kickers or rockford fosgate... with a jbl or hifonics amps... since it does not sound like you are looking for sq.. then i would replace the stock door speakers with some decent coxials like infiniti or polk or something along those lines... and i would power the door speakers with the pioneer headunit and power the subs with the amp... oh also you will save alot of money if you build your own box.. they are very simple to make and you dont even need tools.. well you will need a drill and maybe a calk gun.. you can have home depot cut all the wood for you for like $.25 a cut..



2 rockford fosgate 12HE2 subs ($200)
1 pair of infiniti reference 6.5 coxials and 1 pair of infiniti reference 6x9 ($160)
1 jbl 600.1 to push the subs.. ($230)
misc wiring and cheap box or supplies to build a box ($80)
TOTAL ($670)... all prices taken off of www.woofersetc.com (i am sure you can find all this stuff cheaper on ebay...

Vincent

Thanks shawhite. I didn't know Home Depot did stuff like that.

BTW, does the dimensions of the box matter? I know it has to be wide enough to support the diameter of the two subs (duh!). But what about the other dimensions? Like, I would like to have some trunk space so I don't want my box to be too deep and would like to have it short enough in length and height so I can place it all the way in the back.

Brian_C6

Whatever man.... tell me where I went wrong. I'd be interesting in know how half ass'd that system setup is... especially since mine is similair and it seems to do good at stereo competitions

Brian

Vincent

Yeah, your set up awesome though very expensive. Maybe when I got to college and hopefully find a part time job Shawhite's seems more reasonable (price wise) to me.

I was going to ask this in another thread, but I might as well ask it in here.

Interior speakers, with the head unit that I have (Pioneer DEH-P4600MP), what kind (size and power wise) of interior speakers can I get for the front doors?

Also, I can't hear anything out of my 4 tweeters, is there a way to check them for sure to see if they're working?

Thanks for all your help so far guys. I'm a noob when it comes to car audio.

Brian_C6

Here is what I did..... and it cost me a bit over 600. You may want to think about it. It has the sound of a big system without the checkbook.



Hopefully this helps.

I think you could sneak out with buying this...

$200 Subwoofer Amp
$250 Two 10" or 8" Dual V.C. Subs w/ box
$50 Crossover
$25 Line Converter
$150 Door Speaker Amp
-------------------
$650

shawhite

why are you so insistant on using dvc subs... the only thing they are for is wiring flexablity...

Brian_C6

Because if you wire the speakers as I've shown, you can double your amps power. You'll be pulling a 1 ohm load but you're amp DOUBLES in output power. The only way to series / parallel the wiring is to have 2 voice coils or 4 speakers. It's the cheap way to get serious sound.

wire the speakers for 8ohm but series them for 2.... amp see's 1. I'm not an audio specialist but this is what I've been told. I get SERIOUS boom with a little 400watt amp.

Brian

shawhite

you can do the same thing with 2 single 4ohm vc.. why do all that wiring and you can acheive the same thing with 2 single vc speakers..

shawhite

i think that people have misinformed you.. if you have a 2 ohm load on the amp then that is what it is going to see... not 1 ohm not 4ohms.. but the 2 ohms you have on the amps output... also i bet your amp cuts off alot too huh... plus if you had a 1ohm load on your amp you would effectively quadruple your power.. but your amp would more than likely be toast... unless you have a high current amp like a mmats or something like that...

NYZGREATST

dawg maybe im not seeing this right? do you have your stock speakers AMPED?!

Brian_C6

Yea... why? I never replace stock speakers until they blow. hehehe. They never seem to blow though.... I take all the lows out of them with the crossover and they seem to be fine. I added tweeters though.

Brian

Brian_C6

so doing what i did to my 2 DVC subs = Two 4ohm SVC speaker?

shawhite

amping the stock speakers is like buying a mercedes and not have money for gas.. oh and another thing.. i looked at your diagram again and in order for you to have a 2ohm load present at the amp you would have to have dual 2 ohm voice coils.. wired in series across the speaker which would make the speaker basically 4ohms.. then wired in parallel to the amp which would show the amp a 2 ohm load.. is this what you have or are you running dual 4ohm voice coils which would give you a 4ohm load at the amp...

shawhite

from the amps point of view yes...

Brian_C6

so why does my amp run hot enough to shut off? If the amp is seeing 4 ohms and is rated at 4 ohms, why does it shut off after about 45min of full volume?

Brian

PS. I plan on buying door speakers.

shawhite

what kind of amp do you have and what kind of speakers do you have.. are they dual 2 or dual 4 ohms..

AcuraX2

Shawhite is correct. There is no way you can do a series/parallel wiring scheme and achieve a final 1 ohm load. A pair of dual 2 ohm coil subs will achieve 2 ohms and a pair of dual 4 ohms will achieve 4 ohm final load.

As for the amp shutoff, in addition to Shawhites question, how big of power and ground cables are you using? Also, you state your amp is seeing 4 ohms and rated at 4 ohms, if you have dual 4 ohm voice coils subs, then you are correct. If you happen to have dual 2 ohm subs, then that could be your problem. 2 ohm load to your 4 ohm rated amp.

Brian_C6

2 JBL Subwoofers
http://www.jbl.com/car/products/prod...er=GTS&cat=SUB

MTX Blue Thunder Pro
http://www.mtxaudio.com/caraudio/archive/pro150x2.cfm

I think that's what i have

Brian

shawhite

i would have to say that your amp is to small for those subs.. that is why your amp gets real hot and then cuts off.. it cuts off when the thermal protection circuitry kicks in.. this is done to keep you from harming your amp.. i would suggest you look at getting a new and bigger amp.. maybe one of the older jbl 600.1 or 1200.1 since they are decent amps and you can get them real cheap...

AcuraX2

But 150 watts per sub should not be causing shutdown problems, should it? Plus, those amps were very underated powerwise. I used MTX amps for years and never had any problems. I powered a 12" Kicker Cast Comp with a Blue Thunder with only 100 watts and it would run all day long. Unless there is actually something physically wrong with amp, I just do not see why it would be thermal protecting. Can subs work an amp too hard? Never heard that.

Brian_C6

My car POUNDS with that amp. I actually have the older black/gold series. The amp cost me $500 on sale. I don't care what anyone says... it's plenty of power for these subwoofers. As a matter of fact, I've blown threw a few subwoofers with it. I have friends that can't even sit in my backseat because they're throat closes. It's one of the loudest systems I've ever heard. Maybe I do have 2ohm speakers and this would be a good reason why my amp overheats and my system is very loud. I blew the sunroof out of my old car with this system and I hit something like 146 dec. at a competition afew years back. It's NOT a weak amp.

Check the details again too... it's rated at 425watts bridges @ 4 ohms. If the amp is seeing 2 ohms... you figure it out.

Brian

AcuraX2

I agree with you Brian about the amp being enough power but, if you are indeed presenting a 2ohm load to that amp when bridged, that is why it is shutting down. That amp is only stable to 4 ohms mono and 2 ohm stereo. Any lower impendences and you risk shutdown.

Brian_C6

Now let's just say I am running 2ohm mono..... would the amp even turn on? Or would it be ok at low volumes? Increased volume, over time, always leads to it shutting down. This bastard gets smoking hot in like 35-40 min at top volume. The lower I have it, the longer it lasts before shut down.

And IF it was at 4ohm... would it even shutdown at all? It's gotta be seeing 2ohm's... no/yea?

Brian

AcuraX2

Some amps will run at 2 ohms mono just fine. Others may run for a while before getting too hot. And some may go into protection mode right away. We are referring only to amps "rated" at 4 ohms mono. It can even vary with the exact same model amp. If it is getting "smoking hot" then, make sure you are putting plenty of voltage to it. Make sure it has plenty of ventilation. If you are running at 2 ohm, I would take Shawhite's suggestion of a new amp. JBL makes a great bang for the buck sub amp.

Brian_C6

Yeah, I would but this amp is like 6 years old. It's held up well and I'm satisfied with it's performance thus far. The system is so loud that keeping the volume up loud enough for 45 min isn't good for my ears anyway. It used to happen more often when I was younger. LMAO!

It very rarely shuts off anymore. It's usually when I'm outside the car waxing it or hanging out in a parking lot, etc. I usually get the neighbors to complain long before it shuts down too. hehehe

BTW, I have 4 gauge wire to it and my ground is just as thick and only a few feet away. It seems to be getting a sufficient amount of voltage.

Brian

Vincent

I guess nobody wants to answer my question? :fingerfawk:

AcuraX2

And with responses like that, why should we??

What question did not get answered?

I'm Batman

When looking for door speaker an important spec to look at is sensitivity. This a rating on output from the spkr with one watt of power measured one meter away. Seeing most of us never apply the max power to door spkrs it is more important to get the most for our dollar. It appears that you are driving the interior spkrs with the Pioneer 4600 (???) so compare the speakers in your price range and then listen to them. Speakers will sound different in a store than they will in your car so find a store that will work with you if you are not happy.

There are a couple of ways to test the tweeters. Seeing that they play high frequencies that you might not be able to hear a good stereo store has an Audio Control meter that can test for sweep of all of the frequencies. Most stores will not charge for this if you buy the speakers from them.

I hope this helps.

Vincent

Thanks Batman.