Just picked up a base '12 GTI and will redo the sound system completely, except for the rear speakers (to save $). I've been out of the game for a long time (last car purchase was 12 years ago) and could use some advice. A friend gave me his amp, sub and deadening materials to use and the installer is willing to install them along with a new head unit and front speakers. Here is the proposed system: Head Unit: Apline 910 Front Speakers: Hertz ESK 165.4 Amp: Memphis Audio 5 channel amp 16mch-600....It is conservatively rated at 55w RMS x 4 (fronts and rears) and then 100w X 1 (sub) @ 4ohms....The amp can be run at 2 ohms safely pumping 75w x 4 and 200w X 1 Sub: Memphis Audio 12" sub in sealed enclosure Deadening material: eD sound deadening My biggest question is on the head unit. It's relatively new so not much of a track record. Alpine has a good rep I realize. I will mainly use it for iPhone/iPod music sourcing. If I go with a double din I want the Nav to work well. This unit has live traffic info, but I worry about any Nav that is not Garmin or TomTom based as far as longer term and updates. Does Alpine charge for updates? How necessary and frequent are updates? Researched the speakers a lot, and I think the Hertz should be a solid choice, but I hate not listening to a system/speakers prior to purchase. No easy answer, so if anyone has these or has heard them I'd love to hear your thoughts. I listen to all types of music, except country/western. Other thought on the system would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
anybody? would appreciate any thoughts/advice. likely going with Hertz HK 165 XL for the front. thinking of runnin the rears of the headunit and then 100/single channel to the sub and then bridging the rest to the front to give them 150 a piece. That should be enough, right? TIA
looks like you got a pretty good set up there, i've heard good things about hertz speakers only, ofcourse theirs always someone that doesn't like what you may but that doesnt matter, the only thing i can input on here is on the headunit. if you are going with a double din of any sort that has navigation built in (in brain or nav disk) id say more than likely you will be running into the needs to update which does cost as far as im aware, and not worth it kind of cost, roads change, new ones get built... you'll need updates in that case. however i have a pioneer double din in my car and i found an app on my iphone that will project the video to my screen (gps app) works pretty well.
what Pioneer unit do you have? is it the app radio? I like that idea, but heard that it is buggy. If youhave that unit, what's your experience been? Thanks!
no, i don't like the idea of having only apps running my unit, i have a Pioneer AVH-P4300dvd, its got pandora integration, i can watch youtube, netflix and such off the unit through my iphone so its essentially the app radio with a dvd slot and much more.... the app that the AppRadio uses for navigation is the app i use.... and i love my headunit, it does everything i wanted. i like it so much ive now installed 1 in 3 of my friends cars and they are all ecstatic with the capabilities. however i will be honest, sony and alpine are going to be better sounding brands if you dont have an amp running to your speakers (which i do) and im not a sony car audio fan at all, but i will admit.... their headunits are solid
hi sorry to intrude i just need some advice and really need some help, ok so i have a pioneer headunit that is brand new with 2x rca preouts one goes to a 250rms sub and the other goes to a 4 channel amp that powers 2 rear speakers (type s alpine rated 80 watts rms) and 2 jvc front component speakers rated at 60 watts rms the problem im having is that when i turn my HU up past 25 (goes to 62) the speakers start to bottum out and pop, this is when the 4 channel amp is on the normal setting (had LPF normal and HPF setting) when i put the amp to HPF the popping stops but why are these speakers doing this they were fairly expensive oh and by the way the 4 channel amp puts out 60 watts rms at 4 ohms (all my speakers are 4 ohms) ive checked wiring and all seems to be fine positive to positive negative to negative etc the weird thing is that i had my settings on normal and i dont remember the speakers popping i had the head unit up to 50 with no distortion (only for brief period for testing ) and then now they pop really loud and dont sound good at all when the amp is on normal setting any help would be appreciated (the 4 channel amp has been swaped to thats not the problem and so has the headunit) when i look at the speakers when on hpf setting they dont fluxuate alot but when ojn normal setting they seem to have a much larger range of movement. my grounds are fairly solid as well could it be a ground loop issue speakers partially blown??? thanks guys
the popping you hear is too low of a bass frequency getting to your midrange speakers. the HPF is a high pass filter. i.e crossover. keep it on.
what's with the hijack? Ok, so here is my revised system for my '12 GTI. I will replace the Memphis amp with the higher rated JL and will go with the Pioneer DD instead of the Alpine. I didn't like the Alpine UI -- the touch screen contols at the bottom are hard to reach as they sit flush with the bottom frame which has a lip. Plus the iPhone/Ipod interface is not as good as the Pioneer and the Nav is notoriously suspect with pricey updates. It astounds me that no one makes a truly great DD -- they all have their own warts it seems. Any thoughts on the system? TIA Head Unit: Pioneer Z130BT Front Speakers: Hertz HSK 165 XL Amp: JL XD700/5 Sub: Memphis Audio 12" sub in sealed enclosure Deadening material: eD sound deadening Rears kept stock and to be powered off of HU for filler only
