New to car audio could use some help please?

Question

Im lookin to put a car speakers, sub, and amp in my car, its just a small ford escort sport.
I like listening to rap as well as country and rock and i like sound quality and i also love bass.
Im Lookin to spend about $500.00.
any ideas what to get?
like one sub or two subs 6, 10, or 12 inch as well as how many watts and same stuff for the speakers, also what are some good brands for each, i do have one amp i got off a friend its a Sony XM2002GTR not sure if its any good or not but got it for $50.
thanks

Answer 1

This is how I started into car audio... with a $500 spending limit. If you care about real good quality sounding music and nice kickin bass you are probably looking at closer to $1000, it's unfortunate, but if you get into it enough your spending limit will raise and raise until you are willing to spend $500 for your front components (like I am, lol). But, you have to start somewhere! I don't regret starting off smaller and working my way up, it's a nice experience.

Anyways, here is what I would suggest to you... I'll try to keep it at or below $500 (including shipping). And BTW never buy your speakers from a store, they are always more expensive.

You are going to need a new head unit with 3 preamp outputs. It's basically personal preference and what controls you get, things like sub controls, or a seven band equalizer, etc etc. I use the Panasonic CQ-C7303U which suites my needs, but I feel like there is better out there.
http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3723

We will say a decent head unit will cost about ~$150 shipped.

The front speakers. I'm not sure if you have the abitity to put tweeters in the dash, but if so it's a major bump up for sound quality. If not then I suggest you get some nice 2 wway speakers. I wouldn't go above 2 way as your mid sounds will most likely suffer some loss of quality. I would get something that is a low end model of a high end companey. If you check out woofersetc.com (great site btw) you can serch the category on the left for component and coaxial For 6x9 search coaxial, and if you can have the seperate tweeteres search for 6.5" in the coaxial section as well. Some good brands of speaker are:

Focal is wonderful, but pricy, but so worth it.
JL audio is always nice and sometimes a decent price
MB quart is great
Alpine is decent, probably not my top choice unless you go with their top models
Kicker is decent
JBL is pretty good.
Boston acoustics are nice

Amp models:
Rockford Fosgate are awesome
JL is awesom
Soundstream is good
Ive heard good things about pheonix gold
Kenwood is pretty good

Subs are a tough one because you need to know what kind of box you want, and a box just tells you how it's going to sound, there is no better box, just whats better for you. Basic types are ported and sealed. Ported is good for rap, deep bass, and boomy shaky craziness. Sealed is good for rock, tight accurate punching (and some booming) rather than sloppy loud booming. Sealed is usually the preferred because most music sounds good on it. Rap won't sound bad in a sealed but rock will sound worse in a ported. Go with sealed. That bein said if I were you I would click the loaded sub box option on the woofersetc site to help you find what you need. It's going to be expensive, I would get one 12" sealed subwoofer. Remember to search around for a good price, this isn't the only site. And dont expect the bass to be really loud from one 12" sealed. If your worried about the loudness go ported, but I can't stand ported any more, too boomy, it doesn't blend well.

The list of amps that I listed above I would search on that site. find however many channels you need (1 channel per speaker) 95% of 6.5" and 6x9 speakers are rated at 4 ohm so when finding an amp for those you would look at the 4ohm rating. Example: If you want 50 watts to each you would look for an amp that says 50watts x 4 @ 4 ohms to power the four speakers. Never use the peak rating for power always go by NOMINAL or RMS.

And my opinion on Sony is that they don't belong in the car audio field. They suck.

Too much to explain. If you have any questions let me know.

Here are some brands to stay away from:

Audiobhan
Pyle
Pyramid
Dual

I'm sure there are more thats all I can remember for now. Any questions just email me.

Oh, and don't forget that you will need to buy wiring for all of this lets say $75 just for that. Yea, it's a pain. And if you can't install yourself plan on spending 150 - 250 depending on where you go. Intall it yourself, it's not incredibly hard, but it's going to take time and a bit of effort depending on your car.

AND woofersetc has a decent selection for you to browse around but look elsewhere! there is a lot more to be found! especially as far as loaded sub boxes go.

Good luck in your search.

Phew

Answer 2

Working within your $500 budget, I would recommend something like this.

1) Use the Sony amp you have. If it works, no point in buying a new one. This amp should allow you to bridge both channels to create roughly 500 watts to a single channel. Use this to power your subwoofer.

2) Get yourself a subwoofer that will fit your car. You’ll probably want a single 10” or 12”, 4ohm woofer to go into your trunk. It might be easier for you if you just buy an enclosed woofer so you don’t have to worry about building a box. Rockford Fosgate, MTX and others make a decent enclosed subwoofer that you can pick up for less than $200. Find some you like, measure them and make sure they will fit in your truck in a place that will work for you.

3) I’m not sure what year your Escort is, but being somewhat familiar with Fords, I would say that you have 6 ½” speakers in the front doors and 6x8” speakers in the rear deck. Since you’re on a limited budget, I would buy the best replacement speakers you can afford and just run them off of the factory stereo for now. A set of coaxial speakers will be the easiest to install. In fact, check with Crutchfield or Circuit City and I bet they will sell you an inexpensive speaker wire adaptor that will let you plug right into your Ford speaker wire plug and then into your new speakers without cutting any wires at all. Any good brand name speakers will work such as Polk Audio, Kenwood, Pioneer or Infinity. I would shop around, find sales and buy the best you can afford. Expect to spend at least $100 per pair for something decent, but you get what you pay for when it comes to audio equipment.

4) Expect to spend another $20-$50 for an amp install wiring kit. This will usually provide you with the power wire, ground wire, amp turn on lead and fuse you need to get your amplifier up and working.

That’s about it. Good luck.

Answer 3

Regardles what anyone says, that amp is pretty decent. I've now owned it's older brother (XM2200GTX) with the same specs for three years with no problems at all. I have found through research that people that complain about Sony, don't know what they're doing in the first place.

Just get two 12" 200 watt RMS @ 4 ohm subs with a sensitivity of 90 DB or higher and it will pound. Wire each sub to each channel.

See my site for more info http://spkrbox1.spaces.live.com

Answer 4

a ford escort isnt that big.where are you going to put it at?what about in the back.what about a pioneer,sony,jenson,jvc or something around that range,and the amp,what about a 500 watt amp,with 100 watt 6 by 9 speakers.if i were you i would look around for prices.

Answer 5

2 10 or a single 12 will do the job use the amplifier for that price it was a good deal and get some 6x8 for inside the vehicle sony pioners or jbl

Answer 6

i have 1 12in. pioneer premeir sub with 800 watt pioneer premeir amplifier, with akenwood head unit. that setup sound s good with country , rock and supplies alot of bass for rap. it cost abot:
amp:240$
sub:120$
sub box: 100$
head unit:180$
total about:880-900 after installation----(50$)

Answer 7

use the amp u have to run 1 10 or 12 bridge it to get the most bang for ur buck. ur rear speakers are 6x8 and front are 6.5 i have an escort myself. i would go to onlinecarstereo.com they have really good prices to stay in ur budget. go with audiobahn they have good prices and sound great

Answer 8

i would recommend anything infinity either the kappa or reference they are great such clear sound quality and great bass

Answer 9

wires plugs fuses if u do donot no what to do don't do it