I have a 89 Convertible. I need some ideas on how to set up my sound system. Just bought the car and have to start from scratch.

It still has the factory speakers that are all blown. It also has a Sony cassette deck (40Wx4).

I just ordered the new Pioneer DEH-P7400MP (Plays MP3's 50Wx4 with crossovers built in). This will eliminate the need for a multi-disc changer.

Question is what speakers / amps should I buy (not brand, per se, but types of) to be able to hear my stereo going 70-75 down the highway with the top down.

I would like a sub, but can live without one to start with.

I got the head unit, so I guess I need the speakers and amp.

If someone knows a good place to put a sub in a convertible, I'm all ears

 

try building a box on the side of the trunk facing the inside of the car. you could probobly fit only one 10 without sacrificing too much trunk space. where is the spare tire in there?? the side or in the trunk floor? if it's in the floor, you could fit 2 10's in a box thats made for that space. tell me where the spare is and if you could sacrifice that or not

 

Hey Travis,

Uhh, I might have some thoughts for you to consider. We have a 91 RS Vert and I've traveled down the road you are about to turn onto.

First I'll tell you what we have and the results we've gotten.
We have a Nakamichi CD-35z which is the AM/FM CD player that puts out 43watts max and has Treble/Midrange/Bass controls. We added Infiinity Kappa 4x6 and 5 1/4" speakers Model #'s 462.1cf & 52.1i . Along with a Rockford Fosgate 12" sub powered by a 200 watt amp which was built in a custom box by me.

The results are simply this....
I had a pair of JBL speakers (both front and rear) in the car and they sounded real tinny!!! I switched over to the Infinity brand and it was a WORLD of difference!!! Much smoother in the mids and highs! But this is also with the Nakamichi stereo.
Your Pioneer will sound different than the Nakamichi.

I took a moment to gather some specs on the Pioneer you have and have added them in here.

Quote 1....

This unit includes a 3-band parametric EQ with Selectable Q Factor. You may select a low (40, 80, 100 or 160Hz), mid (200, 500, 1k or 2kHz) and high frequency (3.15k, 8k, 10k or 12.5kHz) to boost or cut within a range of -6dB to +6dB.

End quote....

This is a good thing on the unit. This acts similar to the midrange feature and will kill most of the harsh sounds you are going to get from those 4x6 speakers no matter what brand you buy.
You're going to have to play with this feature alot in order to get it right.

Quote #2...

Selectable Bass and Treble Cut-off Frequencies: The cut-off frequencies for the bass and treble controls can be set independently of the 3-band parametric equalizer adjustments. The bass cut-off frequency can be set to 40Hz, 63Hz, 100Hz or 160Hz. The treble cut-off frequency can be set to 2.5kHz, 4kHz, 6.3kHz or 10kHz. The bass and treble controls have an adjustment range of -6 to +6.

End Quote....

Here again another nice feature, especially if you can seperate this feature between the front and rear speakers of the car.!!

You raise a question about what amp to get...

Your Pioneer puts out 22 watts RMS and 50 watts peak X4. Our Nakamichi puts out 43watts peak.
I don't have any amps other than the CD-35z for the four speakers and it sounds fine with the top down. There are times when a little more power is needed but that depends on the music you are listening to. We listen to alot of Jazz while we are cruzing and that's were the extra power is desired for us. For rock and pop I think you should be fine. Save the money on the amps and buy a powered sub!!

Why a SUB??

Well those little 4x6's and 5 1/4" speakers just don't deliver the bass notes period!
No matter what brand you buy!

I've heard of a few people getting 6x9 speakers in the rear panels, but they did some cutting and it was not that easy. Plus you still don't get the bass you want going at 70mph with the top down.

So you opt for a sub.....
Well, you can do what I did and get a 12" sub and build a custom box. Or you can get a Infinity Basslink powered sub for around $225 on Ebay and save a ton of trunk space. (I'm currently in the process of getting one of these subs.) Right now my sub takes up the entire lower portion of the trunk. I get plenty of bass! enough to shake the entire car and the cars surrounding it, but it's not very practicle when you have other things to take along. The Basslink has some serious bass and takes up 1/4 of the room of my current sub system.
I've read personal reviews from people who have these subs and they have said that this sub has cracked their rear hatch windows!!

So it will provide enough bass for any bass hogg.

Hope this helps or at least give you some food for thought.

 

Thanks, I will give that idea a thought. I'm not looking to win any competitions, just to get a clean sound going down the road. I will let my neighbors sleep

 

I believe that the spare is in the same location as the coupes (in a pocket on the side. I don't want to sacrifice the spare. The above mentioned Basslink, may work for me, but I'm still open to more ideas.

 

Hello again,

Gave some more thought about your set-up.
You might want to take a peek at carreview.com
I'll try and post a link for you below.

http://www.carreview.com/Car,Audio/PSC_3644crx.aspx

If it does not work just copy and paste in your browser or type in www.carreview.com

There you will find personal reviews on every type of audio equipment on the current market.
The reviews are pretty critical in some cases and I think it's a great source for someone in your situation.

Also remember that you want to create a matched system in order to achieve what you are looking for.

Since you already have the stereo, so you should try and match the rest of your stereo system to that component.

You can do this by looking at the specs of your car stereo. Mainly focusing in on the cd portion of the specs since they will be much greater than the FM specs.

Let's say your cd player can go down to 5Hz and up to 22Khz. You would want your bass to get down to that level and your speakers to get UP to that level. If you by a cheap pair of speakers that only go up to 18khz then you are missing out on that extra 4Khz of music.
Also a key thing to remember are those small speakers you'll be installing in the car.
Most of them can only go down to 59Hz-78Hz, if the speakers or the car stereo does not provide a crossover then you'll be blasting bass notes into those speakers and you'll be sure to blow them up sooner or later. The Infinity Kappa series speakers have crossovers built into them and they cut out everything below 59Hz. That's where the sub comes into play. Currently I've got my sub set in the range from 120hz down to 28hz and the system sounds pretty darn good to me.

After you decide on what you want to get and install everything, you will need to spend some quality time adjusting all the settings on your stereo to find out which is the best to suite your listening taste.
With all the sound enhancing features that come on Pioneer stereos, I think you'll be adjusting those settings for quite some time.

All the bells and whistles are nice, but try adjusting them at 70mph going down the road.

Well, enjoy your journey and let us know what you come up with and how it sounds after you get it installed.

Later.