S13 Audio

[240marcuSX]

ok, so ive never posted in this forum, i drive a 90' 240. and electronics arent my high point. I have a alpine head unit, and stock speakers.

now, to my question, what i want to do is swap out the door speakers for some better ones, and get rid of the rear 4x6's altogether. but i want to get some really decent sound, so i was thinking of getting a pair of 10" speakers (suggestions please!) and im gonna try to figure out a way to maybe put them in the side panels or something. What type of amp will i need for this? Budget = i dont know, a few hundred $

Or how about this, tell me what i need to get to make this work. Or if there are severe errors in my plan??? I admit it, Im stupid when it comes to this stuff. flame all you want.:oface

[whiterps13]

10" speakers are strictly subwoofers, which require a large box, amp, extensive wiring, and will give you no sound besides bass. that is not a very good option if you want sound clarity. what you can do is replace all of your 4x6's and run a 4 channel amp to all of them. this will give you very good highs, mids and decent lows. for more bass you can install a single 10" sub, or any combo of 10s, 12s, or 15s.

[240marcuSX]

see, there is no way that i knew any of that dude. thanks alot. Can you ballpark a price for a 4 channel amp? or give me any suggestions of brands?

[rawill240sx]

Make an adapter plate so you can mount 5 1/4" in the doors. cost: speakers $70 - $300 adapter plate ???? I think there is a thread where someone was selling these.

Now for bass.There are a couple of paths here, you could build your own enclosure or buy a ready made one. Build your own: ~$40 for the wood, screws, and sealant + cost of covering material?? + cost of the subwoofer $50 - $200 + cost of connectors and wire.

Now of a plug and play premade package ~$200 for a single 10" in a bandpass box or a little less for a 10" in a vented of sealed enclosure.

Amp to run everything.$200 - $300 for a decent 4 channel amp.

Now add about $50 for power wire and speaker wire and signal cable.

All this said you are looking at $550 - $600. All of these prices are base on what Crutchfield currently has on thier website.

Or go the cheaper route, this setup will not win any spl or sound quality awards but will sound good enough for the daily commute. Infinity 4x6 plates up front with a powered sub. You could do this setup for >$300.

[slipnfall]

I'm assuming you want to put the 10's in the front doors? I havn't seen the inside of any 240 doors, but I would imagine space is pretty tight. You'll be lucky to fit that big 'a speaker in there. Usually people put 10"ers in the sides of the body, not door(ie a Bronco, or Jeep).

What are you looking for in terms of audio? Do you want it to be *just* loud, or load with good quality? About the best(in terms of both quality and SPL) sounding setup you could go with is a component set. It will usually contain a 3"+ mid range speaker to mount in the factory door location. Also included will be a small(like 1-2") high-range directional speaker to mount on the top of the door, or on the dash/pillar. To drive these components, is a crossover: think of it like an amp for each of the two speakers. This setup will provide the best tonal sound quality, because three sets of speakers are used to handle the desired frequency range(you'll need a sub box in the rear for any bass support). For speakers and crossover you'll spend anywhere from $250-400.

Next best thing, IMHO, would be a good set of door coaxial speakers. Do yourself a favor and get a circular speaker, not an oval(ie 4x6). A 3-way speaker is good enough-you won't notice much a diff. with a 4-way. Brand price ranges are all over the place, do your research here. A 50W continuous rating is more than enough. Bottom line, focus your money on quality speakers for mid-high range! I wouldn't spend less than $120 on two good coaxials.

In terms of amps, go with a known brand, Precision Power(PPI), Rockford F., etc), mainly for warranty/servicing. Also stay away from the cheaper all digital amps: they have dissapointed me in the past in terms of power output.(*caugh* Blaupunkt). Your options are various here, depending on if you want to drive *just* those two doors speakers, or allow for future expansion.

[240marcuSX]

man, thats expensive. i guess ill start with replacing the 4x6's. and ill see if i can source a deal on a 4 channel amp.

[240marcuSX]

no i dont want to put 10's in the doors? that would be pretty impossible. i was saying in the rear seat paneling or something, but that was before i found that 10's were woofers. i dont want woofers really, i just want some bigger speakers to give decent bass to complement the 4x6's.

[slipnfall]

lol, ok, I didn't think you'd want 10" ers in the doors. ;-) For the rear, just get a decent set of 6x9 for the deck.

[240marcuSX]

well i do have a pair of polk 6x9's, will they actually fit back there?

[slipnfall]

oops, my bad. I was thinking of a coupe. No, there's probably not room on the deck for 6x9's. 4x6's will fit in the side panels. You'll have to remove the cover to see if there's room for 6x9s. Sorry for the confusion.

[240marcuSX]

i did have 6x9's in the doors, i made them work, but the windows hit them when i roled them down all the way.

[Rex]

Not completely sure what your goal is, even after reading, but I'll offer a few suggestions.

• Check the "plates" thread as Chris at UnderGround MotorSports offers adapter plates for bigger round front speakers.
• Set a budget and let us know so we can give suggested packages that fit within it.
• Check your local Car Audio store and listen to some 6" coax's.
• Let us know what they were and what amp the store was using to power them.
• Decide exactly what you want - 4 full range speakers? 2 full range & 1 sub, 4 full range & 1 sub?

Off the cuff, I'd say a good mid to upper range Pioneer coax's in the doors, a simple 10" sub and a mild 4 channel amp (stereo front, bridged rear).

Pioneer TS-C1653 - $119.00 6 1/2's with tweeters and crossovers included.

or

Kicker K65.2 - $129.00 6 3/4's with tweeters and crossovers included.

With

Phoenix Gold Titanium 10" Subwoofer - $89.00 more sub than you'd need, but on a deal.

or

Kicker Comp 10" Subwoofer - $49.00 Simple basic sub.

Using Phoenix Gold Octane-R 5.0:4 - $159.00 Simple 4 channel amp

or

A nice small Autotek amp, I'd reco the SX line, they have 4 channels available on ebay for about $200.

This is just a down and dirty reco, let us know more of what you want, and I'll try again .

Good lcuk.

[240marcuSX]

out of the setups that you named rex i would most like to have 4 full range speakers. i would like to avoid having a sub, or anything that requires a box.

It isnt really bass that im looking for, as in like deep deep tone "bumping" kind of thing, just something that can get loud and not sound like crap and have decent low range.

do you think that the 4 full range speakers can provide that with a 4 channel amp powering them? and of the pictures you provided, which ones are full range speakers, the first or the second pic? Thank you for being so thorough.

[Rex]

The 2 sets of speakers I displayed are considered "seperates" as the mid and the tweeter are seperate. If you're looking for 4 "full range" speakers, I'd reco a pair of high end (as much as your budget can handle and your ears can hear the diff) up front and a good set of "mid's" in the rear. I know Chris at UnderGround MotorSports has/makes mounting playtes for the front, not sure what you can get to fit the rear.

Something like these Pioneer 4-way's - $99.99 at Crutchfield up front.

For the rears, I'll have to wait for someone to chime in and say what can fit (and how) as the stock locations are 4x6, IIRC and that's not really worth it.

Those 4-ways up front a just a small sub 8 or 10 in the rear and it wouldn't be too bass heavy.

[240marcuSX]

well so far, i think ive decided to do 6.5" in the doors with the plates that ive read about, and im still trying to figure out about the rear.

maybe i can just take out my back seat and put a small 8 or 10 box and maybe mount it to one of the sides. unless it might be better to get 2 and put one on each side?

[Rex]

Since "bass" isn't really a stereophonic sound, a single sub within 20 feet of you should be fine. Having only a subwoofer (or at least no highs) in the rear will help create a rear fill of low end to allow the soud to feel more spacious and using good 3 or 4 way speakers up front will create a "stage". Now all this may seem way more than you want, but I think the best simple systems are made up of a pair of front speakers and a small sub.

Be aware of the sub/voice coil design (single/dual, 2/4/8 ohm, etc) and use a 4 channel amp with the front channels running stereo and the rear channels bridged onto the sub/subs. Look for an amp with a built in cross-over.

[black240sx93]

Or you could just by non name brand stuff and pay less then 300 bucks for the works.1600watt amp 4 channel-60 bucks Wiring kit-25 bucks 2 1100watt 12" subs-140 bucks1 fard cap-44 bucks.5 Fard cap-20 buckssub box-22 buckssealant-2.50The total is about 253.50 cents but I am not going for the most powerfull system out there.

[Rex]

Or you could just by non name brand stuff and pay less then 300 bucks for the works.1600watt amp 4 channel-60 bucks Wiring kit-25 bucks 2 1100watt 12" subs-140 bucks1 fard cap-44 bucks.5 Fard cap-20 buckssub box-22 buckssealant-2.50The total is about 253.50 cents but I am not going for the most powerfull system out there.

Yes, without a doubt this will work. And for the most part will be full/loud enough for everyone. The biggest risk of using "lower end" equipment is fault rate. Aside from barggging rights, the better name equipment is made with better parts and generally has better life expectancy.

Budget systems are normally good, just don't end up like so moany of the people I've heard with budget systems, that wanted everyone else to hear them .

Good luck and have fun .

[black240sx93]

The none name brand stuff that I have has lasted longer than the name brand stuff that I used to have and the only thing that is not name brand is one cap and the amp.I used to have a 600watt Jensen and it burnt up in 6 weeks. But the new amp has been going for almost a year know, so it is all good.Plus it was cheaper for me to get a non name brand amp then it was for me to just get another Jensen amp but this amp will work for know.I get alot of my cheap stuff of ebay.