Hello,

I'm new to the whole car audio thing, mostly because I've never been a big fan of the "stereo louder than the car" idea. But recently as I've been getting more into music, I've been realizing how badly my car stereo sucks. I don't want to be like some friends of mine that have $300 cars with subs that rattle the whole car apart, I just want quality, enjoyable sound at a decent price.

I've been doing some reading and research, but I definitely don't know all the concepts behind this topic. Here are a few questions I have right now, and I really appreciate any answers I could get:

***NOTE: I happened to have two JVC 10" subs and a cheap Boss amp that I finally got around to putting in my car, because the previous owner had a plate setup already built for the rear hatch. I know it is probably a pretty cheap setup, but I'm not looking for "competition" level sound, just good, quality sound and nothing too fancy.


1) Right now, I have stock(I believe, haven't checked) speakers in the dash, and they are distorting like a mother. What decent, cheap 4x6" speakers work well? I live in Canada, is it worth buying on eBay or rather in-store, and what kind of cost should it be around? (I have Kenwood 6x9" speakers in back, they seem to be working alright.) Also, sitting in the back seat, the sound seems at least 2x as loud as sitting in the front, even before I put subs in my car, will new 4x6's change this at all?

2) I have a cheap, old Sony deck. Also seems to work alright, I don't think I need to buy a new one if I don't *have* to. I've heard to put "bass blockers" on the 4x6's (a type of crossover?) to prevent any bass from reaching them and eliminating a lot of distortion, is this good advice?

3) If I get a new deck, would it have some sort of crossover in the deck to prevent bass from going to the 4x6's(all bass) and 6x9's(some bass), or can it not do something like that?

4) I have installed my amp/subs, but being new to audio, I have NO idea how to tune to make it sound the best it can. The cheap Boss amp manual had absolutely no instructions for doing this. It has a built-in low crossover, but I'm not sure what to set the gains at, or what settings the crossover should be at (I've heard somewhere from 70-120 Hz?)

Thanks again for helping me out,
-Dustin

 

I just have another quick question. I'm wondering what size of 4x6 speakers will fit in the dash. What mounting depth can the speakers be and still fit in the dash? I'm looking at a pair of Eclipse SE8463A speakers, and they are listed as 1 3/4" mounting depth. Also, do they need to be plate speakers? Here is a photo of them. Thanks again,

-Dustin

 

Take the plate and make it into a box. It will make a world of difference for sound quality and quantity.

Check the speakers, stock is usually 10 ohm 4x6 speakers. They can take a lot of bass for the tiny speakers they are since they are such a high ohmage (4 ohms is normal for a car) it takes more to power them. Go for JBL speakers there, or just install some kick panel pods and install coaxial 6.5 inches or even better mids and tweets then forgo the tiny speakers ontop.

If the deck works fine, then leave it. If you want to spend the money to upgrade, then go for it. A newer deck will usually have features to control bass levels for the front and rear, it will have an internal crossover of some kind. My cheapo 200$ pioneer CD player (DEH P4300) has these things. Otherwise buy two 12V electrolytic capacitors and join the two negative ends together, then run it inline with the + wire going to the speaker, the microfarad rating will be the hz it will block ... example.. two 440microfarad caps wired this way will end up being 220microfarads, this translates to 220hz. Anything above 220hz will get to the speaker, anything below will not. Simply put, no bass goes to speaker.

See previous answer.

Set the crossover to about 70-90hz. Gains should start on the ground, then set the bass and treble settings on the deck to your listening taste, then turn the volume up on the deck to the highest level you would listen to on average. Turn the gain up on the amp slowly until you begin to hear distortion on the sub, then back the gain down about 1/4. Do remember a gain is not a volume ****, it should not be treated as such. Try the system with a wide variety of music to properly guage things and adjust settings and gains as needed to avoid distortion, too much highs mids or lows.

Hope this helps.



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