Subwoofers, Speakers & Amps

After reading a bunch of reviews on DealerCostCarAudio...I would suggest not buying from them. It seems they like scamming people of their money. here is some proof

Therefore I would say get the Alpine amp you listed earlier if it's dual 4 ohm, or the cadence amp I listed if it's dual 2 ohm

Wow, good info. I was just looking for good deals on amps and ran across them. I haven't purchased from them in the past and based on this I probably won't.

Yeah, I've heard from a few people that ordered stuff and got it fairly quick, but then on the car audio forum I belong to I saw a post where someone talked about getting screwed by them and it seems like all of the complaints mention the same things that guy did I think they said that there were 105 complaints and when he went to file a claim with them through his credit card company they said that it would probably take like 90 days for him to get his money because there are so many fraud claims on them.

I have had a few run in's with companies like this because i live in the country and do most of my purchasing of this stuff on the internet.
My standard policy, although a bit of inconvenience for me.... I call the card company/bank and get the charge reversed, then while on the same call, I immediately cancel the card and have a new card sent to me. Problem solved and usually in less than 5 days my new card arrives. This also stops them from re-charging me for the same order later.
Good Luck All! I sure wont be ordering anything from those guys....

What would you guys recommend?

I mainly listen to Rap/Hip-hop. Occasionally some rock.

Can't go wrong with JL Audio, imo. There are some better out there, depending on who you talk too, but JL has never let me down.

i also like mtx have them in all my cars!

its all relative to your budget. JL Audio is a great all around company but you will pay for the name.

For a set of front components you can spend anywhere from $85 to $10,000. <- no that is not a mistake either.

95RiviSC wrote:

What would you guys recommend?

I mainly listen to Rap/Hip-hop. Occasionally some rock.

stock head unit? amps?

deekster_caddy wrote:

95RiviSC wrote:

What would you guys recommend?

I mainly listen to Rap/Hip-hop. Occasionally some rock.

stock head unit? amps?

I'll be getting a new head unit. I have 2 Sony 1000W amps from my last hookup. If the speakers demand enough power I figure I can just use one of the amps.

COnsider looking at the speakers on the crutchfield.com web site, then phoning them for a recommendation.

Albertj

I've always had good experiences dealing with Crutchfield.
They ship everything with good install directions and all speakers get free wiring harness adapters to fit your car, if you want to use the OEM harness connections.

I am very very happy with my infinity kappa speakers. I was just looking at crutchfield and it only lists 6-1/2" round speakers for the back of the Riv, don't let this fool you I installed the 6x9s with no modifications.

deekster_caddy wrote:

I am very very happy with my infinity kappa speakers. I was just looking at crutchfield and it only lists 6-1/2" round speakers for the back of the Riv, don't let this fool you I installed the 6x9s with no modifications.

The crutchfield site might have bodged something. (this is why I phone 'em). I just looked - it lists everything that can be made to fit - over 100 choices - for the rear seck. Some are 6x9 and some are other sizes. My hunch is sales must have slowed.

But yeah - for good quality at a moderate price, and all the clickety bits needed for workmanlike installation, just go with Crutchfield.



Albertj

^^Sweet I was really hoping I could do 6x9's without any modifications.

eh, I'm not a big fan of crutchfield. Way over priced for everything. Speakers aren't hard to install or wire up. You might as well buy from a trusted discount site and pay half the price. Also, crutchfield seems to carry nothing but the cliche brands and cheap brands. Those cliche brands have massive markups, and the cheap brands (IE Boss, Pyramid, etc) are not only built terribly but will put out/withstand nowhere near the power they claim.

I agree crutchfield is not the best pricing, but I have found their customer service and installation help to be top notch.

I don't shop Crutchfield anymore, but I wasn't aware they carried the cheap brands.

Yeah, I wouldn't know about the customer service because I've never used them.

Some of said "el cheapo" brands are Dual, Bazooka, Blaupunkt (used to be a good brand, but not anymore), Sony's a name brand but not a good brand for audio...

One example of prices and supply...the best fosgate amp they have at crutshfield is on sale for $800 there, it's $660 at woofersetc. On woofersetc there are 5 higher end fosgate amps alone. Not to mention other brands that make better amps that aren't on crutchfield.

For speakers...Focal Utopia #7 are $5200 on crutchfield and only $4000 on woofersetc. That's $1200 worth of savings.

I don't know about you, but I'd much prefer the 20% savings. over a minor difference in customer service. I haven't had any problems with woofers.

I'm not saying that crutchfield is a bad source for people that need a lot of help, but if you know anyone with a little audio background why not save a lot of cash.

I have no experience with Dual, but I've used Bazooka (SAS), Sony, and Blaupunkt audio products before - these aren't exactly top of the line, but decent products for what you pay - similar to Pioneer. I really don't think you can put those brands in the same category as Boss, Pyramid, or Rockwood (junk brands).

I've actually been running SAS 525R Euphonic front components in my Riv for years, and have a brand new set (NOS) ready to install in my next car. I wouldn't say the SAS are as good as Focal or Dynaudio, but they are right up there with Infinity, MB Quart, Polk, Boston, and JL.

BTW, $5200 for Utopias is ridiculous, imo. I think you pay mostly for the Focal name, and so you can have treble response to 40kHz (useless). For less than half that amount, I'm sure I could have a system sounding as good or better, created from raw home audio drivers, including custom filter network. Paying "only" $4k for the Focal set is still a rip-off, imo, for a system using 6 1/2" midwoofers with 5.5mm Xmax. I'm sure the Utopias sound good, but you don't have to spend that much to get there.

I agree about the Focals. The xmax is pointless to talk about with focals though, because they've always been a bright component with little mid bass. Right now I'm running cheapo stuff in my car, aside from my MB Quart sub. As soon as I sell my Fiero I'll be putting in some CDT CL-S60A 6.5/1" components, Cadence TXA-6004 4 channel amp, and I'll upgrade my sub to an MB Quart PWE302.

Then I'll just need to tone the gain down a bit for my front stage (150 watts rms at 4ohms going to 110 watt rms speakers), and for the sub I'll bridge the amp to put out 600 watts rms at 4-ohms and I'll wire the dual 2 ohm sub to 4 ohms, and it can handle 600rms.

Then I'll have $520 into everything listed and will have near audio bliss

Sure the CDT's aren't quite up there with Rainbow, Morel, and Focal, but for the money you can't beat them.

Also, I've always considered Sony an el cheapo brand. I love seeing the car customizing shows when they're like "Bam, we're putting 4 Sony EXPLOD!!! 12" subs in here dog." Talk to any audiophile and they will steer you clear of sony. Even just for buying things in that low price range.

duster_do_little wrote:

I love seeing the car customizing shows when they're like "Bam, we're putting 4 Sony EXPLOD!!! 12" subs in here dog."

I've seen these shows on TV and the guy doing the custom work is extremely talented when it comes to building custom enclosures for the subs, speakers, amps, new consoles, etc. Then they install all that Sony Explode equipment.
For someone watching the show that doesn't know any better you would naturally come to the conclusion that the equipment he is installing is high end stuff after watching him spend days manufacturing some very high end custom stuff.

Yeah, I was watching one of them with my dad and I was like "my word, why are they putting sony in that car?" Then my dad..."It must be good if they're using it in this show." I just looked at him and rubbed my fingers together. It's all about the money. People that don't know any better would think Sony is great.

Hell, my cousin's b/f was bragging about his system one day. "high end" sony stereo, Pioneer 12" sub, and sony amp. Then he was complaining about not having much for mids and said he was going to buy an 8" sub to put in it to fix the problem. I was like..."uh, have you replaced your front stage yet?" He didn't know what I was talking about. I was like "you know your front speakers." Then he had the balls to tell me that they sounded great stock. I told him that his mids would be coming from the other speakers, not the sub, and that a 12" sub will play a high enough frequency to blend with your other speakers. I also told him that putting 2 different sized subs in his car was a bad idea unless he really knew what he was doing, because some frequencies would get much louder and others would cancel out and it would start sounding awful. He went ahead and bought the 8" and now he's complaining even more. :/

My cousin didn't know any better so she toughted (sp) his system a lot too. I told her about the system I put in my friend's vibe which cost less and will get louder, sound clearer and play more flat across the spectrum. And she would be like well his brother works in an install shop and got him the best stuff. lol. For the record, my friend's system isn't that special. Including eclipse head unit, 2 cadence amps, knuconceptz 4 gauge wire harness, mb quart 12" sub, CDT front stage, dash install kit, mdf to make enclosure and baffles for the doors, screws, and caulk he had about $700 into it