Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get some thoughts from you guys on a system I will soon be putting together for my car. A bit of background - the vehicle itself is a 60s Buick, so the construction of everything is very heavy duty, nice heavy doors made of thick metal, that kind of thing.

I have already bought my front stage, which consists of some Focal Polyglass 165s from memory. They came up 2nd hand at a good price so I snapped them up based on their reputation.

My requirement for the system is a nice-sounding system to my ears. It won't be entered in sound offs, I just want it to have nice clean, faithful sound. Any suggestions on best speaker placement? Kicks are not an option, so door locations are what I'll be looking at.

I am probably going to go for one of the high-end JVC MP3 head units, and then the main decisions I need to make are what amp to go for, and a nice sub for my purposes.

Can anyone please give me some ideas for options to check out here? I rarely really crank the system, so I'm interested more in performance down low in the normal comfortable listening volume area, though some oomph when required wouldn't hurt. I listen to all manner of things, with some of my favourites being Hip Hop, breakbeat, stuff that could be very broadly referred to as "techno", that kind of thing.

I'm new to this, so I'd appreciate any feedback! I realise that a lot of things here are very dependant on the vehicle itself and the ears of the listener, but some rules of thumb would be great.

Cheers!

[ August 04, 2003, 13:56: Message edited by: Tex ]

First thing... budget!

Then we'll make some suggestions
I personally dont think that the top JVC deck cuts it... mainly because it lacks TA, and a para equaliser that many tops decks have... Yeah the 7band graphic is alright... but i've found through research that para's can be used a lot more. But hey... it you like it... go with it! Like you say your not going to be competing... so you dont need the top notch. Goto a store and play with the deck... I think in your case you want something that you can 'use'... more the fine tune.

Thanks for the reply, Provo.

Is time alignment likely to make a huge difference? I'm not that well-versed on the effect it will have, so if you can offer me some enlightenment on this, that'd be great. I'm not set on the JVC decks, I just have heard many good things about them, and do like the look. I will of course seriously consider any other options that are recommended.

As for budget, I understand that to get good sound, you have to spend good money, though I don't want to go too overboard. At this stage I want no rear fill, and I guess I'd be willing to spend say another $2000-$2500. If you feel this won't be enough, do tell me so. The budget is really not determined for sure yet.

Has anyone got any feedback on the Eclipse aluminium subs? I saw something in In Car Magazine which said they are a great speaker for both power and sound quality...

i'm not a fan of the eclipse subs, they sound terrible in the Eclipse demo car, which IMO says alot.either says that the speaker is poor, or the techs can't build decent enclosures,
either way i'm not interested,
Eclipse and Alpine make good HU's, so do clarion. check those 3 brands out, they will all make somethign decent within your budget, and most of them (mid range and above) have TA.
TA will be good cause i'm guessing that car is hella wide, TA will help to solve the distance variations between left and right front channels, and improve your imaging.

Splits, I'd suggest Hertz HSK165's, as i haven't heard anything better in your budget range.

you'd probably want 2 12's to get that thing rockin, anyhitng in the $300-500 mark will be good, i'd suggest PG Ti, or JL W3.

find a nice monoblock which puts out over 500WRMS 2nd hand would be a good idea, cause i think i've already blown your budget
and while you're there a 2 channel front stage amp with over 75WRMS.
(i'd rather buy amps 2nd hand than speakers.)