hey guys, ive seen this done on other forums and figured we should do it on TR.i think it would help others when they are starting to build their systems.

what is in your audio setup subs,speakers,amps, head unit or monitor,etc.. and then write a short review on the setup..

car: 91 eagle talon

HEAD UNIT
HU:CDA-9857
50wX4
mp3
ipod FAST-LINK connection

i bought this mostly for the ipod fast-link connection and i got a deal on it, but wow this thing is awesome it has great features and it is easy to see in the daytime. this is one of the nicest head units Ive had.


SPEAKERS
front speakers: 6.5" alpine type R 50W RMS/75W RMS 250w peak

rear speakers: 6x9" alpine type R 55W RMS /75w RMS 250w peak

these speakers provide a good punch of bass when amped and very clean mids and highs . Ive had kappas and i personally like the type r series better.



AMP
alpine F450 4 channel
70w(RMS)x4 @ 4 ohm

this amp provides nice clean power , and has a very clean look. its power is also underrated.


also re wired with stinger

just adds to the sq

added a fosgate cap just for the hell of it havnt really blasted my stereo so not sure if its made a difference but it did seem to make my car a lil quicker.

 

hmmm i must have posted before but meh

Headunit
Alpine CDE-9845

Pretty good headunit, the only real reason i bought it was because my previous Jensen MP7610 was hard as heck to read in the day, especially since my windows have 0 tint and my seats reflect a lot of light back. This headunit is black background and white text, it is perfect to read and doesnt give me much problems in that department, and is gorgeous at night. Sound quality is exceptional, it has a lot of fine-tuning capabilities but unfortunately no sound presets (like Rock, Jazz, Pop, Classical, etc) but the ability to adjust and fine tune the bass and treble makes up for it. It is a simpler deck, just gives a clean finished product without being too confusing. My only major gripes with this headunit is that it is VERY picky about what type of cds you can put into it and sometimes HOW you record it.. It does not like CDs that are reflective on both sides for some reason, it needs one side to be opaque (ex. the common Memorex ones it LOVES) sometimes it also decides not to read some cds if you record it a certain way... Also the different color options for the main buttons (blue, red, amber, green) look great at night but during the day they suck because they all have an odd bluish tint. So i just leave it on blue and it looks nice. overall grading is 8/10
*******
Front Speakers
Infinity Kappa 682.7cf

These things are great because of their absolutely clean highs, they sound amazing. Also they can handle 2ohms or 4ohms and handle quite a bit of power. You can move the tweeter on the woofer around to point it at a location you want, and you can increase/decrease treble direct from the tweeter. Bad thing is these suckers like to try and play a lot of bass, which comes out horrible because they sound like they're ripping. The mids play decent, but the higher spectrum.
overall 8/10 (depends on how you want to set your car up i guess)
*******
Rear Speakers
Infinity Reference 9613i

Being of the lower quality of Infinity i wasnt expecting much from these suckers when i had them installed, i also wasnt planning on getting much from the clarity department because i was planning on using them only for mids and semi-lows but it was a 3-way. well amazingly enough, these are probably some of the best sounding and most resilient speakers i've heard for not only the price but the type they are. They play the whole mid and upper spectrum very well and really fill in sound awesomely. Before i had my subwoofer i used these for bass. Doesnt really fill in like i know some other speaker woofers do but it was fine enough for me. Right now I am having problems with it only because my subwoofer is blowing out so much power its actually moving the woofer of these References and making them sound a little odd, in the near future I am going to somehow seal each other off so it doesnt move it so much.
Overall 9.5/10
*******
Subwoofer(s)
Polk Audio DB212-2

I love these guys. They look very nice (i've gotten compliments on it, one of the subs is my avatar) and they dont require a crapload of power for hitting as hard as they do. Ported box, custom designed by polk to be finely tuned to these twin subwoofers, it sounds pretty damned good. The price is very low, enough to make you worried as to how they cut the corners to make these things..
Bad things about it is it weighs a ton, actually about 100 pounds even. Trying to install this thing through your rear seat by yourself is a pain in the ass, especially when you can only breathe through half of one nostril and you have a fever running 102... Also it seems to be only 750 RMS. Determining from my crap amp, and what people have told me, i havent hit that mark yet. I would like a little more power but that would be first trying out a new amp to see how i can hit my mark and actually putting my bass control on my headunit above -2 so that those two points of bass arent getting reduced from my subwoofer. Last time i had it metered i BELIEVE it was about 134? but i could be wrong. These guys i KNOW can go a little more than that, and maybe if my trunk didnt rattle so much i'd probably get a little more out of it.
Overall for good design and pulling power out of such mediocre equipment - 9/10
*******
Amp(s)
BOSS Riot GT2500D monoblock

I've been ridiculed for this sucker, thanks Dalton.. lol. All i really have to say about this amp is that as far as i know, this thing does not put out the 900/1500 rms that it says it does. But. on the good side, it does sound decent for the real RMS it does put out, it has all the full controls, all of them work exactly as they should and the remote control comes as a plus, very well laid out. It also doesnt get too blazing hot, it does get rather hot after a solid hour of bumpin' though, but i usually cant tolerate it in my car for more than an hour, it gets annoying with my rearview mirror pointing towards the floor and the side mirros vibrating so hard that i cant see anything behind me and my eardrums feel like they're being sucked out, oh yeah and my throat starts touching and rubbing against the opposite end buggin the hell out of me.
overall - 7/10
***
Audiobahn A8002T (not installed yet)

I havent had a chance to try this puppy out yet, just bought it yesterday.
so far, looks really clean, the chrome is amazing, only problem is you see every spec of dirt, every fingerprint, EVERYTHING on this guy. Rated RMS is around 200x2 4ohms, 400x2 2ohms, 800x1 bridged 2ohms. Lots of controls on the back to play with so when i get it installed we'll see from there.

ok that was a lot of typing, yay.

 

Should I do all 5 cars in one post, or 5 different posts

I'll do my latest one first. This also happens to be my sound quality favorite. Might be the best sounding system I've ever done.

Car: 95 Lexus GS300 with 1JZ JDM Supra TT swap.

Headunit: JVC KD-AVX2. This is a single din am/fm/cd/dvd player with a 3.5 inch screen. Main reason I chose it was that it has built in 5.1 surround decoding, and isn't a flip out. I'm also using the JVC ipod adapter and the SIR-JVC1 sirius radio tuner.

Amplifiers: Sub and front stage come from a Crossfire VR705D 5 channel amp. This provides 300x1 @ 2ohms to the sub, and 50x4 @ 4 ohms to the front stage. This amp is nice in that it has two seperate power supplies. Class a/b for the 4 x 50, and class D for the sub. Rear and center channel power comes from a Crossfire VR354 4 channel, which gives me 35x2 to the rear, and 35x1 to the center (I'm only using three channels).

Speakers: Front stage, 1200 hz up comes from a pair of image dynamics CD1Pro mini horns. These are 8 ohm, so the get roughly 25 watts each. 1200 hz down to 80 hz comes from a pair of Crossfire SQ6 woofers in custom kick panels. These are 4 ohm, so they see about 50 watts each.

I went with the horns because, when done right, there is nothing like them. They are way down under the dash, but the stage height is mid windshield. Imaging is also unreal...I get a wide soundstage as well as a solid phantom center (center channel speaker only works with 5.1 stuff). I can hear stuff, like string plucks and vocal inflections, on these that I've never heard before. I went with the SQ6 woofers because they are very smooth, and very shallow. They are actually overkill, in this situation, as the SQ6 set is outstanding. Neodymium magnet, silk soft dome, nice 18/6db xover. I might try to swap the 6's for 8's, for more midbass punch.

Rear speakers are SQ6's, again, but this time the full component set, with 1" tweeters and 18db crossovers. I only use these in 5.1 mode, so all they really have to do is provide balanced full range sound. Again, they are overkill, because they are hardly ever on. They see 35 watts each. Center channel is half of an Crossfire SR5 5 1/4 and 1 inch tweeter set. Again, these only see power on 5.1 discs. I wanted as large a woofer as I could get, without sacrificing the midrange response. This also gets 35 watts.

Subwoofer: Crossfire P1228 12" in infinite baffle (no box). This is actually my second 12 (first was an XT212) in this setup, and I really like it. I needed a woofer with reasonable Xmax, mid to low QTS, low FS, and decent efficiency. Its not overly loud, but it is very smooth, and plays quite low. IB also gives you the 'cleanest' response...not colored by box alignment, but you give up spl. I'm going to end up with 3 of these 12's back there, to get better bass volume. Instead of hacking out the rear deck completely, I built an 'IB pod'...I'll have to post some pics, as its hard to explain. Basically, the sound from the 12 (and eventually from all 3) comes through a single 11 inch hole in the back deck.

Processors: Sub crossover is built in to the VR705D. High pass for the fronts and rears comes from the KD-AVX2. Low pass for the front 6's and high pass for the horns comes from an AudioControl 2xs. Right now, I don't use an EQ, but I'm putting in an AudioContol DQS, which will give me 198 bands of EQ (no, I'm not kidding).

Wiring is a combination of Audiopipe and Stinger.

Toby

 

wow you guys make my setup look like shit lol. but lets keep this goin.

 

Good thread, I can see this being very helpful for newbs poking their head in.....

 

yeah thats what i was hoping for.

 

Dodge Ram
All custom audio work. Rewired and custom door work.

Headunit:
Kenwood Excelon 679
Bad ass head. I will probably never switch to another brand except Eclipse. I love how Kenwood not only includes graphics and a nice design, but they also have performance to back it up...somewhere most headunits fail. It has 3 sets of 5V gold plated preouts along with Sirius direct link hook up and motorized face. Can't wait to upgrade to a newer Kenwood. 22 watts rms 52 peak.

Speakers:
Front: 6.5" Jensens (place holders for my Kicker KS components that will be here shortly)
Rear: 6.5" Jensens & Old School Kicker Horn Tweeters (These are also place holders for my Kicker KS speakers)
Overall sound is good for a pair of 40 dollar speakers. I can't complain considering I got both pairs for about 40 bucks and they sound decent without an amp. Also, these are nothing special since I will be getting my KS component setup. Doin 2 tweeters in each door with 2 6.5" mids in both doors. Will be getting a 350.4 to power these running at 2 ohms.

Subwoofers:
2 12" Kicker Comps right now but will be getting 2 12" Kicker CVRs soon along with a 750.1 to power the pair. Should sound really good.

 

worst review ever, pretty good preview tho

 

Blaupunkt Heidelberg CD51 HU
Blaupunkt Overdrive 3.5" fronts
Blaupunkt "basic" 6x9" rears

I love the clarity and crispness of the speakers. I do wish I had gotten the overdrive series for the rears though, as they lack the punch I'm looking for. I'm not a bass junkie and was searching for clarity from the lows to the really highs (I listen to all kinds of electronica), and of course I drive an old VW so I'm on a budget.

 

You're allowed to critique reviews only after you've posted your own.