critique this setup

Hello everyone, I'm new here and new to car audio in general. I want to upgrade my car's audio system and after doing some research I found this really informative site. I think I've figured all of the components out but I want to run it by knowledgable people before I pull the trigger.

I'm getting 2 speakers in the front and 2 low profile subs in the back and a 4-channel amp to power it all.

The 2 speakers in the front doors will be Pyle 6.5 inch 3-way speakers rated at 180 watts RMS at 4 ohms.

In the back doors, will be 2 low profile subwoofers that I'm putting in the doors I'm not building separate boxes for them. They are 6.5 inch subs rated at 150 watts RMS at 4 ohms

The amp is a 4-channel 2000 watt amp rated at 250 watts x 4 channels RMS at 4 ohms.

The amp has 4 channels so each component will have its own dedicated channel on the amp so no need to run anything serial or parallel. The amp's RMS rating for each channel is more than each component requires so that should be fine. I plan to use 0 guage wire for the amp since its more than 2000 watts and 12 guage wire for the speakers. The amp has 2 x 40 amp fuses. If I did the math correctly that gives the amp a 60% efficiency rating which is good enough. I'm having it all professionally installed and want to go into the shop armed with as much knowledge as possible so I don't get duped.

Basically I'm looking for any and all feed back for this setup. Is it ok to have speakers and subs on the same amp? Are the brands I'm using ok? Lanzar? Pyle? Kicker? Did I do the math correctly regarding the amp's true wattage out put? Can anyone foresee any problems with this setup? I'm new to this and am eager for the advice/criticisms of you veterans. I don't want to make any mistakes and ruin my car and or waste my money.

Thank you all in advance.

Kicker CompVT 08CVT654 6.5-Inch 4-Ohm 165mm SVC Subwoofer

Pyle PL63BL 6.5-Inch 360-Watt 3-Way Speakers in the front doors

Lanzar-MAXP4260 amplifier

if the amp has a max possible current of 80 amps and supply voltage is 14 volts( best case scenario) then the most it can produce in watts is 14 x 80= 1040 watts at 100 percent efficiency which is never the case. with EVERYTHING in life you get what you pay for, pyle and lanzar are not high quality components. kicker is very reputable though.

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The RIGHT way is the ONLY way.

Pyle...no...especially if you are going to power them don't waste your money on an amp with out decent speakers
Lanzar...eh...never had or heard, possibly similar to my friends Hifonics which is fine.
kicker...good

If that is the kind of response you were looking for there it is.....

If you would like to have a better understanding of what things to look at when selecting audio components then answer the following questions so I/we can better assist you.

What is your car? Year, make, model

What is your budget?

What are you looking to achieve sound wise? Loud, BASS!(SPL), clear(SQ sound quality), etc.



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Dodge Magnum in progress:
Pioneer DEH-80PRS - PPI Amps - Dayton Subwoofer(s) - Exodus Anarchy's - Vifa Tweeters - Kinetik Battery

The car is a 2008 suzuki sx4.

My battery is 12 volts.

I don't really have a specified budget but I don't want to spend thousands. I'd say $500 total for everything. What can you guys recommend with that budget?

I'm looking for an upgrade from the factory speakers. I want something clear and loud good sound quality.

I recommended getting a Head Unit as part of this upgrade.

Also are you willing to give up trunk space for a subwoofer or is that why you were looking at those kickers? There are solutions for both cases.

Have you gone to the shop and looked around to see what they have? My local shop has very reasonable prices for everything (even though I don't use them for anything myself anymore). If they are going to be the ones installing it they usually like to be the ones who sold it to you.

I would go and tell them what you want and your budget and have them write down what they have and recommend to you including installation. Which is going to be a bigger chunk than I think you are expecting. Bring a CD that you know very well and ask to listen to it on the speakers they recommended, if they have demo equipment like that(they should).

Have you considered doing it yourself if you are on that tight of a budget? There are a lot of great places to find help and how to videos and such, not to mention this site .

Seriously go to the shop though and just tell them that you have to think about it at the end. Then let us know what they said and what you think about it.

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Dodge Magnum in progress:
Pioneer DEH-80PRS - PPI Amps - Dayton Subwoofer(s) - Exodus Anarchy's - Vifa Tweeters - Kinetik Battery

I am definitely getting a head unit. I wanted to do the project in  2 stages I'm getting the speakers and amp first then the head unit. The head unit I'm getting is the Kenwood Excelon DNX 9960 or the JVC HDT3NHD I haven't decided yet. Both got rave reviews from people who own them. I've had 2 pioneer nav units and they are horrible. I would never touch another pioneer product with a 10 foot pole and I'm telling everyone to stay away from pioneer they suck I know from experience I've had 2 separate units (AVIC F Series) and both of them broke. But I'm leaning towards the Kenwood because the navigation software is garmin and the screen is slightly larger. The JVC has HD radio built in though.

I dont want the huge 10' and 12' sub I don't think it's really necessary. Originally I didn't even want subs because of the space issue. I just wanted some great 3 or 4-way speakers and an amp to power them so they'd sound good but I found the low profile kicker subs so I went with them.

I haven't gone to a shop. I knew from the start that  I wanted it professionally installed. I want the installation to be clean and done by pros so I know it's done right. But I also wanted to get as much info as possible about the entire thing before I went into a shop because I didn't want to get hosed. I feared they'd see I was a noob and take advnatage of my ignorance on all things car audio. I wanted to prevent that from happeneing to me.

You've given me some good advice so I'll def go into some shops I scouted out. I know my car isn't a mercedes or anything but it's mine and I care for it like it's a Mercedes. It doesn't help that I'm very mistrustful of mechanics.

I wanted to say that if this is a two stage process, I highly recommend doing the source unit first. this will eliminate problems down the road. Also your car is only 12volts when sitting, it is more like 13 volt average when running, and your alternator runs the vehicle. That is why i used the 14 volts in my equation. shallow mount subs are for depth issues , and only minimally effect overall internal volume.( relatively speaking) if you have the depth the non shallow version will play more accurately down low due to its increased excursion capabilities.

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The RIGHT way is the ONLY way.

resquchas wrote:

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I wanted to say that if this is a two stage process, I highly recommend doing the source unit first. this will eliminate problems down the road.

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I HIGHLY AGREE

Since you said you were not interested in a subwoofer and I was just looking through some old bookmarks I believe you are a perfect candidate for some of these transducers.

They are cheap and don't need a lot of power and you could mount one under each of your front seats.

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Dodge Magnum in progress:
Pioneer DEH-80PRS - PPI Amps - Dayton Subwoofer(s) - Exodus Anarchy's - Vifa Tweeters - Kinetik Battery

Thanks for the suggestion. The transducer doens't look like it produces sound/bass so that may not fit my purposes.

I went back to the drawing board since I had to dump the lanzar amp and pyle speakers since you guys don't recomend them. I'm glad I dodged that bullet thanks to you guys your feed back has been helpful keep it coming please.

I never considered component speakers at first because they looked like a hassle but after reading up on it they don't sound so bad. It sounds much better than getting four 4-way speakers and a big amp to power them.  I may go with component speakers and a smaller amp to power them. I narrowed down the component speakers I want and a smaller amp. The speakers got nothing but great reviews. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DB6501/Polk-Audio-db6501.html?tp=106

The specs say the RMS rating for the speaker are 100 watts at 4 ohms for each side which totals 200 RMS total. Does that mean its 50 watts RMS at 4 ohms for each speaker? So the amp I buy should be a 4 channel amp with at least 50 watts RMS for each channel? Does all 6 speakers have to be hooked up to the amp or just the woofers and crossovers? Can I put the woofers in the rear and the crossovers int he front or does it not matter? I do have tweeters at the top of the drivers and passenger doors.

The idea behind a transducer is that it gives the PERCEPTION of more bottom end. The science of sound is amazing and we do not hear things like you think we do. Read up on it. The transducer makes your mind( which is what is ultimately hearing/ feeling all this, not your ears. the ears are just input devices) think there is more bottom end than there is. You actually hear something that is not there. Yes it works. Everyone hears differently and you may not even HEAR below 30hz, but feel it you will if you have the system to reproduce that wave. As far as tweeters in the upper parts of doors, not always a great solution. You can have some serious crossover and frequency cancellation issues. It is generally accepted that the tweeter should not be further away than the diameter of the midwoofer to keep things in phase. I am not saying it can not be done, just that more is NOT NOT NOt always better. Especially for accuracy and where imaging is concerned.

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The RIGHT way is the ONLY way.

 The transducer sounds like a nice idea but I'd rather actual loud, clear music not some device that tricks me into thinking I'm getting loud, clear music. The transducer sounds nice but I'm not interested in "perception." If I'm going to shell out money I want to get something I'll like. I've experimented with other things in the past trying to cut corners and it never works out I only end up wasting money so I'm not cutting anymore corners I'm investing in something that I'll love for the life of the car. 

I'm looking for the best setup for my budget which is $500 or less not including installation. Wether it's full range speakers or component speakers doesn't matter I just want clear, crisp, loud sounding music and good quality equipment. I'd like it to be loud but it does not need to be loud enough to hear it from 4 miles away which is why I did not want the big-box-in-the-trunk subwoofer. I'm not trying to win competitions I just want to enjoy my music in the car without hearing distorted, muffled music.

What I find funny is I've spoken to 3 different guys in 3 different shops all who claim to have 10 or more years experience and none of them can really give me a clear answer. If I tell them I want something competition level or loud as hell they can give me a several suggestions that'll all cost me $5000 or more. But when I ask them to recommend something of good quality that gives clear, crisp, sound that can go loud that's not too expensive none of them have any good suggestions. I don't get it. It seems in the car audio business you either spend thousands of dollars or settle for stock crappy speakers and crappy sounding music. Is there no happy middle ground?

The point of the transducers is not to replace the speakers but to replace the subwoofer. Any sound below about 80Hz becomes relatively non directional. That is why you can put a subwoofer in the trunk.


For $500 what I would put in my car would be the Boston Acoustics Pro 60's powered by an Alpine PDX-2.150. Which you can find at Sonic #. com for $509.

Obviously not including a head-unit, wiring, rear speakers(It's a stereo system = TWO not 4), and !!!sound deadening!!!HINT




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Dodge Magnum in progress:
Pioneer DEH-80PRS - PPI Amps - Dayton Subwoofer(s) - Exodus Anarchy's - Vifa Tweeters - Kinetik Battery

The reason you get different suggestions is that is impossibel to find aperson, even with 10years, who has installed it all. Coupled with, there are different ways to accomplish the same thing. You also need to be informed about what audio is before you can start putting down someones suggestions. take it for what it is worth, an opinion. An educated one, so you should listen. when you feel like you have absorbed the info you need make the purchase. Try out different systems and see what you like also. Especially if the vehicle is similar. BTW, the transducer idea is not new, and not gimmicky. It is based on how humans hear what we hear. That is based on science. if you just want lound pressure waves, easy to do. Get some big long excursion woofers and power them with lots of voltage. everyone will agree, right? As far as affordable clean sound, also easy. Pick quality stuff and make your car quiet with speakers installed to minimize reflections/cancellations. Now if you want it to be ridiculously loud also. combine some measure of both but the melding of concepts can be problematic.

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The RIGHT way is the ONLY way.

Not impossible to find that guy, but hard nowadays anyway


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The RIGHT way is the ONLY way.

The Kenwood 9960 ain't a bad choice, but you should check out the JVC KW-NX7000BT. It's just as good as the 9960 possibly even better and cheaper if you can find it somewhere hot.

I checked out the JVC KW NX700BT and its missing some key features I want. It is missing a lot of features that the newer JVC NAV uints have built in now. It isn't compatible with the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4. I doesn't have built in bluetooth it requires an add module. It has traffic updates but you have to pay for it after 3 months and its discontinued so its no longer supported and the updates are no longer free. The Kenwood and the newer JVCs have much more features and are ompatible with the iPhone.

I think I settled on what I'm getting. The polk DB650s component speakers with some polk coaxial speakers for the back seat and a BazookA MGA4150 4-channel amp to power it all. No subwoofer after all just the speakers. Those are all good quality components and it is all under $430 which fit my budget. I think I'm going to be happy with them and the sound quality will be great. I hear polk makes good quality speakers and they got good reviews. I'm also getting dynamamt for all for doors to enhance the sound quality.

 The amp is rated at 100 watts RMS x 4 channels at 4 ohms. with two 30 amp fuses. The math says it can output 100 watts RMS to each channel.

I already bought a 0 guage amp kit. Will  0/1 guage wriing work with an amp that calls for 4 guage? Is there anything wrong with using 0 guage wire with this Bazooka amp?

0 gauge is way overkill for that amp but thats not a bad thing. You will need two ground adapters to attach power and ground to the amp.

Are you having this installed by Crutchfield some how?

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Dodge Magnum in progress:
Pioneer DEH-80PRS - PPI Amps - Dayton Subwoofer(s) - Exodus Anarchy's - Vifa Tweeters - Kinetik Battery

Good I didn't know about ground adapters. I thought I'd have to return my 0 guage kit and rebuy a 4 guage kit. I'll just get the adapters now.

I was looking at Best Buy to do the installation. The installed the first navi I had which was a Pioneer Avic which turned out to be a piece of crap which is why I'm buying a new navi. They did an ok job. I'm alos looking at another place around here called car toys. https://www.distinctivecartoyz.com/

Best bUy quoted me $360 to install an amp and 4 speakers and dynamat in all four doors. Does that sound like a good price? I'm also looking at 6Ave Electronics too. they quoted me a similar price.

Any reliable installers here please chime in. I have a 2008 Suzuki SX4 and I'd like to install component speakers,regular coaxials in the back seat and an amplifier either in the trunk or under the passenger seat and dynamat and speaker baffles in all four car doors. Do you guys have an idea of how much that "should" cost in the NJ area? Also if anyone can offer any good advice on what to look for please feel free.