Heyo I'm new here and this looks like the right place to ask Got my 89 Camaro on the road finally and want to spend some money into a system. I bought a sub box off eBay and now I just need the rest. I've decided to put 2 12" JL Audio W6v2 (maybe W7 if I feel like going big ) and a 500/1 mono JL audio amp Thats all cool correct? For speakers should I go two way or three way? Either way i was considering getting some JL audio TR690-TXi (6x9) and TR400-CXi (4x6) OR Some Alpine Type R 6x9 and 4x6. And probably going to get a Alpine deck Also would like to know what wires I should go and buy for this setup. Just want to get some feedback. Mostly want to know if I should get anything else or not do anything and if 3 way or 2 way would be better in this system before I go shopping I'm not a fan of mixing up different company's speakers, subs, amp ext.. as u can tell.

I have some used JL 12W6s for sale. PM me if you're interested.

I'm the same way about using an entire company for the setup, but after reading the reviews of the Polk db series, I'm probably going to break that trend.

Dude,
I just spent some bucks on my 85 and Ill tell you what sounds nice. My friend has a 92 with Sony Xplods, but everyone knows thats ****. Horrible sound, and he has a nice amp.
So what I have is proly the same box you got off ebay for 2 12"s, 2 JBL 12"s
W6 v2, Pioneer 6X9s for the sail panels, pioneer 4X6s in the front, Pioneer deck. Monster cable for power and ground, its the best stuff to use. You can save a few bucks off the stuff on ebay, but buy it new. As for the amp, im using a reference, back when they were american hand made. 6 channel. good ****.
Get that setup and youll be bangin.

that would pretty nice setup.. too much pioneer for me though :P

Hey thanks for the info so far. Hasn't been too much help but thanks i guess

This is the most important question that I somehow forgot to ask
Will have 2 12" W6V2 in a sealed box blow my window or crack or anything?
Last thing i want to happen is getting a hella expensive setup and blow my window that wouldn't be cool at all.

Otherwise I'm still set on buying all this in the next few days. Just wanna get a thumbs up since my buddies don't no **** about car audio.

nah you won't blow any windows or crack glass (safety glass anyways). The worst you MIGHT do it blow a hatch seal or something along the lines of that... but our cars are so old it will prolly just leak some where so you shouldn't have any probloms, i'd keep a window cracked just incase though

haha k cool thanks man. I'll make sure to do that

your not gonna break any windows.. believe me.. anyone who tells you they did its most likely bs.. i know guys hitting 150db in there tahoes.. and there not blowing windows out

ya thats what i thought also.. it was nothing more then bs

got 1 last quick question:
Will the JL 500/1 be able to power two 12W6V2?? or will i have to get a 1000/1?

Hello all. I have officially bought all this off eBay now.
Alpine 9856

Alpine Type R speakers Front/Rear
JL Audio W6V2 12" x2
JL Audio 1000/1

Just wonder if what else I need or if I'm missing something?
What kind of Amp kit or just wires should I get?
Do I need to go out and buy some capacitors or anything like that?

heh, exact same HU im now running! Trust me, you will like it!

thats good aHU mine was stolen a week ago i now have a 9885 with HD radio

make sure you go with 0 gauge wire, and good speaker wire also, and no, caps are honestly just a waste of money.

thx u sir. Some useful feedback

no problem.

O guage is a little big when it comes to 1-500 watt amp. For one, that is probably peak power and not RMS. 4-guage would do just fine and it will be easier to run and cost less. Also, depending on how you hook the subs up will determine how many watts it will put out, because the resistance will change. To get your amp to work at it's peak, you must run your amp bridged (mono)and hook the subs up in series. That means positive of amp to positive of one speaker, then take the negative of that speaker and run it to the positive of the other speaker, and the negative of that speaker back to the amp. That will drop your total resistance using 4-ohm,single voice coil subs to a 2-ohm system. Just make sure the amp you are using is two ohm stable. If they are dual voice coil subs, it will drop it to 1 or 1/2, and you really need to check your amp then. Any time you do this it can cause the amp to run a little hotter. That is why you must check to see if the amp is stable at that resistance, or it could burn it up. Most amp manufactures will tell you what resistance it can run at stably. Orion amps will go down to 1/2 ohm I know.

yes i know all that, and 0 gauge is always the best in the long run also, because what if you upgrade to a 3000 watt RMS amp, then you just screwed yourself out of money there. you should just get 0 gauge wire, that way if you decide to go bigger later, you dont have to waste your money on 2 different size wires. and yeah, the amp is probably stated as MAX output as most brand are, but that is not the point because even if you did run 4 or 0 gauge, a 250 watt difference isnt ****, and once you get into brands like jl and kicker, they state their amps as RMS.

also, a 1 ohm stable amp is ALOT better than a 2 ohm stable amp, alot more sub options!

and another thing, the way that driley told you how to wire your subs, works different if you have 1 or multiple dual or single voice coils to, they are wired differently to get different ohms. and most likely you wont have to worry about that 1000/1 getting "hot" off those W6v2's. the 1000/1 is a very good amp, and it holds its own.

ya thats what i heard bout the amp thats 1 of the reasons i bought it
thxs boys for the info good stuff

I disagree with the statement that a cap is useless. Im running 4 gauge up to my 400w amp (which is nothing) and i added a cap (mainly because i got a great deal) and it was a noticable difference for me. Before i added the cap, the subs would get slightly muddy with fast hitting heavy bass, and now that i added it, it cleared the subs up quite a bit.

In your case, i have no idea if it would help at all though...

first thing you should do is upgrade your electrical system = Big 3, alternator, etc., before you go buying cap

yeah, a cap does do something, however when people say "its like a second battery", thats bull, it actually makes you alternator work harder than before because it has to keep filling the cap with energy when it uses it up, so instead of power just your system, it has to power your cap as well. but yes, when a big bass note hits, the cap helps with the notes to give it a quick response. thats about all its good for. nothing overwhelming. and still not worth the money you pay for them, unless you get one for like 10-20 bucks.

should put that money into electrical system upgrades

ultimately, it isnt going to make your alternator work any harder if you use a cap or not. the power is coming from the battery always anyway, and if you are running a cap, the subs just use the cap to pull a little extra power, instead of the battery. if you aren't you are still pulling the same amount of power out of the battery. Its not like you hook the cap up to the alternator, so from the alternator standpoint, it really makes no difference.

The whole point of a cap is that it can provide the extra power virtually instantly, instead of the battery, which is slower. (microseconds, granted... )

umm, what charges your battery? you alternator, so actually, the more your alternator has to charge, the more strain it has on it. yes it does put more strain on your alternator, not much, but it does. unless you have a bigger alternator, then it does not really matter, but yes it does, its common sense, so learn your stuff before you act like you know it.


you dont know alot about cars i take it?

so much misinformation in this thread. the car audio section on this forum is disgusting i HATE coming in here.

you dont need 0awg. use 4 guage.

as far as the cap thing goes..... you need to make power to have power. what makes the power in a car? the alt!!! not the friggen battery so IT IS another strain on youre electrical system.

do the big 3 upgarde. upgrade youre alt to battery+ wire youre cahssis to block and battery- to chassis in 4awg.

you did invest in some really GOOD products and i commend you on that! most people just buy the 50 dolar bulshit because it says 34139er342 watts on it. you bought quality product now all you need is a quality install. good luck and feel fre to pm me if you have any questions. im MECP silver certified and as far as systems in camaros go....

EDIT: iroc and the bandit are giving you good advice. upgrade the elctrical system. the only thing i dont agree with is iroc insisting on 0awg.









the battery under the hood has been replaced with an optima red top. theres also a yellow top in the rear on a relay. the car is wired in 0awg hyperflex wire. 195 amp alt. this setup is also hitting 146 on street music.

thats what i said, i said it will put strain on your battery. also, i said use 0 gauge in case you want to go bigger later on, but thats your choice. im just giving you the smartest alternative.

wow.... lets all freak out a little bit how 'bout?

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

Feel better yet?

Ok, all im saying is that using a capacitor will probably do you more good than bad. Yes, it is a slight load on the alternator. so is using your windshield wipers, or using daytime driving lights. so is turning on your stereo in the first place.

I was not arguing that caps don't create a load on the electrical system. I was just saying that you will be putting a load on the system regardless, so its not going to be a problem to add in a device that stores electricity until such time as the system needs it.

I was also not arguing that using a capacitor is the only thing you ever have to do to make your system bullet proof.

If you wanna use a cap, do it. it will probably make the subs sound tighter. if you wanna run 0 gauge wire, feel free. although its probably not needed, as you said, if you decide you wanna run something bigger later on, great, you just have to buy it, and you are ready.

...

Let me explain a little better of what i was trying to say, because after re-reading what i wrote, i understand what you thought i was saying.

I was saying that regardless of whether or not you are using a capacitor, you are putting a load on the alternator. And the amount of load you put on while using one is very small.

Now then, a capacitor is only going to charge to whatever your current voltage is... whether that is 12.6 volts or not. its going to charge to its full holding capacity, and then pull no more power. since you are pulling that voltage from the battery, you are only going to pull whatever your battery voltage is.

On top of that, a capacitor only fires once your battery voltage drops below the current charge level of your capacitor, and only enough energy is released as to make up for what is lost. For example, if your cap is normally seeing 12.6V, and suddenly a major bass note hits, and system voltage drops to 11.6V, the cap fills in that 1V.

Now, i agree, you alternator is going to have to work slightly harder to provide the battery with the power that the capacitor uses, but the nice thing about a cap is that it is not a constant load on the alternator. since it only pulls power up the point that it is at full system charge, and no more, when it is not being used (or is fully charged) it doesn't create a load on the system. If you also make sure to buy the correct size cap for your system, it should be able to hold enough power that it can fire a couple of times before it will recharge, giving you time where there is no extra load on the alternator.
(on my small system, at the loudest level, the cap charges about every five seconds for a bass-y song)

on the other hand, if you aren't using a capacitor, then the alternator will have to make up for the loss of voltage out of the battery every time the subs/speakers fire....

ultimately, using a capacitor won't overwork an alternator any more than just jamming your system anyway. It does however smooth out the voltage that the amp receives.

Now if im totally off my rocker and i understand the point of a cap wrong, please explain...

So far by what everyone is saying here is that I need:
0 or 4 gauge wire. I'll probably just get the 4 since i doubt I'm gonna upgrade.
New alternator?
Capacitor? If i want a cleaner tighter sounding system
Thats what I've sorta understood from what you guys r saying.
How much would this all cost?

dirtye30 your Camaro is way to customed out for me
Thanks boys and girls for all the feedback

well i just want to say that i never said a cap would totally "over work" your alternator, im just saying it will add strain to it. but whatever, do what you want. as for the cost, a 4 gauge wiring kit can be bought for really cheap, 30-40 dollars (for a good one). and u can get a 2-3 farad cap for about 70 bucks.

yeah agreed. even if you buy the wire from a custom audio shop right off the roll you are still generally looking not too much. I think i got mine for 80-90 cents per foot. my cap i got on sale for 65 so... you can expect 100 bucks at the most for that stuff.

What would be a good Cap to buy for my setup?
I got no clue about caps or any brands for that matter. I never even really knew about them until you guys started talking about them.

I would buy a wiring kit like one of these???
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-Gauge-car-Amp-...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ROCKFORD-FOSGATE...QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/KICKER-PK4-4-GAU...QQcmdZViewItem

I will probably end up at a local store but eBay is so damn cheap compared to anything else

if your gonna buy one, get any brand, they all do the same thing, go for like a phoenix gold, or a cheaper brand. do a search on the web, you will find some.

kicker wire for the win. it flexes like a piece of rope. its what my car is wired in.

Got another question. Doesn't have anything to do with subs/sound at all
Since I am getting all this audio thats pretty expensive I would like to go buy a good alarm. All I really want is just a normal alarm that tells me if the alarm is going off. (transmitter) Thats the only special option I really want. Any1 got a pretty decent priced alarm system that I could probably hook up myself?


I don't need the car starter, key less entry I doubt i will even use those options ever but if it comes with it hell i guess Ill take it.

an alram isnt really somehting you can just ump into. call a local stereo shop. good brands are omega, viper, crimestopper.

For an alarm go with this site they have some really good stuff at absolutely amazing prices http://purecaraudio.com/ you should find an alarm system that you like on there make sure you compare everything though and have exactly what your looking for.

You dont need a cap with that little amp...I would have bought some component speakers instead of 6x9's and 4x6's object being is to build a front sound stage and do away with rear fill as I doubt anyone will be riding in the back of your 3rd gen anyways but you are a newbie so you will learn someday. Since you already bought the equipment the best thing you could spend alittle more money on is a 4ch amp to power your 6x9's and 4x6's, you will be so amazed at how much better the sound quality is VS the amp in your deck that probably will be pushing a true 15 watts rms per channel. I hear that all the time, people with 2 15" woofers powered by an Orion 2500 watt amp and two 6x9's powered by something like a road master deck...HOW GHETTO, all you hear is bass and very very distorted mids and highs, ROFLMAO! PS: You deck may say something like 45watts per ch but its not trust me...get another amp, night and day difference!

no you dont need a cap at all.. this is what im saying.. if you get a high output alt. alone you dont need a cap.. caps are basically useless they dont do much.. believe me when i tell you this.. a nice high output alt. will do the job just fine..and for 500 watts you can use stock electrical.. i run 1000 on my stock electrical...

Yup...the back glass on a 3rd gen is THICK!!! It IS the structure of the hatch itself. The hinges bolt directly to it, there is a thin steel rail around the edge and its bonded to the back part with the latch assembly. Yeah, good luck breaking it with SPL.

your not gonna break a window with woofers... no matter what anybody says.. if you have a crack in the window prior to it.. it makes the crack bigger maybe break but i doubt it