Thinking of upgrading my speakers

Chris7024

Torque Junkie
Points
60
Car
peugeot 207 1.4
I want to get an amp, get better speakers and get a bass box. Can I get good quality stuff for £300?
Will it really be alot better than my current speakers? Will the bass vibrate alot like in nightclubs?
 
Do you really need the bass box? Are you trying to impress the Chicks? I would recommend getting a good amp and bass and then upgrading your speakers if you still feel you need to (unless your current speakers are rattly and distort). The power comes from the low down bass box.

What head unit have you got?
 
My speakers sound pretty good... I put the bass quite high and it gets quite crackly on most songs from volume 12 out of 30. Maybe I won't bother changing the speakers, if you say it isn't necessary. How much do you think a good amp would cost? And I want vibrating bass like they have in nightclubs, but that I can alter so it's not too little or too much. Is the best way to get that by buying a bass box and using it with an amp?
 
dont think it has remote gain.

to be honest mate you struggled to change a headlight bulb, although the wiring is easy enough id advise you to to get it fitted.

you will also need a wiring pack for that
 
There is another alternative, custom fit speakers. These are manufactured by the better speaker companies Sony, Kenwood, JBL etc. and are made to fit theexisting car speaker pod.

They are a much higher quality speaker than standard equipment fitted by car manufacturers and can handle a much higher input and therefore give a much better output.
I would replace your standard speakers with custom fits first as you would notice a massive difference, then decide whether the amp and bass box are really necessary.
 
I didn't get the chance to read any of your posts before I bought it... but I didn't buy that one anyway. I just bought the one they said is the best for £100, it's huge!
This is it: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId_506219_langId_-1_categoryId_165748#dtab
It's got the remote and it's got the wiring pack, so it's gotta be good, it sure looks good.
If I want Halfords to fit it I have to wait another 2 weeks and I have to pay £40. Do you think I'd find some random garage that will do it earlier and for cheaper? Or do you know any stores similar to Halfords who will do it?
 
This all depends on how this sub is going to connect to your head unit.
If your head unit has RCA audio outs on the rear then you would need to run a connecting cable from the back of the head unit all the way to the sub unit in the boot.

If your head unit does not have the red and white sockets(RCA audio out) on the back then the sub just needs a hi level input from one of your rear speakers. So in effect a piggy back set up where the amp takes its live feed from an existing speaker. This does not affect the speaker in question.(A converter is available from car accessory shops which can turn speaker inputs into RCA inputs for under £10)
The amp also needs an amp remote connection that switches it on and off when you turn the head unit on and off. This is usually a blue wire that exits the rear of the head unit.
The amp also needs a permanent live feed usually connected direct to the battery by a thick red cable with an in line fuse for surge protection.
Not forgetting the amp needs to be earthed to a good earth point also with an earth cable.

So taking this into consideration the cost could vary depending on the amount of time needed to hide and secure all the necessary wiring which depends on which method is used to make all the connections.

In summary £40 seems pretty reasonable to me but by all means do a few google searches for mobile I.C.E fitters and get a couple of quotes, then compare with Halfords.
 
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Do you think I could just try a random garage on the road and see if they will do it for cheaper?
 
Ok I've got it fitted and it sounds awesome and makes the car shake.
I've got a couple of questions if anyone can answer them...
If I turn the bass up too much will it cause hearing problems? Or will that only happen if you turn the volume up too much? Will this also damage any part of the car like the windows?
And how can I get the best sound? I want clear vocals and clear but powerful, vibrating bass. There's "level", "low pass filter" and "bass" controls on the sub, can I change these in some way to improve the sound? Also my car has an EQ built in to the CD player and you can control "bass", "treble", "loudness".
Also, can I balance the bass to make it have the same level of volume throughout the car instead of the bass being extra loud for rear passengers? I have a setting on the car that will let me fade the sound to different sections of the car (e.g. front left speakers, rear right speaker etc.)
 
BASS can create low frequency sounds that you can't hear but will still damage your hearing.

Any ringing in your ears is a warning message and means that some hearing damage has occurred. This is cumulative and the more you do it the worse it gets. Keep the volume at the level you are first comfortable with. The ear adjusts and it is tempting to turn it up further.

To setup the EQ you just need to play with it. Listen to some classical, Rock, Drum N Bass and speech and see which settings work the best. For me I use the Bass boost for music and turn it off for speech as it makes it indestinct.
 
Ok I've definitely had ringing in my ears after leaving my car. But I always get ringing in my ears when I come home after being in a nightclub all night. Sometimes I look in the mirror when I get home and my eyes are all red, could be the music in the club burst the blood vessels in my eyes. If my ears are ringing after being in a nightclub is it that bad that they ring after leaving my car?
 
Short term tinnitus is annoying. I really sympathise with anyone who lived with it day in day out.

Hmmm that'll be me then :( Had severe ringing in the ears for around 6 or 7 years now. Thats from a mixture of loud stuff, 20+ years playing in Bands, 15+ years working in engineering, loud motorbikes and loud music.

Yeah the thumping bass might turn heads 'n all but keep the volume to a reasonable level for a couple of reasons,

1 - the obvious - your hearing WILL suffer unrepairable damage
2 - speaking from experience - you may not hear that ambulance behind you in traffic with the old dear in the back having a stroke!!!

Seriously though, the balance,fade,bass,treble,loudness, crossover settings etc. are all a matter of taste. It depends how you like your music to sound. Car accoustics are funny things,and each make and model reverberates differently to the next. Its a case of trial and error until you find a good level for each setting.
 
Just to drive the point home. RINGING IN YOUR EARS IS A SIGN OF DAMAGE. It is cumulative and eventually the ringing will not stop. Also as you get older the damage done becomes more evident and noticable.

Even in night clubs you can suffer from permenant hearing damage. Hearing damage is something you will regret when you have to live with it constantly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus - Read PREVENTION.
 
It says 70dB can cause hearing damage. But nightclubs play music usually at at least 90dB and sometimes over 100dB (I believe 90dB is the legal limit, but they all go over it). So how can someone prevent hearing damage, just not go to a nightclub?
I think my amp goes up to 135dB. How will I know what level of dB it's at?
 
It says 70dB can cause hearing damage. But nightclubs play music usually at at least 90dB and sometimes over 100dB (I believe 90dB is the legal limit, but they all go over it). So how can someone prevent hearing damage, just not go to a nightclub?
I think my amp goes up to 135dB. How will I know what level of dB it's at?

Decibels are not absolute units.

They are used for relative measurements only. The SPL in dBa (A-weighted) is not a direct function of amplifier output. regardless of how it's measured.

Think of it in these terms:

0dB is flat out (ie as loud as it will go) and -∞dB is silent.
 
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with regard night clubs you could wear earplugs like the staff are supposed to, again we know most of them dont but they are there. this prevents them sueing the nightclub for loss of hearing

also dB is distance related,
 
Ok you confused me about the measurement of dB now. Nightclubs can't cause much damage to hearing though.. cause everyone goes there and doesn't wear ear plugs but everyone seems to have pretty good hearing...
How will I know that the volume isn't loud enough to cause ear damage other than ringing in my ears? I've put it up really loud before and I can't detect any ringing...
Also.. what's LPF (Low pass filter) and what difference will it make if I turn it up or down? Same with 'level'
 
That's just weird. So that means if someone talks quite loud they can give you hearing damage...
How am I supposed to know what dB I'm playing the music at? I didn't play the music that loud but now my ears are ringing...
 
take dB reading as similer to this

lets say your volume is set to 20 and it measures 90 dB at 1 meter

to get 91 dB at 1mtr youd need youve volume around 40. its worked out using an inverse square law from what i can remember. should really ask ma dad about this as hes got a degree in noise pollution
 
Well my car volume goes up to 30. And I usually put it on 6 or sometimes 8 if I want it abit louder. But I don't know how loud that is because I put alot of bass on too. Isn't there a way to can feel the bass more than you are hearing it?
 
in truth most bass you will feel rather than hear .
generally subs handle frequancys under 50Hz hunam hearing can only hear around 20Hz to 20kMz depending on your own hearing as this changes as you get older

for example i have an issue with bass in my right ear this is due to the amount of shooting i take part in.
 
Well my car volume goes up to 30. And I usually put it on 6 or sometimes 8 if I want it abit louder. But I don't know how loud that is because I put alot of bass on too. Isn't there a way to can feel the bass more than you are hearing it?

The numbers are only indices. They have no units as such
 
So there's no way I could ever know how loud it is anyway? There's so many different settings I don't think I could ever work out if it's bad for my hearing or not...
 
You'll need a calibrated SPL meter to make any meaningful sense of volume levels. Ignore the volume control settings and whatever number that represents. It is meaningless.

You're unlikely to be able to generate enough volume in a car to do damage so I'd stop worrying.
 
How much are these SPL meters?
Why do you say I won't generate enough volume to do damage? It goes up to 135dB and someone said over 70dB can do damage. Also a rocket taking off is 180dB.. that's not much more than my car. I just want to be safe.. cause I don't want to be playing music at the same volume all the time thinking its ok but everyday my hearing is detiorating.
 
Noise-induced cochlear damage is the root cause of the majority of the cases of tinnitus. The primary contributor for this is listening to MP3 players at a very high volume. You should know that listening to your MP3 player set to more than 60% of its maximum volume for an hour or more can damage your cochlea. The cochlea is composed of tiny hairs that send electrical impulses to the auditory nerve, which are then interpreted by the brain as sound. But, when these tiny hairs get bent or broken due to sudden or repeated exposure to loud noise, they randomly send electrical impulses even though no sound waves are detected. This sound usually comes as a ringing noise, which we of course know as tinnitus.

Loud car stereos have exactly the same effect.
 
How much are these SPL meters?
Why do you say I won't generate enough volume to do damage? It goes up to 135dB and someone said over 70dB can do damage. Also a rocket taking off is 180dB.. that's not much more than my car. I just want to be safe.. cause I don't want to be playing music at the same volume all the time thinking its ok but everyday my hearing is detiorating.

Where have you taken the notion that your car audio generates 135dBA? I think you've confused signal to noise ratio specifications with apparent and perceived loudness. There is no way you'll create enough air movement to record 135dBA in a car.

1dBA is the smallest change in level the human ear can reasonably detect.

An increase of 3dBA will require you to double the input current to the speakers.

To make something seem twice as loud you will need to add 10dBA. To do this you need to apply TEN TIMES as much current to the speakers. And that's assuming that the speakers can stand it and are still operating in their linear range(s). So, to make a 120 watt system sound twice as loud you will need 1200 watts, put simply. Yet it probably won't seem twice as loud anyway because human hearing is not linear.

dB measurements, whether as a measure of perceived loudness (A-weighted-dBA) or purely as a relative measurement of signal level have no value whatsoever in audio terms. The dB scale is logrithmic in nature.

Also, take amplifier ratings in watts with a couple of kilograms of heavily laced salt.
 
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