My car audio thread.

[KevinD]

This is gonna be an ongoing thread. Others are welcome to post their stuff here as well.
I recently pulled some "free" stuff out of an 03 Beetle that my Mom is gonna trade in. I say "free" because I'm owing Mom some favors now. Hahahaha
I spent the day removing all of it, including the wiring. What I got: an Alpine receiver: CDA-9825 (with no faceplate), an MTX 4 channel amp: Thunder 3404 (50w rmsx4@4ohm), two Polk Audio DB 650 coaxes for the rear doors, two Polk Audio DB 6500 components for the front doors.
I'm going to put all this in my 03 Dodge Ram Quad Cab. Most likely, I will be getting a new receiver, as I want blue-tooth. So,at this point, I'm not installing the Alpine or the amp.
Well, today, I made mounting adapters for the front components in the doors and the dash. The old speaker up front was a factory Dodge 6x9 coax in each door. The old rear door speakers were factory Dodge 5 1/4 coaxes.
I made the adapters out of some 1/2" Birch plywood I had laying around, as well as some old tin scrap (for the mount of the dash tweeters)
I mounted the Polk external crossovers under the dash. As of now, I'm using the stock speaker wires to the doors as the existing wires to each door go through plugs mounted on the kick panels, and I'm not sure how I'm gonna get new speaker wire though when I install the amp.
Here's some pics of the passenger side mid and tweeter. (crappy cell phone pics)

Mid range woofer:



Dash mounted tweeter:




Right now, I'm exploring receiver options (under $200) After I get the receiver, it's be time to pull the carpet, and run the cables for the amp.
That's all for now!

[DemonGeminiX]

If you really want it for whatever reason, you could probably find a replacement faceplate for the Alpine receiver off of Ebay. They sell those things at ridiculous prices, though. But I don't blame you for looking for something newer and better.

[KevinD]

The Alpine is a decent receiver, and I found the face plates from $35-80. but to get bluetooh on it, I have to spend another $150 for the adapter. That put's me right at the cost of a nice new receiver with bluetooth built in, so prolly just gonna get a new one.

[DemonGeminiX]

Again, don't blame you at all. I have a Sony receiver laying around that I took out of my old Civic after I was rearended and the car was totaled out. I dunno why I'm keeping the receiver, because I wouldn't use it in my current car. Like you, I'd just go for something newer if I was looking to do something like that.

[KevinD]

This is the receiver I'm thinking of getting..It's a little more than I wanted to spend, but the keys and display colors are variable, and the pre-amp voltage is 4volts.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX...5.html?tp=5684

If I do get it, it wont be from Crutchfield though.

[KevinD]

E-bay that Sony! That's what I'm gonna do with the Alpine.

[Noilly Pratt]

I'm partial to 6x9s myself...they usually have a slightly bigger magnet than a 5 1/4 - 6" so you might get slightly better lows, depending on the speaker, but good on you for making the Polks fit up front.

For $200 you should be able to get something decent in the receiver department, for sure. If you are using the deck's amp to power any speakers, look for power ratings as WRMS - Weighted RMS (root mean square). It's a more accurate portrayal of what wattage is really going out there across a broader spectrum, not just peak, which is usually what RMS is meaning. Usually Amps are rated more accurately thank decks are as a general rule. Many years ago (before subwoofers) I used to install Car stereos for Radio Shack and for fun and profit back in the day.

I have old cars, so my equipment was new way back when the car was new! My Nissan NX2000 has a Denon cassette deck (quit snickering!) and I had a CD changer but that bit the dust years ago. It's rated at 40W x 4 but WRMS so very clean sounding when you put the volume up. I use a Sony cassette adapter and plug in my walkman MP3 player and that sounds fairly decent.

I replaced the factory speakers front and rear in 2007 with Visoniks - found a factory close out so got them less than 1/2 price. (front- 4x6 2 ways, rear 6" 2 ways). As I really don't commute anymore (I work at home) these are adequate for what I use them for.

Visonik was well known in the 70's/80's for their "David" series of speakers -- one of the first set of speakers that didn't need to be gigantic to sound big and powerful, and it was very efficient, allowing itself to be driven by just a few watts so virtually any amp would sound grander than it was and if you had a good amp, it made the most of it. Back in the 70's you really had to match the speaker to the amp -- now it's not as big a deal.

Anyway, a factory shipment was ruined because of a tractor-trailer accident, so I saw the opportunity and bought a pallet full of these damaged (case) speakers for virtually nothing, and installed the drivers and crossovers in cars one summer. I helped fund my way through college this way from the profit of this! That, and grass cutting, and I did photography for a couple of weddings and cleaned a dentist and doctor's office at night! Ah, the energy of youth.

The van (1992 Ford Aerostar) had a replacement Panasonic deck which is OK - and yes, it's another cassette deck. Not a very high power deck but better sounding than the factory Ford one. When I bought the speakers for my NX, I bought Visonik 6x9 2 ways for the rear which helps the sound somewhat.

[DemonGeminiX]

E-bay that Sony! That's what I'm gonna do with the Alpine.

Honestly, I think either my brother or one of my friends might want it. I keep meaning to ask them, but it keeps slipping my mind.

[KevinD]

Noilly, I too like 6x9's for upgrading factory systems. (Not SQ or SPL systems) This is what I wanted to put in the truck, but I will most likely install them in the CSRT4 when I get around to doing it's system. IMHO, for the $ these are the best speakers around.

http://www.hybrid-audio.com/Imagine_...69-2_Final.pdf

http://www.hybrid-audio.com/Imagine_...nual_Final.pdf

[Noilly Pratt]

http://www.hybrid-audio.com/Imagine_...69-2_Final.pdf

http://www.hybrid-audio.com/Imagine_...nual_Final.pdf

I hadn't heard of hybrid before but going by the specs those look to be great speakers.

[KevinD]

They are a bit more than I want to spend, but I was planning on trying them out in the truck. I wound up getting all the stuff I have for free, so that's what I'm going with for now. After I have it all in, I can always upgrade the the HATs later.
All the reviews and stuff I've found on them say they are a hell of a speaker system for the $$

[Goofy]

I bought Pioneer 6x9s for my first car......... then they were transferred to the next car and the next car etc Great speakers

[KevinD]

First after market set of 6x9's I ever bought were Pioneers also iirc. They didn't last long, hehehe, that was when I was first playing with amps.

[fricnjay]

I worked for a company called Petras in the early 90s for a few years. I built and tested our drivers their as well as help build several vehicles for show and competition. I have been part of build that have set worlds records and competed myself quit successfully. If you need any advice I would be more than happy to lend my expertise.

[KevinD]

Thanks Jay. This isn't gonna ever be a SQ system. Just want something that sounds good windows down or up. I just wish the Polk speakers were 2 ohm, then my amp would push 100Wrms per channel. Right now, I'm debating on if I need to get a HU with 4+ Volt pre-amps. The amp input is 100mV-10V switchable, so I don't see how it would matter at the level I'm shooting for.