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hey there, i got my car about a month ago n now im looking to put a decent sound system in it. what do you reckon to this, please tell me, i have no ideas about ice, so i have assumed that i need a head unit obviously, two 6x9's and a subwoofer.

heres what im lookin at, tell me what you reckon to it please.

head unit -

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/produc ... /3430.html

amplifier -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 81600&rd=1

speakers -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 75072&rd=1

subwoofer -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 76552&rd=1

please any opinions, any ideas,
would be greatly appreciated yeah.

cheers, dan

Do you have good speakers up front also? 'Cause that's where you sit

OK, i'm strictly amateur, if not novice, but going by own experiences plus others much-read opinons...

1. Head unit looks quite decent. JVC is a good brand, and 200w output is about as much as you want in the tiny, cramped, unvented space it's going to be in, too.
Mosfets, good radio setup, front aux port and dab expansion capability, it's all neat. Doesn't even have an overly showy front panel desperately trying to make up for lacklustre internals, just a simple, stylish appearance.
The remote control is tacky, but could be of use if you're wanting to show your stereo off without climbing in/out all the time, or use it when on a (private) picnic etc.

2. amplifier = ??? ... they're a bit of a mystery to me, but the feel of it seems to be a decent starter device. At a full kW though, remember to keep your engine running if you're playing it loud for any serious length of time - that's more power than all of your lights put together. If you go higher or like playing long and loud, consider getting a secondary battery or large capacitor. And some earplugs.

3. 6x9s... hmm. You may get lucky, but an oft spouted opinion is that they're the choice of a cloth eared spendthrift chav who doesnt do their research and just gets something that's flashily marketed and will fit the ready-made rear cutouts/replace the existing speakers. Personally - no opinion, as i've never tried 'em out. However i'd be skeptical of the quality of something that tries to "deliver the power of a subwoofer in a 6x9!" when it comes to decent full-range output, as there's only so much one speaker can do, even with dual cone technology. Better to balance the sound with a wider set of quality components - leave the bass to the woofer, get a medium-size (possibly 6x9) pair for the main non-sub bass & mid power, and some tweeters for the top end and extra midrange definition.
The point above about sorting out your front speakers shouldn't be dismissed. I made that mistake, and without a pretty good system that allows you to split the EQ front and rear, you may regret it. Crappy stock speakers up front with decent ones in the back may mean you have to cripple the potential of the rears because the fronts can't handle even a fraction of it (VW original equip speakers, at least in the mk3s, have absolutely no ability to handle bass at all).
You could just disconnect them and go all out just in the back without doing anything to the fronts, but that muddies the sound, destroys a lot of the stereo image, and also wastes a lot of power (the 100w for the front speakers from the HU, for starters, not to mention the extra work the amp has to do). Sticking good mids and tweeters up front and the bass/other mids in the back works well with a traditional car shape as the high frequencies reflect off the screen and give you a lot of bang for buck, whilst the lower ones resonate in the boot and rear cabin.

4. The subs. Call me pessimistic and picky, but i'm not sure if i can even call a 6.5" cone a proper sub (i think even my poverty-line Lidl home cinema setup has a larger driver in it - and i KNOW the mid/bass woofers i have on the stealth shelf are wider) ... having twice as many of them doesn't make up the difference, though that super heavy driver might (like i say - amateur!). You might be far better served getting hold of an 8 or 10" one to start with, even better one that comes with an enclosure (best, one made to snugly fit the particular car and deliver the best acoustics too)
Generally larger cones = lower frequency range (and less power requirement for a similar volume of a particular low frequency?), which after all is why subs are big and tweeters are dinky-small.
A 6.5 might run the risk of what ive heard called the Sony Mega Bass Syndrome, where you get a heck of a lot of quite low bass down to about 100hz, making a good buzzy noise to annoy the neighbours with, but no real low down and dirty, meaty sub-bass (100 down to about 20hz) as it can't cope with putting that out without either major distortion, a large power drain, or both. (But ..... again ...... there's that "extra heavy" driver..)

They're probably bargains, but just because something's on ebay and apparently going for not much cash doesn't mean it's actually a/ the cheapest you can get it, b/ value, c/ good quality, d/ the best choice, or even - e/ working.

cheers lads, sounds like some good advice. i appreciate it, and i will definitly take it into consideration.

so, anybody got any suggestions for speakers, subs or amps, i think i will stick with that head unit, or something similarly priced that just looks smart but not overly sticking out like a sore thumb in an old car. so bearing in mind, what can you suggest for 200 quid, to include all the speakers, amp, subwoofer etc. 200 for that equipment and roughly 150 tops for my head unit.

cheers agin pals, dan.

The headunit you've chosen looks like a good 'un, and I would hope so for the money! Just make sure that you can run a sub off some RCA outputs if you intend upon fitting a sub, if not, not to worry.

Front speaker wise, there are a few, admittedly limited options from 'well known' brands. There are 3.5" speakers available from JBL and Infinity that I know of, there may be others, but you have to scout around to find them (I had to get mine on special order from Halfords as they don't stock them in store).

I can't fault my Infinity Kappas. They were £70 (which seems a lot for such a small speaker), but what you do get is bass blockers with them, and very clear sound from a 2 way set-up. Certainly blitzes the Blaupunkt Paper OEM ones.

Rear speakers, you can choose whatever size you want there, though 6 x 9s are probably the largest the parcel shelf will accomodate. You might be advised to get a stealth shelf for 6 x 9s as the bass from them might cause the standard shelf to rattle against the shelf supports, but if you have it loud enough, you shouldn't hear that .

Alternatively, you can get custom fit speakers which fit in the speaker mounts down either side of the parcel shelf. The size for these speakers is 6 x 4, and Pioneer and Infinity (again with some others) offer speakers which are a a direct fit for these mounts. Thing is though, don't expect the 6 x 4s to offer anywheer near as much bass as other options. I ran Pioneer 6 x 4s, then switched to Pioneer 6.5" mounted in the parcel shelf, and the larger speakers certainly offered more punch, that and the fact they were 3 way offerings.

Amps, hard to say whats good and whats not here. I have little experience of them really, but a decent mono/dual channel amp will be sufficient for your needs.

Then the sub, this depends on your type of music. If you are listening to something with fast beats, then smaller is better. If you are listening to something thats rather slow, spaced out with occassional bass, bigger is better. 10" or 12" is usually a good compromise for a very range in music.

HTH.

Karl.