News : A guide to budget audio! UPDATED!

[Ashleyp]

First of all: i always see in this section "i have £200 to spend, what sub should i get" id like to say this IS the WRONG move to make, for £200 id look at a decent set of comps & and amp

Remember: you dont have to buy everything in one go! its better to build up an audio system over time, youll get what you want and can therefore afford higher end products which will please you a lot more! theres no shame it in, ive got a ridiculous ammount of audio still in boxes within my bedroom!

Front speakers:

Quality comes from the front of the cabin, this is where you are, and thus, sound staging should be set up to match. For obvious reasons, you can not put the sub up front, but it isnt so much of a problem because of the way low frequencys travel.
Mid's and hi's don't travel as well so it's important to stage them correctly within your car. one benefit of component speakers is this; they allow you to put the tweeter where ever you please, the closer to the ear, the better.

A decent set up for the front of your cabin would be something along these lines: Comps & Amp - intended for those who can spend around £150

the hertz, can only take around 60wrms but offer a warm, high quality sound

or if your pockets arent that deep then id go for: Comps & Amp - For those wanting to spend around £100

JBL comps are amongst if not the best comps you can get for under £50, i rate them very highly, as do coonper, pred, csvtr, reevsey, webby and many others.

Remember, it's important to put a bit of sound deadening behind the woofer when installing speakers, it just tightens up the sound, especially of the lower notes, it enhances the mid basses through the cabin and reduces panel resonance aka that annoying rattle that you can never find!

Rear speakers

just to confirm, rear speakers aren't that important to a set up. especially in the form of 6x9s! so do what you can to avoid them

However, sometimes people want a little extra fill in the rear of the cabin, it's not personally for me but it can help provide something extra.

if youre after rear speakers, IMO the best solution is just to replace the standard rear speakers and run them off the Headunit, this will provide some extra fill, yet not be overpowering of the front comps.

something like these hertz If you dont mind spending extra.
Or alternatively, these JBL coaxials would provide what you're after for slightly less

Subwoofers & amplifiers:

a few things to note, regardless of what sub you buy, a custom sub box, sound deadening & high quality wires are essential! this WILL set you back in the region of £150.. remember a sound system is 25% equiptment & 75% installation!

if you want to spend a fair amount, and recieve some good quality sounds: Sub & Amp (not including box, wires and deadening)
meaning you get a very good quality set up for just under £300

This set up will provide you with a very nice set up giving 300wrms of very very good quality sound. Rainbow is my favourite audio brand, and although i haven't personally used that alpine amp, it does get rave reviews from people on here / audio forums.

another, less expensive option would be to purchase this JBL GT5-12 subwooferand then buy yoursef something like this JBL GTO-752 classD amplifier. this will provide you with a nice amp and sub combo running 200wrms for just under £150!

Full set up

for the price, heres possibly the best Sub and amp package. This is something i HIGHLY reccomend! the pair is great for under £150
You can run a set of comps off the headunit too , meaning you get a full set up for less than £200!

another option is to purchase something like this JL10WX sub and box combo and couple it with this JBL GTO 504e amplifer and a set of JBL GT5-500c components this would give you another option for a full, and quality set up costing just over £200.

a few other Useful links:

- A selection of wiring kits. Remember, always buy the best wiring you can afford, cheap wiring will only lower the quality of your system!

- Sound deadening Again, something i can't stress enough how useful this is in achieving a high quality sound!

- Preds guide (for nearly anything you need to know about setting up audio) - this seriously isnt looked at enough!

FAQ's:

so your going to ask.. "do i need to spend that much on wires & sound deadening?" well quite simply, yes, those & the box are more important than the equiptment in getting the best audio for your money

and i guess the next question would be, "where do i sound deaden?" if people could post pics of theirs, that would help as i dont have any, thanks, so long as you do it properly its very effective in stopping panel resonance, and enhancing bass

and "is a box that important?" yes it is again, im not very knowledgable on building boxes, but sign up to www.talkaudio.co.uk and post in the relevant section with your sub model and ask them to spec you a box!


last of all:

please dont take this as the only products you should buy, these are all products that are very highly rated for the price, and all which ive had expereience with, so can give feedback on.. there are other good products out there, but having not used / listend to them, i cant really provide a decent responce to them!

thanks to pred, reevsy & jamie for input

[Stickyjam]

just to state the obvious...

+ sticky

just to add another possibility to the jbl budget range
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JBL-P550c-POWE...3A1|240%3A1318

got these slightly more expensive but retailed for alot higher( around 100 quid) when they were released, got 100wrms going through them in my car and they sound sweet assss

[manc]

Awesome post and is without doubt stickie worthy

Whilst I was browsing i came across this amp (Blaupunkt Velocity va275), this is 'currently' the same cost as the Alpine MRP-T666 but offers the below power outputs: -

Max. Power (Watt): 425
RMS Power 2 Channel @4 Ohm (Watt): 2 x 75
RMS Power 1 Channel @4 Ohm (Watt): 210
RMS Power 2 Channel @2 Ohm (Watt): 2 x 105

Would this amp be better suited for the GTO 508c comps? or will they be overdriven by the Blaupunkt?

Thanks.

[Ashleyp]

Originally Posted by manc

Awesome post and is without doubt stickie worthy

Whilst I was browsing i came across this amp (Blaupunkt Velocity va275), this is 'currently' the same cost as the Alpine MRP-T666 but offers the below power outputs: -

Max. Power (Watt): 425
RMS Power 2 Channel @4 Ohm (Watt): 2 x 75
RMS Power 1 Channel @4 Ohm (Watt): 210
RMS Power 2 Channel @2 Ohm (Watt): 2 x 105

Would this amp be better suited for the GTO 508c comps? or will they be overdriven by the Blaupunkt?

Thanks.

a good point, and something i had considerd adding into the guide

theres no harm in overdriving the JBL comps, they like the SPL's will happily take over 100wrms

but i link the alpine amp because of its quality, imo alpine make high quality amps (pred doesnt shut up about them either lol)

therefore in this case ive chosen quality over quantity, although the blaupunkt is still a good product

[Stickyjam]

always worth trying ebay on a budget too, same makes brands etc but checking to see if there cheaper off peoples ebay shops... can sometimes get the next amp up or around 20 quid off just by getting it off ebay.. iirc i had my jbl 1004 for a bit over 100

120 here... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JBL-GTO-1004e-...1%7C240%3A1318

which will give 100wrms to each speaker and allow a 200wrms sub to be powered off the rear channels...

anyways just spamming it up now, but my point is checking ebay can save you quite a bit and mean the next amp up!

[Ashleyp]

Originally Posted by Stickyjam

always worth trying ebay on a budget too, same makes brands etc but checking to see if there cheaper off peoples ebay shops... can sometimes get the next amp up or around 20 quid off just by getting it off ebay.. iirc i had my jbl 1004 for a bit over 100

120 here... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JBL-GTO-1004e-...1%7C240%3A1318

which will give 100wrms to each speaker and allow a 200wrms sub to be powered off the rear channels...

anyways just spamming it up now, but my point is checking ebay can save you quite a bit and mean the next amp up!

yep good amp jamie

again, something i had considerd putting in, but i wanted to keep it simple, like a mid-range budget set up, and a very cheap budget set up

for obvious reasons it wasnt worth linking lots of products as its pointless due to the millions of set up possibilities

none the less, a great product to look at

[manc]

Cheers for the input Ashleyp, your input is greatly appreciated, I really need to find a review of the Alpine MRP-T222 to really base a final buy decision upon, what attracted me to the Blaupunkt was the increased rms over the Alpine but I guess its not all about power.

Stumbled across this review of the Blaupunkt, the good sound quality over the entire range (high's & lows) did it for me.


ManC

[Ashleyp]

Originally Posted by manc

Cheers for the input Ashleyp, your input is greatly appreciated, I really need to find a review of the Alpine MRP-T222 to really base a final buy decision upon, what attracted me to the Blaupunkt was the increased rms over the Alpine but I guess its not all about power.

Stumbled across this review of the Blaupunkt, the good sound quality over the entire range (high's & lows) did it for me.


ManC

fair point, i dont have enough experience with the blaupunkt amp in order to help you out very much

iirc youd only be losing out on 20wrms from the alpine, which is hardley anything, ideally though if your keen to get a good amp, you should look for one producing 100wrms x2 @4ohms if possible, then youd hear the speakers at their best

[Ashleyp]

seems people still have an inability to read

so bump

[Tontsy]

i am on streetbassers and talkaudio and they are both really helpful... but this thread has put the cream in my pants and made my weekend!
loking for new components, the JBL set up looks awesome, and will go well with my JBL subs and amps in the boot

great thread

[Ashleyp]

Originally Posted by tonto_VTR

i am on streetbassers and talkaudio and they are both really helpful... but this thread has put the cream in my pants and made my weekend!
loking for new components, the JBL set up looks awesome, and will go well with my JBL subs and amps in the boot

great thread

haha, thanks very much!

news & small update for all:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/jbl-gto-5-1-4-...3A1|240%3A1318

look what ive found

by the way, edited a few links in the thread, few cheaper products (just as good quality)

[E3D]

ashley i need a new amp and iv got tiwn 10" subs at 170rms each, can u recomend a cheap amp

[E3D]

i dont really get amps would this work?

AMP!!!

[Ashleyp]

Originally Posted by E3D

ashley i need a new amp and iv got tiwn 10" subs at 170rms each, can u recomend a cheap amp

Originally Posted by E3D

i dont really get amps would this work?

AMP!!!

should have made a new thread tbh.. butttt i cant tell because i dont know what impedance / voice coil your subs are

[Ashleyp]

will update soon, noticed a few of the ebay products have ended, those products are still great, youll just have to search them yourselves untill i have time to update

[Saxo-Mikey]

This is basically just what i was looking for for ages! thanks soo much. bookmarking this..

[Ashleyp]

updated a couple of links guys, may change a few more

but dig in lol

[-Alex-]

Cheers mate, always great ICE posts.

[DieHardGunner]

Cheers Ash, just ordered some 508's with amp to follow next payday, good guide

[Ashleyp]

another little update, i found an alpine amp that suits the SPL comps nicley, same power output as the harmon kardon, yet £60 cheaper!

i wanted one of these myself a while back