alpha mate,

i know ur the man when it come to audio, so i have another question for you!

I am currently running my sub off a jbl amp, and am just about to start upgrading my front speakers for components and a nice two channel amp.

How would I wire up the new two channel amp for the front speakers, bearing in mind I only have one RCA output on my headunit?

Also, do I need a power cap?

I'd leave the speakers unamped until you whack a decent headunit in there...:)

Right, Back to front, Power Cap, no. These are gimmicks to be honest, a 1 farad power cap is a massive amount of energy about 100Amps !, not needed. However for a Sub, then you might need one to keep a power continuity. But a 0.5 or even 0.25 farad cap is sufficient.

Right This is how to do it, and dont worry bout the head unit, one step at a time cause a new head unit will run like this too.

My Amps are both in the boot, screwed to the back seats. Now, Power and earthing cable is important, use thick cable for amps, they draw so much current you wouldnt believe. So for the power, you will need either, 2 cables of 0.75CM copper thickness, or 1 cable of 1.25CM copper thickness. Directly from the battery. It is important, the thicker the better (in this case anyway!)

Then also you will need the same diameter in Earth Cable. Then, run the phonos from the HU, to the Front components Amp, then from that amp to the sub. There should be an input and output on the amp. And there is no compensating in sound, amps and Hu's are preamped for signal, so you wont lose any. But the best thing is to put Either the better quality amp first, or the one powering components, Not subs. (cause they filter signals)

For the speaker wiring, you will have to follow from the components through the door, then take the cables to the back of the car somehow!!!, wherever you feel is best! But i would advise that the most important thing would be to upgrade the backs aswell, cause then you can do the wiring job all in one! (time saving)

For the components, You will get, (and i mean this) a HK equivalent sound from a good set, For loud sound, go for Kappa Infinity fronts, these include 2 drivers and 2 tweeters, £165.00, but well worth it. You will get a very bright sound from them, plus they can take a hammering, however. . . . I did blow one of my tweeters due to a musical hitch, to replace it, it would have cost me £80, no way, so i bought a pair of caliber tweeters £50, they dont sound as good as the infinity, but can take more of a beating.

The tweeters are the most important thing, they are funny bits of equipment, they are made of a plastic material, and if you want to know how they work, ask and i will tell. But they can withstand upto 200W rms, but with amps not being able to do this, they usually blow first. The only reason the kappas are good is beacuse the tweeters, and the fact that the main drivers can take a beating, The drivers are not nessasarily (spelled wrong) the best sounding.

Hope this helps, fire away, so they say. If you have any more queries.

Neither of the amps have RCA outputs!
What can I do?!
Mikeythemini suggested a splitter for the RCA input bit on the first amp? Is that a good idea?

Nice one

I tend not to use things like splitters. But if you have to you have to.

My Theory is the more connections you have, the more problems you can have, plus there will be a V small loss of signal, but if you have to use the best leads possible,

Go to a expensive home hifi company, NOT CURRYS!!!, big ones that sell Bang & olfesun etc. Get a gold plated splitter there, dont worry about thick cables, cause it is only carrying signal, nothing big.

Any more Fire Away!!!!

Are 'speaker level inputs' any use?

Yes, SLI's are used for sending signal from an amplified source to an amplifier etc. So i take it you have one of them.

What you will need to do is, take a signal from a front speaker output on your head unit, but remember you cannot have stereo sound from the speakers if you do that, unless there are four inputs on the SLI eg L +/ - and R + / -.

A Speaker level input limits the power coming through the amp and turns it into a standard 2V, Signal input.

Tell me what head unit you have and i will give you some advice on it.

Got a Sony CDX-L580X
for info: http://www.cel-direct.com/shop1.asp?s_page=http://www.cel-direct.com/detail.asp?ProductID=2510

Right ok then,

I would change the Head Unit if you can. I understand that audio is expensive, but when it is done right, it sounds right.!!!!

I dont mean anything by this but the unit is a bit basic, it has all of the features that sony supply, but is not the most solid of units.

If you like good sound, try Sony MP 70/80, £275 from the mags.
or, Alpine, but expect to pay over £250 for a good one.

Personally i wouldnt touch pioneer, too much work to get a good sound.

But if you are not ready, dont bother cause car audio needs to be done in stages. I have spent in total, £5000 to get the right system, and now my system is worth £1750, alot of dough wasted!!!! But it is worth it.
(DEAF AS HELL THOUGH, SO YOU WILL HAVE TO SHOUT).

take another approach...

just seen this on ebay... the sound quality of the nakamichi will destroy anything mentioned here, and it's cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3048544508&category=3289

Just flog the sub and amp afterwards and you've got a stupidly cheap top quality headunit... I might do it myself and sell them all separately for a profit...

Nakamichi, well. This one might be cheap, but they look very basic for the money.

bit of a naive thing to say ;) ... i'll take sound quality over fancy lights any day of the week...

No not really, cause at the end of the day it is only a car stereo. And there is not much difference.

Car audio is never gonna be excellent no matter what sort of money you spend. And not everyone has enough money to put nakamichi in their cars.

Plus im not being naive, i am talking from different points of view, most people go for the happy medium, a good looking stereo and good sound. You have gotta be honest, the standard £200 mark stereos sound good. Its just the amps that aint upto much, and that is where nakamich and eclipse differ. But if you are gonna add an extra amp, why spend the money?

why waste money on a decent amp if you're just filling it with crap sound? you can only get out of a sound system what you put into it at the end of the day. My MINI sound system was clear throughout the whole volume range, wouldn't have got that from a sony...

what a load of poo, my sony set up sounds much better than the Hk, and thats without the SUB.

Speaking from a sound engineers point of view, in general Car audio is *****, and compared to pro audio will never win.

Sony is not crap at all. Get ya head out of your ass. It is a damn site better than the mini equipment.

And anyway, if it is so crap, how come it is the main line in their aftermarket options?

Look again.

easy tiger lol...

Where did HK come into this, and the standard mini system?

the only decent thing sony make are headunits/changers (their hexagonal subs aren't too bad but neither are anything special).

In all fairness, I am no sound engineer, but in my opinion, Sony make very decent (and good value) units for car audio. However, they are not the best, but still great for those of us who are not sound engineers!

How come in virtually every thread miniv or alpha or whatever other names he has got, he starts with good advice but ends up getting in a strop (then changes his name again) ????????
Calm down mate

How come in virtually every thread miniv or alpha or whatever other names he has got, he starts with good advice but ends up getting in a strop (then changes his name again) ????????
Calm down mate

lol and I thought I was the only one who noticed :rolleyes:

Dom, my Sony system sounds excellent throughout the volume range aswell. Plus do your homework, those hexagonal subs are the worst thing to come out of sony. The head units are ok, they are not the best. I only had mine so it diddnt look out of place in my car. But thank heavens the thing sounds good aswell. Also sorry, i thought you meant HK stuff.

And guys, the reason i mentioned the Sound Engineer thing is because,when i go to a car audio shop, they give me a load of bull about how speakers work, and i am lucky that i have that qualification because they dont know what they are on about.

The sad fact is that car audio is all Cr@p, the amps and speakers are innefficient and sound quality is bad. so it is difficult to get a good 'car' sound.

I do bite the bait so to speak, but i posted a thread called (If you need any info on subs), and i put alot of effort into this to help people. I mean no harm. I feel my experience is a valued posession of mine and i hate when it is mocked.

I cant talk, i have spent £5000 on my car system, but most of that value is in my house, waiting to be sold. (waste of money), i am just trying to save some money for people :)

it doesn't have to be that crap... time is the key to car systems, thinking about what you want and what would suit it best.

In the end I went for a nakamichi head uni with a kenwood powerslide amp and a kicker 2 channel, focals up front and pioneer emotions at the back. And about 5 different boot builds throughout the time I had the MINI. MacAudio subs I finished off with, more for the polished magnet though :p

Spend time setting it up and without the road noise it's not all doom and gloom...

lol and I thought I was the only one who noticed :rolleyes:

great entertainment though, don't you think GMINI? ;)

it doesn't have to be that crap... time is the key to car systems, thinking about what you want and what would suit it best.

In the end I went for a nakamichi head uni with a kenwood powerslide amp and a kicker 2 channel, focals up front and pioneer emotions at the back. And about 5 different boot builds throughout the time I had the MINI. MacAudio subs I finished off with, more for the polished magnet though :p

Spend time setting it up and without the road noise it's not all doom and gloom...

Wow Dom - that's some kickass system. :eek: Nakamichi at the front too! :eek:

After having 2 12 inch subs in my car, and many others, completely destroying my rear wiper, i have gone for a RF2112 HX2, DVC.

if you have so much money, you try it. I guarantee you will never use another Magnat sub again. Thats a promise.

The quality of the driver, and strength of the build, beats anything out there lower than £1000. Tried and Tested. But you will need a big amp, 500W RMS 1000W peak, @2 ohm.

All you need to make you deaf, is kappas all round, a nice sony head unit. And a nice sub. Job Done

or in my case, you get a turbo, and you just don't need a stereo anymore!

In all fairness, I am no sound engineer, but in my opinion, Sony make very decent (and good value) units for car audio. However, they are not the best, but still great for those of us who are not sound engineers!



Sony is not crap at all. Get ya head out of your ass. It is a damn site better than the mini equipment.

And anyway, if it is so crap, how come it is the main line in their aftermarket options?


The reason that sony is used as the main line of aftermarket options offered by a lot of garages (VW, MINI etc) doesn't boil down to it being better but it is going to make the garages the most profit.

Sony do make some ok head units buit they are not by any means the best but they are good value for money. I have bought sony stuff in the past (I was young) but when you compare it to the likes of Alpine etc there aren't that good! As with most things in life you get what you pay for.

Some people just want some tunes in thier cars other - just some noise to listen too, others like to actually hear the music. These are the people willing to pay out the cash.

J.

Others actually like to hear the music, ok then, whatever you think.

In my profession, not car audio. I appreciate the best quality in sound. So dont give me that shhit.

Now when i had my car i put alpine in it first,

The thing is that not everyone can deal with some of the settings, i bet you cant. If i sat in peoples cars with alpine stereos i bet i could make them sound even better. This is only because of my knowledge of the complex sound features.

The fact is i have to work alot harder to make an alpine or pioneer sound good than i do with a sony.

Mine for instance has a 7 band graphics eq, a Dynamic sound organiser, bass and treble controls, and active crossovers. For car audio, this is enough.

Whereas the alpines have frequency width settings, s sonic filters etc. There is just no need.

Now you can pay £1200 for a sony head unit, and i admit the cheap ones are poo, but get your head out of your ass, i would rather be listening to my music than fiddling with it and crashing my car!!!

LOL... Ok I give in, on another thread you posted in you where the same. A Pr!ck. At the end you chilled out a bit but it was obviously only a temporary reprive. You are the stereo master. sony makes the best stereos in the world. You know this but all the sound off boys have obviously missed this fact. Alpines don't sound as good as sony. Well horses for courses. I stand corrected I know nothing about what I am talking about.

Again thanks for your wise words. People must really respect you and your opinions.


J.

:D :D
:D
I rest my case :D