Basic sound system components...HELP
 

Hi i'm new to this and don't know much when it comes to ICE.
I was hoping some of you would be able to help me out.

I want to fit a nice sound system to my saxo but im not sure where to start, would somebody be able to tell me what i'd need and why etc.
I know id need a new head unit and speakers but where i get confused is with amps and subs etc.

Any help would be very grateful and i apologise for sounding like such a newb :P

You wanna get a head unit with a couple of outputs. One for a sub and one for front.

Then some components for the front (5.25"). JBL make some good stuff for little money.

Then you need a 2 channel amp to power the components (again, stick to JBL), or you could use a 4 channel amp. This involves using 2 channels for the front speakers and bridging the 2 rear channels to power a sub. :y:

Ok starting to make a bit more sense.

So if i wanted speakers in the back, i would need an amplifier?
And if i wanted a sub aswell i would need a 4 channel amp instead of a 2 channel amp?

Also could anyone recommend a good system which isn't too expensive for me first saxo? :)

Halfrauds have Vibe slick Sub and amps for 150quid

I would personally say get 6x9's but most would argue that 6x9's and subs don't work well together.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_50 4839_langId_-1_categoryId_165702



But It does depend on how much "expensive" is. :y:

car and audio center, iv got two audiobahn 1400 watt subs brand new. 100 for both.

6x9's are wank, unless you just want to make some noise.

The sound should come from the front of the car, rather like when you're at a concert. How often do you put your back to the music when listening to a band? Granted 6x9's are loud, but they dont sound good and subs can interfere with the suspension.

Fair point, well put. If thats the case, some nice speakers for the front and a sub in the back the best combination?

Exactly! :y:

What sort of budget are you on?

ooh not sure, couple of hundred maybe tops. You think that would be enough?

So for £200 you need:

Head unit
Components
Amp
Sub
Box
Cabling

I think you may be pushing it, but let me give you a few recommendations and you can have a search and see how cheap you can find them.

Head unit Clarion
Components JBL Components
Amp JBL Amp
Sub JL 12" and box
Cabling 8 gauge kit

Thanks alot man appreciate that, i'll have a look.
Dont mind if i spend a bit more i suppose :)

you want new head unit thats gunna be most expensive really

then components up front and a sub in the boot and on a cheap budget get a 4 channel amp 1 channel for each set of components and then bridge two channels together for the sub

key thing to think about isnt max watt or power as people seem to think but you wanna look at the rms watt and try to have all of them the same or close to it as you can

as i think if you over power speakers then you damage them so if you try to run some 100watt rms components off a 200rms amp i think it damages them

o and dont use the gain on an amp as a volume control cuz that will damage the speakers this should be matched to your head unit (again if i remember correctly) so if your head unit is 5 volt then you set the gain to 5 or i think you can find the best gain by turnin you music up to about 70% volume then increase the gain until you lose abit of clarity (get the shhhh noise and doesnt sound nice) then simply turn the gain back down a tab
and guys correct me if im wrong was a while ago i look into it

Some good advice there regarding setting up amps. :y:

However, i believe it can be a good thing to overpower speakers (to a certain extent).

This ensures you are always feeding them a clean, unclipped signal, rather than maxing out your amp and feeding the speaker square waves, which leads to distortion.

I.e. A 60w rms speaker would run happily off a 100w rms amp. :)

fair enough always good to know i did know about the clipped signal thing i found a dispute on here a while back about what damages them and what doesnt lol but couldnt really remember as much as i would have liked to lol

Thanks guys some really useful information here, didn't realise there was so much to it :/

The surface has barely been scratched ;)

Haha oh great, i don't stand a chance in understandin it then :mental:

Well I brought an active sub off ebay for £45 (a sub with a built in amp) vibe cbr 10" 1300 watts. It sounds great with just the standard speakers and you can buy decent brand new head units for £50. Then youll need wiring and front speakers if you wish.

i'd beg to differ

as Coonper said a few post back i think your going to be hard pushed to do this for £200, dont bother with 6x9s in the rear shelf as its a waste if you've got to have them use them where the rear 1s are and about overpowering the amps/speakers i would always do this if possible by a few hundered watts on the sub and by 50-100 on components, it just means that you always have a clear signal and tend to be able to get the most out of the rms when it comes to clarity. not tho you will be able to blow them up if you dont pay attention to the clairty of the music.

As its already been stated i think the best sort of setup for you to go for is

headunit, components, wiring, amp, sub,

1. a head unit - look for 1 that has multiple out puts on the back and try and go for 1 thats 50x4 if your not going to run your conponents off the amp

2. wiring kit - i'd personally go for a 4g kit as they hold power better than the simple motor world kits, you can normally get them for £30-40 with your sax-p discount from car audio direct (discount code 7e6e57) or £20 if you go for the cheast 1

3. amp - it all depends now on if your going to run components off the amp here if you not then i'd go for a 2 channel amp and bridge the channels to get full power out of it this should cost you around £100 and if you are putting in components then go for a decent 4 channel amp you should be looking at around £140, these prices should get you 600w but cost will go up depending on power/make

4. sub - theres 2 options here you can either go for 1 that doesnt have an internal amp or 1 that has. for a simple setup and 1 thats not running comps of an amp pick the 1 that has the amp built in as its basically plug and play. the other option is the 1 with out an amp, these tend to be more popular and are my personal choice, when picking have a look at some reviews at amps in your price range that are highly rated, theres loads out here but i always tend to go back to the jbl 1s as they give me everything i need and are always at good value

5. components - these i would always upgrade as the difference straight away is highly noticeable, there is a few options that you can pick here the 1 i would go for if funds allow is up grade to the 13cm speakers, these give better mid bass and tend to have a higher rms, also most tend to have an optional tweeter setup which i personally would always choose. to fit these will require you to make a new housing to fit them as they simply wont fit into the original holes, abit of mdf is your friend here. The other option is to go for standard uprated 1s jbl and vibe i have found to both be good here and some do come with tweeters to seperate the mid/high

hope that helps

Cheers man, starting to make a bit more sense :) Is there much difference in quality of these two types of sub?
Something else i'm not gettin, if i had a 2 channel amp would that just power a sub and if i wanted other speakers i would need a 4 channel one?
Also are front components powered from the head unit or is an amplifier needed?

your front components (which is just a posh way of saying your front speakers) are powered off your head unit as is standard from the factory, when people want to up their systems they tend to run them off an amp to give them more power/clarity. this will mean having to rewire them in from the boot or under the seat where ever you choose to put the amp (sounds harder than it actually is )

As for the channels bud you could run 2 subs off a 2channel amp or your components as there is 2 channels but if you only want to run 1 sub then what you do is bridge the channels this then gives the amps full power to the 1 sub

The difference between the active sub and non active is that the active 1s tend not to be overly powerfull but will give a good amount of bass if your only going for a light system on a budget,

if i was to pick on a budget of £200 i would go for

this is an active sub with wiring kit, i fitted 1 of these to a mates car and was very suprised with how good it was for the money
link
A head unit like this ( just using this as an example your choice entirely )
link
and then you should be left with enough to get some cheap components like
these or these

thats a total of £179.96 with the ground zero comps or £190.97 with the vibe edge comps

remember quality is compromised when shopping really cheap, the vibe edge stuff tends to be a good starting basis from what ive gathered

That edge stuff is awfull mate. Over-rated figures, cheap components, chinese built, poorly build boxes.

The ported boxes are tuned to 70hz!! This isnt really bass in my opinion! My front components play down to 80hz! For music its best to tune somewhere between 30 and 40hz.

I think your best bet would be to get some components installed first, but definitely run them off a 2 channel amp! You might be happy with them and find you dont need a sub.

Ok its all becoming much clearer now thanks guys, and cheers for clearing that up rorz :y:
I think i will do that Coonper, get the front components first and see how that sounds.
Do they sound alot better when run off an amp? or is there not much in it?