[BigHit-Maniac]

Sorry for the complete randomness of this post on a bike forum, but I figured someone out there would be able to help me

I own a 95' Ford Thunderbird LX w/ the 4.6L V8.

It's time to change out the crap-tastic stock stereo, since I'm getting my taxes back here real soon.
I don't have a *ton* of money like some of you guys, but I have about $450 to play with total.

I've chosen to get the Alpine CDA-9830 headunit, as it's on sale at Crutchfield.com, and has all the features I need & want.
The problem comes down to the speakers.
Should I go with 3-ways, or 2-ways?
I'm looking at the Rockford Fosgate FRC4368 3-Way units, for all 4 corners of my car.
For $79.99 a pair, they're awesome.

My question is this. Do Infinity's sound that much better than Fosgates?
My sister has some Infinity Kappa's in her Nissan, and to be honest they sound WORSE than my friend's car who has this pair of Fosgates. Could it just be the vehicle? His fosgate's have more bass, sound clearer, and crisper, especially at louder volumes.

I don't have enough money to AMP the speakers, so I'll be running off of the stock pre-amp for a while. Later I'll incorporate 2 amps, and 2 subs. (one amp for the speakers, and one amp for the subs.)

What route would you guys recommend on the front door speakers, and the rear kick panel speakers?

Thanks for the help, as I'll be doing this all myself.

-Matt

 

[narlus]

i wouldn't worry too much about the rear deck speakers; don't buy them and put that $ into yr front speakers.

i've never been too impressed w/ any infinity speaker i've heard. treble is too forced and harsh, imo.

i would also save for a sub/amp in the future.

try to audition as many speakers as you can, and make sure you know what fits in yr car.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Yep, speakers are a personal thing you'll need to listen to them first before choosing.

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

i wouldn't worry too much about the rear deck speakers; don't buy them and put that $ into yr front speakers.

i've never been too impressed w/ any infinity speaker i've heard. treble is too forced and harsh, imo.

i would also save for a sub/amp in the future.

try to audition as many speakers as you can, and make sure you know what fits in yr car.

Yeah, I agree on the treble from the Infinities. My sister's sound "clashy" ... like a crashing symbol that just pierces your ear on every note.

I listen to mostly Metal, Rock, and *yes* some country... so I look quality over quantity.

I'll be putting subs in later, I just simply don't have the money for them right now. An amp & sub setup is an additional $500 plus, easily.

I know what fits my car, so that's not a problem. The guys at Crutchfield were super helpful on even telling me where my stock amplifier is hidden, so I can bypass that when I install my new headunit.

Should I buy the Fosgate 3-ways for up front, and then just get some 2-ways for the back? I rarely have any passengers in my car, but the rear speakers are close to the front seats (like right behind them), since the rear isn't very "deep".

-Matt

 

[Hawkeye]

I would look for something that is pretty effecient since you are running these off your headunit.

Often rated as Sensitivity
An efficiency or sensitivity rating tells you how efficiently speakers converts power into sound. The higher the number, the louder the speakers will play. An efficient speaker helps you maximize your available power.

I've never had much luck with Infinity's. Rockford is a big name in car audio But I have not heard any of their new speakers. In my commuter car I have Alpine speakers and they do the job pretty good. I got them for a pretty good deal.

 

[narlus]

i have some pioneers which i don't like all that much, but the head unit (alpine) and sub (kicker) i am happy with.

the rear speakers would only really be noticeable to yr passengers in the back, unless you are doing something funky w/ yr fader control. i would save some scratch and not get them. think about it. if you don't get the rears, you can spend about twice the $ on the front speakers.

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

I would look for something that is pretty effecient since you are running these off your headunit.

Often rated as Sensitivity
An efficiency or sensitivity rating tells you how efficiently speakers converts power into sound. The higher the number, the louder the speakers will play. An efficient speaker helps you maximize your available power.

I've never had much luck with Infinity's. Rockford is a big name in car audio But I have not heard any of their new speakers. In my commuter car I have Alpine speakers and they do the job pretty good. I got them for a pretty good deal.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely have to look over those numbers.

Keep in mind I'll probably only be running them off my headunit for like 4-5 months, then hopefully sometime this coming fall / winter install subs w/ amps.



-Matt

 

[Hawkeye]

Look at the long term also. If you are going to run them off an amp get something pretty good. I would look at a decent set of 2 way's for the back don't break the bank. The front is where to spend the money. Maybe even a set of seperates?

remember distortion kills speakers faster than power does.

You get what you pay for holds true here too.

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

Very true.

I can put 5 1/4" 2-Ways in the back, and then put the 6x8" 3-Way's up front.

That alone will save me $20.

In the future, I'm hoping to re-route the in-cabin speakers power off of a 4-channel amp, and then get a 2-channel amp and power 2 12" subs. Doing this conversion would be easy with the speakers I've got picked.

I'm wondering which sounds better... 6x8" speaks.. or 5 1/4"s ?

Since the 5 1/4"s are round, do they respond better?

Thanks.

-Matt

 

[Jozz]

I dunno if those still exist, but I would have a listen to the Boston Acoustic Rally Series component speakers.

Try to fit the largest woofer in your door and seal your doors the best you can. Cause the best pair of speakers will sound bad in a poorly sealed door.

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

I dunno if those still exist, but I would have a listen to the Boston Acoustic Rally Series component speakers.

Try to fit the largest woofer in your door and seal your doors the best you can. Cause the best pair of speakers will sound bad in a poorly sealed door.

Very true. One of my buddies has some left-over Dynamat from his installation, and I'll see if I can get the remaining goodies off of him. If I dynamat the doors behind the speakers, it should make them kick a lot harder.

I just hope to goodness he still has that stuff lying around, because it's expensive.

The good news is, my TBird has very large, easy-to-access doors, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to remove the inside panels.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys. Every bit of input is helping me to figure this out better.

-Matt

 

[Jozz]

Very true. One of my buddies has some left-over Dynamat from his installation, and I'll see if I can get the remaining goodies off of him. If I dynamat the doors behind the speakers, it should make them kick a lot harder.

I just hope to goodness he still has that stuff lying around, because it's expensive.

The good news is, my TBird has very large, easy-to-access doors, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to remove the inside panels.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys. Every bit of input is helping me to figure this out better.

-Matt

In car audio simplicity is key.

I've seen so many multiple speakers multiple amps system sound lound but sound soooo bad.

My old system use to be like this.

Alpine deck
Phoenix Gold 3 way amp
Boston Acoustic 6.5 Proseries in the front
One 12 inch Pro Series Sub
Monster Cables

And that was it.

Perfect sound stage, and enough power to feel the music... not to impress sidewalk people...

 

[Hawkeye]

Why don't you put 6 1/2 inch seperates in the doors?

You have a 6x7 or 6x8 hole in there right.

Then some 5 1/4 inch in the back.

my system in the daily driver train car:

6 1/2 alpines in the doors

Cheapest 6x9 alpine in rear deck. one 10" eclipse sub. old 5 channel alpine amp.

 

[Repack]

I can't offer too much input, but I have an Alpine CDA 9827 and its great. Got it for Christmas. I put in in my Pathfinder which came stock with Clarion speakers. I think that the fronts are true components. The rears are made to look like seperates, but are just 2-ways. When I took the factory amps out, there were twice as many wires for the fronts than the rears.
But on its own, it is plenty loud. I have an amp to go with a sub, but no sub

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

yeah, my car will fit 6x8" speaks in all four corners if I want to, or 5 1/4"s . I can run either.

I'm going 6x8"s up front though, as that's where I SIT...

-Matt

 

[66]

anything you run off the head unit amp will be within a small margin of sound quality. if $ is the limit, try for pair of coax (5 or 6), a clean cd and at least a small amp. 450 is enough for that. that is a good starting point and will give a good base (not bass) for building.

if db is what you are looking for, look for high "sensitivity" numbers and large cones. hell, just buy 2 15s and an amp and hook it up to the stock if you want some volume. or get THIS

careful not to buy a head unit because it has 60x4 rather then 35x4. the results will all be similar.

one thing that is important to know is that if you want to rock loud, you could blow your speakers. the biggest misconception is that it is from too much power. the opposite is true. if you want to rock, get power so your gear last. having too little will make the amp clip and send some real harsh signal to the speakers. that is how to blow speakers. Head unit power is very bad power. and don’t go get some rockwood alpenblaster 100000x4 amp. it does not put that much out. check the fuse. multiply the volts (about 12) by the fuse rating and you know how much power will not be put out. if that 1000000 watt amp has a 20 amp fuse that means the total output is less then 240 watts. i repeat, less then.

Basically, if you want sq, then you have a lot of work. It takes more then a crutchfield catalog. Do a lot of reading, saving and planning. And when you put 300 hours and 4 grand into your car stereo and it doesn’t

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

Thanks for the input 66.

I'll only be running off the head-unit power for a little while. Before I even get subs, I'm going to get an Alpine Amp (4-channel) and put about 85 watts RMS to my door speakers. I'm going for good quality over quantity.

I understand how the amps work, that's no problem. I'll have a good friend of mine wire my amp for me when I get it. He's an electrician, and does SUPER clean work. I can do the head-unit & speakers myself, as those are easy. But re-wiring a car for a completely new stereo setup is a complete pain in the ass. He has a lot of interior tools, and specialty tools and know-how that make the job a LOT easier, and would probably charge me minimally for it.

Anyhow, I'm definitely learning a lot. Thanks guys.

-Matt

 

[lukeduke]

the Alpine CDA-9831 in the wife's car with the iPod adapter setup. great choice you made with the alpine, we love ours. I chose to go with a audiobahn 4ch amp with Image Dynamics compression horns and crossovers with Boston pro series 6.5's in the doors. Also added a Boston pro series 10 in a box in the back. ran the stock rear speakers off the head unit power, that way i can fade them out most of the time. did all the installation myself, except the head unit (was free with the purchase, and guaranteed, so why not) Just get the best set of front speakers you can afford, and then upgrade from there. A huffy with XTR on it is well.... Your system will only be as good as it's weakest component. good luck!

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

Can I run a component setup up front off of the headunit? Or do you have to have an amp to run a component setup?

How do you attach the crossovers to the factory wires coming from the dash (the ones in the doors).

I haven't bought em' yet, but... I figured I'd see if anyone knew.

 

[lukeduke]

installation is a little more involved, but i think the sound is superior.

 

[BigHit-Maniac]

installation is a little more involved, but i think the sound is superior.

Rock on.

Might see if I can get my grubby little paws on some Infinity Components or maybe even some MB Quarts. They're like $280.00 though, so we'll see.

I was also thinkin of doing just Infinity Kappa 2-ways up front. They're only $119 a pair right now. Then I could just sorta skimp on the back ones a little.

 

[66]

Then I could just sorta skimp on the back ones a little.

how many concerts do you go to and stand backwards? or have the stage both in front of you and behind?

one problem with getting separates is the imaging. unless you really take the time and know what you are doing, you will have a better soundstage with coax.

 

[Spunger]

Ok here we go.

Don't get those odd ford 6x8's etc... No speaker was ment to be a 6x8. Get adapters to fit 6 1/2" speakers and be done with that part. IF you want a tad better sound go for a component set. Crutchfield sometimes had good deals but there's better to be had than infinity. I had infinity speakers in my camaro (kick panels, doors, and rear) and they are pretty harsh at times. Very little midbass out of them. Don't concentrate so much on the back. The back is just there for fill for rear passengers OR if you really like the sound of rear fill. It's true that most systems can work fine off just front speakers and a sub.

Check out sounddomain.com as well. They have more brands and pretty decent online prices. Plus they are known in the audio community.

Get a sub. That is the best thing I can say. A sub will make even your weak stock speakers sound 100 times better. It gives them all that bass you were missing. You could do a single 10 or 12" subwoofer, sealed, and something like 200 watts (maybe a little more) and it'd just sound so nice. The infinity kappa perfect subs are good for the money as well as Image Dynamics. Major Sound Quality stuff.

Amp wise you could go with a 5 channel amp (4 channels for the 4 speakers + 1 channel for the sub) that way you aren't running loads of wires etc.... I've seen some Alpine/MTX and other brands of 5 channel amps that aren't an arm and a leg.

Don't believe everything you read either. RMS is the important number. Your deck might say 50x4 watts but it's really like 22x4 RMS. If you get an aftermarket amp you'd want a minimum of 50watts RMS per channel but 75watts makes them sing a little better.

Just don't skimp too much. A good system can be had for not very much if you choose the right brands. I love the Image Dynamics stuff. Loads of bass from a 6.5" speaker + good highs. If you were to go 4 6.5's in all the stock locations and then do a single 12" IDQ sub, plus add the 5 channel amp boy you got a nice sounding system. All for like $500-600. Not too shabby.