Beginners Install Suggestion

[Dod]

Dan thats spot on mate, thank you very much!! Rep added to all concerned.

[NovaLad]

I spent,
£160 on my sub.
£120 on my amp.
£50+, Buying a 0 guage wiring kit either today or later this week aswell.

I built my own box for my sub and it sounds ok.

I was looking into how i'm going to fit speakers to my car because i don't want to put holes in the GSi door cards.

I also don't want to replace the dash speakers.

My ownly options are.

1 speaker per rear door card - but would have to make some kind of pod or something.
Tweeters in the piller above the seat belt holder.

Can't think where i am going o be able to fit some speakers otherwise.

EDIT: The speakers i will be going for are foculs.

As said make sure you amp your speakers and sub and if you can afford it then it's allways best to use sperate amps.

Make sure most your money goes on a decent headunit as it's this which will give you that quality sound.

[Jack]

£50+, Buying a 0 guage wiring kit either today or later this week aswell.

AWG0 for one amp? Thats a bit overkill...

[Dod]

Bugger, what wiring should I go for?

[Welsh Dan]

There's not much wrong with a standard autoleads wiring kits from caruadiosecurity/halfrauds.

That being said, I lost all the leads bar the positive one, so made my own earth+remote wires, and used a 'normal' rca cable.

Ignore the hype about gold plated terminals and oxygen free copper. If you're really concerned about the quality, buy a normal cable 1 gauge thicker.

[ck]

as a basic but good system i would look to buy a decent headunit 1st, with high voltage preouts and ideal 3 (f+r+sub)

a set of front components 5-1/4inch or 6-1/2inch

a single 12" sub in a properly designed enclosure (vibe are good for the money for instance, or something along those lines)

a decent 4 channel amp to power the front components and the sub.

and a 4channel 4guage wiring kit, (will include 2x rca leads)



0 guage is overkill unless your thinkng of using like 2000+ watts RMS . 4guage will be suficient.
sound deadening will make a massive improvment to the overall sound quality and loudness to the whole system aswell.
forget about rear speakers in my opinion, you want a half decent set of front components and make sure they are amp'd. imagine going to a concert, your not going to be standing there back to the stage listening to them. naturaly you listen to things infront of you, hence forgeting about rear speakers. the diffarence is phenominal when comparing similar systems but one with a good front end setup and one without but with 6x9's

on a budget the FLi components (£50 new) are very very good for the money, as are the pheonix gold octanes. your choice really, go with something you like and make sure you allways match your amp and speakers/sub using ONLY RMS ratings..

[Jack]

forget about rear speakers in my opinion, you want a half decent set of front components and make sure they are amp'd. imagine going to a concert, your not going to be standing there back to the stage listening to them. naturaly you listen to things infront of you, hence forgeting about rear speakers. the diffarence is phenominal when comparing similar systems but one with a good front end setup and one without but with 6x9's

Au contrare, I find its better to have sound all around me, balanced with the fader and balance (and if you're feeling really good, use time delays). When I was putting audio in the Celica it sounded better on all four than it did with just the fronts connected. Even in the Nova it sounded better with decent speakers in the rear and the standard ones in front than it did with just the decent ones up front alone.

All down to personal preference though I suppose!

That reminds me, I've seen some Pioneer head units which come with a little microphone which you place on the drivers seat - the head unit then adjusts the sound to each speaker to give the best possible audio for the driver. Apparently it works really well!

[Dod]

Right, so what wiring should I use, I'm as confused as **** now!! I have a 2nd hand set up in the pipe line, boxed and all, but no details on whats what just yet. I'll post up the Brand and model numbers this afternoon.

[Jack]

Pick up an audioleads amp wiring kit (this should contain power, earth, fuses, remote lead, RCA cable), but wait til you've got an amp first as the manual will tell you what gauge wires you need for power, earth, output etc. I would say AWG4 should be ok for up to 500W RMS, but check the manual first.

Note the amp wiring kit may not come with cable to go from amp to sub (mine didn't); again, check the amp manual or output terminals to find out what size wire you need to fit then go to halfords or maplins etc (amp to sub is usually quite short, so 50cm or less should do).

Head unit just needs power (& fuse) and earth. I just used some spare 17 amp halfords wire for this.

Speaker wire, just the usual twin cable shizzle. If you're going from the head unit direct to a speaker, anything will do really. If you're going from an amp to a speaker, make sure you get some decent cable (I used AWG16 iirc) as its gotta handle more power.

You probably already know this, but remember the higher the gauge number, the smaller the wire - i.e. AWG8 is smaller than AWG2.

[Dod]

I didnt to be honest and now I'm more confused than ever. FFS!!!

Sorry if I sound lazy, but i'm just bewildered here now.

Can someone suggest an install based on the requirments mentioned in a previous post? Good sound quality, Good Bass and on a negociable (sp) budget of £400. Beers at Billing for whoever can!!