The following is the system i am thinking of installing in my 2004 VR Magna. It will be baught and installed one bit at a time. starting with the HU, then the speakers then the sub.

HU- JVC KD-G615
Front splits - probably Focal, maybe Polk. or Jaycar, but you guys dont seem to think much of them.
6x9's - not sure,$150-200ish any recomendations.
sub - Polk 8". either the db or polk audio series, depending on the funds at the time.
box - very small sealed box. about 10L.
amp- probably jaycar response 4x50 running splits and sub (the sub does not need much)

I think this will sound great. im not after loud just loud enough and resonable clear.

what are your thaughts?

welcome to the forums mate, but it doesnt hurt using the search button :)

front splits - nothing wrong with jaycar as par as people on here are concerned, best measure is to go out and listen to them yourself and make up your own opinion

6x9's.....JBL and few others make awesome 6x9s....theres a thread on the same page covering this topic so i wont go over it

sub - 8".....WTF ARE YOU THINKING?.....try for at least 1 10".......then work your way up to there....the norm around here is 2 x 12"s
brand such as Alpine, JBL, JL, sony, kenwood, etc etc are all used, just remember you get what you pay for.

again with the box, go bigger, 10" is too small.....but hey if thats all you want, then stick with it.

i dont think ive seen many people wanting an 8" sub :S......hmm......you could probably get a real top clas sounding system for 1K give or take....
there are many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many threads on speakers, subs etc so it doesnt hurt to use the search button mate.

:)

for a magna, an 8" sub will do sweet f-all. under 10inch are generally used in utes as there is no space for anything bigger.

im glad people on here appreciate jvc! they are the best hu on the market for the money imho. NEVER use sony hu's! i used to have one, went along a dirt road, my tunes stop! my jvc could be put in the bath with a spastic and wouldnt skip! (no offence to anyone who is a spastic in the bath)

if u have a sub, once again imho 6x9's are pointless. they tend to cancel certain frequencies out on each other. also most companies rant up their 6x9's to sound uber good ie. 4ways 500w MAX etc... same with the 6"s tho...so watch out wen u buy, dont get anything that has alot of write up about it, and also says it has HUGE power handling. cause 9 outa 10 times u will be getting ripped off. power rating doesnt mean anything wen it comes to quality and sound output...jaycar amps are also awesome

jb hifi has a mad sale on atm on all audio, suggest you head to ur nearest one for sub in a box, and headunit. get jaycar splits, hell jvc 6" 4ways go good too (thats whats in the back of myn...)

my 20cents worth :D

thanks for the replies guys.

i see what you guys are saying about the eight being to small but i have to disagree

i want it because it is designed to fit in a 10L box. i will be using most of the boot so space is an issue. also, i have always been of the opinion that tight clear bass is better than loud boomy bass, and a good 8 inch will always sound better than an average 10. likewise with 10's and 12's. however, given the tiny box that this sub will fit into (even smaller if i stuff it) i may go to two 8" ers.

Thanks for the tips though guys, i will definately have a look at the JBL speakers nd i am also going to look at the Polk audio and focal speakers.

some people on this forum do think the jaycars are crap though, i have read it in other threads. i will definately go and have a listen though. the only thing i dont like is the lack of other speakers for comparason in a jaycar shop. it is hard to argue with the price though. has any one got an opinion on the jaycar 6X9's?

thanks guys

Very sad. Size of the sub doesn't really matter. If it comes down to space then yeah an 8inch sub will need a tiny box and will function great. Only problem with 8inch subs ( especially good ones ) is that they are rare.

Maybe a smallish sealed 10inch may be the way. Kicker, Boston, Hertz all make 10incher to suit 0.5cuft boxes ( thats under 15litres :shock: ).

Spend more money on the fronts if you are getting a sub. Look into Boston, Hertz, Eclipse, Vibe, Focal, Morel for entry level splits. You should be able to pick some up for around $300.

6x9's just buy $100 ones, who really cares sony, pioneer, JBL they are all cheap and satisfy the rear passengers well but at the end of the day they are very boring. I have sony in the rear with boston splits up front... no complaints about SQ in my car. If you have the 2 way 40W / 20WRMS 6x9's then I would leave them in and run them off the deck.

Amp choice is ok, Jaycar are suited in the low end of the market with high power rating, ok crossovers and basic features. They do lack a presence and suffer with poor THD, S/N and damping factor when you compare it to say the Coustic, JL, Audison, DD entry level range.

My system would be:
JVC touch screen thing
Boston Type S splits
Whatever 6x9's or leave the stock ones
Audison SRx4
Boston 1002 / Hertz ES250

What music are you into?

but 8"......max your gonna get out of that is 90W........(give or take a few:P)

im sure a 10" would be MUCH better.

i rekon using 6x9's with 2*8ers would be ok. not too sure...

ok, seens space is a big thing on ur mind, jaycar have slimline subs up to like 15" i think...havnt herd them personally altho i have read good reports on them. they have carbon fibre and kevlar ones i think from memory, and obviosuly being slimline (ie for utes/minicoopers lol) wont take up much boot space.

i have a 12" pioneer 305c in a basic box in my 93TR, and i went camping last week, fitted 30L eski, 2 fold up chairs, tent, sleeping bag, blanket, 3 pillows, my mates sportsbag, and a set of jumper cables in there...the unmodded engine didnt like it wen i tryed to drag sum1 outa the lights on the way to the campsite, but space wansnt in slim supply :bowrofl:

']but 8"......max your gonna get out of that is 90W........(give or take a few:P)

im sure a 10" would be MUCH better.

DD make an 8 inch woofer, ill leave it at that. Size is not everything, in the DD9900 series there is not a huge jump in power rating between the 10inch and 17inch woofers. All are rated insaine at like 2.5kw :bowrofl:

6x9's actually have the same surface area as an 8inch woofer so there could be phase issues if the rears are not HP. Just a thought. :D

yes fair enough they have HUGE un-nesisary power ratings. thats also like fusion, make the most "powerful" stuff, but honestly lacks QUALITY.

seriously, think bout it. POWER RATINGS rate the ammount of wattage u can pump into the speakers and how much it can handle. that says NOTHING about what they sound like! only that your basically gunna need a ****-off huge amp and 4 extra batteries to power them or they will be underpowered and sound like a baby farting. trust me ive heard it...

on the central coast, terrigal, thrusday nights, tools in their hotted up lancers etc like to do laps of the place (as it is all one way road). all u can hear is the pounding DOOF of their stupidy high powered probably multiple 12's or 15s. u get close to the car, ie head in the window close, all u can hear is a few screetching high frequencies and ALOT of rattles in the car body.

so for all the manga boys and girls out there, ONLY BUY STUPIDLY HIGH POWERED EQUIPMENT IF U INTEND TO ENTER SOUND OFF COMPS IN THE "HIGHEST DECIBLE" SECTION! for normal street cruizing all that matters is how good quality the sound is. sure ull want it loud, but not as loud as those high powered things are meant to be used at (majority have the same db rating as jumbo jets...)

^^^^ :bowrofl: :bowrofl:

That is really funny. I see that at terrigal as well. I know a few people who would say that a DD woofer does not lack quality. 2.5kw is an understatment when 10kw is the usual mark.
The woofer will not sound bad if it is underpowered. It will sound bad when the amp is pushed into clipping though. If you have 2 amps the same one at 600W and one at 1200W and the sub is rated at 1000W, you wouldn't really pick the diffence except the bigger powered amp would have 3db on the other amp which you can hear anyways.

IDMAX is one of the better sounding subs along with the DD 9100, RE XXX, Treo Ti and Vibe Space, all rated above or around 1kw. They are SQ woofers. :badgrin:

People should invest more money into the front stage. My front stage cost $1100 and my Sub set up $1200 and my car sounds bass heavy if I want it to be but you can adjust it for SQ. I call it SQL. :bowrofl: Maybe i should visit Terrigal more often and The Entrance. Terrigal is now 2 way as well :gtfo:

Maybe if your after an 8 have a look at the vibe exact 8 ? and as far as 8"s not performing, most home theatre floorstanders and subs which reach well into the 30/20hz range have 8" drivers.

Matthius

True look at the Power need to get those 8's into the Low Sub bass region and look at the Enclosure they are in..
I like the Headunit , the KDG615 but I too would advise at least going a Small sealed 10 incher as an 8 inch would struggle to keep the systeem balanced..

the KDG615 is on sale at JB-HIFI for 247$ atm if only i would have known 4 weeks ago

depends on what he wants the sub for...
My mate has a 8" Morel Sub in his car, and he is perfectly happy with it. He just wanted it to play that extra bass but not rattle the whole car apart and fill his boot! Sounds very tight, musical and balanced. Doesnt hit 30Hz of course, but he wasnt looking for chest crushing doof.
If your happy with an 8" sub, go for it.

If you have the money to go Focals or Polk, definatly get them instead of Jaycar. Hertz or Morel are some slightly cheaper yet very nice splits than the Focals.

yeah, that is exactly what i want from my sub. the guy i spoke too was in the process of building himself a box to install the same sub (8" polkMOMO) in his car. he said that early trials had shown low frequency response as good, if not better, than all but the most expensive 10" subs that he had seen (and much tighter than anything else). he was using a slighly bigger ported enclosure though.

As far as the splits go i think i will get the polyglass focals. Tonkins have them for $299 and will do them for $270. I took everyones advice and went and listened to the jaycar kevlars. i really wanted them to sound good because i would love to spend less money, but i was a little disapointed. people on this forum seem to think that the tweeter is a bit harsh, but if anything i would say that the tweeters response is a little flat. i think the particular speaker i was listening too was trashed, because the coaxial next to it actually sounded better. to make things worse the shop only had a radio tuner connected, so i couldnt even hear a CD and the radio had a lot of hiss. the whole thing kind of put me off the speakers.

really all i have to do now is actually start buying and installing some of this stuff.

Well, i have started. I have a HU. I got an eclipse CD5444 instead of the JVC though. Pretty happy with it in general, except that it wont play some CD's so had to have it replaced, so now i have nothing for a week and a half.

Continuing with the sub issue, will i need to SD my boot, or will a fairly mild sub like the one im looking at be OK without it.

cheers guys

also, i want to be able to use the sub control on my head unit. will i have to have a dedicated sub amp for that?

Either way, what amp/ amps should i use. I would like to amp at least my sub and front splits. it seems a waste to not use the decks amp for anything.

I am hoping you guys say response amps coz they are damn cheap, but i am open to any suggestion (not too expensive).

cheers

Setting a good budget will help you out.

$300 for splits
$500 for amp
$75 for cables
$200 deadening + diffusers.

You can go cheaper but that is pretty normal. You may not have $1k to blow but setting a budget is good.

Yes you can run a sub and use the sub control even off say a 4channel amp. It uses the RCA signal to cut / boost the sub :D

At least get two 8 " subs if thats what your into, space couldnt be that much of an issue, i have two 12's and i can fit two suitcases in there!

i agree 8" have a nice sound to them, but id be more concerned the sound could get lost in the big magna boot. i had a 10" in there run on an average amp with good 6X9's and it sounded like the sub was lost somewhere in the boot.

Good luck with the purchases and setup.:)

wont the sub control effect the other 2 channels on the 4 channel amp? or does the amp have 2 RCA inputs. sorry, i dont have a lot of experience with car amps, just the stuff in my lounge room.

wont the sub control effect the other 2 channels on the 4 channel amp? or does the amp have 2 RCA inputs. sorry, i dont have a lot of experience with car amps, just the stuff in my lounge room.

Nope. Whether it is a 6channel amp or a monoblock, the sub will need 2 RCA cables. Whicher input stage they are connected to whether it be 2channels of a 6,4 or 2 channel amps or a single channel of a 5, 3, or 1 channel amp it will only effect the sub. :D

Budget?

dont have a firm budget at this point. i am happy to wait if i need to save a bit more. as i said, ultimately it would be nice to get away for less than $400. but any suggestions are welcome.