Sound System!

[acemodder]

Hey all

What sound systems do you all have in your cars?

MY ZS has a Pioneer DEH-5000UB head-unit with USB connector in the glove box.

I have a Vibe SLR12 Subwoofer in the boot with a Slick A0 Mono Amplifier.

All the other speakers are 180 standards.

[Ritchy]

sony xplod 4x 52watt , flippy down front:Pwith usb 10 disc sony cd changer, standard speaker, kenwood amp in boot with a sony xplod subwoofer under the boot carpet

[acemodder]

My sub seems to move about a fair bit in my boot, but its not held down. It sit on top of the spare wheel, any easy way to hold it down in place?

[Ritchy]

i cut a 12" hole in a 45 tool kit and mounted it in that so it sits on top of the wheel. its not enclosed, is yours in a box? if so maybe velcro? would have to see it tbh

[stevelou5]

I have 2 10" subs in the rear either side (just soem cheap ones off the net spl I think and a 450 watt amp again spl and I jvc head unit with i pod connection.

[acemodder]

http://www.motorspeed.com/sitepix/products/vibe-evoactive-12.jpg

[starfire039]

I had that sub acemodder, the active one, I thought it was pretty good!

[Jay-ZS+]

Until recently I had 2x 12" Rainbow Hammer subs powered by 2x Alpine PDX 1.600 amps in the boot then up front had 2 Rainbow SAX 265.50 components in each door powered by a Alpine PDX 4.100 amp. All connected up to a 2nd stinger battery in boot and a Pioneer DEH-P6900IB with ipod attached. Was worth more than the car :laugh: Although going for just the one set of Rainbow components and headunit in the 180. light weight ftw ;)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/boot%20install%20mk2/DSCN7195.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/MK1%20120%20ZS/DSC02169.jpg

[acemodder]

Oh I like your blue door trims, where they from?

[g8ndj]

ive got a fli twin 12' sub waiting to be made into custom boxs, keeping all the standard speakers for nw but I am going to amp them.

Trying to do it all on a very small budget!

[Jay-ZS+]

Oh I like your blue door trims, where they from?

Cheers was as a custom job :)

[Dan1971]

Alpine head unit. Might upgrade the speakers at some stage, but that'll be it.

[Simon's ZS-120]

I have a sony head unit in the boot i have a 12" vibe space sub that is built into the band pass enclosure im running a vibe black box to run the sub and a hertz EP-4 to power my front door speakers and they are still standard :( im also running pioneer 6x9s this is all powerd on a 4gage power lead that goes in to a rockford fosgate power cap and is then split in to 2 seprate leads for the amps i done this by a distribution block


Alot Of Wires And Cable Ties But It Looks Intresting lol

[MGPete]

Switched my crappy Climax set-up last year for the following components (HU still the same).

Stupidly I fell for the smooth talk of the seller and bought a full climax set-up :slap: After driving with it for a year and never getting the sound quite right I decided to get the following set-up:
(quite a happy puppy now :punk:

- Pioneer AVIC-X3 BT head unit,

- Audiosystem X-Ion 165 compo in the front,

- Exact HX20T4 tweeters have replaced the tweeters from the AS X-Ion,

- Audiosystem CO 165 in the back,

- Audiosystem Radion 90.4 amp, each channel amplifying only the front tweeters and speakers separately,

- Audiosystem Radion 180.2 amp for the woofer,

- Audiosystem X-Ion 12 plus BR subwoofer,

- Audison Bit One digital soundprocessor.


http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk290/Bushidog/DSC00797.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk290/Bushidog/DSC00796.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk290/Bushidog/DSC00795.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk290/Bushidog/DSC00798.jpg

[Dan1971]

Never quite got the big box in the boot thing ..... :confused:

[acemodder]

My amp is bolted to the base of the boot, under the carpet of the left side of the boot looking into it from behind the car.

[MGPete]

Never quite got the big box in the boot thing ..... :confused:

A good woofer truly adds to the sound and since I never really use all the space of the boot, I figured Why not? Wish I could get something built like Jay has, but don't have the money (yet :smile2:) and it's kinda impractical for me :(

My previous amp was at the same place as yours acmodder, but these two don't fit there anymore :wall:

[Jay-ZS+]

Wish I could get something built like Jay has, but don't have the money (yet :smile2:) and it's kinda impractical for me :(

I reckon it only cost me less than £60 in materials :D plus the £1500 on equipment and £300 on sound proofing :slap:

[MGPete]

plus the time and craftsmanship to do the job yourself lol.
Looks very cool imo :thumbsup:

[Jay-ZS+]

plus the time and craftsmanship to do the job yourself lol.
Looks very cool imo :thumbsup:

Cheers Pity its in a landfill site now :(

[Dan1971]

A good woofer truly adds to the sound ......

But I don't sit in the boot listening to the stereo, or park up at McDonalds and stand around it ......

[MGPete]

LOL, neither do I :laugh:

'cos if I would, the woofer would sound crap. It just adds to the overall sound mate :music:
And no, I'm not one of those boomcar guys with hardstyle house. I'm a metal fan :punk: so the bass should not overpower the music. It just gives the bassguitar a little more depth.

Some people keep all the ZS' original speakers and just add a woofer for that extra dimension a woofer gives.


Pete1970 :wave:

[Simon's ZS-120]

my sub has become very loud and needs bigger speakers for treble i like loud music so going to invest in some good front speakers

[Jay-ZS+]

But I don't sit in the boot listening to the stereo, or park up at McDonalds and stand around it ......

Never had my car anywhere near McDonalds cant stand the place! lol With a good sound system you shouldnt be able to hear it from outside! I paid for my audio equipment I dont want others listening to it :laugh: But lightweight is definatly the way forward ;) for best sound quality get some decent headphones and plug yourself in weighs alot less!! ;) (jokin!)

[Glen290]

i have a blaupunkt DAB 54 headunit in, some blaupunkt 6x9's on shelf and a smallish JBL sub in boot, shame they never made any of those stealth boxes for the ZS, they always looked smart..

[Bobdope2002]

i have a sony HU, Some new speakers i got from halfrauds and a small sub in the boot floor

Does me fine

[talkingcars]

Never quite got the big box in the boot thing ..... :confused:
A good woofer truly adds to the sound.........
even though I listern to Radio 4 a lot I agree that a sub adds to the quality of the sound, even if it is only talk, it gives the sound much greater depth

and then when I do play AC/DC or 'tallica...............

As others have said, it isn't ovensively load to outsiders.

[grimmy]

Got a Kenwood head unit in the car with kenwood speakers in the doors and parcel shelf with a 300 watt fusion amp running 2 12" mutant subs in a custom box cheap as hell i know but does what i need it to improve the sound.Slipknot Slayer and suicidal tendencies sound amazing

[mattie007]

Do head units make much difference to the sound quality?
Ive currently got a Sony head unit which is about 5 years old but Ive never been happy with the sound.
Ive got decent speakers, boston in the front and infinity in the rear plus a 1000w Fli sub.
Im thinking my head unit is the cause of the poor sound? Or is it because its not all amped up?

[talkingcars]

It depends on the head unit, most manufacturers produce cheaper as well as expensive ones.

I've a high end Sony in my maestro along with sony speakers and active sub and the sounds is superb, however the cheap sony in our ZR produces a much poorer sound.

[mattie007]

Its never been amazing so could be a lower end job I guess.

[Jay-ZS+]

There are so many things that will effect the sound quality from the sound file, quality of media cd/mp3, headunit,amps,installation right down to the quality of RCA and speaker cables you are using. The Headunit is the inital part of the system with a top quality HU you will start off with the best possible quality but start off with a budget unit and the SQ will be instantly be lower and no amount of gold plated cables, high quality amps, silk coned speakers will make up for that intial loss. As James said you cant go off of brand name alone as all the 'household' brands make both high quality units as well as the budget ones often found half price in halfords! lol

Obviously the change of speakers alone will make the largest noticeable difference, thinks like how they are installed make just as much difference. One of the reasons id always recommend some sort of soundproofing, the more the better, just 'bounces' the bass back into the car rather than sending the soundwaves rattling though the body pannels!!! Theres often a massive difference between a loud system and a sound quality system.

[Ritchy]

i like a little bit of kick in my bass, but i dont like music too loud when driving bit off putting

[MGPete]

Some very true words of Jay there.

Switching from my previous Pioneer P70BT to my current HU (Pioneer Avic-X3 BT) gave a huge difference in sound. That was when I still had the OEM speakers in my Zed.

You should also always try to listen to different HU brands before choosing one. Pioneers are know to have a more piercing sound. When I was looking to get rid of the distortion in my ears from the high tones, we tried a Kenwood HU to see if it made any difference, and it did. The Kenwood sounded more pleasant for me, but still the high tones were not good enough.
Finally I opted for the Audison Bit One digital soundprocessor which gives me a 31 band graphic equalizer per channel... but that's not relevant now ;)

Point is that good sound depends firstly on the expectations of the listener, secondly, as a result of point one, the choosen HU. From there on you can start upgrading which ever you want. As I said before, I know of people who have the complete OEM Zed speakersystem with just a woofer and the sound is good enough for them. Even just soundproofing the car can already make a huge difference.

[Dan1971]

Speaker upgrade and dynamat in my old Mk2 (now Sheppeyduo's) went a long way I have to say.

So, in a hatchback then, where would the dynamat go ? In the saloon it was easy enough as the speakers are housed on the back shelf, but as the one in the hatch comes out, where would the best place be to put some matting ?

[Jay-ZS+]

You cant really do it very well for the rear speakers on the hatch, just doing the front speakers would improve the sound.

On mine I did the whole boot floor, boot lid right the way up round the glass, took the rear lights out and all round where they are mounted and refit, up the outter skin of the rear quaters as far up as I could reach, then all round the numberplate, the inner and outer skins of the front doors. Then doubled it up in places. But that was pretty extreme must have spent £300 on dynamat got a discount for buying in bulk :blush: With the doors shut otherthan the wing mirrors vibrating you could hardly hear the music even though on the inside it would move a phone off the drivers seat!! lol

[Bobdope2002]

The Difference between my standard HU and the Sony Was mind blowing

the Xplod Setting on the Sony units is great