Hey guys and gals! I tend to spend a good amount of time in my car to and from work, side jobs, etc. This time around on my recently acquired 98Z, I'd like to have a nice setup. I'm not looking for anything extreme. I just want a setup that sounds good loud, has good clarity, and hits crisply. I tend to listen to more rock/punk than anything else, so I'd like the bass drums to come through nicely and still be able to pick out cymbals and vocals.
I used to have a JL 8" that went from my 90 metro, to my 90 Z, and was originally in a 88 Sierra regular cab. I loved the way that sounded!
Anyway, I know with my S10, there are some that say "you just need this and this and your s10 will sound great". Does anyone have any suggestions for the cavy? Experiences?
If i install tweeters and such, I want to keep it clean looking like it belonged there from the beginning.
Well it all comes down to budget, honestly. You can build a nice, well-rounded system with good equipment for a relatively reasonable price, depending on your idea of reasonable. Are you looking to do a complete overhaul, or simply upgrade as few parts as possible?
(tabs) wrote:z yaaaa wrote:its not much fun trying to argue with a wall.
oh, trust us, we know
I'm not looking for anything crazy or expensive show stoppers, just some good sound. Some of the factory stereos in the GM's these days are pretty decent, but since its a 98 cavalier, there is something to be begged for.
Lets start with some items and maybe you can guide me thru a decent setup.
Hmm...I'd like to stay with an 8" sub, unless possible to get the sound without it. i thought of maybe mounting one through the rear shelf like many newer GM's, but not necessary.
The head unit i am not sure of yet. I do have a BOSS BV9950, but i have that in the outback right now. It could be swapped though. It was mainly a decent deal on a 7" touch w/bluetooth and dvd. I always seemed to steer toward a pioneer or an alpine, but not looking to spend the $ right now for an Alpine. Kenwood always seemed kind of flat to me. Maybe there are some particular specs i should be looking for...?
With specs in mind....are component drivers necessary or will most head units split everything up now(i.e.-hi, mid, low speakers)?
Speakers i have no problem replacing, especially if they are the factory ones.
This is like my motorcycle exhaust-you never really know what you'll like until its on or you heard the same exhaust on an identical bike. Just wish I knew some people around here with quality audio J's, and I dont mean the guys rattling the truck lids. Again, clear sound and a crisp hit are key.
I have a guy that sells some of this stuff; is there anything in here you'd recommend?:
Your text to link here...
I was thinking separate screen from monitor, but not necessary either. Again, maybe with suggestions I can find something comparable.
I have a pair of Rainbow CSX 265 components that I actually bought from JL, great guy to deal with, and they are awesome with rock music. I have the tweeters in my door panels higher up by where the door panel meets the dash, just a little underneath the sail panel area. Idk if this is necessarily true in all cases but for a sub I would go with a sealed box, I feel like it gives you a tighter/cleaner bass as opposed to a ported box. I know you can make a ported box sound just as good if not better, however they are more finicky to get right. So I just went with a sealed 12" Type-R for mine and its delivers night tight musical bass for rock music. Also make sure to build your own if you can or have someone build one for you, I would not go near those pre built best buy one. Again this is just my experience with my car, Im sure more knowledgeable people will chime in.
Dave
My old JL 8 was in a half-moon ported box and sounded great. I think the difference there is because it was such a small sub it wasnt so bad to setup.
anyone have tweeters in door panels or on a-pillars that can chime in on sound deliverance/quality?
Mine are in my door panels near the sail panel/dash bezel area, I can get a pic or two if you want. I like how they sound up there, but thats my ears not yours. What i would do is hook them up but dont mount them right away. Instead test play some music and move the tweeter around until you find a location for them that sounds good to you, then mount them in that location.
Dave
I had a kicker 12" l5 and it sounded great with every kind of music. I listen mostly to modern and classic rock but use to listen to some rap before too. Before that I had 2 older 15s and the kicker pounded just as hard and sounded more clear. Plus only took up 1/3 of the trunk..15s took up 95% of the trunk.
2000 Cavalier Z24 5spd - Intake, Dynomax muffler, Hawk Pads, Powerslot rotors, Sportlines/Koni reds, Neon Coil, MSD 8.5 Wires
2005 Mazda 3 GS Auto- Wifes car
2006 Cobalt SS/SC - Intake, 2.5" Exhaust, GMPP Brakes, Solid Mounts, Ported S/C - Sold
1991 GMC Sierra - Lifted on 38.5" Swampers, Too much to list off. For Sale
Let me start by saying that mine are up in my pillars and I love them that way.
Then I'll go on to tell you not to do it that way, because in order to make it sound any good at all you have to spend a lot of money.
If you do go decide to mount them higher, make sure you can adjust the volume of the L/R tweeters independently. You're going to want to.
For rock, I'd recommend focusing on deadening the doors as well as possible and focusing on midbass. Get a big beefy midbass driver and amp it with something powerful.
6x9s do a good job at producing midbass, so it would be worth looking into a good set of amped 6x9s for the rear and of course deadening to go along with it.
It's tempting to focus on your highs because you want "clarity", but trust me when I say nothing makes a good rock/punk track sound better than a solid midbase foundation.
In the case of punk and rock (and really, this is the only case) tweeters are actually
easier to work with.
I would take your focus away from the sub, because it's easy to get distracted and spend too much time trying to make a sub do midbass.
Brad hit the nail on the head. Glad to see him chime in on this
I don't have much more to add to what he said unless we got specific and I tried to sell you things lol. But in a general sense, he has the right idea. Also, I can't say much more without knowing your budget. a pair of amps, or a 5 channel amp, and then comps, midbass drivers if you so chose, and a sub, then add a decent head unit... then the install accessories and wiring... things CAN get pricey, the higher you go in quality. Just can't help with specific recommendations without knowing the budget.
But I will say this, if you have the money available, or time to save, or ability to do it 1 piece at a time, DO IT. This is something you should be able to do once and leave alone. Being cheap in the beginning means wanting to upgrade a lot sooner than if you're able to do it right the first time.
(tabs) wrote:z yaaaa wrote:its not much fun trying to argue with a wall.
oh, trust us, we know
Brad-1st, nice setup with the HVAC control head setup i see peeking out in the left corner.
2nd, why does everyone say not to put the tweeters up higher? As for the highs, I just hate knowing there's a sound in a particular song and not hearing it. it takes away from the experience.
Im not fixated on the sub, in fact, if i didnt have to have it that would be cool too. All i know is how great AC/DC sounded with it!
6x9's are always mentioned, but why does everyone, yourself included, have round speakers in the door AND the kick panels? Then 6x9 in the back.
JL-Lets assume a moderate budget. you seem to be in the know about products and sell them(?) Are there some JL options you could recommend? Maybe some older head units I could find cheaper? Again, I dont need new, just working, and i know there are people on here that upgrade more and more.
I'd really like to get a new monitor in there, bluetooth, and maybe even NAV, but my main concern is sound. From what Brad posted, can you direct me to some options?
disrespectedz24 wrote:Brad-1st, nice setup with the HVAC control head setup i see peeking out in the left corner.
Thank you, kindly
Quote:
2nd, why does everyone say not to put the tweeters up higher? As for the highs, I just hate knowing there's a sound in a particular song and not hearing it. it takes away from the experience.
If you could
also mount your mids up in the pillars, I would say go for it, as long as you can adjust the independent left/right volume (or balance, I guess). When you bring the tweeter closer to your head while leaving the mid in the door/kick the separation becomes VERY noticeable. Also tweeters are very "spatially sensitive". You want the distance between the left/right tweeter to be the same, or it will be very noticable. Your center soundstage will get pulled left and sound detached from your mid stage. If you can get your hands on some powerful processing (as I have) you can adjust the individual volume and time alignment to trick your ears in to thinking that the tweeters are equally distant from you.
The fact is, mounting the tweeters up close to the speaker will just plain sound better. The sound stage will be lower, but it will sound better, in terms of tonality and timbre.
Quote:
Im not fixated on the sub, in fact, if i didnt have to have it that would be cool too. All i know is how great AC/DC sounded with it!
Then by all means get one. But plan to use it for the sub-60Hz frequencies.
Quote:
6x9's are always mentioned, but why does everyone, yourself included, have round speakers in the door AND the kick panels? Then 6x9 in the back.
6x9's produce good midbass. That's about all they have going for them. You can get round speakers that will produce a similar amount of midbass, but they will be a lot more expensive and require more power.
You see a lot of people going with 6.5" speakers because that's where the stereo companies focus their research. They put all of their effort in to producing their 6.5 and choose specific components (magnets, cone materials, etc) from different companies. Then they get whatever mish-mash they can from those same companies to throw together the rest of their product line.
As for specific products I can help you with, no JL is not one of them lol. I made this name in 2004 when I was running JL equipment in my Cavalier(go figured lol). However, brands like Rainbow,(and specifically Rainbow mostly) I can definitely help with. Only concern being that right now they're doing a tooling change to revamp their entire line up. Meaning what's currently in the US warehouse to sell is all there is, and it's moving at a decent pace. And as for when this fancy new line up for "2012" shows up, can't say for sure yet....
So I'm going to do a quick inventory request before getting into too deep of detail. But for a head unit, hop on Crutchfield.com and find the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X295. I just installed one in a Cobalt and was really impressed. For $120 you get some free install accessories from Crutchfield, that unit comes with an Aux jack, USB input, clean and simple looks in the dash, 3 sets of preouts, and even some fairly decent crossover settings and adjustments. Not a bad unit if you're on a budget. If you want bluetooth or more gizmos, the X696 is one to look into for not a ton more.
(tabs) wrote:z yaaaa wrote:its not much fun trying to argue with a wall.
oh, trust us, we know
I'm personally fond of my Alpine Type-S 6x9's in the rear. They're 3-way (which I prefer to 2-way, but that's a matter of opinion), and have a great sound. For the front I would go with 6.5's. I have the 4x6 Type-S's in my doors but they're only 2 way and sound a bit weak.
I wasn't getting my post notices for some reason...
Anyway, I should have time in @ 2weeks to maybe put the engine in. That gives me some time to find a unit i like and maybe figure out if/how i want to change the dash to accomodate a screen or not. I just want the GOOD sound!! The Cobalt or GM in general, all seem to have decent stereos from the factory anymore. I imagine an aftermarket unit steps it up a bit though. As for the Bluetooth, I will most likely go that route since its illegal in PA to talk on your phone w/out handsfree anymore.
Do any headunits with DVD play .avi files? I have some of my movies compressed into that format and was just curious.
Are you 100% set in getting one with a screen? I have nothing against it, but without $700-1000 to spend, you aren't going to get a real nice brand of head unit with bluetooth, DVD and nav. And that's on the low end of the nice ones lol.
If you are ok with not having the screen/DVD features, I would definitely recommend this on a modest budget:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX696/Kenwood-Excelon-KDC-X696.html?tp=5684
or
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500CDE136B/Alpine-CDE-136BT.html?tp=5684
If you want to splurge on a kick ass aftermarket CD player, maybe consider the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X996
Now, if you want to get a real nice head unit with a screen, Nav., and DVD player, like I said, you gotta pay. These would be the one's I'd look at if I had the dash and desire:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DNX6990/Kenwood-Excelon-DNX6990HD.html?tp=20212#customer-reviews-tab
I really had a falling out on Pioneer all together. Quality isn't really there any more, controls and menu's are atrocious and Alpine seems to be getting a bit of an ego when you compare features/quality to price... Kenwood's Excelon stuff has consistently given amazing bang for the buck. Not to seem like I'm riding a specific brands nuts, but everyone here might know I've been a long time Alpine guy when it came to affordable head units, and I have almost 100% switched my views over to the Excelon products.
(tabs) wrote:z yaaaa wrote:its not much fun trying to argue with a wall.
oh, trust us, we know
