Need help from experienced people

Mendo

Hey guys I’m looking for some help from some experts. I have wanted to put some new speakers in my car for a while but haven’t had the money. Now that I have the money, I am clueless about what to get. I was looking at the MMC690 6x9s for the rear deck and either the MMC650 6.5s or the MMC6500 componet 6.5s for the front. I have a few questions about this though.

1. Is this too much for a beginner?
2. What size amp would I need?
3. Is it pointless to get this high of quality speakers w/o any subs?
4. What would be a good head unit?
5. Is there anything else I should consider?
6. Around how much would everything cost?

Your help is appreciated.

P.S. I have a 97 Dodge Neon, I'm looking for mostly sound quality, and am looking to pay about $1,000 for it all

swerve

Originally posted by Mendo
Hey guys I’m looking for some help from some experts. I have wanted to put some new speakers in my car for a while but haven’t had the money. Now that I have the money, I am clueless about what to get. I was looking at the MMC690 6x9s for the rear deck and either the MMC650 6.5s or the MMC6500 componet 6.5s for the front. I have a few questions about this though.

1. Is this too much for a beginner?
2. What size amp would I need?
3. Is it pointless to get this high of quality speakers w/o any subs?
4. What would be a good head unit?
5. Is there anything else I should consider?
6. Around how much would everything cost?

Your help is appreciated.

what kinda car you got playa... and what is your budget.

Mendo

i have a 97 dodge neon. and i dont really want to go over $1,000 for all of it.

audiobliss

Well, we'll need a little more information, but perhaps I can help out a bit on what you've given us already.

First question I have is what kind of vehicle is this going into? Are you looking for SPL (volume) or SQ (sound quality)? While they are not completely mutually exclusive, it's a lot easier to choose a venue and pursue it. How much total are you looking at spending?

Now for answers:

1. Is this too much for a beginner?

I assume this means that you're going to try to install this yourself. I would say right off that it wouldn't be too hard for a beginner. However, I haven't really installed anything myself, as I'd just rather have someone else do it for me (assuming I can afford it and I can trust them). You'll just kind of have to make up your own mind on this one.

2. What size amp would I need?

If you're going with the MMC690s and the MMC650s, you'll probably be looking at a 4-channel amp.

The MMC690s will handle 100 watts RMS. That means you should feed them pretty close to 100 watts (per channel). I would say that a good amp rated at 75~80 watts would be putting out more like 90~110 watts; that should be fine.

The MMC650s will handle 80 watts RMS. This could be a problem trying to run two sets of speakers with different requirements off the same amp. However, in this case I'd think you could feed the MMC650s around 90-110 watts just like the MMC690s and be just fine. If not, someone else will jump in and tell me I'm all wrong.

So, this puts you at looking for a 4-channel amp rated at 75 watts by 4 channels at 4 ohms.

3. Is it pointless to get this high of quality speakers w/o any subs?

It's never pointless to get better audio equipment! The MMC650s will do 43Hz and the MMC690s will do 33Hz. That's actually pretty good. You will probably want a sub/get one down the road at some point, but you should still be getting a decent amount of bass. It just depends on what kind of music you listen to and how much you're addicted to bass. Again, SPL vs. SQ.

4. What would be a good head unit?

This can also depend on what you want. Do you want it to play MP3s? I'll assume yes, because practically all good HUs will. Are you interested in DVDs? I'll assume no since you didn't say so. Alpine, Pioneer Premier, and Eclipse are the HUs that I'd personally look at. Most here will also add some Kenwood, Panasonic, and Clarion HUs. As long as you get one from a reputable manufacturer (if you're not up on them, run it by us), it'll do what you want to do, it has pre-outs (and the higher the voltage, the better), and it's affordable, you should be happy with it. One word of caution, though: Stay away from Sony car audio equipment.

5. Is there anything else I should consider?

You will need wiring. You'll need power wire to run from your battery to the amp, and then a ground wire to run from the amp to a specified ground (of your choice). You'll also need a REM wire to run from the HU to the amp to tell the amp when to turn on. Then you'll need RCA cables (two, I think) to carry the audio signal to the amp. Lastly, you'll need speaker wire to run from the amp to the speakers. www.knukoncepts.com (I think that's it) makes great wiring (and wiring accessories such as distribution blocks, etc.) at great prices. I'll let someone else help you out more with the wiring.

You may also be interested in some sound deadening material, depending on how old your car is and how well it was insulated from the assembly line.

Grill covers probably won't be an issue.

Ahh...CDs.....you'll need some of them!

6. Around how much would everything cost?

That depends on what you decide to do for amps/wiring/accessories/pro installation vs. do it yourself, etc. Just a ball-park estimate (assuming you do the work yourself), I'd say it'd run you about (if you can find reasonably good deals i.e. the internet) $1100.


Hope this helps a bit. Give us some more information about what you're putting it in and what you're looking to get out of it (and how much you're looking to put into it), and we'll be able to help you out more.

-audiobliss

Jstas

1.) No, not at all. Installation is easy if those speakers fit your stock locations. If they do not then you will have to modify the places you want to install the speakers. You didn't mention what kind of car you have so that's best advice that can be offered.

2.) The 6x9's handle 100 watts RMS and the 6.5's handle 80 watts RMS. The Polk C400.4 would work out OK and over-drive the 6.5's a tad but it shouldn't be a big deal. However, you have many more options.

Some decent considerations:
JL Audio 300-4
PPI DCX 300.4
Pioneer GM-6100F
Kenwood KAC-8402
Kenwood KAC-X541
Alpine MRV-F540
Phoenix Gold R8.0:4
MTX Thunder 564
Hifonics Warrior Eagle
Hifonics XX-Jupiter (highly recommended)
Hifonics ZX6400

That is just a small sampling from http://www.onlincarstereo.com

3.) No, you do not NEED subs. Most people prefer them but you have 6.5 inch speakers up from and big bruisers of 6x9's out back. You will have plenty of bass response unless you want to make the ears of neighboring drivers bleed and not just your own.

4.) That's up to you. They all have different features. There is so much to look at that for someone to detail it here would require a very large post. Easiest way to do it is research it yourself. Here are a couple of links to help you in your searching. These are good links and Crutchfield is a good company to buy from especially for beginners.

This is teh main link for the automotive Audio Advisor. Lots of good info here for shopping
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-S0MdguyS53c/learningcenter/car/

This is the link for CD Recievers. Read up, this is pretty much all you will need to know to make an informed purchase.

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-S0MdguyS53c/learningcenter/car/cd.html

If you are getting an amplifier, you can ignore teh power ratings for the speakers on a head unit and just concentrate on your pre-amp output voltage. You want high numbers in that respect. 2.0 volts or higher is prefered and teh higher the better. Reason being is that high output voltage means that the signal is less likely to degrade or pick up interference.

http://www.cructhfield.com is good place to research products but not always teh best price. http://www.sounddomain.com is an authorized retailer for all carried brands and they can beat Crutchfield prices by a good 20% in most cases.

5.) Read up on the Crutchfield Advisor section. That will give alot of info. Also, be mindful of what amplifier you choose. It will dictate what kind of amplifier wiring you will need. When buying speaker wire, keep in mind where you are going to mount the amplifier and take that into consideration when buying enough wire to make the runs without having to take short cuts or risk compromising the integrity of the wire. Also, when installing the system, keep your power as far away from your signal wires(RCA cables) as possible. Usually, run the power wire down the side of the car that the battery is on, underneath the door sill plates and run the signal wires down the opposite side in the same location. If you have to cross wires, cross them at a perpendicular fashion. Running power and signal wires together not only introduces EM interference but can actually cause an antenna or circuit to form that is capable of having a capacitance. That's bad. Make sure your grounding points are solid and connected to BARE metal. Lastly, drop some cash on your interconnect (RCA) cables. They are easily the most vulnerable point in the entire stereo to introduce noise.

6.) That depends on what you are getting. It is not unreasonable to see an entire setup to cost anywhere from 500-1500 for 4 speakers, an amp, a head unit and assocrted cabling and accessories.

That's teh best advice one can give. A better way to handle this is come up with some ideas of gear you have seen that you like and post brands, model numbers and the site/location you saw it and you can get more specific help that way.

Jstas

An addition, make sure that your charging system can handle what you are going to put in teh car. You may need to purchase a new battery and alternator. This is highly unlike because your system is far from extreme and actually on the low side of moderate. You should have no electrical issues at all.

Don't bother with capacitors also known as "caps". They are a waste of time and only serve to regulate voltage to the system. You won't see any issues with unless you are competing so for the average install, "caps" are a waste of time.

exalted512

since you are looking for sound quality, is there an option to dump the 6x9s and get a sub instead?

reason being rear speakers hurt your sound quality. they tend to blur the music a little making it a little less detailed. also, when you go to a concert, there is no sound behind you...and that is the whole point of having a sq install...to imitate a live session.

if so, can you build your own box?? It will make things a little cheaper. but if not, thats ok too.

if not, theres a few different brands that sell 6" subs that you could put in place of your 6x9s and would produce more bass than your 6x9s could reguardless of having less surface area.

btw, the site is www.knukonceptz.com ...with a z
-Cody

swerve

kar audio konnektorz!!!