stock audio question

[solid_snake]

umm, would any of u keep the stock in dash 6 disc changer? im thinking about getting more powerful door speakers and rear speakers. does anyone know how many watts the stock 6 disc changer can take. im thinking about 200 max watts, such as 50 watts in each speaker. so 100watts upgrade. also, my cd player plays burned cd's fine.

i believe is "180" watts peak

 

[1sty]

umm, would any of u keep the stock in dash 6 disc changer? im thinking about getting more powerful door speakers and rear speakers. does anyone know how many watts the stock 6 disc changer can take. im thinking about 200 max watts, such as 50 watts in each speaker. so 100watts upgrade. also, my cd player plays burned cd's fine.

YOur kind of looking at it back asswards.
Swapping in more powerful speakers means you need to provide them with more power. They have no power, they are just speakers. They handle power. More "powerful" speakers will just get the same power the old ones did and will loose bass output as they need more juice to properly move.

Any speaker that says "200 WATTS" in big letters on the box is pure bulls***. First off speakers HAVE NO POWER. Second a real 200 watts rms would desroy any such POS speaker. This is what real 200 watt RMS capable speakers look like: http://www.bostonacoustics.com/ca_product.asp?ProductID=216&CategoryID=14
They cost around $1000/pair. But you need an amp capable of producing that power or they are wasted. The weakest amp I will sell them with is a JL audio 300/2 which is 150 wattsrms by 2.

SO to get more power, you must add an amplifier or a more powerful head unit. To date no head unit has produced more then 27 watts by 4. NONE. The 60x4 ratings are bulls***. So at best the most powerful head unit ever built only produced 108 watts total. Your car will only produce around 40 watts total regardless of what is hooked up to it as I mentioned since the speaker do not produce power, they just handle it.


Now to address your question directly, yes, you can keep the factory changer. Many have. You will simply need to add an external amplifier to the system to better power aftermarket speakers. IF you are not going to do this and stay to speakers around $100/pair as anything more will require too much power to be beneficial in your system and would be a waste of money.

 

[DiS]

YOur kind of looking at it back asswards.
Swapping in more powerful speakers means you need to provide them with more power. They have no power, they are just speakers. They handle power. More "powerful" speakers will just get the same power the old ones did and will loose bass output as they need more juice to properly move.

Any speaker that says "200 WATTS" in big letters on the box is pure bulls***. First off speakers HAVE NO POWER. Second a real 200 watts rms would desroy any such POS speaker. This is what real 200 watt RMS capable speakers look like: http://www.bostonacoustics.com/ca_product.asp?ProductID=216&CategoryID=14
They cost around $1000/pair. But you need an amp capable of producing that power or they are wasted. The weakest amp I will sell them with is a JL audio 300/2 which is 150 wattsrms by 2.

SO to get more power, you must add an amplifier or a more powerful head unit. To date no head unit has produced more then 27 watts by 4. NONE. The 60x4 ratings are bulls***. So at best the most powerful head unit ever built only produced 108 watts total. Your car will only produce around 40 watts total regardless of what is hooked up to it as I mentioned since the speaker do not produce power, they just handle it.


Now to address your question directly, yes, you can keep the factory changer. Many have. You will simply need to add an external amplifier to the system to better power aftermarket speakers. IF you are not going to do this and stay to speakers around $100/pair as anything more will require too much power to be beneficial in your system and would be a waste of money.

man this is the best explanation of speakers/headunit operation Ive EVER heard! 1sty you're the man! (thumb)

 

[1sty]

thats true, I am the man

 

[DiS]

thats true, I am the man

hehe the man with the plan
GROUP HUG!(group)

 

[protege02]

YOur kind of looking at it back asswards.
Swapping in more powerful speakers means you need to provide them with more power. They have no power, they are just speakers. They handle power. More "powerful" speakers will just get the same power the old ones did and will loose bass output as they need more juice to properly move.

Any speaker that says "200 WATTS" in big letters on the box is pure bulls***. First off speakers HAVE NO POWER. Second a real 200 watts rms would desroy any such POS speaker. This is what real 200 watt RMS capable speakers look like: http://www.bostonacoustics.com/ca_product.asp?ProductID=216&CategoryID=14
They cost around $1000/pair. But you need an amp capable of producing that power or they are wasted. The weakest amp I will sell them with is a JL audio 300/2 which is 150 wattsrms by 2.

SO to get more power, you must add an amplifier or a more powerful head unit. To date no head unit has produced more then 27 watts by 4. NONE. The 60x4 ratings are bulls***. So at best the most powerful head unit ever built only produced 108 watts total. Your car will only produce around 40 watts total regardless of what is hooked up to it as I mentioned since the speaker do not produce power, they just handle it.


Now to address your question directly, yes, you can keep the factory changer. Many have. You will simply need to add an external amplifier to the system to better power aftermarket speakers. IF you are not going to do this and stay to speakers around $100/pair as anything more will require too much power to be beneficial in your system and would be a waste of money.

i know nothing about stereo components. cant u tell? no, im joking with u. anyway, i think the stock stuff is fine, but i just want it to be louder. one of my friends told me to get tweeters. im not really sure what tweeters do, so i was like why dont i just buy 4 new component speakers(i think that's what they are called. so that's why i asked the question but thanks for the reply.

 

[1sty]

i know nothing about stereo components. cant u tell? no, im joking with u. anyway, i think the stock stuff is fine, but i just want it to be louder. one of my friends told me to get tweeters. im not really sure what tweeters do, so i was like why dont i just buy 4 new component speakers(i think that's what they are called. so that's why i asked the question but thanks for the reply.

Tweeters are the smalledst of speakes. They are typcily .5-1" in diameter and they play only the highest range of sound. Basicly just symbol crashes and really high horns or computer generated sounds (think techno)
So if you add tweeter, all that will get louder is that one small area of sound. If you want the bulk of the music louder, you need and amp. Typicly this is best when done with an aftermarket speaker install as it can play more of the entire range of sound then the factory speaker can and can handle even more power to play even louder when properly amped.
The thing to remeber is that if you want louder subbass, no speaker swap is going to help, could actualy hurt, you need a subwoofer and an amp to drive it. That is the only thing that will creat sub bass.

Your friend's reccomendation tells me that he has no clue either about audio. So don't listen to him.

 

[Dadkins]

My original 6 disk was skippy and very sketchy on burned CD's it finally ate 5 CD's - warranty covered that and replaced the head unit.
1sty- you seem to know a lot about this stuff - What would be the best (cheapest ) upgrade I can do ?- I am thinking the MP3 Sub as well as a small amplifier 100 w and possibly a speaker swap - I believe my car has 6 - but maybe 4 midrange and has tweeters in the doors by the mirrors.

 

[solid_snake]

1sty- you seem to know a lot about this stuff

yeah, that's why he is an audio moderator

 

[solid_snake]

from what i have heard, the MP3 sub sucks

 

[DiS]

from what i have heard, the MP3 sub sucks

lol, you probably heard it when it was off (rofl)

I actually like it alot. For that 10'' sub, it hits pretty good for the stock.

 

[solid_snake]

i meant that people have said it sucks, i wish i could hear one (rofl)

 

[chuyler1]

Don't bother with the MP3 sub. For the price you will pay you can get much better equipment. Almost any entry-level 8" or 10" sub along with a 100-250w RMS amplifier will do much better. However, if you are really serious, I suggest a 4 or 5 channel amplifier so you can also power your front speakers (and rear speakers if you decide to upgrade them also).

 

[1sty]

My original 6 disk was skippy and very sketchy on burned CD's it finally ate 5 CD's - warranty covered that and replaced the head unit.
1sty- you seem to know a lot about this stuff - What would be the best (cheapest ) upgrade I can do ?- I am thinking the MP3 Sub as well as a small amplifier 100 w and possibly a speaker swap - I believe my car has 6 - but maybe 4 midrange and has tweeters in the doors by the mirrors.

What kind of money are you looking to spend?
The most important thing to do is to go and listen to some speakers first and decide what you like th esound of the best.

As for the sub, I would do a small 2 channel amp and a single 10" or 12" sub instead of the MP3 on which is bulky and overpriced for what it is.

Your car has 4 speakers and then add on tweeters by the mirriors. You can reuse these, disconnect them, or replace them with new speakers. Its up to you.

Are you looking to replace the head unit aswell?

The cheapest package I can think of instantly that would be decent would be a single alpine type E 10" sub, a set of Alpine Type S coaxles, and then a 4 channel clarion amplfier. The amp will power the sub and front speakers. All in all it might be around $500.

 

[1sty]

i meant that people have said it sucks, i wish i could hear one (rofl)

its not that bad.

 

[solid_snake]

hell i have only seen 2 MP3s in my life, which sucks

 

[RyanPitch]

Your car has 4 speakers and then add on tweeters by the mirriors.

Where can I find a replacement "inside the mirror" piece on which to mount aftermarket tweeters (on a car that did not originally have them there)? Do they make an aftermarket replacement piece for that, or should I break out the Dremel and cut a hole in the existing ones?

Basically, I've got a stock 2002 P5 and I'm going to add a new head unit (already have it), a 50W RMS X 2 power amp (already have it) for the front speakers, new component speakers (don't have them yet, want to buy 'em ASAP), and I'll let the new head unit power the existing rear speakers.

As far as component speakers, it looks like I could use 5 1/4" or 5X7/6X8. Is one size necessarily better than the other?

By the way, thanks for the sticky on the rear speakers. I was about to buy a 4-channel amp, but you probably saved me a ton of money.

Thanks.

 

[chuyler1]

You could find the "inside the mirror" piece at a junk yard. Otherwise, I would just get the right size bit from home depot to drill the hole in the piece you have. They sell spade bits up to like a 2" diameter.

The ideal size for 2-way components is 6.5". You CAN fit a 6.5" speaker in the factory 6x8" hole and it is the same amount of work as putting in a 5.25". The easiest install of course is a 6x8/5x7 but your options are limited with that size.

 

[RyanPitch]

Wow, thanks for the info. I'll drill my current "inside the mirror" piece. About the size of component speakers:

Strictly looking from an aspect of SQ, are the 6.5" better than the 6X8? If the answer is, "No, it's just that with 6X8 you have less selection," then I might just save myself the time on install and just go with a 6X8 pair. Thanks.

 

[chuyler1]

People like to argue that round speakers sound better than oval speakers....I have yet to see a sound-off where someone could tell the difference though.

If you happen to like a set of speakers and they come in 6.5" and 6x8" I see no reason why you shouldn't buy the 6x8" for ease of installation.

One thing to consider though...if you make an investment in a set of speakers, you may want to hold onto them when you trade your car in. Your next car may not have 6x8" openings. 6.5" is a more common speaker size and in the event that they will not fit in the doors of your next car, you can always build kickpanels for them.

It really isn't hard to install 6.5" speakers in a 6x8" hole. All you need is a piece of 1/4" or 1/2" MDF or birch ply, a jig saw, and a drill. Trace the shape of the stock speaker onto the board, trace the shape of the new speaker in the center, mark the mounting hole, cut out the mounting hole, cut out the perimeter, drill a few holes and your done.