Audio Opinions

Prozon

Kris
I need some opinions on my audio system. Here's the deal.

I have a '93 Integra GS. I am waiting on some parts, should be here Thursday. After they are here, the motor will be done and HOPEFULLY should be IN this weekend. If all goes well, the car will be completely drivable by Saturday. So what's the next step of the build? Well, body, and audio.

Here is what I have piled up:

  • Audio
    [*]VR3 Deck - VRCD400-SDU
    Aux. Port, CD Player, SD Card Slot, USB Slot, Remote.

    [*]Visonik Amplifier
    350 Watt

    [*]MA Audio "Bi-Ampable Component System"
    Two 5.25" Speakers with Two tweeters.

    [*]VR3 Speakers
    Two 6x9" Speakers

    [*]VR3 Speakers
    Two speakers - in rear of car. (Unsure of size.)

    [*]Sony Speakers
    Two speakers - in the front doors. (Unsure of size.)

    [*]Unknown Speakers
    Two 9" speakers in a box.

And I might be getting six Infinity speakers tomorrow. My bud wrecked his Volvo and the speakers are the only thing of value, well i'm helping him get it from the impound yard so i'm either going to get them for free- or buy them cheap.

That's my stockpile of things that are available to go in- or are already in, the Integra.
Who thinks I should just stuff them all into the car? ;) Later down the road I want to buy a sub or two to put in it as well, I saw a write up of how to make a sub box to fill the spare tire area and it sounds like a damn good idea.

What combination should I use with the speakers? Or.. what would you suggest I do with them? I was thinking of building a custom box to put in the trunk area and hold some speakers.. as well as using the empty area of wall next to the back seat, seems like it would fit a speaker rather well.

I'm not looking for some high-end audio system. Just something for my new DD. :)

Opinions? Comments? Anything's welcome.
 

nathan_carmona

Gold Member
You're going to want to get some more amps and some capacitors. If you're going to put all of that in your car at once, it's going to put a huge drain on the battery and if you don't have the capacitors, your lights are gonna surge to the beat of the music. It does it in my buddys civic and all he's got is two subs, two amps, and the stock speakers
 

jcrabb13

Registered Abuser
front doors are 6 1/2 and the rear deck in my db8 is 6x9. dont know if that changed at all throughout the years. but ya thats a shitton of sound. i have the sound i want with 1 12" w3 and those 4 speakers. i kind of need to amp the 4 mids though.
 

Prozon

Kris
Well I don't have to shove it all in the car.
However I did pick up six Inifinity speakers today. 6" being the biggest, with three different sizes..

Anybody have a specific set up with these I should try? Maybe run the inifity's in the stock location and shove a few in a wall or two?

Anyone suggest an AMP to run them? As well as capacitors?
 


TegSox

Super Duper Moderator
Are you saying you got a 3 way Infinity component set?

Capacitors are a gimmick, your money would be better spent replacing your stock battery with an Optima. If your stock battery's fine, run it till it's dead, then get the Optima, because unless you run a huge amp(s), or run the stereo with the car off and kill the battery a couple times don't worry. The stock battery will be fine for a long time if you don't abuse it.
 

killjoy

New Member
I think you should sell everything you have, honestly.

a nice, quality 6.5" component set in the front and 2 more coax's in the rear (if you want, but barely necessary) powered by a 4 channel amp and a single 12 (powered by another monoblock, obv) will be plenty loud, if you start adding speakers its going to get obnoxious quickly. Plus, whats the point? after a certain point, its just noise.. trust me

Stick with a quality amp for your mids, its important for it to be a clean amp.. with good quality speakers you will hear everything (including crappy mp3 rips from the internet)

Some great amplifier brands that won't break the bank are:

Eclipse
Rockford Fosgate
Alpine
JL Audio
Kicker


I would buy online if you're planning on hooking this up yourself, you'll save lots of coin

forget the capacitor - I can guarantee you won't notice a difference once installed and if you do, its called the placebo affect. Caps are more a strain on your electrical system than good. Upgrade your big 3 grounds in your engine bay and call it a day, unless you want to upgrade your alternator which isn't cheap.
 

Prozon

Kris
The infinity speakers I have..

Two 6" Speakers
Two 5" Speakers
Two 4" Speakers

I've never run a high end sound system, and honestly it doesn't matter all that much.. a little bit of bass would be nice, and be loud without scratchy.. but hell, I won't notice the difference most of the time. As for the caps.. I didn't really think I needed one unless I was running big subs or something.

I doubt I will be upgrading my alternator or battery.. if I notice a low charge I'll run around with the radio off lol. I can figure something out later if it kills my battery, but i've never run into any problems with too much power being drained running a normal speaker.
 


Joshmmc

New Member
Don't worry about a capicitor or a battery unless either your amp cuts out periodically or your battery dies when you listen to music for 10-15 minutes with your car off.
 

jcrabb13

Registered Abuser
killjoy said:
I think you should sell everything you have, honestly.

a nice, quality 6.5" component set in the front and 2 more coax's in the rear (if you want, but barely necessary) powered by a 4 channel amp and a single 12 (powered by another monoblock, obv) will be plenty loud, if you start adding speakers its going to get obnoxious quickly. Plus, whats the point? after a certain point, its just noise.. trust me

Stick with a quality amp for your mids, its important for it to be a clean amp.. with good quality speakers you will hear everything (including crappy mp3 rips from the internet)
Click to expand...
x2. Thats what any SQ guy will tell you, I have a college friend who does competitions and hes the one setting me up.
 

Prozon

Kris
Hmm.. I would hope I could run for fifteen minutes.. usually when i'm working on a car or truck I have my DD parked with the windows down to hear music lol.
 

Prozon

Kris
Hmm.. I wonder about this.

In all my other cars, with all my other audio set ups, I have never had a problem with the alternator. The only time i've had a problem with ANY of my vehicles battery/charging system was my off-road truck, but it had multiple off-road lights, high torque starter and a winch to power, besides the audio.. so I don't blame it lol.

But if it does turn out that the alternator or battery isn't enough, I will definitely upgrade them, I just hope it doesn't need it.

Does anyone have experience with Infinities? Should I just run them alone or what? I heard they were some of the best.. but I have no experience with them personally.
 
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killjoy

New Member
Run the infinities, they'll sound much better than stock. Amp them if you can.. they're just a little too peaky (sharp) for my tastes, but I'm sure you'll be satisfied.

Your alt should be fine running just 1 amp, if your lights dim, the reason is because your alt cannot keep up.

google 'big 3 grounds upgrade' and do that, it will help.
 

TegSox

Super Duper Moderator
Don't worry about the alternator, seriously. Unless you get big amps and run them at high volume ALOT it's gonna be fine. People who kill their alternator with a stereo, 95% of the time the alternator was going out anyway or they were just irresponsible and abused the alt (and their hearing). I've owned many cars that I ran an amp or two or three amps in, and never one time has an alternator died on me.
If you stick to your plan that you only want something reasonable for a DD, you don't need to upgrade the alternator or battery. Don't let these guys scare you over your electrical system. A Big Three upgrade is a good idea though, which is just upgrading to bigger stock ground wires - alot easier and less expensive than buying/installing an alternator or a capacitor, or buying a battery.
 

Prozon

Kris
Thanks for the information about the alt/batt/ect.. I will look up the grounding information.

I probably wouldn't notice any difference in sound.. I mean, as long as it's not scratchy and has some bass to it, i'll be fine lol.
 
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