Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio SVT sound system for 1.5K ?? What stuff??

OK sound mavens. Just got a new SVT with the "premium" sound system (ughh!) and it sucks like an eletrolux!

I'm an audiophile into solid, tight, semi powerful bass, and good mids/highs without muddiness. Not interested in being the annoying neighborhood rap "thumper" as I actually LIKE real music!

I don't want to get any subs, just do the best I can with current cutouts and possibly tweeter adds in front kick panels as someone here suggested for stage imaging.

If I get an Alpine head unit, any recommendations on full 6 speaker upgrades and amp? It'll be an "installed" system as I don't trust myself not to "F" it up. I want to try and keep it in the 1.2 to 1.5K range installed.

OPINIONS greatly APPRECIATED!!!!!!

well a good suggestion would be having two pairs Pioneer 6x8's on all doors, but some of the other members have gotten 6x9's to fit into the front doors, so you might give that a try. And some good tweeters you can get them from Alpine or Infinity for around 100-200 bucks and sometimes you can get them way cheaper than that. An good amp to power your speakers would range from the 35-45 watts range into 4-channels. A good place to try would be www.crutchfield.com.

I would stick with components in the front. The Pioneers I had were good for fill but lacking on highs. Separate tweeters would fix the problem though, but cost more money. They are fine in the rears though since the stock location sucks for highs. With a good clean 4-ch amp, I think you'd be happy.

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Louis Wang
Austin/Sugar Land, TX
1998 Black E0 #3826, lightly modded

i got kenwood excelon 6x9's in each of the four doors no problem. sound is great, except for a little engine noise im trying to get rid of

Good head unit with 4-volt preouts (won't recommend one, 'cause it's all personal preference) : ~$300
The goto www.thezeb.com and get these off the specials page:
PPI 4-channel PPI4480 Amplifier (60x4): $278
MB Quart Ref. 3-way components: $284
(put the tweets and 4" mid in the door panel, 5.25" in a kick panel)
Finish it off with a good set of 6x8s in the rear doors, with low pass filters setup to get rid of the high stuff (keep it from ruining your front imaging). Shouldn't cost more than $150 for them

Leaves you $200-500 for installation hardware and labor. Enjoy
BTW, I just ordered the Nakimichi components from them on sunday and got them today, excellent service.

BTW, you mentioned you wanted a good amount of "tight" bass without subs. Won't happen. You main speakers aren't physically capable of delivering real bass without distorting badly (IMHO), it just won't happen. If you want any real bass, you'd have to do something like install some 8" mid-bass drivers in your rear doors, or get a small (8" or 10") sealed sub box and put it in your trunk, powered by a relatively small amp (100-200 watts RMS). That will give you a good underlying bass to your music that you can't get from regular speakers. Adding subs to a stereo won't turn your car into ratteling bass-trap, it's just how you've got it tuned (I'm running 800 watts to a 12" sub, but it's all tuned beautifully to compliment the mids and highs in my stereo, although if I wanted to it could make my windows shake with the press of a button). Just my $.02

Doh! One more thing I mentioned. All this cool stuff is only gonna be as clean as the patch cables you run. Those cheap patch cables that they sell in amp installation kits are noise-prone simply to get you to spend $50 on a good set from the store. Get the "Stinger Bullet Series" patch cables from http://www.audiophiles-online.com. They're just as good as those $50+ cables at less than half the cost!

[This message has been edited by Steve Bassen (edited November 29, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Steve Bassen (edited November 29, 2000).]

Steve, that was the most thought out description I could think of...but one question for you. Are you replacing your components in your car with the Naks? Also what about puting the 8" mod bass drivers in the kicks, some nice 4" mids in the doors and tweeters mounted like you have them? I think that could give him the bass response that he needs with out the addition of a sub. Once I realize what is happening with my car and how much i will be in it I am going to redo my system. I really want a 3 way set for my fronts, keep my kappa 5x7's in the rear, add another alchemy 10 in the trunk and build a custom box...maybe sink them into the floor like bobby and buy a new 4 channel amp to run everything. I was at East Coast Auto Sound in Rockville this summer and I heard this Canton set which sounded awesome, however $600 is a bit steep. Well it seems I have deviated from the topic.

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David Litsky
96 Contour GL
Clarion, Infinity, ESX, Alumapro
"It is stupid to argue with idiots because you stoop down to their level and they beat you to death with experience"
DaveL@drexel.edu

Steve gave some very good advice. You won't get realistic bass without a subwoofer. The best a 6x8 or 6x9 can provide a decent lower midbass.

Where I would differ with Steve is in the speaker placement. I would put the midwoofer in the door and midrange/tweets in the kick panel. It'll improve the imaging.

My personal recommendation would be the following...

Head Unit: buy the 300.00 HU that you like the best from a brand like Nak, Alpine, Sony, Pioneer or Clarion.


Front Doors: Eton 8-480/32 8" 136.00 per pair. Adire Audio AV8 is an option at 120.00 per pair.
this may may take a small amount of modification but 2 8" Adire Audio subs would be a perfect option. Not released yet, but the prototypes have been very promising. Pricing to be announced. probably expect 180.00 for the pair.

Kick panels: Vifa Car system from Madisound. 130.00 per pair.

Rear doors: Vifa mids from component set above. 45.00 or so.

Amp: Look for a 6 channel amp from either PPI or a/d/s/. Preferably at least 50 watts per channel. a/d/s/ PH 15 would be a great choice. 300.00

Crossover: Look for an Audio Control 3xs. Should be 80-100.00.

The 8" speakers should give you some decent bass, especially for their size.

summary:

HU: 300.00
Front door: 150.00-200.00
Rear door: 45.00
Kicks: 130.00
Amp: 300.00
X-over: 100.00
dynamat/installation/wires: 450.00

Total: $1475.00-1525.00

David - No, the Nak's are actually going in another vehicle

dnewma04 - You're right, if you're gonna go through the trouble of installing kick plates, you might as well put the mid and high range speakers in there and put the woofer in the door panel. I wasen't thinking straight when I said that.

hey hey now! im exactly like the guy that started this post -- i wanted my system to be able to produce the whole entire sound spectrum, but i dont like subwoofers. those kenwood excelon 6x9s i put in hit LOW LOW LOW, just as deep as any subwoofer I've ever heard, but without the boom. its all personal opinion....

What you are probably hearing is bass in the 60-100 hz vicinity (typical for dance/pop/rap/rock). If you tried to play actual subbass, a 6x9 will not be able to produce it with any substantial levels. I think you are probably mistaking boom with bass that is on the source material. The other thing that happens is that it is not uncommon to mis-tune a ported enclosure which results in a boomy system. A good quality subwoofer installation with good components properly installed will sound noticeably better, clearer, louder, punchier (or whatever other adjectives you want to use) than a system relying on 6x9 to provide bass.

By the way, if you were to here a perfectly flat system response, the bass will be pretty weak sounding to most people.