Car System Project

jamas33

Ok guys, a friend of mines loved my system and decided to purchase a Dodge Magnum and have a system put in his car. I will have it professionally installed and customized. The system will have a drop down monitor (preferably 15 inch on up) headrest monitors, navigation, etc. He wants to go for SPL.
Those are the parameters: The money he wants to spend is $ 12,000.00
Input is appreciated.

MacLeod

$12,000?!? Now we're talkin'!!

For SPL subs you need look no further than Orion. Their H2 is tha baddest of the bad. Get a pair of H2 12's. These are the hardest hitting subs on the market that also sound very good.

For SPL power there are a bunch of good amps out there but with MTX amps on clearance at Sounddomain, you simply cannot beat them! This 1500 watt amp is going for $350, and considering this is one of the best amps on the market, thats an absolute steal!! Get one for each H2.

Now for speakers that can keep up with those Orions I would tend to recommend MB Quart. They may not be rated the highest but they can EASILY handle 150 RMS. These Premiums are awesome sounding speakers that not only have great SQ but will get good and loud.

I wouldnt advise rear speakers really cause with 3000+ watts coming from those Orions in the back it would kind of be drowned out.

For an amp to power those MBQ's I again have to go with MTX cause at these prices, they cant be beat! You can either bi-amp them with this 4 channel or straight wire them with this 2 channel.

As far as head units, it doesnt really matter. Just make sure they all have subwoofer outputs and at least 4 volt pre-outs. Other than that, Pioneer, Kenwood and Alpine all make great units. Im partial to Alpine myself.

Thats $2600 for the subs, amps and speakers plus whatever head unit you get. That leaves a pretty penny left over for installation.

Normally it would be a lot more as 1000+ watt amps usually run between $800-1000 but with those MTX's on clearance it helps out a lot with the budget.

jamas33

thanks for the input.
We were thinking if Orion Subs match it up with Orion Amps? and This kid rolls with passenger so of course rear speaker is a must especially if we are gonna put the tv screens.. might do the Dolby processor in the car.
A couple of things we were thinking about:
SUBS: Adire Brahmas, ID Max, Orion, JL, Crossfire
AMPS: Hifonics, Orion, Phoenix Gold, JL, Crossfire, Zapco, Rockford Fosgate
Components: Focal, A/D/S, JL, MB Quartz, Diamond Audio

Head Unit: Kenwood DVD 915 w/ Navigation, Alpine 901,
if its the kenwood we will put the Music Keg with the 60 GB DMS and the 10 DVD Changer,

spwuinmk67

Originally posted by MacLeod
$12,000?!? Now we're talkin'!!

Oh dear god. I'm not gonna say much, cause its 3:30 am, and I drove around 1700 miles since friday, so I'm a little tired. First thing, with that much power....upgrade your bat, maybe get a 2nd one. Also your alt., especially with at least 3000 watts of bass. Definatly some sound deadening, go to secondskin, dont know the url off hand. Also, I'm gonna suggest either the Pioneer something-something7500, dvd play, 7.5" touch screen dvd, or the av-nic1, the first one they made, not the nic2, i didnt like something on the new one, dont remember what though. That's all I have for now, maybe more tomorrow.

exalted512

12k is one helluva budget. it seems like youve got the head unit picked out. i dont know a lot about "screens" so ill trust you on that one.
as far equipment goes, I'm not sure what gets louder, Orion or Adire, but I can promise you the Brahma will have less distortion at any power level. Period, end of story. I've listened to the the H2 and didn't think much of it as far as sound quality goes, and the box was tuned for sound quality. It still could have been install though...JL, well, JL is overpriced. You have a huge budget, yes, but save your money and get something that will perform just as well for half the price. RE's **** will get louder than the Brahma, but at the expense of sound quality. They handle power better as well.
Amps: Hifonics if you go with the colussus series, PG doesnt have anything that compares to the Colussus series as far as I'm concerned, JL...see above, Crossfire is very good, for a mid-high level system, same as mtx, same as RF. It will be the weakest link in your system. Zapco is very nice...VERY nice. Might I also recommend USAmps? They're coming out with a new series thats supposed to be better than the last...which was really damn good in the first place!! They're hand made in Florida, on par with Zapco. Not quite as good as TruTechnologies, Brax, or Helix. You might want to look those up as well. TruTech is really good. I was considering them but I dont have enough room for the amp i would need. its bascically 2 amps strapped on top of each other, and i dont have the space for a 4" deep amp.
components totally depend on sound
i am personally not a fan of mb quart, in a car, they are way too bright for me. on the other side of the spectrum, you have a/d/s which are very mellow, too mellow for me.
id take anything focal over anything comparable of diamond, just personal preference.
cdt's eurosports are a tad more detailed than the utopias and a little bit brighter as well.
dls iridiums are just as detailed as the eurosports, a little less bright, and have better midbass
i have iridiums in my truck. it also is the same component set as Scott Buwalda, a world known SQ competitor, has in his car. they are a 3-way set.
theres this set for sale right now at a REALLY good price:
http://www.caraudioforum.com/vbb3/showthread.php?t=209856
its the same guy i bought mine from, fully authorized. Those will have even more midbass than mine.
Honestly, under 5k, i dont think you will find better speakers. The 2nd best ive heard, which was EXTREMELY close, almost inaudible, is the DynAudio 340 series. i think its the 340 anyway. I liked the midrange better on the dls comps.

You WILL need AT LEAST a 2nd battery. Theres NO WAY to get around that. Honestly, if youre running 3kw worth of bass, its better to have 3 batteries. I'm going to have 2 batteries and a couple of batcaps, search on ebay for those, they run about $170 for the "800 farad equivalent" ones. Theyre very small and very powerful. Im hoping they do the job.
You WILL need to upgrade the alternator. no doubt. iraggi alternators and ohiogen.com comes to mind. iraggi has seemed to be having some customer service issues as of late though. look on ebay for alternators. but just because its a 300A alternator does NOT mean its good. you must look at the idle rating. It needs to be at least 90A, the more the better.
sound deadening, something else you will not be able to get around.
www.secondskinaudio.com
right now theyre having a preorder sale on their new paintable liquid. im getting 6 gallons of that for my truck, along with luxury liner and rattle pad.
you can go to "product specials" and buy the b-stock stuff, which is guaranteed to work as good as the a-stock stuff. thats what im going with...sometimes its just stuff that people returned and they cant sell as new...
wire=knukonceptz.com
in my next truck ill probably be running dual 0 awg wire, that or 0 for the sub amp and 4 for the component amp.
rcas=streetwires 6.0s
distroblocks/fuse holders=whatever you can find. its metal and plastic, thats all
thats about all i have...
-Cody
SUBS: Adire Brahmas, ID Max, Orion, JL, Crossfire
AMPS: Hifonics, Orion, Phoenix Gold, JL, Crossfire, Zapco, Rockford Fosgate
Components: Focal, A/D/S, JL, MB Quartz, Diamond Audio

jamas33

yeah most definitely we will have a second optima battery for this system. As I sit down with the guy and the installer we will get it figured out and I will be posting pics as we start the project and all. Thanks for the input all. I'll let you know what the equipment will be. US Amps and Dynaudio, I forgot to look into those.

MacLeod

As far as Orion vs Adire, I have never heard a Brahma but have heard several H2's and I would be real suprised if they hit harder than the H2. Car Audio and Electronics did a test on the H2 and claimed it was the hardest hitting sub theyve ever tested, including the Brahma. But, as Cody said, the Brahma will have better SQ. The H2 aint an SQ sub but I think it sounds pretty damn good for a sub capable of punching a hole in a engine block! Seriously, if youre wanting maximum SPL, the H2 is king!! Ill put it up against anybody.

JL is not an SPL sub in any sense of the word. Plus everybody has them.

As far as MB Quart goes, Ive listened to a million sets of these and had a set of Autobahns in my last system and wouldnt exactly call them bright. They are very natural sounding with very little colorin in either direction. However, all the components Cody listed are awesome and would serve you well.

Orion amps do match up pretty well with their subs and are great amps. They are among my favorite amps in the $400 and above league but they get awful pricey. For instance, their 1200D is $800!! However, if your guy doesnt mind dropping a couple grand on amps then by all means, get a 1200D for each H2 and a 8004 for the components.

Back to the H2's, check out this video to see what a PAIR of H2's can do when properly installed and powered.