Audio gear in Brisbane + recommendations?

[astinadave]

Hey Gang,

I am also interesting in working on the audio situation in my car. Currently have the stock '03 323 Astina headunit and the stock door speakers.

Still not 100% sure on how much I can spend, but any recommendations of what's good gear and where good places in Brisbane are for buying and installing would be most helpful.

thanks,
dave

 

[twilightprotege]

obviously you'd save a lot of money doing the install yourself.

i have JL xr650cs splits in the front and rear doors, and a infinity sub waiting to be installed (i'm lazy and havent made up the box), and a us-audio (from autobarn) 4channel amp. anyway, at the moment the sound is really good, and i havent even touched the head unit.

i'd suggest shopping around for the best prices on the components (there are lots of savings to be had) and then think about install

hell i might even offer to install it for you for a small fee

 

[astinadave]

anyone know any good sites with info on what components work with what? like, do you need a 1000w amp running 180w speakers etc etc.. my car audio knowledge ain't that hot.

and does anyone know the specs of the stock headunit?

 

[Zed]

www.caraudioaustralia.com
www.auscaraudio.com

What specs are you after for the stock HU?

 

[twilightprotege]

one thing to note, if the power rating of the amp is more than the price you're paying (ie 1000w amp and you're paying $500), you're getting a crap amp and/or the figures are dodgy (most likely peak power rating where the sound distorts)

you need to look at rms watt figures. the us-audio amp i have is 4 channel, 55w rms per channel...so 220w rms power. i think it cost me about $270....not sure. but you get the idea of cost to w rms ratio

it's certainly not the best amp out there...not the best by far, but i am happy with it and the price was good as it's a no-name brand

 

[astinadave]

um specs as in output etc.. what sort of connections i can expect to find if i muster the courage to get behind it.. what sort of cable runs to the speakers.. so i can work out what speakers to look for.
Stage 1 of my plan is to just get some decent speakers for the front door..

they are 6inch rounds right ?

:edit: ps, thanks for those links Zed

 

[twilightprotege]

i've heard the yanks say the stock stereo output is 18w rms per channel, which sounds about right for a factory hu.

you can fit 6.5" speakers in all doors, but the fronts require a bracket to be made up as the stock speaker is 5"x8". i made up 2.5mm thick aluminium brackets for my front doors.

i'd suggest getting 6.5 splits because there is many many more options in that size rather than the 5x8's

 

[twilightprotege]

oh and the stock cables suck

i have a david navone line converter shortly after the stock hu which converts the stock wire into rca leads. they then run to the hu, then i have 14ga speaker wire to the speakers from there.

 

[astinadave]

i've heard the yanks say the stock stereo output is 18w rms per channel, which sounds about right for a factory hu.

you can fit 6.5" speakers in all doors, but the fronts require a bracket to be made up as the stock speaker is 5"x8". i made up 2.5mm thick aluminium brackets for my front doors.

i'd suggest getting 6.5 splits because there is many many more options in that size rather than the 5x8's

making brackets eh? sounds technical.. i'm worried already..
but roger that.. will start looking for 6.5inch splits..

will keep 5x8's in mind for easyness

 

[twilightprotege]

they are not that difficult really. took me about 2 hours to make a template, cut and finish

 

[astinadave]

hmmn perhaps i could manage that.. i work at a school with a tech room so i have all the tools and some resources at my disposal..

when you say 6inch splits do you mean the sets that come as a seperate tweeter and midrange speaker?

if so how do you mount the tweeter on the doors?

 

[Zed]

The stock front speakers are actually 5x7". Boston Acoustics and Infinity make some decent sounding ones if you couldn't be bothered making a template for 6 inch speakers.

The stock HU puts out closer to 11-12W RMS per channel, which is ok for low/moderate volume levels, but it doesn't have any RCA outputs. If you're after a simple upgrade, then 5x7" coaxials are the easiest to fit. It all really depends on your budget and what sort of sound you want.

 

[astinadave]

Well I'm planning on doing this in stages so that the wallet doesn't get hit too hard..
Stage 1 - new fronts
Stage 2 - head unit
Stage 3 - sub?

I'll need to buy an amp in there somewhere too.. i just want to make sure I don't buy speakers which aren't going to gel with the new head unit etc.. hence all the questions.. I'd like to be able to get a grand plan worked out and then slowly buy the parts...

but then again if i can get a good package to start, and the gf doesn't object too much i might just throw it all on the credit card

 

[tidy protege]

i have some boston acoustics 5x7s which i was running in my car and i highly recomend them i only took them out because when i totally upgraded the stereo i wanted all my speakers and amps to be the same brand. I actually prefer the sound my bostons were making and my little brother who has a quiet substancial alpine set up thinks that my acoustics may have sounded nearly as good as his alpine dd linears which retail from 400-550 bucs depending were you go
i also have another question do you have jb hi-fi in qld if so look there down my way they are always cheap and they have some good stuff.

 

[astinadave]

yes we most certainly do.. and i've been itching for the weekend to start so that i can cruise over to the one near me and start looking.

 

[tidy protege]

Even if so

Dont look past the boston acoustics 5x7s they are great speakers and if you shop around you will get them pretty cheap
If you like clarity bostons are a great option
all you need are some good 5x7s in the font later on a new head unit and then followed a sub and a amp also later on look into getting some good 6" speakers in the back door

If you do it all over time you can eventually have quiet a substancial set up dont shop for the cheapest speakers, get a good deal but do it over time so it doesnt hit your pocket so hard straight away, but you will end up with a good set up

 

[astinadave]

that's exactly my plan.. rather than try to save like $700 and get everything at once, i'd rather do like $200-300 every month or so and buy the bits slowly..
fronts.. head unit.. amp.. sub.. rears.. $1k over 6 months is a lot easier than in one hit.. just need to be patient.

i still need money for food and the missus..

i will roll into a JB and see what's looking good.. brands i like so far are JL, Boston Acoustic, Pioneer and Kenwood. Any one agree / disagree or recommend others?

 

[tidy protege]

if you want good value head units look at pioneer or jvc
Pioneer have just released new models so you can pick up last years models cheap they the same except of a couple of cosmetic changes
Speaker wise look at jl boston acoustics all are good brands like what i said with the head units new models will be out this presents a great opportunity to pick up a bargain with last years equally good stock but cheaper stokc
Amps are somethig you can pick up cheap as the brand doesnt really matter its really the output or rms be mindful that many brands will list a high peak but the rms is much lower e.g my jbl amps have a peak of 600watt but are in actual fact 300 watt rms
Subs are just subs if you arnt planning to spend much they all are very comparable my advice with your car is to go a singe 12 or 10 unless you plan on going in bass comps
i had 2 12s and it was overkill, recently i have swaped them for one of my spare 10 inch subs and my brother who has 2 10s is thinking his might be a bit of overkill as they are small cars and you dont need much to have a nice bassy sound going through our little cars

 

[twilightprotege]

JL make awesome speakers and amps....but be prepared to pay for them....

also, with the tweeters, it depends on your school of thought, but i think it is best to mount them as close to the woofer in the door as possible. the reason being is that the speakers in the door are somewhat covered by your legs. if you mount the tweeters in the top of the door (where the mirror is), the highs will be much clearer and wont give a full equal range of sound. in otherwords, it wont be quality sound.

with my tweeters, i have mounted them in the top corner of the mesh covering the speaker spot. looks really stock and they are simple to put there

imo as well, if you are thinking of getting a $500 hu for example, i would put that towards a better amp and better speakers....also, where else can you find an in-dash 6 cd hu??? but then again i'm biased because i like to keep everything looking stockish and sleek. much less chance of the system being flogged

 

[astinadave]

i don't have an sp20 so i've only got a single cd.. i'm thinking of adding cdr/cdrw and mp3 functionality to it.. that's why i'm looking at a new hu.

went to nearest JB today and was quite disappointed at the range.. mostly that sony explod crap..