Can I bother someone for a brief moment?

Joeh · March 2006

Basically I am starting from scrach on a new system, and I wondered if anyone could give me a rough idea of what I should be getting.

Basically I have a Vauxhall Vectra MK2 (Yup I'm in the UK), and I need to rewire and buy a complete new system, as this current one isnt to my expectations so I'm not even going to bother mentioning it LOL.

I was looking for head unit with 5 preamp, (well from 3 - 5 would be nice), with MP3 support and IPOD support (Well IPod isnt important) which can support asian characters? Well thats an extra requirement which also could be ignored :P.

I need an AMP which can handle 4 ohms over 2 6x9's nicely and maybe a 400RMS (or higher) SUB aswell if possible, but nothing too expensive, but something with a good rating and good output.

My current doors have kenwood speakers (Cant remember the model number), but I wanted to change them with new fresh speakers so 2 back door speakers, and front doors speakers (6" I think), and 2 tweeters.

I was wondering if anyone had an ideal package, or could recomend me a setup that they have done before, I dont expect much to be written, maybe just a few models or something would be nice

Thanks everyone for your help, I really appretiate it

~Joeh

neomagus00 · March 2006

oooh, an open-ended question... our favorite... (and typical UK over-politeness, to boot!

)

since you did leave so much to the imagination, i'll start with something simple, and we can go from there... what i would call a 'pretty nice' system would begin with the Pioneer Premier DEH-P680MP, which has 3 pairs of preouts (front, rear, sub), has support for the CD-IB100 iPod adaptor (dunno about non-Unicode characters, though), and is a good unit overall...

next would be decent RCAs from someone like Stinger, say, the Bullet series. then an amp, say the polk C400.4, powering say the MMC6500 components up front, and the MMC690 coaxes in the rear. finish it off with one or two of polk's MM2124, plus an appropriate amp (depends on whether you get 1 or 2 subs), and you'll be rockin!

i'm not providing prices, because i'm sure they're quite different over there, but if you can say whether this is too expensive, or if you can spend more, we can work with that... also, consider going without rear speakers, as you'll save some money AND get better SQ...

1996blackmax · March 2006

I would combine all of my speaker money and use it all for a nice set of components up front. You could also get pretty nice low end from a sinlge 12" sub. Hey, should be pretty easy to get some nice European brands over there

.

Joeh · March 2006

wow, thats a great system you recommended me

I was wondering, shall I put 6"1/2 MMC650 in the rear doors, but i realised they are the same 6"1/2 as the front door set, so would sound be unbalanced with 2 of the same speaker models in all of the doors?

I was thinking of a Eclipse Fujitsu Ten (8 series or 5 series) system, but the pioneer is cheaper for me lolol. If I got one would it work well with the Polk/MOMO system? I was looking at the 8445 which is much cheaper than getting a 8455 (Which is nearly impossible to find), is there much difference between them except for the EQ?

I'm soo confused

Sorry for annoying you again and thanks for helping me out until now

!

neomagus00 · March 2006

so... the eclipse HUs you specified are much more expensive than the pioneer. if you're willing to spend that much on an HU (not a bad thing!) it will be worth it to take a listen to all your options, if you can. do you have any audio stores around where you can listen to both pioneer and eclipse units? i think you'll end up making your choice based on looks and features, at a particular price point.

if i'm not mistaken, your car is fairly small (compared to sedans over here)... maybe on the order of a bmw m3... is that an accurate comparision? if that's about right, you should consider going without rear speakers. that will free up some money that you can use for other parts of the system, and it allows your front speakers to perform to their full potential. rear speakers, while providing a more 'enveloping' sound, also smear the detail in the music. having only fronts allows you to get much more accurate imaging and staging.

if you do decide to stay with rear speakers, it's no problem at all to have the same speakers in the rear doors as in the front. fortunately for you, this isn't an issue. you mentioned having 6x9 spots in the rear, and you can indeed put 6-1/2" speakers there. the 6.5" speakers you'd be putting in the rear, however, are the mmc650, compared to the front component mmc6500 (note the extra 0). these would still blend nicely, though.

how much bass do you think you'll need? what sort of music do you listen to, and at what volume would you like to listen to it at? what kind of interior noise do you have to contend with - is it really loud on the highway?

Sorry for annoying you again and thanks for helping me out until now !

and stop apologising, that's why we're here!

spwuinmk67 · March 2006

I got really confused when i first looked at this thread, I swore i saw Josh, and though wtf is he askin us for? For that alone, I'm leavin this thread alone. lol

MacLeod · March 2006

LMAO!!! You aint alone bro! I thought the same thing.

I figured Josh had inhaled too many fiberglass resin fumes and his memory had short circuited and he was a newbie again.

1996blackmax · March 2006

Joeh wrote:

wow, thats a great system you recommended me

I was wondering, shall I put 6"1/2 MMC650 in the rear doors, but i realised they are the same 6"1/2 as the front door set, so would sound be unbalanced with 2 of the same speaker models in all of the doors?

I was thinking of a Eclipse Fujitsu Ten (8 series or 5 series) system, but the pioneer is cheaper for me lolol. If I got one would it work well with the Polk/MOMO system? I was looking at the 8445 which is much cheaper than getting a 8455 (Which is nearly impossible to find), is there much difference between them except for the EQ?

I'm soo confused Sorry for annoying you again and thanks for helping me out until now !

The CD8455 has all of the features that the CD8445 has, plus the ability to use it for a 3-way active setup (in pro-mode), ability to individually adjust time alignment on every speaker (in pro-mode), ability to adjust the level on each set of speakers individually (in pro-mode with the T.A. feature), and the ability have different crossover slopes and points for each set of speakers if desired (in pro-mode). In pro-mode you have two ways that you can go, 3-way or 4Speakers+sub. For my application the added flexibility that the CD8455 provided was worth the extra money over the CD8445. The CD8455 also comes with the microphone so that you can take a frequency response "picture" of your system and adjust accordingly, either on the HU itself or on Eclipse's web site. It may not be as accurate as an RTA, but it can show you problem areas in your vehicle. I cannot remember if the CD8445 comes with the Sony Memory stick, the CD8455 does. Some things to think about, since you will have to use them to get the full use out of either of these units.

neomagus00 · March 2006

1996blackmax wrote:

The CD8455 has all of the features that the CD8445 has, plus the ability to use it for a 3-way active setup (in pro-mode), ability to individually adjust time alignment on every speaker (in pro-mode), ability to adjust the level on each set of speakers individually (in pro-mode with the T.A. feature), and the ability have different crossover slopes and points for each set of speakers if desired (in pro-mode). In pro-mode you have two ways that you can go, 3-way or 4Speakers+sub. For my application the added flexibility that the CD8455 provided was worth the extra money over the CD8445. The CD8455 also comes with the microphone so that you can take a frequency response "picture" of your system and adjust accordingly, either on the HU itself or on Eclipse's web site. It may not be as accurate as an RTA, but it can show you problem areas in your vehicle. I cannot remember if the CD8445 comes with the Sony Memory stick, the CD8455 does. Some things to think about, since you will have to use them to get the full use out of either of these units.

wow, i didn't know all that... where did you get your info?

oh, and Joeh - if you're interested in upgrading in the future, all these extra features over the 8455 are worth WAY more than the 100 USD extra cash... just keep it in mind as you shop

1996blackmax · March 2006

I was looking at both of them before buying my HU. Also, my HU is basically the same thing as the CD8445 when it is not used in Pro-Mode.

Forgot to mention that when I use my HU in Pro-Mode I am able to adjust the Bass,Midrange, and Treble settings via the volume button. This is on top of already having my EQ settings and all other settings cofigured. Comes in handy when listening to a variety of different music.

AustinKP · March 2006

neomagus00 wrote:

wow, i didn't know all that... where did you get your info?

oh, and Joeh - if you're interested in upgrading in the future, all these extra features over the 8455 are worth WAY more than the 100 USD extra cash... just keep it in mind as you shop

except for the microphone thing, my Alpine 9815 will do the same thing. Instead of 4 speakers, you can set it up for a 3-way rig. You can see how it works on Alpine's website. Probably on Eclipse's as well...

1996blackmax · March 2006

I've had a couple of units that also did the same thing as the 9815. They were 7998's. Still have some of my downloaded data from Alpine's site on some CD-R's. These were some very nice units.

Eclipse's also has a similar thing. I prefer being able to to do it on a memory stick, pretty easy, instead of a CD-R (you can do it both ways with the Eclipse HU's). You then upload the information from your system, and it's frequency response. Then either let Eclipse's site do the EQ tuning for you, or you can do it yourself. By the way if you go to their site and choose the custom mode you have a lot more flexibility with your tuning. With the crossover you can pick whatever frequency you want within the operating range. With the time alignment you can adjust it in .05 millisecond increments instead of .1 millisecond increments. The Q values on the EQ side are adjustable in .1 increments instead of 1.0's. This I would say are pretty darn good tuning capabilities.

neomagus00 · March 2006

1996blackmax wrote:

With the crossover you can pick whatever frequency you want within the operating range. With the time alignment you can adjust it in .05 millisecond increments instead of .1 millisecond increments. The Q values on the EQ side are adjustable in .1 increments instead of 1.0's. This I would say are pretty darn good tuning capabilities.

holy crap, that's amazing... and amazingly time-consuming, i'll bet... hmm... i think i know what my next HU will be...

1996blackmax · March 2006

Hey neo, I forgot one other little thing. On the EQ side you can also pick whatever frequency you want when using the Custom mode. The system will not let you get bands too close together, but in between these areas, you are not limited to any one frequency. For example if one of the points is 3150Hz in the non custom mode, you can pick 3159, 3177, 3112 (you get the picture) if you needed to with the Custom mode.

AustinKP · March 2006

1996blackmax wrote:

Hey neo, I forgot one other little thing. On the EQ side you can also pick whatever frequency you want when using the Custom mode. The system will not let you get bands too close together, but in between these areas, you are not limited to any one frequency. For example if one of the points is 3150Hz in the non custom mode, you can pick 3159, 3177, 3112 (you get the picture) if you needed to with the Custom mode.

That's called a parametric equalizer, as opposed to a graphic equalizer commonly found on cheaper HU's. It lets you choose the center of the frequency, as well as the width of the frequencies affected.

1996blackmax · March 2006

I know what parametric EQ's are

, been doing these a long time. I thought this was already understood. Should have made it more clear

.

Even with a parametric EQ you are only given certain frequencies that you can pick from with my HU. One example would be 3150Hz or 5000Hz. What I was saying is that when you use the Custom mode you can make very fine adjustments. So say you have a peak a little past 3150Hz, the next band would be 4000Hz. So if you wanted in Custom mode you could pick 3248Hz if you wanted or needed. The next band after 5000Hz is 6300Hz, you get the picture. More precise control is what this mode gives you. This was just introduced in the 05 top of the line Eclipse HU. My Eclipse CD8454 from the previous year did not have this.

neomagus00 · March 2006

:drool:

that is approximately the perfect headunit... if only it came as a dead-head, then it truly would be perfect...

Can I bother someone for a brief moment?

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