I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

Hey Im kinda new to audio world.

I wanna just throw a sub in my car and mount my mid component speakers in a fashion in which I could get the most sound out of them.

But just like everything else there seems to be a science behind everything. It seems like bolting speaker to the door using that stock plastic piece makes the car sound like crap. Ive been looking at other pictures and stuff and looks like maybe its optimum to make your own little speaker mount out of MDF wood. Dont have a saw but is it worth bying one?

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

Step 1: Buy aftermarket hu. Clarion or alpine will be good.
Step 2: add sub.
Step 3: upgrade speakers and amp them if you like to listen to them really loud. You WILL need to make MDF mounts for the speakers otherwise they will sound like piss (usually).
2 and 3 are pretty interchangeable. If you want more bass, add a sub, if you want louder, clearer sound add speakers first. If you have any blown speakers, I would do speakers first regardless..

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

To be honest if you want a nice sounding system Get an apline deck. Always loved alpine over all other decks. Then get two amps. I recommend JL audio. You can buy a 500/1 for about 220 (just got to look around) used on craigslist. Then you can get a JL 450/4 for 240 on CL as well. Then purchase a sub. You can pick from a range of subs that sound nice. Forget those frys and bestbuy subs they suk balls. Get like an eclipse titanium ($300) or JL W6 (250) W7 ($450). Then finally get some component speakers. Everybody has their own favorite so you will just look around for that. I personally loved the infinity, bostons, and the diamond audio. But I have heard some polk audio and other cheaper ones that sounded pretty clean as well. Put all those together and you will have the sound system of your deams. If you like it really loud then just get stronger amps. Like the 1000/1 JL ect... Oh forgot this is a must reguardless you must get a capacitor. Everything will sound clearer with it and your battery wont go dead and you wont get those annoying dimming of lights when bass hits. Don't get those cheap ebay ones either get the rockford capacitors then work wounders (from my own personal experience). GL with install.

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

www.caraudio.com price check for retail or go to the forums and look used in your area for subs HU and get ideas from the build threads.

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

get a sub before changing the stock speakers? :scared:

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

Need more info, although not essential a MM&Y of car will help.

The single best improvement you can make in a cars audio system is to replace the stock HU, you did not mention a new HU, is that because you already have one?

To a point I agree with edzy, [I hardly ever do] adding a sub before replacing the stock speakers will make a more dramatic diff. in sound, you will be surprised at how good stock speakers can sound when they have some decent power driving them, [aftermarket HU].

You have been misinformed, [or you misunderstood] installing aftermarket speakers to stock plastic speaker housings will not "sound like crap" it will just not sound as good as it can, even the stock speakers sound better mounted to wood then to plastic.

With that said, proper speaker installation is critical to SQ, [sound quality], no matter what the quality of the speaker is, a properly installed entry level speaker will outperform an improperly installed "top of the line" speaker, so much care and attention is needed when installing speakers.

The 4 basic rules for installing speakers...

1- Speaker must be mounted to a flat surface,. not doing so can warp basket and misalign speakers VC, [voice coil].

2- Speaker must have airtight seal between front and back of speaker for at least the diameter of the speaker out from it's edge, the best is to have a speaker in a box, very difficult in a car door so at the very least no holes for at least 6.5" from the edge of the speaker, not doing so will result in cancellation, [loss of output due to back wave of speaker interacting with the speakers front wave.

3- Mass, the more mass the speaker is mounted to the better, this has more to do with mounting speaker to a solid surface, a surface that can not move, remember..
for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, you want, [and need] the speaker cone to move back and forth, you do not want the speaker itself moving back and forth, that would also result in cancellation.

4- Wood, a speaker mounted to wood will sound better then the same speaker mounted to just about anything else, definitely better then if mounted to sheet metal or the plastic of the stock speaker housings.

The above rules become more important the lower the frequency response of the speaker, EG; a tweeter hanging in midair will sound about the same as if it is mounted to an MDF baffle, a mid-range speaker will sound like crap hanging in midair, a sub-woofer will sound no better then the mid-range.

A few things to also keep in mind...

Wattage...
Forget about anything but RMS, [amp power] or continuous, [speaker power handling] wattage, peak/max wattage means very little.

It is better to be over-powered then under-powered, EG; if you have 75W speakers it is better to have a 100W amp then a 50W amp.
With that said, under-powering speakers does not blow speakers, driving an under-powered amps into constant clipping, [distortion] is what blows speakers.

A min. ratio of about 3:1 low-pass to high-pass should be used for good SQ, EG; if you have a set of 75W component speakers, you should have a sub with 450W of continuous power handling, 100W speaker/600W sub and so on.

Although good SQ comes from good quality product, installation has more to do with SQ then the product itself, it makes no diff. how expensive the product is, if it is improperly installed it will sound like crap.

Feel free to IM me if you have questions. 94

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

I have found Infinity speakers to be the best bang for the buck. The Kappa series is awesome. They're not components, so you don't absolutely need an amp with them, but they're affordable, and if you do amp them, they sound as good as any component on the market. Get a Diamond Audio 12" sub, either a D3 or a D6, and you'll be extremely happy with your bass. I would also recommend getting an audio processor to add even more customization to your system. I run a Kove Audio Aphex processor, and it really makes a difference.

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

Never did say thank you for the input. Thanks. But I really like the rockford fosgate 12" P3 which is 500W rms subwoofer. Also I have a Clarion HU with some Pioneer 50W rms door speakers that are just mounted to the doors in my EG using my stock plastic speaker mounts. I want to make some MDF rings but only tool that I have is a jigg saw. Is that enough bump?

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

Im 100% agree with EVERYTHING that fcm Has said.

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

fcm :thumbup: great info for anyone.

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

FCM nailed it.
What i did was
Headunit
then speakers kicker in front cliffdesigns in rear, i ended up switch the kickers out for infinitys, they are much better.
then added a 400watt 4 channle and ran 12 guage wire to all speakers, then a 1000 watt 2 channle and 2 12's.

I love how it sounds loud, lots of bass but still sounds excelent.

Re: I wanna put some sound in my car dont know where to start
 

what he said
;)