Genre specific audio components.

Over the last year I have successfully degraded the stock (non-dynaudio) speakers. I want to turn this shit to 11 (if you know what I mean here).

Anyways, I listen to metal. I want drum tones that explode tits and riffs that slap the dicks off the unsuspecting lesser man. I want to scare children and old ladies. I want this to be so crisp and mean that the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says, "You know what, maybe America is not so bad.".

I am sure you guys get the idea here. I have no idea about car audio hardware, whats good whats bad. I just want true tones, and be able to hold it while cranking it up. Help me out!

:word:

Help a brother out! My commute to work was full of crackles and pops.

Dude what?

I'm too lazy to really deal with car audio so I can't give you any specific recommendations, but I can give you a general piece of advice:

Buy a high end, high powered, SMALL subwoofer. In general 10" subs are way better for metal than 12 or 15's. The big ones tend to be unable to keep up with fast double bass drums. They're made for hip-hop to put out massive slow bass.

troyguitar said:

I'm too lazy to really deal with car audio so I can't give you any specific recommendations, but I can give you a general piece of advice:

Buy a high end, high powered, SMALL subwoofer. In general 10" subs are way better for metal than 12 or 15's. The big ones tend to be unable to keep up with fast double bass drums. They're made for hip-hop to put out massive slow bass.

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I agree with ^

Also, you want a sealed box for your subwoofer with relatively small volume (but still within the recommended range for the sub)

Based on my prior experience I would probably go for an Image Dynamics IDMAX10 but there may be something even better now.



For the rest of the system:

A head unit gear towards SQ, this isn't necessarily going to be the most expensive gps/nav/DVD unit though. You will need to research this. It should have 4v preamp outputs (I don't even know if there is anything higher offered now) to minimize emi noise.

I would recommend a high quality 2-way component set with passive crossover, at least to start off. I think active may be better but this is a case of less is more to begin with. No need to overwhelm yourself with options for initially setting it up. Plus, it may meet or exceed your expectations anyway. I ran a set from CDT Audio years back, I know they are still in business but I can't comment on their quality now or how they compare to competitors. Some other brands to look into: Morel, Focal, Rainbow

You are going to want to have 2 separate amplifiers one for the component speakers and one for your subwoofer.

You are going to want to run your own speaker wires to all your speakers and ignore the stock wiring.

Awesome, thanks for the info guys.

90% install, 10% equipment.

Your factory speakers haven't degraded - unless you've been listening to them so loudly that they have physically damaged themselves - and you'd hear that. I hope.

Sounds like you just want loudness - grab yourself a snappy little 8" woofer and sealed box. All the punchy drums you need, none of the quality installation trouble you don't want to deal with

xCybe said:

90% install, 10% equipment.

Your factory speakers haven't degraded - unless you've been listening to them so loudly that they have physically damaged themselves - and you'd hear that. I hope.

Sounds like you just want loudness - grab yourself a snappy little 8" woofer and sealed box. All the punchy drums you need, none of the quality installation trouble you don't want to deal with

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A guy at work was saying I could probably run my stock speakers through a quality amp and get a bit better SQ out of them. He also said he didn't hear any issues with the stock speakers as well. Although I swear they crackle, probably just my ears playing tricks.

I don't just want loud, I would like high quality loud. I also don't want my car to shake itself apart. Looking into a 10" woofer with a high quality driver right now. I wouldn't mind an 8" either.

First of all, kudos to the OP. GREAT post. Secondly, if whoever recommended a sealed box means one with a sub enclosed entirely inside a box, I've always heard the exact opposite. That box type is for long, dragging bass like hip-hop, etc. He wants quick, punchy bass I assume. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but that's what I've always heard.

bkord123 said:

First of all, kudos to the OP. GREAT post. Secondly, if whoever recommended a sealed box means one with a sub enclosed entirely inside a box, I've always heard the exact opposite. That box type is for long, dragging bass like hip-hop, etc. He wants quick, punchy bass I assume. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but that's what I've always heard.

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I think you are referring to xCybe who recommended a sub and a sealed box. Not a sub inside a sealed box. I will continue to research for sure, these are good starting points.

I will most likely have a box built specifically for the sub I end up choosing.

OP made me lol. If money is no object get MB Quart speakers, they are damn near top of the line, they do not allow online sales of their products. A sealed sub will give you tight punchy responsive bass (quality). A ported sub will give you LOUD AS HELL bass (quantity).

In your situation, since you don't know anything about car audio and want a lot, you are better off taking your car to a VERY good audio installer (not bestbuy) and have them put in their best everything and writing a big fat check. Just tell them if you want to keep the stock head unit or if you want trunk space leftover before they do the install. You could also take advantage of the spare tire space if you don't care about a spare. You may also want a second battery as well if you want to crank it for more than an hour while with the car off. Get Optima Yellow Tops.

Blaylock1988 said:

OP made me lol. If money is no object get MB Quart speakers, they are damn near top of the line, they do not allow online sales of their products. A sealed sub will give you tight punchy responsive bass (quality). A ported sub will give you LOUD AS HELL bass (quantity).

In your situation, since you don't know anything about car audio and want a lot, you are better off taking your car to a VERY good audio installer (not bestbuy) and have them put in their best everything and writing a big fat check. Just tell them if you want to keep the stock head unit or if you want trunk space leftover before they do the install. You could also take advantage of the spare tire space if you don't care about a spare. You may also want a second battery as well if you want to crank it for more than an hour while with the car off. Get Optima Yellow Tops.

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Yea for sure, I thought about that. But the DIYer in me would rather research for a year and do it myself. I have a yellow top out of my previous car, probably wouldn't fit though, these cars run on little 9V batteries haha.

I do want to keep the stock unit because I got the navi, hopefully that won't take down the SQ too much.

kinetic said:

Yea for sure, I thought about that. But the DIYer in me would rather research for a year and do it myself. I have a yellow top out of my previous car, probably wouldn't fit though, these cars run on little 9V batteries haha.

I do want to keep the stock unit because I got the navi, hopefully that won't take down the SQ too much.

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I have read that you can Vag-Com the head unit to put out non-amplified signal for an amp, so your SQ should be ok, but you will probably want a signal processor anyways for when you really crank it. If you have good speakers and high SP, you can hear the difference in signal quality. Also do yourself a favor and make sure you are getting lossless quality music files. There are a few very good DIYs in here for a full system upgrade if you really want to do it yourself. The hardest part for me was actually dealing with all of the body panels (I have done audio installs for a few other cars before so the wiring wasn't an issue)

Whatever speakers you get make sure you put an external amp on them. The stock radio cannot put enough power to make them sound good. The stick radio probably puts out 15 watts rms per channel. Most aftermarket speakers need 30 to 50 watts rms to sound clean.

SweetJones_29 said:

Whatever speakers you get make sure you put an external amp on them. The stock radio cannot put enough power to make them sound good. The stick radio probably puts out 15 watts rms per channel. Most aftermarket speakers need 30 to 50 watts rms to sound clean.

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Yes. From what Kinetic was saying, it sounds like he will want speakers that can run 100W RMS per door and at least 500W RMS 12" sub in a ported box. Also, for a given sub, ported boxes always have to be a lot larger than their sealed counterparts.

EDIT: LOTS of sound deadening too, your car will rattle like hell. I have a 500W RMS sub and it already rattles all sorts of things when I run it at about 30% volume.