Car stereophiles help needed and a suggestion

[Grizzley]

It probably wouldn't be a problem for you with the musical tastes you described, lol.

HAHAHAHA, damn, sucker punched all the way from Atlanta. :moon:

Nothing wrong with the oldies, 'cept they weren't old when I first heard them. hehehe

 

[Atl XJ]

lmao

 

[the_chief]

as for the sub enclosure

I designed it to fit on the factory tire mount with the factory cover. Having the proper airspace inside your enclosure is critical, where some people just stuff subs in tiny boxes. I don't lose much space with this setup, and your average burglar won't think twice about it. I was unsure how this box would handle, but it is capable of producing a wider range of frequencies than any other I've heard, and it is very loud.

edit: sorry about the rags and mardi gras beads, I didn't realize i was having company today.

 

[Atl XJ]

Its hard to tell from that pic, is that a 10" or a 12"? Thats a really good idea though, I guess I'd have to mount my spare on the roof.

 

[the_chief]

Its hard to tell from that pic, is that a 10" or a 12"? Thats a really good idea though, I guess I'd have to mount my spare on the roof.

It's a ten, could easily do a twelve. could do a ten up top, with a flush mount amp below. So many options.....

 

[Grizzley]

Awesome Cheif! Great idea for hiding it too. Any noise from the cover? Or does it just stay bowed out from the music? I guess from what your saying I'd loose some sound by using the tire as a mounting surface with no enclosure around it. Actually it would have some enclosure, the inside of the tire rim.

 

[kirby]

Running a small amp to your speakers in the rear will give you just a little bit of a punch, but you have to make sure what wattages you are looking at. That amp might say that it's 100 watts but it's probably only 30 or 40 watts that actually run to your speakers. For example, look at an average head unit. The wattage will say that it puts out 50x4. Now how can you tell me that the little amp in that stereo will put out even close to the same quality that a true 50x4 amplifier that is 10 times the size will. There is no comparison to sound quality between the two. If you match up the speakers with the amp you would definately be more pleased with the sound than you are now. A good amp will make an average speaker sound great. About running the wires through the ceiling. That seems a little weird considering you would want atleast a 10 gauge wire to run the amp. You would definately see that big of a wire running up above. A little tacky if you ask me. I'm not an expert at this but have had plenty of trial and error.

 

[Grizzley]

Kirby, Up above the headliner on both sides there's a space about 3 inches wide that runs the whole length of the vehicle. It's about 2 inches deep also. If you ever pull your headliner you'll see it. You could pack a lot of wires in there and every vertical pillar has a space where you can run down through or up through with the wires. My headliner needs to be recovered and since I'll be doing that, I just figured I'd take the time to run what I needed. I had no intention of running wires the length of the vehicle along the inside roof in plain view.

 

[kirby]

Kirby, Up above the headliner on both sides there's a space about 3 inches wide that runs the whole length of the vehicle. It's about 2 inches deep also. If you ever pull your headliner you'll see it. You could pack a lot of wires in there and every vertical pillar has a space where you can run down through or up through with the wires. My headliner needs to be recovered and since I'll be doing that, I just figured I'd take the time to run what I needed. I had no intention of running wires the length of the vehicle along the inside roof in plain view.

My bad. I just imagined it running down the center.

 

[the_chief]

if you mount the speaker inside of the rim with no enclosure, you'll need a free air subwoofer, which are crap anyway. The open air environment of the rim will not satisfy the needs of a subwoofer. I have the cloth cover over it, which not only makes no noise, but it woud filter any unwanted noise, ie, dustcap rattle, etc...

as far as kirby's thoughts on power ratings, you are describing max vs rms, they are two different ratings. I have a 75x4 phoenix gold. The two rear channels power my sub, while the two fronts power four dome tweeters. It's a small low-power setup, with outstanding sound.

 

[kirby]

Exactly you don't need a lot of power to outdo what that supposed 50x4 deck says. I had a pair of 6x9's put in about a 3 cuft box and people said they sounded like tens. Experiment and you will find out what you like, but you can never go wrong with a good quality amp. And yes free air subwoofers suck.

 

[Atl XJ]

I 100% agree about the fact that a seperate amp will drive the mids a lot harder than the 50x4 in my Pioneer cd/mp3. However, Even though I'm only actually getting like 22 watts rms to my speakers they are really loud and have a lot of bass response for mids, well the 6.5s do at least. I wasn't happy with my receiver's power output when I first got it because riding with the windows down on the hwy I had to run my stereo almost wide open to be able to hear it. The Infiniti 6.5s are much more efficient than the Polk Audio 5.25s, I was impressed, I can't believe now much louder they are than my rear 5.25s, you can't even hear mt rear speakers anymore unless you are in the back seat--since they are right above your head in the rear sound bar. One advantage that I do have is that my Pioneer is one of their higher end models with tons of equilizer adjustments, high pass and low pass filters, imaging adjustments, and seperate front and rear speaker adjustments which is really nice. There are so many different adjustments that I had to spend few hours out in the parking lot with my owners manual figuring everything out until I finally got the best sound out of it. I think it sounds pretty good, but I would like to have a sub sometimes just because of the type of music I listen to and the fact that my last vehicle had a $3000 700 watt rms all alpine multi amp system. But, for what it is I think it sounds really good and my friends who have ridden in it have commented that it sounds pretty good for not having subs. I hope that helps some.

 

[the_chief]

Hey atl xj, which deck do you have? I'm on my last pioneer product ever. After dealing with their cust service again, I wont buy another product ever. my premier 740 sucks eggs. I've been using pioneer exclusively for ten years, and I am tired of their garbage products and garbage cust service.

btw, at 90 mph with all windows all the way down my sound is crystal clear at half power,,, haha. I have a spare enclosure like the one in the pic if someone wants to pay shipping and give praise it's yours!!!!

 

[thewrath]

chief, the spare tire sub-box, how many cu ft is it? i have a infinity perfect kappa 12 sub in a .9 cu ft box powered by a 400watt rms kenwood amp (bridged 2 channel, 4ohm load). Its damn loud and sounds as good as other larger, more expensive systems. Im no so sure about the enclosure size thats correct, but infinity recomended 1cuft, and ive had people tell me i should be using 1.25 with my sub, but my .9 saves alot of cargo space and sounds great.

do you have any knowlege you can share about how box size effects sound besides going with manufacturer recommendations?

 

[imma honky]

I'm running 2 10" fosgates and infinities. Sounded better in my 90 (the 91 has too much window rattle when down). I found that if you go for a box, face the subs towards the rear gate. It sounds MUCH better than if you face them foward. I am also thinking of ditching the door speakers and getting some kick panels made. A friend runs them in his blazer and the sound stage hits the ears perfect. Last year when my OEM stereo went out, I almost went nuts without music. Tv I can do without, but music I don't think so.

 

[Grizzley]

I'm running 2 10" fosgates and infinities. Sounded better in my 90 (the 91 has too much window rattle when down). I found that if you go for a box, face the subs towards the rear gate. It sounds MUCH better than if you face them foward. I am also thinking of ditching the door speakers and getting some kick panels made. A friend runs them in his blazer and the sound stage hits the ears perfect. Last year when my OEM stereo went out, I almost went nuts without music. Tv I can do without, but music I don't think so.

I just saw some kick panels on e-bay for the Cherokee that had a place for speakers. Maybe they were for the WJ but I think they were for the XJ.

 

[imma honky]

I just saw some kick panels on e-bay for the Cherokee that had a place for speakers. Maybe they were for the WJ but I think they were for the XJ.

Yeah, Q-logic does make em, but they are rediculously explensive. My friend made his out of fiberglass. Took him two tries to get it right, but when he was done, the looked great. Alll he needs to do now is paint/cover with carpet.

 

[the_chief]

chief, the spare tire sub-box, how many cu ft is it? i have a infinity perfect kappa 12 sub in a .9 cu ft box powered by a 400watt rms kenwood amp (bridged 2 channel, 4ohm load). Its damn loud and sounds as good as other larger, more expensive systems. Im no so sure about the enclosure size thats correct, but infinity recomended 1cuft, and ive had people tell me i should be using 1.25 with my sub, but my .9 saves alot of cargo space and sounds great.

do you have any knowlege you can share about how box size effects sound besides going with manufacturer recommendations?

As far as the box sizes go:

The manufacturer will often give two size ranges, one for a ported enclosure, one for a sealed enclosure. The sealed enclosure will reproduce sounds more accurately with a faster response time, but a ported box is louder. You can also tune your ported enclosure by altering the id and length of your port(s).

The recommended airspace volumes are a good place to start. I can speak of sealed enclosures when this comes into play. The smaller (less volume) you go the quicker your response will be at a lower sound dynamic but, at higher power it may not have enough air for the cone to respond to the motor. it's also a greater load on the motor structure in your sub, and less air to cool it. More space = more forgiving, but won't sound as good.

I just looked it up, and apparently infinity recommends 1 cube for your sub, I wouldn't think .9 would be a problem. (sealed I assume).

 

[Atl XJ]

Hey atl xj, which deck do you have? I'm on my last pioneer product ever. After dealing with their cust service again, I wont buy another product ever. my premier 740 sucks eggs. I've been using pioneer exclusively for ten years, and I am tired of their garbage products and garbage cust service.

I have the DEH-P5500MP, its really more of a middle of the line model, but it has tons of adjustments and does everything I need it to do. I like the way it looks too, I had the 5300 and it was stolen and this is the replacement model. I take my face off now when I park it. The only thing I don't like about mine is the way the buttons are on it you have to press them lightly or they don't work, but i think thats normal for it you just have to get used to it. I've always bought Alpine in the past and loved them, and I haven't had a Pioneer long enough to judge the quality of it, but my friends have had good luck with Pioneer and it was considerably cheaper than a comperable Alpine so I went with it, I think it cost $250. It has a nice remote control too, not
as good as the one Alpine uses, but its pretty good. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with their customer service.

 

[thewrath]

so chief, how big is your tire size box?