Car stereo advice

[Mago_Haydz]

My bunky old commodore is in serious need of a new stereo and speakers, mostly thanks to several years of full level blasting. Speakers are half gone, plus I want to take advantage of my ipod touch and therefore need a stereo head unit with USB and Aux input in the front.

I found a few stereos on ebay that suit this need, and the general stezzas seem to be 4x50W output. Being the layman that I am, I am guessing that this means I can plug 4 50W speakers into it.

Naturally if I want any sort of real crankability I will need an amp. This is where I get confused. Ive had a look around, again on ebay and theres some insane amps on there for hell cheap. Im talking 4 channel amps with 1400W per channel - 5600W total, and 560 total RMS. So this means I can run 4 1400W speakers of this one unit right? I probably wont go that high, because thats insane, but I just want to know what I should be heading for. If I buy that amp, what if I only get 600W speakers? Is that a bad thing that its so far under the output, or does it not matter? I also assume that you cant put speakers that are higher than the output per channel of the amp.

Fuck, so many questions....

Lets say all the above is good, so I plug my amp in with the 4 speakers running off it, then suddenly I have 4 spare speaker outputs in the back of the stereo - 50W each. Can I then run 4 50W speakers off them as well as whatever is running off the amp? Say some tweeters or what ever?

Now to the Subbie.... no fuck it, I'll get to that later.... too much info might pop my fuse.

Any help would be much appreciated as I know fuck all about this shit, evidence by this thread.

[cyanide_christ]

You really don't need to think that much about car audio. The most important thing is to have sufficient power at the amp. Having a super powerful amp will not blow your speakers up any time sooner than the speakers will blow your ears up. If you are underpowering your speakers, that's where it gets dangerous. If you're distorting the speakers to get the volume you want, you're basically killing them.

Having said that I've had 3 cars, none of which have had amps (only the head unit) and I've never killed any speakers, HOWEVER, amps do affect the sound quality. The better the amplification, the better the sound.

Don't pay any attention to the power ratings of amps unless it is specified as RMS. The other figures are meaningless and serve only to fool regular folk into buying the product under false pretenses.

[cyanide_christ]

Oh and no, you can't run 4 speakers from your amp and 4 from your deck. The 4 outputs of the deck go into the 4 inputs of the amp.

[ecentrix]

Get 1 6 channel amp and your set

4 outputs for the speakers and 2 for subs

[JohnnyC]

make sure you get a good source unit/deck. they do make a diffrence.
amps are easy to find. they all just solid state with heaps of clean headroom. find one with minimum 4 channels and at least 50W RMS  per channel. also look into amps that have bridgeable channels (eg merging two 100W channels into 1 200W channel that can pump 1 speaker/sub)

split systems are great at the front (seperate driver and tweeter with a crossover). dont bother with 6x9s if you are getting subs

i currently run a 4 channel alpine amp (2 channels running the front L/R splits and 2 channels running 2x10inch subs) with the 2 rear speakers being run of the deck.

theres lots of diffrent configurations depending on your needs but most car audio guys are doof doof heads and run their systems very bass heavy... however IMO it really tires your ears and you look like a tosser with your boot farting... my preference is on nice punchy mids and not advertising to everyone that you have stuff to steal.

[dparker]

theres lots of diffrent configurations depending on your needs but most car audio guys are doof doof heads and run their systems very bass heavy... however IMO it really tires your ears and you look like a tosser with your boot farting... my preference is on nice punchy mids and not advertising to everyone that you have stuff to steal.

Smart man.

[CamZH]

I'd say just go for a decent head unit and a sub.
It's what i've got set up in the work car and the spare car.

But all comes down to what you really want.
If you just want something decent to listen to, then get a decent head unit and it will have enough power to run some ok speakers.

In the spare car i've got a pioneer head, was about $350 or so from JB, i'm using kevlar 5" coaxial (bloody Volvo!) from Jaycar.
I've got 6x9's on the parcel shellf in boxes, which are sony drivers that seem to be ok.
got a 12" pioneer sub and a cheapy amp from JB.

All up didnt cost me too much as some of the speakers (sub and 6x9's) were 2nd hand from ebay.

If you want to use your ipod you should see if you can get a deck that has a proper ipod interface, that way you can charge it, and the song names come up on the head unit.  I dont have an ipod and doesnt seem that many other mp3 players are supported.
The other option is USB. I've got another car (yes there is too many cars) with a kenwood head that uses a USB stick, as sticks are cheap and it just lives in the car. more friendly than an analoge input from your ipod.

But yeah, i say go head + speakers, and add sub + amp later if needed.

there is a few big rules if you plan on doing this your self.
DO NOT CUT ANYTHING !!!
There is adapter leads made for everything these days, so you dont need to cut leads or mess around. I've seen too many cars that have been hacked up cos someone was too cheap.

Is there a budget for this project ??

[BoltZ]

Oh and no, you can't run 4 speakers from your amp and 4 from your deck. The 4 outputs of the deck go into the 4 inputs of the amp.

Depends on the deck; if it has RCA pre-outs, that would be what's supplying the signal to the amp. For example, if you have 3 RCA pre-outs, you could run a 6 channel amp, and still run 4 speakers off the deck...

[Metallifux]

yep and make sure the pre-outs are 5 V+ just replaced my old Alpine deck that only had 3V outs and now my sub sounds soooo much better!

[-=[Cataclysm]=-]

go to jaycar get their precision response 5 channel amp - its got incredible clarity and has won heaps of car audio awards and beaten pretty much every equivalent hi end car audio amp on the market. perfect for powering 4 speakers and sub. cheap aswell

if your listening to metal you dont need a massive big sub or more than one aswell, it actually improves the sound if you have a smaller sub that handles punch bass rather than boom bass. big subs are 'underused' when you dont put bassy dance music through them, so they are pointless buying if you just listen to metal/rock through it.

i have in my stationwagon pioneer HU and speakers, 6"splits in the front, 6" 3-ways in the passenger doors and a 12" shallow pionner mounted behind the back seat (10" was what i was after but couldnt get a shallow mount one). 5 channel Precision Response amp under the passenger seat.