Sound System Q's

[audiousECLIPSE]

Okay, so, I'm probably going to have to start saving up for my sound system here soon. What should I know before going out and buying?

 

[Korndogg]

well that's not vague at all..
what do you already know? have you ever touched a speaker? do you know what an ohm is?
what are your goals? to be loud and abnoxious or to just have a smooth sounding system?
post more info and we can help you out.

 

[audiousECLIPSE]

I had that one coming.

No, I don't know what an OHM is. I know your amp needs to have a certain amount of wattage to handle the speakers/sub or whatever, but I don't know the specifics. What should I know about piecing together my system? And I'm aiming for something smooth sounding, a little on the loud side, but nothing radical.

 

[Korndogg]

just quick and dirty cause i'm gonna go to bed for work, but..

for door speakers:
find some decent 2-way or better yet 3-way speakers. a single cone cannot cleanly produce a full range a frequencies at the same time.

an ohm relates to how much a conductor resists electrical current. think of it like a garden hose.. the more resistance, the smaller the hose (less electricity flows). the less resistance, bigger hose, more current flows. now this does not mean that your speakers will be louder depending on current. but depending on how you wire your subs (if you have more than one voice coil), you will give the amp a different load. so it will "see" a different amount of resistance. voice coils can be wired in series or in parallel - google them for a diagram. if you put two 4 ohm speakers in parallel, the amp will see a 2 ohm load. put them in series, it will see a 8 ohm load. the amp should put out twice as much with a 2 ohm load on it then with a 4. and with the 4 ohm load it should be approx twice as much as with the 8 ohm load. but this does not mean that you can just put a 1 or 2 ohm load on any amp - the amp should say what it's rated to (1 or 2 ohm stable, for example).

anyway.. it's hard to clearly represent this quickly. but here's my suggestion. alpine is extremely good. the sound quality is awesome and they bump well. some type E's (bottom line) sound great and pound amazingly well even with a cheap amp. i suggest you play with some alpine type E's, S's, and R's at circuit city. also, don't skimp on the box. the box can make or break the entire system. a decent box can be had for $35 on ebay though for two 12" subs.

also, crutchfield.com (if you're unfamiliar) is good for information, and prices if they're haveing a deal on something. their regular prices are rip offs, though come with extras. you might buy a deck from them as it comes with all of the extras for your car, but piece together the rest of the system on there and then buy on ebay or something

wow, that was longer than i intended
off to bed

 

[Attack Eagle]

only one problem... you wont find alpine at circus circus anymore, they are now at bust bought.


Id' say components up front, they are cleaner and play smoother in my opinion.
6x9 2 ways in the back and a nice 4 channel amp for them, a nice digital amp for the subs, or if you can find one the Alpine 5 channel is an excellent bargain and plays quite loudly and cleanly for the price.

get a head with sub out

My personal favorite brand is JBL, but as for getting things at a chain or discount I would agree with alpine.

Get it installed professionally. IF you have never installed a system, you probably don't want to learn on expensive components, but if you do...

Take a weekend take things apart carefully (2gs are relatively easy) and PLAN AHEAD.

Don';t skimp on install parts, but don't pay thru the nose either,

 

[audiousECLIPSE]

Quite possibly some of the best advice I've ever gotten on DSMtuners.

A+ for reading comprehension. I swear, on most threads, you ask a question and it's like people made up their own question to answer.