Ok guys, i know i am new and all but i really need some help. Seeing that i am clueless about subs, speakers, amps, and decks. I need help on what would be best for my car (93 Mazda MX6). I know that i would like 3-way speakers, hopefully 6x8 size. 12 inch sub, no more, no less. Price is also a problem seeing that i am 16, which all of this is going onto a christmas wish list. But i need to start deciding on what i would like to get. All help is greatly appreciated.
Honest opinion, avoid 3-way speakers. All the extra highs will kill the ton of the car and ultimately kill the goal of a smooth sound. Think of each speaker as a worker, each with a different job. The 6x8" speakers you want do one job, mids. The tweeter in the middle or separate from it produces your highs. The woofer is your lows. If you try to get anyone of these products to do something other then what I just listed, you are over working it and killing it's efficiency. If you put too much of one thing into phase with another (such as on a 3-way speaker, 2 tweeters and 1 mid), you can disrupt the tone of the car, often in a negative way.
Here's what I would suggest to you, without yet talking brand (I'll let you shop around and get some prices, products before we all can tell you what to buy). I would suggest running 2-way speakers of some sort up front in the doors. Components would be best because you could separate the tweeter from the mid and move it to the stock location on the dash, rounding out the sound a little more. Rears: leave them on hold for a little as in all honesty, with nice fronts and a good woofer, often you never hear the rears anyways. Think of it as a concert stage. The rears are the screaming crowd and the fronts are the band. Which would you rather hear? Woofers are not easy to phase and because of the mono sound, the human ear can't hear it's direction, so stuffing it in the trunk or on your head, wouldn't matter. So, a box in the trunk works best. Pick a 12 based on your listening style. One known to punch more will be great for rock and easy listening, but one known for hard hitting and lows will be better for hip hop. Get where I'm going?
Depending on your plans for the system, I would only amp your front speakers and woofer. To do this on a budget, pick up a decent 4-channel amp and use the front channels for the front speakers and the rear channels you bridge for mono to the woofer! Killing 2 birds with one stone for great sound on a budget. Bonus is, when you upgrade, the 4 channel can be used for all the speakers and a mono can be upgraded for use of a woofer, or 10 .
Hope that helps some.
-Matt-
SOLD - 1994 Mazda MX6 LS, Infiniti G35 HID conversion, 2.5" Magnaflow cat-back, 3" CAI, 16x8" FD RX7 wheels, LEDA Custom True Coilovers, shaved body and full repaint, Genuine Mazdaspeed Kit, '03 Protege rear caliper conversion, and much, much more...
I have no clue where to start with a 4 channel amp, anyone want to give me some ideas for the wattage that would be good for that amp and those speakers.
Honestly you can't go wrong with Infinity, you get what you pay for. As far as sub and amp go. I would get a good deck, one that has good equalizer capabilites and good power and use that to run your speakers. Get a seperate 2 channel or mono amp and a good sub. Often good head units also have some sub controls and a low pass cutoff would be good too. That way you can run the mids and highs to the speakers and still crank the sub with out distorting or overworking the speakers. Unless you know what you are doing when it comes to wiring up components and multiple channel amps I would let a good quality shop do it... NOT Bestbuy.
i reccommend mtx anything... ive never been happy with anything else honestly.. they are built with such quality and great power yet you don't have to lose an arm and a leg to afford one. you can honestly go with 1 10inch mtx 9500 and you'll be so happy with it, i had one and honestly loved its sound better then when i had 2x 12in alpine type R's. and then always go with an amp that's going to be able to over power your sub with RMS ratings so you don't see yourself cranking the amp up just to underpower your sub..
ebay you could get a mtx TR4510 for 80bucks and then just look around ebay untill you can find 200$ thunder series amp that can power 500-800 rms
for speakers definently go component and power them with a small 4channel amp, or 2 channel and don't use back speakers like what i4mx6 expained. I personally like having rear speakers because when i had subs i didn't like to blast them all the time and without them running you're gunna wish you had something playing behind you..
for a just drop a couple hundred on a nice alpine deck.
Alpine. Period. I know the price can discourage some people, but honestly it's the best bang for the buck. I've had a lot of decks and none touched the Alpine I have now.(CDA 9883) Sony, Clarion, Pioneer, Rockford Fosgate, and Eclipse are all brands I have had and none were as easy to use or sounded as good. I had a Sony, Pioneer, and Rockford Fosgate in my MX6 with the current speaker setup I have now and the Alpine not only powered them better, but had better clarity and range. I set the crossover on the deck to 80Hz and then setup my 10" sub to 80HZ on the amp.(Alpine) BTW I run Blaupunkt 2-way 280W speakers in the back and 6.5" 200W Pioneer in the fronts. I need new fronts though, I blew the right one. I've heard good things about Kicker speakers and Boston Acustics. Although latley I've heard of problems with Kicker's quality. I'm seeing some good things on Alpine's Type-R line and the price ain't bad either. I might just switch it all to Alpine.
you wish! I can push a fart out that sounds better than alpine..
Points been said, Alpine is sooo easy to use and BASIC. SO sure, if you want to stick with your preschool head units, then choose alpine, but if you want to choose something that is way up to date with today's technologies and advancements, carries all the great features even on the lower end models, has superior sound with or without an amp added, holds one of the leading factory warranties, and sells for great prices......then choose Kenwood.
EDIT - But only Kenwood Decks and selective amps. Their subs are horrible. Again, like said in first post, this is IMO.
Last edited by midrange : 10-30-09 at 22:22.
I may not be perfect, but I'm Canadian and thats close enough!!!!!!!!
ive just always liked alpine decks with my subs because i don't like getting to crazy with the stereo settings and alpine makes it really easy for me to make it feel like i know what i'm doing because whatever it is i do it ends up sounding great. the subwoofer controll or BBS on it works great and its easy, most other decks don't work worth a [shizzle] for sub control compared to every alpine deck ive owned imo.. i have had much more expensive decks but i hated fricken around with them all the time trying to get it sound good. it was annoying because i listen to quite a variety of music and the settings needed to be changed quick and easy which it wouldn't let me do (one specific deck 'sony exade')
If you choose to run a kenwood i still give you the thumbs up. I'm using one right now and i'm pretty much in love with it.. it's very easy to use and sounds great.. i was using it with subs awhile back and didnt have any problems with it. ( still not as simple to change setting as an alpine tho )
i'm not sure why people say they have trouble setting up a head unit. I have always shut off the EQ, put my treble and midrange up to what sounds good, usually the treble up as high as it can go.. and the midrange around +3/4 area, and the bass -6. kenwood decks have sub control at the touch of a button.. the rest i just adjusted on amps. and i always have a sweet sounding system with no distortion.
Everyone has their own taste in brands. When it comes to subs, i think JL is the only brand to touch. For in car speakers, you can't go wrong with blaupunkt. Its just what you like.
I may not be perfect, but I'm Canadian and thats close enough!!!!!!!!
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