Car Audio Thread - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

alltherage · 01-04-2008, 03:09 PM

I thought I would start a Car Audio Thread for all to use... I did a quick search and "car" is too short of a word so please merge if need be!

I have a 96 Explorer 4x4 and I recently put in a Sony Xpode 200watt deck w/ipod hookups and a couple of pioneer something or other speakers in the front. I want to have a more "complete" sound and I'm looking into an affordable way to add some bass without taking up tons of space.

I listen to mostly rock and roll with some metal and some r&b so I'm not looking for some crazy audiophile stuff, but just some bass to warm up my sound.

I saw this at Best Buy and they sell this amp ALONE for $200 so I thought this was a very cool package, but I want some input. I can get it installed but I wonder if anyone has some insight on what this would sound like in my SUV. Is it too small? Is it powerful enough for what I want?

Sony Xplod Amplifier & 10" Subwoofer (XM-1252GTR / XS-L100P5H) (webID 10095351)

edit: Yeah stang I couldn't see the addy bar from work and couldn't link. It's hard to explain. Link's up now.

stang · 01-04-2008, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alltherage

I thought I would start a Car Audio Thread for all to use... I did a quick search and "car" is too short of a word so please merge if need be!

I have a 96 Explorer 4x4 and I recently put in a Sony Xpode 200watt deck w/ipod hookups and a couple of pioneer something or other speakers in the front. I want to have a more "complete" sound and I'm looking into an affordable way to add some bass without taking up tons of space.

I listen to mostly rock and roll with some metal and some r&b so I'm not looking for some crazy audiophile stuff, but just some bass to warm up my sound.

I saw this at Best Buy and they sell this amp ALONE for $200 so I thought this was a very cool package, but I want some input. I can get it installed but I wonder if anyone has some insight on what this would sound like in my SUV. Is it too small? Is it powerful enough for what I want?

Sony Xplod Amplifier & 10" Subwoofer (XM-1252GTR / XS-L100P5H) (webID 10095351)

In my experience Sony is pretty good for the price. If you just want to round out your system it will be decent. Since your link is non exsistant.. does the sub come with a box?

My ex girlfriend bought a sony system from Wal-Mart and I installed it in her Mercury Cougar (2000) and that thing friggin POUNDED (its was 2-10" subs with a 500 watt amp I think... it was like4 years ago)

hatty · 01-04-2008, 11:59 PM

hey, before i traded my SUV in (smaller then your explorer, it was a subaru forester, i guess its an SUV) i had put in a sub, and amp in it, i had a 10" JL W3 sub in it, and it was pretty good, if you not looking for it to pound then i would say go for the 10" just because it gives some good bass, and its not only the low bass (which the 12" provide better) but i liked my 10" better then anyone's 12" i saw.....and its pretty good in an SUV b/c its not overwhelming because the vehicle is bigger, and yeah from my experience sony isn't bad either, are you thinking about changing the head unit as well? because on most amps (not 100% sure, but fairly sure) there is a bass boost option, and you can change that to your liking too, one thing i would make sure is that the amp in that package gives you the proper power to the sub in the proper resistance (ohms), i made a mistake when i bought mine, so my sub is underpowered.

alltherage · 01-05-2008, 01:25 AM

The sub and amp come together in this deal, so I'm sure they're tweaked. It's an 800w amp.

Another question, if I mismatch 2 subs (one 10" sony and one 10" kenwood) will it be funny sounding?

hatty · 01-05-2008, 02:42 PM

not sure how funny it would sound, i have a few friends that might know, i'll ask them and see, oh and (2) 10's would give you alot of bass, my one ten gives me enough to compliment, plus some to the music i listen to, and i listen to pretty much everything

alltherage · 01-05-2008, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatty

not sure how funny it would sound, i have a few friends that might know, i'll ask them and see, oh and (2) 10's would give you alot of bass, my one ten gives me enough to compliment, plus some to the music i listen to, and i listen to pretty much everything

Cool man, I appreciate that. I work at Best Buy but all the Car-Fi guys are new right now and I can't really get a 100% answer. It's also good to get a second onion.

greerb · 01-05-2008, 04:28 PM

2 different sub from different manufactuers is never a good idea. One could be overpowering the other. Look at the specs. Different wattage (RMS is the one to look at), box sizes, different sensitivity, one could be DVC and the other SVC, the ohms could be different (2,4,6, and 8 are all used, and you have to watch while hooking them up you don't want a 1 or .5 ohm load on an amp that is only rated for 4ohms, it can overheat)

canadiancaraudio.com could possibly be you best best to answer you questions.

hatty · 01-06-2008, 02:34 PM

yeah, after talking with a few guys i know i got the same response that greerb just posted, they were saying if you want to go with 2 sub, stick with the same company/brand so that you avoid all these problem with the wattage and ohms,

dissentowner · 11-29-2009, 07:15 PM

I have a Bose system in my car right now but I just bought a Kenwood HU with a front USB port so I can plug in a jump drive with all my MP3's. Install is Thursday so I hope it sounds good, never used Kenwood before but the reviews on it were very good.

Jimmy Stang · 11-30-2009, 02:12 PM

I have a question for the car audio folk... Although I'm not interested in subs, cones, tweeters, and watts.

I'd like to retrofit each of my cars with an auxiliary plug. Just something simply with a mini-headphone plug that I can use in conjunction with a patch cord and my iPod.

I currently have a couple of those FM transmitter thingys and they're OK. Sometimes a bit fuzzy, but generally not as crisp as I'd like it to be.

A while back I saw in a BestBuy flyer that they can install one of these for about $1oo, but of course, they'll probably need to add in all sorts of other accessories and it would probably come to a lot more.

Basically - my questions are: Is this do-able? Is it something that I could do myself? Does it depend on the deck (one is factory and one is an old, aftermarket Panasonic deck)?

Any suggestions as to how I'd go about this cheaply and easily? I don't really want to buy a new deck for each car. I'm quite happy with the factory speakers and whatnot in each car. My only real desire is to be able to plug the iPod in directly without going over the airwaves, so to speak.

Many thanks in advance.

Burninator · 11-30-2009, 02:18 PM

What kind of car do you have?

I bought a hardwired iPod connection for my Mazda 3 for about $125 a couple years ago. It's great. It charges my iPod when it's not in use (so it never dies or resets) and all my stereo controls (including my steer wheel buttons) still work. I didn't want the FM transmitters because they cut out and get fuzzy. I installed it myself in about half an hour.

Jimmy Stang · 11-30-2009, 02:34 PM

One car is an 02 Mazda Protege 5 (although no steering wheel controls) with the factory deck, and the other is a 96 VW Jetta with a Panasonic deck circa 2002 or so.

Burninator · 11-30-2009, 02:38 PM

Well this is the one I bought. It looks like it should work for your Mazda 5.

http://www.therpmstore.com/product_i...roducts_id=142

Jimmy Stang · 11-30-2009, 02:50 PM

Thanks for that info. That looks pretty awesome, to be honest. Even if I just did something like that in the "good car" and stuck with FM in the other one. Being able to essentially plug and play is nice. Even I could probably handle that install job!

Did you order through that company, or did you use a Canadian supplier?

Burninator · 11-30-2009, 02:59 PM

I believe I ordered straight from that website, but it was a couple years ago, so I can't recall.