Good Sound Installations???

[keegan13 0]

Hey guys,

Just wanting peoples opinions on good car audio installers (that are around Botany Downs, Manukau etc area) that dont charge an arm and a leg for installing my new sound system.Had a few mates install previous sound systems but fully not worth it in my experience so far anyway.

I have got 2xsubs, amp,wiring kit, tweeters, headunit,sub box, capacitor, ive also got a pair of 6x9's for the rear. I know e36s arent made for 6x9s but thats what i want in the rear...

Any tips/advice on all this would be great. I dont want shiz feedback just posts from guys wanting to help.

Cheers.

[leon 0]

Hey Man Ill be quite interested in the responces aswell.

I really Want to know How and who can wire up 6x9's in the back of my E36.

I know a guy who knows a guy! will try and get some reliable contacts!

[steve R 0]

just have a crak your self, its pretty simple really. and do you plan on just installing the tweeters by them selves? what about the mids? what cross overs will you be using?

if you want to pay to have it done go to Botany Auto Sound & Security (BASS)

[keegan13 0]

Hey Man Ill be quite interested in the responces aswell.

I really Want to know How and who can wire up 6x9's in the back of my E36.

I know a guy who knows a guy! will try and get some reliable contacts!

Cheers man keep me posted.

[keegan13 0]

just have a crak your self, its pretty simple really. and do you plan on just installing the tweeters by them selves? what about the mids? what cross overs will you be using?

if you want to pay to have it done go to Botany Auto Sound & Security (BASS)

Yeah ive got tweeters and 6x9s...i also got a pair of 6x4's but they will never fit in the kick panels so im probably gonna sell them and get ones that will. dont you think the tweeters and 6x9's will be enough with my two subs?what size speakers will fit in kick panels if i need some? 5.25?

[bravo 35]

Use 6x9's in the back if you want, but they are a waste of money if you have good font midbass and tweeters, and a sub. Check on all the car audio forums etc - the experts will all tell you the same thing.

But if you must go ahead and use them, just make sure whoever you get to put them in doesn't cut holes in the metal part of your rear tray as that will fail a WOF and is very very very expensive to repair.

As for fronts, you need to have a cross-over to split the high frequency sounds from everything else or else your woofers won't perform as well and you will kill your tweeters in 5 seconds flat. You can run a 5.25" or a 6" woofer in the stock location with little or no spacers/modification.

Make sure the front speakers are the best you can afford. The front speakers, amp and headunit should be the most expensive parts of your system. You can get away with a cheaper sub and rear speakers if you have those three things right. People think all the bass and volume comes from the sub. It doesn't, all the mid bass and "volume" is from the front speakers - the sub is just for very low frequency bass. It is big because you need a big speaker for low frequencies.

Depending on your budget you should be spending minimum of $250-300 on front speakers, and $300-600 on a headunit depending on the features you want. Then a decent amp for the fronts will set you back another $300. If you get a good 4-ch amp you could bridge two of the channels to run a sub, but a separate sub amp in the vicinity of $200-500 would be better. Then Wiring, swub-box and install might run another few hundred depending on the difficulty, whether you get a custom sub-box and the quality of install.

Those prces will set you up with a decent quality entry-level system you can build on in the future. it is better to buy quality and buy it over time, than buy everything now but buy cheap sh*t. it's cheap for a reason.

As to installers, I can't recommend anyone as I installed all my gear, but as with car alarms and most things if you get someone cheap then you get a chepa job usually.

Edited February 3, 2008 by bravo

[keegan13 0]

Use 6x9's in the back if you want, but they are a waste of money if you have good font midbass and tweeters, and a sub. Check on all the car audio forums etc - the experts will all tell you the same thing.

But if you must go ahead and use them, just make sure whoever you get to put them in doesn't cut holes in the metal part of your rear tray as that will fail a WOF and is very very very expensive to repair.

As for fronts, you need to have a cross-over to split the high frequency sounds from everything else or else your woofers won't perform as well and you will kill your tweeters in 5 seconds flat. You can run a 5.25" or a 6" woofer in the stock location with little or no spacers/modification.

Make sure the front speakers are the best you can afford. The front speakers, amp and headunit should be the most expensive parts of your system. You can get away with a cheaper sub and rear speakers if you have those three things right. People think all the bass and volume comes from the sub. It doesn't, all the mid bass and "volume" is from the front speakers - the sub is just for very low frequency bass. It is big because you need a big speaker for low frequencies.

Depending on your budget you should be spending minimum of $250-300 on front speakers, and $300-600 on a headunit depending on the features you want. Then a decent amp for the fronts will set you back another $300. If you get a good 4-ch amp you could bridge two of the channels to run a sub, but a separate sub amp in the vicinity of $200-500 would be better. Then Wiring, swub-box and install might run another few hundred depending on the difficulty, whether you get a custom sub-box and the quality of install.

Those prces will set you up with a decent quality entry-level system you can build on in the future. it is better to buy quality and buy it over time, than buy everything now but buy cheap sh*t. it's cheap for a reason.

As to installers, I can't recommend anyone as I installed all my gear, but as with car alarms and most things if you get someone cheap then you get a chepa job usually.

Cheers Bravo,

So you recoomend using my 6x4's for the rear so i dont cut the parcel tray and sell the 6x9's and get a good set of fronts? Can you reccomend some good quality fronts,tweeters,crossovers etc, that will fit in hassle free in my e36 kick panels? Anything on trademe at the moment?

I have a 2ch amp tht runs 300wrms each channel (bridged) to my subs. That will take care of my subs...but you're sayin i need another amp for my fronts? Can you suggest another amp that would be good with the fronts you reccomend? And two amps in my car will run fine?

And one last thing is it neccesary for a capacitor? if so 1.5 farad any brand all good there a few on trademe atm?

[rogan 7]

If you want to pay to have it done go to Botany Auto Sound & Security (BASS)

I hear that BASS have closed down

[bravo 35]

Yep - that's what I would do. What rating rms are the subs?

You will love your sounds a thousand times more if the front speakers are amped. Running two amps won't have any problems at all. I doubt you will need the capacitor, many think they are a waste of time. I have no experience of them. Maybe try running the system without it and put it in if youneed to. I'd be interested in what you find out.

If you are on a tight budget, get a set of 6.5" components like Infinity Kappas for $220 from parallel imported. The Infinity 5000cs are also OK for cheapies and should fit in the stock location without mods.

There are plenty of other options, but I've had good experience with Infinity at that price point. If you want to spend more there are better options, but the Infinity's are great buying at that price. It really depends on how much you want to spend, and everyone has a different opinion on what brand is the best.

A perfect amp for fronts of around that power rating would be the eaudio 280AB. A awesome quality amp at a decent price. If you want more power a 480 AB or Caliber CA475+ (what I have powering my fronts) with 2channels bridged to each speaker would be more than you need. Or use the amp you have for the fronts (overkill maybe??) and run the 2 subs in parallel off a decent sized sub amp like an eaudio 1000D or 3000D.

Again, there are other brands (alpine etc) that other people may recommend - I am simply naming a few common amps that are in my opinion good value for money and very popular on the NZ car audio scene.

Try forums.nzicemag.co.nz/index.php for good prices on secondhand gear and good advice.

Edited February 3, 2008 by bravo

[keegan13 0]

Yep - that's what I would do. What rating rms are the subs?

You will love your sounds a thousand times more if the front speakers are amped. Running two amps won't have any problems at all. I doubt you will need the capacitor, many think they are a waste of time. I have no experience of them. Maybe try running the system without it and put it in if youneed to. I'd be interested in what you find out.

If you are on a tight budget, get a set of 6.5" components like Infinity Kappas for $220 from parallel imported. The Infinity 5000cs are also OK for cheapies and should fit in the stock location without mods.

There are plenty of other options, but I've had good experience with Infinity at that price point. If you want to spend more there are better options, but the Infinity's are great buying at that price. It really depends on how much you want to spend, and everyone has a different opinion on what brand is the best.

A perfect amp for fronts of around that power rating would be the eaudio 280AB. A awesome quality amp at a decent price. If you want more power a 480 AB or Caliber CA475+ (what I have powering my fronts) with 2channels bridged to each speaker would be more than you need. Or use the amp you have for the fronts (overkill maybe??) and run the 2 subs in parallel off a decent sized sub amp like an eaudio 1000D or 3000D.

Again, there are other brands (alpine etc) that other people may recommend - I am simply naming a few common amps that are in my opinion good value for money and very popular on the NZ car audio scene.

Try forums.nzicemag.co.nz/index.php for good prices on secondhand gear and good advice.

Thanks, um what you think about pioneers components etc. I will probs be looking between 200 and 350 for the fronts and another amp roung 250-300 . I just want a well known brand (such as pioneer,rockford fosgate, soundstream etc) that will fit into the kick panels of my e36... i think they 5.25inch max will fit i think i read some where.

So basically brand and codes so i can browse the possible options then go buy some haha. my subs are 380rms. But if ud rather i could go browse parrallel import site if you can just confirm the max size of the speakers the kick panels in my e36 can take and ill get at you with the link etc?

Then ill pick the amp to suit...

cheers.

[keegan13 0]

Oh my subs are 380rms and my amp runs 2ch bridges 400rms each is that all good i was told it was.

[PBOY23 0]

keep posted of what your going to run upfront

[bravo 35]

Post up model of your amp as I am not quite sure whether you are saying the rating per channel or bridged and at what impedance.

Pioneer is fine. Infinity and e-audio are good, well-known brands. not cheap sh*t. Nothing wrong with pioneer, RF or soundstream either.

Just post up what you plan on buying and if it is really sh*t I'll tell you.

In my car I have Alpine, Infinity, Pioneer, Caliber and JVC. JVC isn't all that flash, but as they are just the rear speakers its all good.

Edited February 3, 2008 by bravo

[keegan13 0]

Post up model of your amp as I am not quite sure whether you are saying the rating per channel or bridged and at what impedance.

Pioneer is fine. Infinity and e-audio are good, well-known brands. not cheap sh*t. Nothing wrong with pioneer, RF or soundstream either.

Just post up what you plan on buying and if it is really sh*t I'll tell you.

In my car I have Alpine, Infinity, Pioneer, Caliber and JVC. JVC isn't all that flash, but as they are just the rear speakers its all good.

This my amp i have now.

http://parallelimported.co.nz/view.php?id=7995

Thinking of buying either

http://parallelimported.co.nz/view.php?id=498

or

http://parallelimported.co.nz/view.php?id=785

Which ever is in stock when i go there in a week or two.What you think...Will both options fit so kick panel can fit back on? Thats the last thing i need as well as will this go well with my pioneer 6x5's?And they should fit in the rear aye?

http://parallelimported.co.nz/view.php?id=9680

These my 6x5s ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[keegan13 0]

keep posted of what your going to run upfront

Hey bro

Read comment below for my options im gna choose from over the next week or two. I'll keep you posted bout my lowering etc when i get my new rims.

[bravo 35]

Nothing wrong with the RF speakers. RF is a good brand. The Infinity's I suggested are 90W RMS vs. the 60WRMS for the RF's. Also the Sensitivity rating (I won't explain how it works here, but essentially the higher the number the better and louder sound you get before distortion) is 95db for the Infinity's and only 89db for the RF's.

Like I said, nothing wrong with the RF's and you will be happy with them, but the reason I suggested the Infinity's is they are good quality for the price - good bang for buck.

I'm not 100% sure whether they will fit without some minor modification of the kick panel. Someone with an e36 may care to comment. On an e30, minor modification would be required for the 6" and the 5.25" would fit without mods. I'm pretty sure e36 is the same in this regard.

Your amp would be fine for the fronts or subs. Depending on the subs you have you could run one channel each to the fronts, then run 2 channels bridged to your subs hooked up in parallel which would give 400W to each sub, but put alot more load on the amp. It should handle it if you don't ramp up the gain ridiculously high.

Edited February 6, 2008 by bravo

[Apex 693]

I recommend Jamie at Pro Custom Installs, he has fitted out my last three cars and everything he has done has been awesome. Im getting him to do a head deck, two amps a sub and components this week, he has already done my alarm system.

Oh and he has a well kited out van so he will come to your work or house and do it while you cook tea

Jamie. 021-170-7425

He doesn’t charge much either as he has relatively low overheads in comparison to some of these big name shops out there.

[Cale 36]

^^ Graham, can you keep me posted on what you are going to do (or have done) in your touring.

I want to get a decent system in mine but unsure what to do.

Cheers.

[Apex 693]

Will do. Im not going extreme as I want to be able to return it to stock easily if I ever sell it. Not sure what the plan of attack is yet but Jamie is coming out tomorrow to have a look at what can be done utilising the factory mounts and we will also be looking at places to mount a 10†sub that won’t intrude on valuable boot space.

I have just ordered my new head deck and amps. Thanks Pioneer NZ

I found this head deck to be the jewel on their range as it has built in Bluetooth and full IPod control.

http://www.pioneernz.co.nz/default.asp?Obj...Code=DEHP8950BT

[keegan13 0]

I recommend Jamie at Pro Custom Installs, he has fitted out my last three cars and everything he has done has been awesome. Im getting him to do a head deck, two amps a sub and components this week, he has already done my alarm system.

Oh and he has a well kited out van so he will come to your work or house and do it while you cook tea

Jamie. 021-170-7425

He doesn’t charge much either as he has relatively low overheads in comparison to some of these big name shops out there.

Cheers mate will definetly keep him in mind when i do come around to getting it all installed.

[keegan13 0]

Nothing wrong with the RF speakers. RF is a good brand. The Infinity's I suggested are 90W RMS vs. the 60WRMS for the RF's. Also the Sensitivity rating (I won't explain how it works here, but essentially the higher the number the better and louder sound you get before distortion) is 95db for the Infinity's and only 8db for the RF's.

Like I said, nothing wrong with the RF's and you will be happy with them, but the reason I suggested the Infinity's is they are good quality for the price - good bang for buck.

I'm not 100% sure whether they will fit without some mnor modification of the kick panel. Someone with an e36 may care to comment. On an e30, minor modification would be reuired for the 6" and the 5.25" would fit without mods. I'm pretty sure e36 is the same in this regard.

Your amp would be fine for the fronts or subs. Depending on the subs you have you could run one channel each to the fronts, then run 2 channels bridged to your subs hooked up in parallel which would give 400W to each sub, but put alot more load on the amp. It should handle it if you don't ramp up the gain ridiculously high.

Okay cheers, Do you think that running 400rms to each one of my 380rms subs? If you could post a few links from parrellel imported for some possible options for an amp to run the RF components well ($250 or under)? Much appreciated for all the advice and tips!

[Apex 693]

I would go for one of theses and use it to run your Front components as well as your 6x9’s. I have a Earthquake amp that still goes hard after 8 years of abuse and can vouch for their power.

http://parallelimported.co.nz/view.php?id=9827

Do call Jamie if you need anything done, he will sort you out.

[keegan13 0]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=138906011

What you guys think of these components?... Little cheaper but they are pioneer and seem all good. Rekon they will go good with a seperate amp to run them? I want to make sure they fit... Feedback appreciated!

[Apex 693]

Not bad man. Im running the new Pioneer TS-C131PRS and they retail at $600.00 so those look very well priced!

Saves you from having to build custom door pods and with the right sound deadening and speaker sealing they will sound good. IMHO when dealing with the smaller 13cm woofer it’s very important to spend some time on sound deadening and sealing work as the size of these speakers always struggle to produce the much needed mid range of a 16cm woofer. How many watts RMS do you plan on feeding your Components?? The best speakers in the world are nothing without enough power.

[rogan 7]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=138906011

That seller is North Shore Auto Sounds in Piermark Drive, Albany. If you're looking at those specific components then ring around the shops for a price comparison. I found Paul Money to always be cheaper than them, but haven't dealt with them for a long time.