First Car Audio System(NEWBIE)

First off, i love those Intrepids! My wife drives one and LOVES it!

As far as a big car and sound getting "lost" in it, that really is not a big factor. Sound doesnt get "lost", it may be pointed in the wrong direction or muffled by legs , or even high frequencies absorbed by a cloth interior, but its never actually lost in a car!

Ah yes, now onto the subwoofer question! this is one of the most debated topics! But i will give you the basics on it. Since you are looking at Sound Quality as opposed to crankin it up and ripping your passengers faces off, This really wont be that hard to do!. In any SQ system, generally the simpler the better. Music taste and style do have a little to do with what size of sub and what kind of enclosure to put it in. Their is sealed, ported, bandpass, isobarik, transmission line, infinite baffle......lots of box ideas and designs. For you however, i reccomend a sealed or ported box, probably with a single 12 inch woofer. Make the box of such dimensions that it can be moved around in the trunk to achieve what sounds best to you. Yes, where the woofer sits in the trunk makes a big differece in sound.



RMS........Root Mean Square.Basically its the average continuous claen power output from an amp

50 watts from a head unit? I have yet to see a head unit truely do that! 50 watts from a amplifier is better than 50 watts from a HU, anyday. What i am getting at is that if you want a true SQ system, dont rely on HU power to run the highs up front and in the back! Ideally you want just as much power going to the highs as you do the sub. Some will disagree with this, but in my years of SQ systems, it has held true that this is essential for accurate reproduction of the critical upper registers. As a matter of fact, have done several systems with twice the power of the subs going to the highs....


Thier are ALL KINDS of good brands out there! Budget will dictate your system. Some brands that have impressed me over the years are SoundStream amps and speakers, Orion , Fusion, Oz Audio, Clarion HU's, .................BUT this was LONG ago! Some will agree and others will disagree with this.


Bottom line, speaker wise, get what sounds good to YOU, not what the salesman says sounds good.. Take in your own music that YOU are familiar with to listen too, not what they want you to hear...

 

www.bcae1.com

pretty much everything you need to know

 

That 50x4 watts is peak. Most HUs have in the range of 20W RMSx4. Peak watts doesnt mean anything. That measurement isnt regulated so the manafacturer can do anything they can to maximize that number. RMS is regulated so it is the most accurate way to compare power.

First thing to look at is the HU. It doesnt matter what the power is. You main concern is sound quality. You shouldnt buy anything w/ less than 3 sets of preouts(front, rear, and subs). These preouts are what sends the sound to the amps youll have in the future. This is the reason the power of the HU shouldnt matter. The preouts arent amped like the four regular sound channels.

After the HU you should find the speakers you want. Lots of choices here. You could go coaxil or component, one of about a dozen brands, and all those brands have maybe 3 series to choose from. Im sure all this will be explained latter.

The size shouldn't be a problem. Im sure Ranger can figure out what size sub enclosure to optimize it to the size of your car.

The second most important thing is to research what you buy and decide before you buy. There is nothing better then making the salesguy stop in mid thought because he realizes you might know more about what he is talking about than he does.

The most important thing is to know what your budget is. If you know you dont have a bunch of cash to spend you can still get a nice system if you plan accordingly. You can also spend a few thousand on a top of the line system. Im sure youll probably be somewhere in the middle. Spend wisely.

Everyone will be happy to help a newbie out...after all we all started out the same way. The members here range from prefessional installers, to enthusists, to newbies. I rate myself as an educated newbie.
Good Luck

 

ah, that's a biiiig car

the possibilities are almost limitless..

 

I would look to the speakers first, they are the FINAL link in your system, they ae ULTIMATELY what truely makes for a nice sounding system. Dont cut corners here! Do alot of critical listening to your choices. One thing I always used to tell folks was go to a high end home audio store, and listen to a nice set of expensive speakers , like B&W, Polk, etc.....Get a feel for what TRUE sound quality is, then start to listen to the car audio speakers. Will kind of give you a "sound" to listen for. Again, dont pay too much attention to brands, thats not important, (well, for the most partt!) Let your ear guide you. But I do encourage you to listen to some of the more expensive sets, as they will usually sound more accurate and well defined than el cheapos!

Then i would look at amps, bottom line, get the most power you can afford! Really, i mean it, even in a SQ system, more power is better, it allows the dynamic peaks to be more faithfully reproduced. (years ago I read a test on a pair of scissors, snipping paper,to play it back, it took over 6000watts to faithfully reproduce the sound!!!!!!! ) Thats how important an amp is.....


Head units, Hell if I know!!!!!!!!! they are the same to me! LOL! been out of the buisness for some time so cant give you an honest anwer on them....

 

Head Units are the most important... If you have a crappy HU it makes crappy signals. All the amplifiers and speakers in the world cant fix this. The speakers are the output. Think of it this way: You have an old POS. Nothing can fix this. Not new tires(speakers) or anything else. The order to choose things is HU->Amps->Speakers. You want to spend a little extra on the HU. A good quality HU will last for years and sound great. The Amps are one of the more expensive items so you dont want to cheap out and buy crap because it will end up sounding like crap. The speakers just replicate whatever sound is given to them. If you get a top of the line set of speakers and plug them into a system with a crappy HU and amp then they just reproduce the crap.

For headunits you will probably get recomendations for Alpine and Excelcion(sp?) I have the $200 alpine and have no complaints so far but you can spend more than $500-600 without a second thought. Even more if you decide you want a DVD player and screen.

What are you planning on using for your song storage? iPod, changer, sat radio, etc

 

I have a second from bottom line alpine head unit with one rear preout....sounds good to me...subs sound good too...cost me about 150 new...works...gets the job done.


And 5000 dollars!?!?!?!??!!?!?! With that kinda money you can get a pretty seriously high quality system.

 

You can get a top of the line system with that.
$600 for speakers
$600 for HU
$1500 for amps
$600 for subs
$400 for whatever you use for storage
$3700 for good quality equipment

Just some random numbers but it gives you an idea.

 

Something I would like to add. The Viking said something about critical listening, that means take a CD with your favorite songs on it and listen to each indiviual instrument. How does each note sound? Does it sound real? These questions are subjective but if it doesnt sound right in the sound board, it probably wont sound right in the car.

Ask the shop, if they put speakers in, before they put all the panels back on, can you listen to them. Personally, I would rather change speakers with the panels off then taking the car apart again. So I would say "Absolutely".

Remember, they need to sell and you don't have to buy.

 

WHOAAAA! hold them there horses!!!!!!!!!!!


I must TOTALLY disagree with what you said. I agree that a good HU is important to any system, BUT, I dare anyone out there to listen to a cheap 150 buck unit, then lsten to a 500 dollar unit. you WILL NOT hear a difference in the sound quality. When a head unit is driving an amp within its specs, thesound will fine. sure a cheaper unit wil maybe puke out sooner on its MOL, but, when driven within reasonable levels, through an A/B comparison, MOST people WILL NOT hear a difference, especially in the car audio enviorment.


I am speaking in terms of a CD played through either unit driven to 500 MV output on its RCA's. Even the cheap walmart junk HU's will produce sound quality in a system with exceptional amps and speakers........ I have proven this time and time again in the install bays.........


the speakers and amps will define the ultimate quality of the system, period....... As a mater of fact, a HU with less dynamic range is actually better in the car! No ****! It allows the soft sounds to be a little louder and the loud sounds a little softer, which makes for a better sound at highway speeds with all the road noise........Not the ideal SQ set up. but who listen to there stereo sittin in the garage all day?, well, I dont anyway!:lol:


Bottom line, we all want you to get the best sytem for your money heyjude, so dont let the little arguments here steer you away! we all want the best for you and all intentions are good! (but i am right, he he! )

 

Head units...I like the higher end sony's...pioneer (premiers)....eclipse...all of the alpines...um not a fan of the kenwoods.

Just a few.