Heya Guys
Got a question thats been bugging me for a little while so may as well ask. I've got a 2000 TJ Advance magna sound setup. As far as I know this is a 4 speaker setup? dad's verada has speakers on the dash where as mine has plastic covers so I figure his is 6 speakers?

Anyway car audio is something I've never been interested in but recently I've been reading threads in this forum and it's sucking me in. I actually don't play music that loud in my car I rather hear whats going on around me and the growl of the lukey :)

However I've seen some people praising cheap speakers such as the jaycar splits etc. What I'm basically wondering is there a very cheap and easy way to get a little bit more clarity into the stock setup. I don't care about passengers just want some nice sound in the drivers seats so would I be right in saying I could get jaycar splits around the $150 mark that would fit into my current stock housings using the stock wiring and have improved quality? The stock head unit is sufficient at the moment the only thing I hate about it is the lack of fast forwarding in cd's (please someone say there's a way that I'm missing!)

I'm pretty terrible when it comes to wiring or even pulling apart anything but if the splits would improve sound is it an easy enough job to remove the stockers and put in new ones?

thanks in advance if you have any ideas, recommendations or if you just want to tell me I'm dreaming go ahead :)

I know what being on a tight budget is like...

I had 600 bucks to play with to get a nice setup..

So after a lot of searching around and listening to opinions and speakers I opted to go with the Jaycar stuff..

I got the 6.5" kevlar splits (apparently the ones under these are still very good too) for $116 (friends dad has a cash account with jaycar..gets a BIG discount), a Venom 12" sub for 80 bucks, and a response 4x100 amp for around 400 bucks. I just went over my budget after adding the costs of making the box and cabling, but it only was about 700 bucks. So for a system under $1000 it's unreal.

I highly recommend those splits, in the 150 and under category there isnt too much to look at, and some can be pretty shocking (well some of the ones I heard were decidely average) I found the jaycar stuff to be fantastic value for money and great quality, even when compared to stuff in a slightly higher price bracket (ie: up to $200 mark)

The best bet is for you to go have a listen yourself.

:D

thanks for your reply killbilly it's actually some of your posts about the jaycars that pricked my ears up.

Ok so alot of the money went into the amp obviously. Is it possible to run the 6.5" kevlar splits without an amp? going to show my newbieness now but do the stock speakers run off the headunit meaning I could just use the same wires on these? I don't know if I'll need a sub basically want a cleaner sound not a whole lot more thud... yet.

Also one final thing I know you have an older model magna but is it pretty simple to install?

thanks again

u shouldnt need an amp, they should just plug straight in, if not cut the wires and just wire them together and solder them or use electrical tape
i installed clarion ones in my doors, at first i thought the covers just popped off, but i realized it was screwed on, so to get to the speakers u need to take the whole door trim off, its not hard but it takes a while, and the other thing is do the screw holes on the speaker match up with the door holes

Yes - to change out the speakers is a very easy job adn you can run your new speakers off the head unit quite easily using the same wires as factory - this is what i did until i could get enough money and time to fit all my speakers to an amplifier.

Manual

hey guys thanks for your replies. So is 6.5 the size to replace the stock ones with? I hear alot of critisisms of the stock head unit so am I going to notice much of an improvement if I change the stock speakers to jaycar splits up the front running off the headunit and stock wiring? also any other recommendations on cheapish speakers or should I stick with looking at jaycars?

You dont NEED an amp, but you will benefit greatly from it as the splits are 90wrms and headunits on average are 40-50wrms output.

As a general rule of thumb your amp should have more power than the speakers, because if you dont and you crank it you can run the risk of the amp sending a clipped signal which will kill speakers :(

With the amp having more power than the speaker, it's much less likely to send a clipped signal. And speakers have a tolerance for going beyond their specs. But just be careful ;)

hmm interesting and a bit of a worry! I've been doing a bit more reading and the jaycar response kevlars that you have get some very good write ups and they fit into my price range. Jaycar has them for around $200 another place on the net has them for $169.95 dunno if Jaycar price matches at all? Having said that if I need to pick up an amp to run them I probably won't bother because car audio isn't that important to me.

You wont need a super spec amp to run them.

You can pick up a nice cheap 2x100 which would be perfect for them.

They're quite small and you wouldn't have any probs setting it up.

thanks again killbilly, ok I'm pretty much convinced that these are the best speakers in this pricerange for a set of splits in the front of my magna unless anyone else speaks up anytime soon.
Couple of more general questions. Where do most people put the crossover connector thingies when installing and also would the tweeter mounting holes on the dash be the easiest place to put the tweeters?

May as well ask about future expandibility. I don't really want a sub so would changing the rear speakers be of much benefit? (purely for the driver) also if I update the headunit eventually to something with mp3 support is it likely to be able to power speakers without amps better than the stock mitsu setup? also are the 2 year old stock front worth anything at all on the resale market?

grr this started out as a general interest post and now I think I'll pick up some speakers this weekend!

Yes. You can start off your big system!


I actually don't play music that loud in my car I rather hear whats going on around me and the growl of the lukey :)

If my windows are up, I find it virtually impossible to hear my tyres squeal / engine rev @5k+RPM, let alone my exhaust! :D When the car is idle, standing next to the car - It's hard to tell if the car is even running! Either turn the volume down, or check the tacho!!

If you like listening to music, I'd highly recommend spending up on the stereo system. There are saving to had alright, but beware, if you want audiophile sound quality, this is not going to be a cheap exercise :D

Definitely get splits up front at any cost!. Splits are when you have the speaker in the door, and the seperate tweeter on the dash. These are interconnected with a crossover, to split the signal range. Tweeters on the dash will appear to bring the "sound stage" upwards. Really noticeable on vocals/singing music.

As for splits to buy, just go a few stereo shops with your fav CD and have a listen to a few. ALWAYS listen to the same model of speakers on a demo board/in a car before you buy them. There is a great variation in how different brands/models of "speakers" sound. When getting your demo, get some reference points by hearing their most expensive speakers on display, then their cheapest POS ones, middle of the line ones, then you'll soon get an idea of how much quality VS Money you'll want to spend.

With an amp, you'll also get much chrisper/clearer sound. Not to mention volume! Required if you want a sub(s). Optional with cheaper speakers up front, but even the cheapest speakers will sound better off an amp. Of course, with a amp, you'll need a Headunit that has RCA outputs.

Headunits, vary so much - feature wise. Be it Sound Quality, number of RCA ouputs, Stacker control, CD Text, MP3 support, remote control, dazzling displays, the list goes on. And so does price tag! I'd be ditching the stock one for sure. Get one with at least 4xRCA (front/rear stereo)

Forgot about rear 6x9 speakers. Just spend the money up front.

Then subs, subbox, sound deadening, monoblock, 2nd sub, new battery...this for me is very tempting & very addictive!

Also, when it comes to brand names, don't think everything else is crap cause it's not an your everyday Kenwood/Pioneer/falacadore brand. A lot of the good (well $$) audio gear brands is stuff most people have never heard of.

haha I was waiting for a highly detailed post from you mate surprised it took this long :)

I've checked out your system and it looks/sounds very nice from my limited knowledge... however it sounds very pricey from what I've seen car audio seems to be a common addiction that grows as you spend more! I'm really trying to conserve money at the moment theres a couple more exterior mods I want to do to my car and honustly the stock sound is adequate for me it's just I'm spoilt by sennheiser headphones and boston accoustics pc speakers the stockers just seem to be lacking in a few areas. Hopefully by picking up a reasonably priced yet good performing splits (hopefully the jaycar kevlars 6.5") the sound will be a little better overall without blowing my budget. I know it's not even going to be a hair on your kind of system but I'm not to picky after driving a L300 express van around for 4 years :)

so for now is it fair enough for me to expect an improvement by just adding the splits either off the stock head unit or possibly a cheap amp? The only possible upgrade to the system after this I could see is a headunit with mp3 support somewhere down the line. From what I've gathered the back 2 speakers aren't really worth touching if it's just for the driver on a budget?

thanks for your reply greatly appreciated and all points have been absorbed

Yes new splits by themselfs will be a HUGE difference. Anything is better than the POS 15W MAX papercone stockies! :D

I don't even have rear speakers! Well I still have the factory 6x9's connected to my HU, but the are 'switched off' in the HU settings.

Seriously, you don't need them.

I'll probably only get 6x9's so I can reuse the 2ch's on my 4ch amp if I decide to get a dedicated mono-block sub amp + 2nd sub, etc. But spending another 2.5k on stereo upgrades is getting hard to justify value for money, not to mention insurance hassles lol :D

haha ok thats good to hear. Let just say I try running the splits off the stock hu would I need to adjust anything with the rear speakers? Like I know with the hu I can adjust the fade would I move the sound towards the front more, to the back more or turn the backs off? this is with just the splits and no sub etc

while I've got your attention is there any point in cheap mp3 playing head units or do you get what you pay for with head units?

You'll notice the difference in sound between the stock 6x9's and the splits you put in, so I'd fade it to the front. Start with something like 70%/30%. Whatever sounds the best.

I'd go a JVC Headunit, with MP3, 4xRCA out. About $400-450? Lot of talk on OCAU about them. This price range is the best bang for buck IMO. Of course, more you spend, more features you get, like Time Correction, cleaner sound - but unless you have expensive speakers, etc - there's little point in going for that then.


You should be able to bargin / "do deals" with the car stereo guys when buying anyway to get a good price for $cash$. They generally don't tend to advertise stuff at their 'cheapest' price :)

once again thanks for you help mate will take a look around this weekend

well being the impulsive person I am I just picked up some 6.5 response kevlar splits (jaycar) have absolutely no idea how to install them so should be good fun!

So nearly bought an MP3 deck while I was out there it's amazing how quickly they knock prices off them once you start bargaining which was also scary because of the big price differences between stores.

Looks like I'm in the $400-$500 bracket the HU's I looked at were the

alpine cda9807
clarion dxz735mp
pioneer deh5550mp
jvc KD-SX995

are any of these standout units? and any particular prices I should expect to pay of course if there's one you recommend more let me know

They are all good brands. Get which ever one has the features you want, and the best price I guess.

Check them over to see how easy they are to use to use. Having to press multiple key sequences may be annoying - whilst driving!

I'd get one with a Remote Control - it's handy when tuning your amp, or demoing your system.

Get one with MP3 support for sure. Test to see how long it takes to read MP3 CD-ROMs, seeking between tracks, ID3/bitrate display, etc.

CD Text is nice, but to be honest, I rarely use that feature. When driving, it's alot easier to remember songs by track number than their name :)

Oh and verify it can play your CDRW's too!

You dont NEED an amp, but you will benefit greatly from it as the splits are 90wrms and headunits on average are 40-50wrms output.


40-50wrms from a deck???

40-50w peak

around 21wrms for the 50wx4

Yeah, I think he meant Peak power. The most power I've seen from a head unit is 4 x 65W Max/4 x 33W RMS.

pioneer dph5550
is a pretty sweet h/u
jam packed of features.... i put one in my mum's mazda and it sounds awesome on the stock pioneer speaker setup

i'd stick with pioneer or alphine over the rest but i havent heard the alphine but they should be opf higher quality then the jvc and panasonic

Sorry yes I meant peak..

I was thinkin rms for the amp and I typed that in at the HU part..lol

well after over 6 hours of installation they are in! it was quite obvious that neither me or dad had any idea when it came to pulling the car apart for wiring any further modifications will be handled by pros theres just so many damned clips and not enough screws and lotsa tight bundles of wires. Having said that the speakers sound good at first I was ARGH TO MUCH TREBLE but I've got used to it and it's a much crisper sound than the stock speakers but it seems like the tweeters are working overtime! theres a bit of bass from the stock back speakers nothing mindblowing though. I don't really want a sub though would I gain much replacing the back speakers? running it all of the stock head unit as well so its a far from optimal setup but loud and clear enough for now. A MP3 headunit is next on the cards