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Hey so I don't know sh*t about audio

Discussion in 'Audio & Video' started by GrandeChalupa, Jul 26, 2016.

  1. Jul 26, 2016 at 12:41 PM
    #1
    GrandeChalupa

    GrandeChalupa [OP] Well-Known Member

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    I have a 2013 DC non-JBL audio system. I'm constantly cranking the volume up to max when I ride with the windows down and the speakers kinda suck. Looking to upgrade the system.

    I primarily listen to
    -blues rock
    -folk rock
    -alternative hip-hop
    -bluegrass
    -occasionally rap

    Can a clearer and louder set-up be obtained for ~$1000 - $1250?

    What would your recommended set-up be?
    I'm not opposed to a behind the seat sub-woofer but it's also no a requirement.

    Amp/amps?
    Door speakers?
    Tweeters?
    Sub?
    Do I need @HomerTaco speaker mounts?

    Haaalllp
     
  2. Jul 26, 2016 at 12:42 PM
    #2
    Iamraiderpower

    Iamraiderpower Well-Known Member

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    just here because your Screen Name is some funny shit :D
     
  3. Jul 26, 2016 at 1:29 PM
    #3
    rob feature

    rob feature Tacos!

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    Yes

    Depends. Will you be doing the install or paying someone?

    All of the above. Sub could be optional.

    No, but you may need adapters depending on your speaker choices
     
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  4. Jul 26, 2016 at 1:35 PM
    #4
    HomerTaco

    HomerTaco also HomerTaco Vendor

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    HomerTaco ...................................................................................................................................................... Core-Hurst short throw shifter & T-handle / Carbon Fiber Interior / custom console light / De-badged / leather interior / Heated Front seats / Red Line Hood Struts / Painted speaker grills /one-off TRD Satoshi Grill with 12-15 front-end swap/ Pioneer AVIC-X920BT HU / Scangauge II / Black LED Tails / Dash Mount for iPad mini / Safari Snorkel / Auto-pilot mode / Leer 100XQ Cap / 4x Innovations sliders / Rear Diff Breather Mod / front windows tinted to 35% / Brute Force Fab Hybrid Front Bumper / BAMF Rear Diff Skid / Budbuilt Skids / CBI Trail Master 2.0 rear hybrid bumper / Fox rr coils/ TC UCA's/ TC spindle gussets/ TC Cam Tab gussets / Dakar leafs / Defined Engineering shackles / All pro U bolt flip / Timbren Rear Bumpstops / BAMF LCA skids / Exhaust re-route / Fog Light anytime Mod / LowRange Off Road extended rear brake lines / ATO Shackle Flip / sectioned Bushwhacker flares / re-geared to 4.56 / ARB Front & Rear Locking Diff / ARB CKMA12 compressor / PrInSu full rack system / 1" body lift / Inchworm 4.7 crawlbox / twin stick FJ t-case / Davez off-road triple-stick kit/
    Since when do I make speaker mounts? :confused:
     
  5. Jul 26, 2016 at 1:46 PM
    #5
    GrandeChalupa

    GrandeChalupa [OP] Well-Known Member

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    I'm getting you mixed up. But if you wanna make some.....
     
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  6. Jul 26, 2016 at 1:47 PM
    #6
    GrandeChalupa

    GrandeChalupa [OP] Well-Known Member

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    I can do the install, what would you recommend?
     
  7. Jul 26, 2016 at 1:49 PM
    #7
    EatSleepTacos

    EatSleepTacos Well-Known Member

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    Whatever you decide on, I highly recommend a sub behind the rear seat. It will really help round out the music and make it sounds SO much better. I have a sealed 10 behind the drivers side rear seat and it sounds fantastic.
     
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  8. Jul 26, 2016 at 1:51 PM
    #8
    Zac of all trades

    Zac of all trades FWP Fabrication Vendor

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    Let me know if i need to chime in here! haha.

    This may help... what kind of music do you listen to the most?
     
    GrandeChalupa[OP] likes this.
  9. Jul 26, 2016 at 1:52 PM
    #9
    Zac of all trades

    Zac of all trades FWP Fabrication Vendor

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    Since people are putting your name out there!! haha CNC some speaker mounts!

    I think they were talking about @Mrmarv and his speaker mounts...
     
  10. Jul 26, 2016 at 2:36 PM
    #10
    rob feature

    rob feature Tacos!

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    Since you know shit about audio :), something easier.

    Forgot to ask if you intend the use the factory head unit or not. Guess we can get to that.

    Swap out your front speakers for a good set of components. Many to choose from here, but Image Dynamics may be the best bang for your buck. Maybe the CXS64 V.2 ....if they'll fit - they're 3" deep. Morel Maximo 6 isn't quite as deep...same with the Tempo. Nor is the newer IDQ65CS. Many choices here. Go with a cheaper coax in the rear if you carry passengers (if not, maybe just use those spots for low end). You're maybe up to $400 there.

    Hard to recommend a sub just yet, but you have lots of options. You shouldn't need too much based on your listening preferences. Maybe budget $300 for a sub & enclosure. Or treat the rear doors and put small subs or midbasses back there for similar coin. Maybe a couple Anarchys? :D Or if you're in no hurry, the SI TM65mkII looks to be a game-changer. Tang Band W6?

    You can go a few different directions with amps. A 4-channel can work nicely - depending what you want to do in the rear. A 5-channel might work for you too. It would help to know what you think you might wanna do with the rear speakers. ~$200 should get you by here. I'm thinking ~100W/channel or maybe a little more.

    A LOC if you're sticking with the factory head unit. A new head unit if not.

    Wiring/fusing will be needed - maybe budget $100 there. Some damping in the doors will help a lot. Maybe another $100.

    Thoughts on head unit & rear speakers?
     
  11. Jul 26, 2016 at 2:38 PM
    #11
    rob feature

    rob feature Tacos!

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    Of course, you just finished a build in a similar truck.
     
  12. Jul 27, 2016 at 8:46 AM
    #12
    GrandeChalupa

    GrandeChalupa [OP] Well-Known Member

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    In past vehicles I would switch out the HU so that I could play CDs. Now that I'm caught up to the present with a 13' I use the Bluetooth regularly so I'm fine with the factory HU. The bells and whistles of an aftermarket HU are to much for me as I don't know how to adjust all the settings for a perfect tune (seems like you need to be a sound engineer these days).

    Thank you for the info, I will definitely take a hard look into the products you recommended.

    What is the difference between components and coax speakers?

    Does a 4-channel amp have enough channels to run 6 speakers (two tweeters, 2 front door and 2 back door) or possibly 7 if I get one of the subs that fits in the cubbie behind the rear seat?
     
  13. Jul 27, 2016 at 9:15 AM
    #13
    Zac of all trades

    Zac of all trades FWP Fabrication Vendor

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    Do you know if the Anarchys will fit in the rear doors? And what is the RMS for those? The SI TM65mkIIs look dope! They are 125w RMS each though. But I am eyeballing them hard!! Maybe i can put one of my extra 600w amps to a set of these in the rear. Would have to get rid of my hybrid audio 6.5's in the rear....
     
  14. Jul 27, 2016 at 9:25 AM
    #14
    Zac of all trades

    Zac of all trades FWP Fabrication Vendor

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    Component speakers come with a passive crossover. Crossovers will seperate the frequencies so that your mids only get a mid Hz sound range and your tweeters only get high Hz sound ranges from a single audio source. You can get the same effect without the crossovers, but you will need 2 audio signal channels from an amp per car door.

    You can look for 5 channel amps... they will have 4 channels that can be used for door speakers, and 1 channel for a subwoofer.) If you get a set of component speakers then you can use the 4 channels on the amp to power your front mids/tweeters and rear speakers. The 5th channel can be used for your sub. Just make sure that you pay attention to what ohm the speakers are running and the wattage they require (RMS), this will be very important when choosing an amp to power your speakers. If you do not have enough power to your speakers then you will not be satisfied with the sound that comes out of them.
     
  15. Jul 27, 2016 at 9:46 AM
    #15
    rob feature

    rob feature Tacos!

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    Component sets separate the tweeter & woofer in the circuitry via an external passive crossover and most require physically different locations as well. The CXS set is somewhat unique in that it lets you physically separate the components or mount the tweeter within the woofer (sort of like a coax). It's certainly not the only set which offers that sort of flexibility though. Coax physically combines the woofer and tweeter in one neat package, but comes with some performance tradeoffs. They're also typically less expensive and better for compact applications.

    Yes for 6 speakers assuming you're using a component set through a passive crossover. You'd want the 5-channel to add a sub. OR. Keep the rear speakers running off head unit power and bridge 2 channels of a 4-channel amp for a sub. This is a good option and probably cheaper as rear speakers are fill speakers and won't be your primary source.
     
  16. Jul 27, 2016 at 9:48 AM
    #16
    Gingerbeard Man

    Gingerbeard Man Well-Known Member

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  17. Jul 27, 2016 at 9:59 AM
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    rob feature

    rob feature Tacos!

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    I have no idea if the Anarchy will fit. They're pretty deep. Good question on RMS power as T/S parameters aren't readily available, but I'd wanna toss maybe 200W apiece at 'em or better for low end duty.

    On the SIs, I'd shove gobs of power at them too. 600W available between 2 of them might be just right :D - keeping in mind of course that all speakers have limits but amp power is dynamic and just because you make 600W available doesn't mean it's always coursing through them ;). But headroom is good.
     
  18. Jul 27, 2016 at 10:03 AM
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    Gs2015TacomaToy

    Gs2015TacomaToy Life is tough, wear a helmet...or drive a Taco.

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    What's up Chalupe?

    I recently finished replacing all the factory speakers with Alpine 6x9's upfront and Alpine 6-3/4" component speakers in the rear doors. I also purchased a slim profile Alpine 10" and built the box for. By pure chance I managed to hit the perfect dimensions for my sub with a sealed enclosure that I designed.

    The RMS on the door speakers are 80 watts and 350 on the sub. I purchased all "open box" items on EBay including 2 Alpine amps. One is pushing 75 RMS to the doors and 500 to the sub.

    I installed the tweeters on the back door and kept the factory tweeters up front.

    I also kept the stock head unit.

    Everything, including materials for the box, came in just under $700.

    I never go higher than 65% of volume and it's very clear.

    Good luck on your upgrade. A little homework and elbow grease and you'll have enough $ left over for other upgrades!

    Edit - I forgot to add that I purchased the economically sound speaker kits from *********.com. Still under $700.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2016
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  19. Jul 29, 2016 at 11:52 AM
    #19
    jjustjjosh137

    jjustjjosh137 Well-Known Member

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    dont want to jack your thread op but need this question answered. i got 2 alpine 10" type r dual 4 ohm voice coil subs that run 1000 watts (500 per coil) what amp should i get to run them both safely?
     
  20. Jul 29, 2016 at 12:21 PM
    #20
    Gs2015TacomaToy

    Gs2015TacomaToy Life is tough, wear a helmet...or drive a Taco.

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    You're best bet would be to go with an Alpine "mono block" amp that pushed 2000 watt x 1 @ 2 ohms.

    Or any manufacturers amp for that matter but the important part is the 2000 watt RMS x 1 @ 2 ohms (or 1000 watts x 1@ 4 ohms). Whenever you increase the ohm number (usually increments of 2) you have to divide the wattage in half.

    In your case you have 2 subs @ 4 ohms with 500 watt RMS each.

    So the ohms goes up by 2 which in turn halves your amp wattage to 1000 watts. Then split that into 2 subs that can handle 500 watts RMS and you've got an amp that's providing the proper wattage for your subs.

    If you'd like you can increase the wattage going into the subs to really get good sound out of them. I'm pushing 500 watts into a 10" sub rated at 350 watts.

    Hope this helps.
     

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