new system, ideas?

around xmas im expecting to have a small excess of money and i was thinking about a small system for the beast. my original plans (from last year when i was gunna do this) were 2 din hu, alpine spr 6.5 components up front, sps 6x9s in the rear, and maybe a 10w7 in a ported box and a 500/1 amp to run that and a 75/4 amp to run the rest. any ideas, preferrably money saving ideas. im looking for something that will hit much harder then stock (or the minorly upgraded speakers the last owner put in) but nothing major as i want to spend as little as possible. thanks

if you want to save money, a HUGE change would be moving from the 500/1 and 10w7 to a 300/2 and 10w3. honestly, the w3 series is great for the money. of course a w6 or w7 would be waaay more badass, but theyre waaay more $$$. im on my second w3 now, and its great. i had a 12w3"v1" and now i have a 12w3v2. it would be awesome to move up to a 12w6, but the w3 really sounds good. if you want to save money, thats my recommendation to you

Don't forget that the harder the hitting you want the more your'll rattle. get some rammat.

Hush said:

Don't forget that the harder the hitting you want the more your'll rattle. get some rammat.

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lol yeah. if your car sucks like mine, the brake light lens on your spoiler will vibrate. nothing else in/on the trunk...just the thing i cant fix

i'd second the w3 recommendation.

although honestly the best way to save money is to just not buy JL products. They make some great stuff, but for many of their products you can get something comparable for a lot less (i.e. 500/1.... unless you REALLY think you'll need a load independent rms).

check out the pricing for elemental designs stuff through this forum, there are a few other members here familiar with eD products and I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has been at all disappointed with a product (esp for the price).

also I would say just skip upgrading your 6x9's, I wish I would have. I only care about them when I'm listening to talk radio or something and just want more output w/ the windows down on the freeway, and at that point sq is completely irrelevant. at moderate levels you'll really appreciate a front stage once you get used to it, and at higher levels if your sub is doing anywhere near 130db's, which isn't really that much, then it will begin to distort your rear 6x9's anyways because they run IB and the sub will be putting air pressure on them.

ported boxes can be great but don't buy a prefab. for a 10" its usually a good rule of thumb to get a box built around 1.3cuft or so and tuned to 35,38hz maybe. for a 12" you'd want a bit bigger box (1.5cuft or so) and 30-35hz tuning. like I said those are just rules of thumb though.

you can tune lower but then the gross box volume gets pretty big to accomodate for the port size, so its not very practical for a lot of people.

o hella forgot about getting an IDmax like wild, they compair to W7s or get what i'll get one day and get the Arc Flatlines. they all compair with the W7s but for so much less. i think the IDmax is like 200 bucks cheaper. I'm loving my 500/1 right now but i was looking into getting some van goghs their good amps. The only place to find them are on ebay they've stopped making those for a long *** time but you'll find some still in box new on ebay. the amp, the last time i saw it on sale it was like 185 plsu 20 for shipping. if you have a 4 door you kinda want rears but i'm sure the stock ones can handle it. cuz when i was sitting in the back in my car i thank god i put in new rears cuz i would've gone crazy not hearing anything but bass. if you want the best sound in the rear just get 6.5 comps in the rear and make new spacers for it and your set. as for fronts i've heard alot of them, so far i like the lotus made by sea's cuz its easy on the ears unlike my JL XRs. my friend picked up his lotus' for around 200 to 300. just depends on what you want.

forgot about the 6x9s...just dont bother. take em out or at the least disconnect em. i have mine hooked up just to make it louder since i dont have an amp on the front speakers (well, i have the amp and the speakers but theyre not hooked up cause i dont have kickpanels ). the only frequencies i hear from them are between the front speakers and subs dead zones, ie 120hz-200hz.

as for the eD and IDmax products, id really like to hear them and compare them to jl stuff. after hearing so many glowing reviews, im really intrigued...

last I knew retail on the idmax was around $500 but i got mine from sounddomain (only authorized online retailer last I knew) for $340 shippped, which is a good deal when you consider what it competes with. Supposedly the ov.2 series from eD is almost on par with those subs (w7, idmax) as well, but I haven't heard one in person (yet, will be replacing my current 15" kv.2 with an ov.2 soon for home theater duty).

Ryan a decent set of components should play down to ~50hz, even a lot of coaxials can get down to 70hz or better pretty well. W3 is a pretty balanced sub from what I've heard, why not just cross it at 80hz and call it a day? 120-200hz is one hell of a dead zone to have to deal with i'd imagine.

Hush could you give a more detailed review on the lotus's? I've heard nothing but good things about them, but nothing very in-depth about how they sound either other than "great". I still have a new set of boston comps I haven't actually installed yet but will probably replace them down the road.

edit: I'll warn you about this with Image Dynamics products though: be prepared to wait. Took me about 6 weeks to get my sub, and recones can take a lot longer than that because they are horrible about keeping soft parts in stock, so if you purchase an Image Dynamics product (which are great) be sure you know what you're doing and don't abuse it. Also with the new v4 idmax either already out or coming out soon the time to get a new idmax might be even longer.

i have my amp crossed over at around 100hz, if i remember right. the w3 plays cleanly all the way up top and goes down to around 35hz if my ears are correct. since im still using stock speakers all around (boo) theres quite a gap in the midbass area, and any midbass picked up by the 6x9s sounds like, well, you know... once i get some kickpanels then i can hook up my mb's to the ecplise ea2000 i have. ideally, i want to get rid of that amp, and get a 4 channel and finish my little secret project. it involves a jl product placed somewhere in front of the front seats...

there was a review of the seas comps in ca&e a few months back but its not on their site

I've never been that impressed by alpine speakers. They are good speakers but for the money, i'd invest in something else. Boston Acustics in the best bang for the buck in my oppinion. ANd i disagree about the 6x9, but that's a preference. I like some rear fill. 6x9s can add midbass, depth but also phase issues, i have my gain at about half of the front, crossover real low- 60hrz, and love it. I've tried to not use them on other peoples recommendations, i just don't like it.

My main advice to save money is go with the cheapest stuff you would want for another 10 years. My system has gone through 3 cars now and still going strong. I skimped on my components, infinity kappas, and they are defineatly a weak link. Then again i got them for $60 used off someone who didn't know what they had. I always want to upgrade but i end up buying other things first, never have got around to replacing. Not that they are bad speakers, many rave about them, but not for me.

Just don't skimp if you feel like you are. Buy the best you can afford. Many people figure, it's better than stock so this should be fine. Then want to go further, etc. Have a clear idea of realistically how far you want to go so you have room to upgrade. If you think you want to replace the 6x9's but wait on it, make sure your amp is 4 channel, simple things like that.


Sorry, long post, not much substance