ICE Help

What are you after? Something that looks good enough to get your car nicked or something that sounds good enough for you to enjoy?

Best way to improve any car audio is to bin each and every 6x9 in sight. They have no place in any sound-generating equipment, ever.

Where are your ears? On the side of your head. Where is the best place to have a speaker? At ear level, pointing at you (more or less) with nothing in the way from the front... So, you have something sat behind you, facing upwards at a glass panel? Thats going to sound just fabulous! ;)

Subs in small spaces are difficult to do right. Many different approaches are possible, it depends what you want etc etc.

For the love of god just ignore car amp specs. They are a joke.

Why is it that car audio is something that so many people get so horrifically wrong? Its just another show-off thing, I am convinced very few people are at all concerned about sound quality at all - they just want to be able to hear it from the other side of the car park :/
 
I'd rather be seen than heard tbh.

And no I don't want something that looks good enough to get my car nicked.

The Fli sub comes in it's own box anyway.
 
I'm not sure which route to go down.

Active or Passive Sub.

Any ideas on what sub (active) for <£150.

Also if I go down amp/sub route what would you suggest?
 
Ok so you have decided to ignore every bit of advice on this thread and basically just want to know what amp and sub to buy for £150?
 
in my VTR, had soem JBL all in one component ones in the front, cost around £20ish, stad. rear speakers and a VIBE active sub in the back, all powered by a 77MP headunit, and it sounded superb, have been bougfht up around audophile parents etc. and i couldnt fault the car, its the headunit that makes the most difference i find in quality, then a nice small active sub really tops it off.

Also dont turn the sub up, i had mine set to a Xover of 125hz at -4 db, the std. speakers at a cut off of 80hz and it sounded wonderful, as you get the bass formt he sub without the small speakers ruining it all.

as for the wiring, get the power straight fomr the battery imo, also DO NOT install and run a sub and 6x9's in the parcel shelf at the same time, have put the reaosn below, quoted form another site:

"6x9s on a parcel shelf with a sub in the boot will not work!

Simple demo.

1. Unplug you wires from your 6x9s
2. Set stereo at the normal listening volume as you would have it while driving.
3. Sit on the back seat of the car and look at the cones on the 6x9s. See how there moving! With out wires its a miricle aint it? no it isnt its the air presure that the subs moving in the boot thats making them move. If there where wired up they would be fighting this presure and you would not be getting the maximum you can from your sub.

Also is audio recorded in four channels no its recored in two left and right (exept for the very rare 5.1 audio dvds that are availble) so you only need 2 channels which should be at the front of the car as if you were at a concert would you face the front or the back? The human ear is designed to hear sound at its optimum from the front. The reason you can get away with the sub being out of the way in the boot is that low frequancys travel well where as high frequancys dont.


Let's start with the contenious issue of 6x9's mounted in the parcel shelf.

If a system has good front speakers, normally 5 inch or greater, and a sub woofer then the whole range of music can be played effectivly.

If 6x9's are then added in the parcel shelf, and are playing full range the following issues occur..
Bass cancellation, due to the subs and 6x9's playing the same frequencies. It also muddles the sound quite badly. Due to the subs and 6x9's effectively sharing the same enclosure. In some severe cases they can even get destroyed due to the subs pushing too much air around them.

Also in this type of setup the sound is dragged backwards, this is down to personal preference.

In many situations where midbass can be played from the front it is better in terms of SQ to remove the rear speakers. This way the sub bass cannot be pinpointed so all the sound appears to be coming from the front."

form http://www.saxosportsclub.com/forum/, which if you own a vtr you shoyuld be a member of, a very helpful site with people who know their crap
 
Thanks for the info dadofsam, I'm on Saxosportsclub (chr1s_vtr).

I've decided that i'm going to do it in stages and the sub & amp are first on the list. I'll be installing front components and tweeters (<---Maybe) next.

What vibe active sub did you have a 10" or 12"?

I'm thinking of getting the 12" fli (made by Vibe) although I think the vibes look the biz in the casing.

tbh I will be selling my rear 6x9's as I feel it will sound boot heavy.

I need to know which way i'm going, active or passive sub.
 
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I have the 10" older model one, ut gessing they are still the same essentially.

For comparissons sake a friend has just spent about 1k on his boot build, a Custom Wesdt Coast amp and sub all enclosed etc.
Whilst it sounds ok it doesnt blow you away, and deff. not worth the 1k he spent imo, you can goto halford and listen to subs, but really its not much good until you here them in your car.

To be honest i would go for an active one, it may not sound perfectly crystal clear but it would be close, and really after you go above the 3.5k rpm in your vtr all you should be doing is listening to the noise it makes :P

ohh, just remebered, another huge + for me getting an active was it was an all in one uinit, very easy to move form one car to the next and doesnt use excessive amounts of space, can still fit a weeks shopping from a generic supermaket chain in the boot with ease if thats an issue at all for you.
 
i stuck my REL Q100e hi fi sub in the boot connected to a power inverter and the HU's sub out, thats only 100w and was more than loud enough :confused:

i think im gonna stick some 6*9s on the parcel shelf powered by a small stereo amp, leave the HU to amp the fronts :)
 
dadofsam said:
I have the 10" older model one, ut gessing they are still the same essentially.

For comparissons sake a friend has just spent about 1k on his boot build, a Custom Wesdt Coast amp and sub all enclosed etc.
Whilst it sounds ok it doesnt blow you away, and deff. not worth the 1k he spent imo, you can goto halford and listen to subs, but really its not much good until you here them in your car.

To be honest i would go for an active one, it may not sound perfectly crystal clear but it would be close, and really after you go above the 3.5k rpm in your vtr all you should be doing is listening to the noise it makes :P

ohh, just remebered, another huge + for me getting an active was it was an all in one uinit, very easy to move form one car to the next and doesnt use excessive amounts of space, can still fit a weeks shopping from a generic supermaket chain in the boot with ease if thats an issue at all for you.
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Thanks, so what active sub should i go for? Do I really need a 12" sub?
 
Smiley Man said:
i stuck my REL Q100e hi fi sub in the boot connected to a power inverter and the HU's sub out, thats only 100w and was more than loud enough :confused:

i think im gonna stick some 6*9s on the parcel shelf powered by a small stereo amp, leave the HU to amp the fronts :)
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Don't do that. The sub will damage the 6x9's. You have the sub for your bass, now you need to improve your mid and high range. So look at a new comp setup for the front speakers only, then turn the rear speakers off.
 
Dreadi said:
i think my other post was brushed aside :confused:

can you stick subs in somewhere else apart from the boot ?
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You can buy small ones designed to go underneath the drivers seat for cars with small boots.
 
saitrix said:
Don't do that. The sub will damage the 6x9's. You have the sub for your bass, now you need to improve your mid and high range. So look at a new comp setup for the front speakers only, then turn the rear speakers off.
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the sub was put in there for a laugh, you really think i keep it in there? its in my room with my mission 773es :p

the front speakers are staying, only bought them a month or so ago

some 6*9s and an amp for the back - thats all i need
 
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