Unsure on what to do... ideas please?

[DemonAstroth]

It's been about 8 months since I have had a different car, and yet I have not change the audio at all.

From my previous car, I have the following:

SR6500's
Eclipse CD7200mkii (w/ ipod adapter)

And I have purchased:

Alpine PDX-5
8" sub.


My new car is a first gen Audi TT. It is pretty small and does not have much space at all. Thus, I have been seriously considered whether I want to install this stuff or just leave the car as is.

Unfortunately, the car has a in dash tape player and radio, and a rear seat 6 cd changer; certainly this is not enough as I was used to using my Ipod to listen to all my music.

Now, in the meantime, I have used a tape adapter to listen to the ipod, but the quality is clearly lacking. However, the stock sound, while playing cd's or listening to the radio, is actually very good.

It basically consists of a pair of component speakers (6 1/2), with an in dash tweeter to bring up the sound. The rear also has two 6 1/2's but they are mid/bass only. In fact, the head unit has the fade disabled, only the balance (R/L) works. It's Bose by the way.


So, now I don't know what to do, and hence why any input will be very appreciated.


I can of course go all out, install the sub, components and head unit with ipod control. The sound with enough tuning should be great,, though the car does have small space and it does worry me that the soundstage will be lowered due to the dash tweeter not working anymore. The downside to this, is of course that I'll have to pay someone to do it, and that I will lose space (very precious in this small car) because of the sub.

On the other hand, I could not install anything sound at all. The downside of course is that I don't have ipod control unless it's through the cassette adapter, and this sucks.

Last, maybe I could trade or sell and then buy a headunit with an amp. My current head unit is a dead unit, needing the amplifier. I was thinking of downgrading to the CD7100, as I already have Eclipse IPod control. If I do this I may be able to get decent sound out of the Bose speakers, and get Ipod control. I can then sell the Alpine amp and the polk sr's and even make some money out of it. Will this work though? i don't know.

Any ideas, feedback, input greatly appreciated. I need to do something already!

[arun1963]

It's been about 8 months since I have had a different car, and yet I have not change the audio at all.

From my previous car, I have the following:

SR6500's
Eclipse CD7200mkii (w/ ipod adapter)

And I have purchased:

Alpine PDX-5
8" sub.


My new car is a first gen Audi TT. It is pretty small and does not have much space at all. Thus, I have been seriously considered whether I want to install this stuff or just leave the car as is.

Unfortunately, the car has a in dash tape player and radio, and a rear seat 6 cd changer; certainly this is not enough as I was used to using my Ipod to listen to all my music.

Now, in the meantime, I have used a tape adapter to listen to the ipod, but the quality is clearly lacking. However, the stock sound, while playing cd's or listening to the radio, is actually very good.

It basically consists of a pair of component speakers (6 1/2), with an in dash tweeter to bring up the sound. The rear also has two 6 1/2's but they are mid/bass only. In fact, the head unit has the fade disabled, only the balance (R/L) works. It's Bose by the way.


So, now I don't know what to do, and hence why any input will be very appreciated.


I can of course go all out, install the sub, components and head unit with ipod control. The sound with enough tuning should be great,, though the car does have small space and it does worry me that the soundstage will be lowered due to the dash tweeter not working anymore. The downside to this, is of course that I'll have to pay someone to do it, and that I will lose space (very precious in this small car) because of the sub.

On the other hand, I could not install anything sound at all. The downside of course is that I don't have ipod control unless it's through the cassette adapter, and this sucks.

Last, maybe I could trade or sell and then buy a headunit with an amp. My current head unit is a dead unit, needing the amplifier. I was thinking of downgrading to the CD7100, as I already have Eclipse IPod control. If I do this I may be able to get decent sound out of the Bose speakers, and get Ipod control. I can then sell the Alpine amp and the polk sr's and even make some money out of it. Will this work though? i don't know.

Any ideas, feedback, input greatly appreciated. I need to do something already!

My $ 0.02 and there are wiser folks than me here.

1. You have the sr's, alpine pdx and the 7200 and you're listening to Bose? Ok, a bit OTT but seriously.....

2. You have very good stuff. Don't sell it, install it.

We will help you tune it and then you can come back and thank us. :D.

[cadenceclipse]

good advice from arun, especially point #1. sounds like one of ur bigest problems is space. u got a small car but a pdx5 and an 8?? doesn't get much smaller.. Your obviously a bit of an audiophile to say the least. but hey if stock bose is good enough, than, it'll work. Give the money to the poor. otherwise if everything else u said is true u can put that amp under your seat, on the side or back of your box, in your glovebox, or in your armpit. theres a spot just waiting to to be screwed to her. as for your 8, mount it in your trunk, under your cd player(like me), behind your seat(like my buddy), or get 2 and cut them back holes bigger! u got plenty of options, question is if you just lost it(ur mind!), your filthy rich, or you just stole that setup..

[chu]

Nice setup :D. I agree with Arun, don't sell what you have except for the sub and upgrade it to a 12.

1. The pdx amp should be able to fit snuggly under one of the front seats, so that shouldn't be a problem with space. You just have to secure it, and you will be fine.

2. You could either put a sealed enclosure in the trunk, under or on the back seat. You will have to sacrifice space but not much. Tbh, you should consider going with a 12 instead of an 8, cause you will more than likely upgrade it down the line and the space difference isn't much. I know I did.

I have my my sub on one of my back seats. I really don't miss the spot, and it means that there is one less person you will have to worry about in your car. I still utilize the space where the sub is by stacking things on top of it (I need the space for work related stuff).

3. If you are planning to get rid of the sr, sell em to me ^_^.

I'm not the most technically inclined with installing my system in my truck, but I did it. Trust me, its really easy to do and you should be fine.

[bigaudiofanatic]

Get rid of the entire system in the new can put a new head unit in. Put the alpine under the seat as said above. And install your speakers and sub.

[cadenceclipse]

what'd u expect us to say??

and i know ur not filthy rich..

[DemonAstroth]

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to reply.

From the general concensus, I see that installing everything seems the most popular idea.

I installed most everything in my old car (except for the power cable to the amps, going through the firewall and all that), but at a high of 16 degrees today and a generally crappy climate, I refuse to install everything, hence why I have to pay someone to do it in a warm heated shop.

The idea of the amp under the seat is great. Unfortunately the sub is a different thing. I practically do not have rear seats. They are merely a glorified leather wrapped shelf, and there is no space under or behind the seat. I cannot put it behind the fold seats because as it is I barely have any cargo space, and I do use it. I will see about modifying the side trunk area (as long as there is still access to the rear bulbs), or the side of the seat (where a first aid kit resides). If that is possible then I will soon be asking questions about tuning in a very small car.

Also, I used to have a couple of 10 inch Infinity Kappa Perfects before, and quite honestly they were overkill. I just need something that will play decently from 80 to hopefully 20Hz at moderate to loud levels and I will be a happy camper, so looking for a 12 is out of the question.

Thank you again and happy new year!

[cadenceclipse]

kappa perfects r really sensitive speakers. not too bad sounding though. overkill sounds like poor install. mostlikely tuning.. whats your 8 inch?

[arun1963]

A decent 8" driver should hit the 20hz note. It would also give you decent volume since it would be located in the cabin. Small sealed box would do the trick.

[DemonAstroth]

cadence,

by overkill, I mean that I had to have the gains very very low, and that they could get a lot louder than needed. I had a small car so I didn't need two powerful 10's. I was powering them with an Eclipse 34230 which was greatly underrated. As for tuning, I primarily used the Focal tuning cd's along with a few of my favorite artists CD's. I have the microphone for the CD7200 so that would help with some of the tuning. The sound was great, but I always felt that I could have down with less (maybe just one 10")

As for "what's your 8 inch", and "A decent 8" driver should hit the 20Hz note", that's what I'm afraid of. I quite honestly traded a pair of MB Quartz components I had just laying around for this 8", and I've never even heard the brand. Probably a bad trade, I know. It's a Planet Audio P-835, if that tells you anything.

If it works I'll be happy, if not hopefully I can get a "decent 8". It's just that this hobby is getting expensive. I want to be done and have great sound all at once... I guess that's the reason why I started this thread.

[arun1963]

To get good sound, equipment is worth about 20%, another 25% is the quality of your install and acoustics mgt inside your car and a whopping 55% is tuning. I'm not saying that you'll get pure sq if you tune xplod / jensens etc. But you dont have to buy $1k amps and $800 subs either.

An 8" will hit the 20hz note. Keep the gains down and cut it off around 50-60hz. I've never heard of planet audio so cant comment if your trade was good.

For now, just focus on getting everything installed. Then, tune the setup and then decide if you want to swap/buy anything.

[DemonAstroth]

From the looks of it, there should be some room in the side of the cargo area. There's a panel with a vent, and I dont' think there's anything important there.

I'm just worried about the sound from the sub bouncing of the rear glass. It may become a PITA to tune. But I spent a few weeks tuning the old car, until I was completely happy, so i'm willing to spend a few extra weeks to make sure the sound ends up great.

[arun1963]

Reflections are an issue for frequencies with shorter wavelengths. Your upper mids and highs. Don't worry about the sub frequencies reflecting off the glass.

When you install the sr's, be very careful with the angles of the tweets. To get an idea, do a temp mount on top of your dash. Get the far tweet dead on axis to you and then play around with the angle of the near tweet. You will find that there is a very narrow margin where the two tweets blend well and you have crystal clear highs. Anything out of this angle and your highs would sound hollow.

[MCCLIPSE]

I've seen Planet Audio before, it's decent stuff, it's certainly better than Pyle and Boss. LOL