My Sound System

[Pixel]

I need to discuss this with anyone who has good knowledge in this area.

The car I have already has 6x9 speakers and a built-in CD Player but I want a sub and an amp.

Speakers

I will post here the make and model and watts as soon as I know? Is it important? why?

CD Player

Im replacing the in-built in. Does it matter which one I get? or is every amp/sub compatible with every CD Player?

Amp

I want something like 1,5000 watts? what does this mean for everything else? Do they have to be less than 1,500? (sub, speakers etc...)

Sub

Willing to spend up to £100, not sure how much watts to get?

Any help?

[waynne]

For best results all parts should come from the same maker but in theory any amp will work with any radio.

Speakers, Watts RMS is the only real measure of power but the frequency response range is of great importance.

Make sure the speakers are rated to handle more power than the amp can deliver. For example 1000W speakers and 500W amp if you do this the other way round you will at best have really rubbish sound quality and at worst blow the speakers.

[Pixel]

Im getting a 1,500 watt amp so I need something to absorb that power right?

Well I have 2 x 380 watt speakers which is 760 watts in total, meaning I need a sub which is 740 watts or more but im looking at getting one roughly 1,000 watts.

Thats ok right?

[mrcog1]

Just to make things a bit more complicated, you also need a crossover, it splits the bass, treble and high frequencys so you can have the bass pumping out lows and have other speakers putting out the highers bits. Also, it may not be true but i thought that you needed a different amp for the sub. Ohh and a relitively large capaciter would be good to keep powere for when the bass plays. Speak to the people who you buy the parts from and they should advice you

[waynne]

Your amp is putting out more watts than your speakers are rated at so that is not a brilliant idea. Get a head unit with a separate Bass output line and you can get away with a simpler setup just choose the best speakers you can buy. I would stick with a good head unit and speakers and no amp. Sony Xplod are pretty good - and throw out enough power for most people then when you have some more cash you can throw in an amp & crossover and really make the speakers jump!

[pgarner]

if your running 6 x 9 s of decent quality you prob dont really need a sub in ma civic i had 2 sets of 500w 6 x 9's running from a 800 w amp and 2 12" subs runing from a 1000W mono amp to tell the truth i didnt notic that the fuse for the sub had blown it was still enough to make the drivers seat move around the subs could only be heard if i turnd up the sub control to full which was a bot much

your cd player should really have a set of pre out connectors to like up the amp prefer to have at least 2. 1 dedicated to the sub and 1 for speakers.

you can get line out connectors if your cd player does not have pre outs these are connected to your speaker wires and have a phono socket to connect to a amp

[HDi fun]

Amps and rated power in Watts has little to do with perceived sound volume level.

There are plenty of 4x50 watt systems that are loud, deep, clear and articulate.

RMS isn't the whole story either.

What you want is a system that can belt out the dynamics of music across the full audible range of frequencies.

A good sub-bass system can help enormously as it relieves the 'normal' speakers and amps of a huge job.

The clever bit is getting it to integrate into the system properly.

You want to hear bass notes, and the start and end of each of 'em. Not just boom, thud; boom, thud etc.

Bass tubes are crap. A good enclosure, well mounted in the boot, driven with a seriously meaty 200-400 watt mono amp that can do it continuously will help low end definition.

Using active crossovers is a good idea. Passive ones just eat up amplifier power and dissipate it as heat.

[Pixel]

CD Player: DVD Player - 4 x 45Watt
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...tegoryrn_79855

Speakers: 2 x (6x9 JVC) which are 380 watts each.
- No Link Available -

Subwoofer: JBL 12" 1000watts.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=006

Amplifier: 1500watt 2-channel.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=017

...And: A 2,000 watt wiring kit.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=017

I plan to use the Amp to power the sub and speakers if possible,

Any tips or pointers that could be wrong here?

Let me know,

Thanks!

[pgarner]

let us ken wot the dvd player like a was looking at that one in halfords the other week but decided to leave it the now

as for the amp if your wanting to power both the sub and 6x9s you would be better off with a 4 channel amp as you couldnt run the sub using "normal tones" above a think its 60htz as this will damge the voice coil.
if you have the crossover on the amp set to low and around 40htz this will give you the bass for the sub but the 6x9s will also run in this range . plus the wiring required is not always possible with the amp i know my alpine amp can do it but it requires resistors and sunthing else, i had a quick glance through the instructions for the 1500w amp and couldnt see it in there it only showed left and right speaker) wot you would be better to do is connect just the sub to the amp and run the 6x9s off the head units amp. as you say there already in the car a take it there wired into the rear speakers . if not thats were i started

disconnect the rear speakers and connect the 6x9s to them and have the sub run off the amp until you look at buying another amp when/ if you do go for a mono amp also called class d to run the amp and us your current amp to run the 6x9s ( or 2 sets )

also as your getting a 1000w sub and 1500w amp it would be a VERY good idea to get a power cap to save your battery and all eletrical systems in the car (min 0.5 farad per 500w) so would idvise you to go for a 2 farad one, 1 farad min. hav a look on ebay as i got mine off there for £35 my local "car shop" had the exact same 1 for £80

[Pixel]

Sorry mate but I didn't quite understand that last message, I picked up on some of the things you were trying to say though.

I currently only have the DVD Player and Rear Speakers, they are both connected and work fine. Im a big fan of R&B, Rap and Dance/Techno so I do need a subwoofer, thats a fact. I guess I could just keep the speakers running from the car battery but I have been told if I connected it to the amp then I will get a better sound quality.

But I will need the amp to power the sub anyway right? It'd be stupid to connect all 3 to the battery, for a start, im not even sure if it would work. And if you could explain this power thing to me? I guess it doesnt matter when the car is running as the battery would recharge but I do listen to music a lot when the engine is off and I wouldnt be happy if the battery died in 30 minutes or less (if thats what your talking about).

Doesnt a 2-channel amp mean you can connect two things to it? Which is why my idea was: Speakers & Sub (into) Amp.