Okay first of all I do not know much about car audio, but I’ve decided to replace it on my current car as it just isn’t doing it for me. My car is a 1993 Toyota Celica and has all factory wiring/speakers/deck. I ultimately would like to have a sound system that I can turn loud and have it sound really good (not rattle the dishes in the house from a mile away). To this extent I figure I need the following:
XM Ready CD Deck
XM Radio Reciever
New front and rear speakers
Subwoofer(s) and amp?
I went out and purchased a CD Deck an Alpine CDA-7892 as I liked the controls and the features it has. Beyond there I am open for suggestions and opinions on products. I do know that my XM Receiver has to be the Alpine model, but I don’t know whether to get an attenae for the top of my car or one that mounts on my window. I also know that the speakers for my car are 6.5 in sockets.
Can anyone with knowledge help here with what products would work well to give me good sound? I listen to all sorts of music from oldies to rap to rock to dance. Any and all help would be most appreciated.
I don’t know how loud you want the system to be exactly…
The RMS watts for your receiver is only 20W… kind of low…
That should be fine for the front speakers… but you may want to power the back with an amp… you can get a multi channel amp… and add a sub also…
If you don’t need it to be that loud… and the front a rear speakers are at a good volume… I would still add a powered sub in the back…
It gives you a nice clear punch in the bass…
Bazooka has some good powered subs… a 6" or 8" would be nice…
Hmmm. I’ve been out of car audio for a few years now, but I’ll tell you what I can.
For front and rear mids/highs, I can personally recommend MB Quart (unless the company has gone down the tubes in recent years . . . which I doubt, but stranger things have happened). For subs, you can’t go wrong with JL Audio’s W6 series. I had a '90 CRX with the following:
Eclipse headunit
Soundstream Ref. 200 to mids/highs
Soundstream Ref. 300 to sub
1 pair MB Quart component 5 1/4" in front
1 pair MB Quart 4" behind your head
1 JL Audio 12W6 sub
1 StreetWires one farad capacitor
I can’t tell you how many compliments I received on the quality of sound . . . not the “boom,” which IMHO is just plain obnoxious. All of that quality was in my opinion primarily due to the Quarts and the JL sub. The JLs tend to be a bit tighter than other brands of comparable cone size, but the 12" also gives you all the low you could need and more. Oh, if you want it to do so it’ll certainly rattle some china . . . but if boxed properly the high-end “punch” is superb.
I wouldn’t recommend Soundstream’s more recent products . . . from what I heard they went to crap. But for the amps, I’ve always heard good things about Xtant and Precision Power.
If you are planning on putting a decent amount of power in the system, you absolutely need a capacitor. Even higher-performance alternators will eventually burn out, otherwise. A deep-cycle battery isn’t a bad idea, either.