Car Audio. Were/Are you an enthusiast?

Yes, I am 40 going on 20 sometimes.

A loooooooooong time ago, in a galaxy right close to where I am now, I bought and put together what I considered to be a great low budget system ( had less than $1200 in it) that's first usage was in a 1992 Pontiac Gran Prix. 1 JL Audio Sub 12", 1 Fosgate 60.2 amp, 2 MB Quart 6x9 2 way, factory door speakers, Clarion head unit. I purchased the initial components in 1998.

I kept all those components and transferred them into a 1995 T-100 pickup a few years later, which was rather a tight fit being a regular cab. Added two 5-1/4" MB Quart 2 way to the mix.

Fast forward quite a few years...I still have the bulk of this setup in my current ride, minus the 5-1/4's because I never bought the adapters for my rear doors.

Currently, the foam on the JL sub is dying, and the tweeter on one of the 6x9's has schitt the bed. I have been able to rely on this stuff for nearly 20 years (other than the various head units that have come and gone). I have decided that I am going to refit. I miss my sub and the blown tweeter is getting on my nerves. I am a huge music lover and a bit of an audiophile. The pinnacle of my stereos was when everything was in the T100. It would ring your ears pretty easy and do so with NO distortion. It's not all about volume, it's about *clean, tight music at high volume.

As all these years have passed, I have become almost illiterate in the world of Car Audio. In other words, I used to know who made the best equipment and why. I am needing to replace the sub and the 6x9s. The Amp will be staying. I have a new JVC deck inbound with 13 band manual equalizer, sub preout and separate sub gain controls....and a bunch of fancy features that I don't know much about. Will be buying the rear door adapters and putting in the 5-1/4 Quarts soon.

I am stuck on the Sub. I don't want to spend what I did on the original which was quite pricey in 1999. It's current equivalent is over $300 today. Anyone have experience with modern subwoofers? I would very much like to limit the budget to $150 or less. Is there something better for the money nowdays than MB Quart offers for a 6x9? FWIW, I have been extremely pleased with them other than the tweeter that finally gave up...I got my moneys worth out of it.

What I need out of a subwoofer: 300 watts RMS handling, Dual voice coil either 2 or 4ohm (gotta pull old box apart to see what one in there now is...too long ago...cant remember. I'm not going to a competition, but want something that sounds good and won't 'break the bank'.

Seems an odd place to inquire about such items, but if you are around my age or so...stereos were quite a big thing when we were younger...at least in my little town they were. I don't have any pics of my old setups, but will document the 'rebuild' I am doing here in this thread as it progresses...which may be slowly...my truck is going to be going to dealer for new frame soon...I think...

 

I wasn't all that in on big auto sound. But I did go through the 8-track, cassette, cd, progression.

Howevet, I've managed to become the owner of a large, carpet covered, 2 driver Fosgate speaker assembly. It works, but I really don't have much use for it

~edit~ Now, in the house.... I am pleased with the surround system I've cobbled together over the years.

 

Craigslist?

I've been running around with my sub woofer disconnected and the noise from the tweeter. It's time to get some good sound back! I just became accustomed to having a good stereo in the truck to listen to. Newer cars have come a long ways and most have very good factory stereos in them. My Tacoma's factory sounds left a bit to be desired, the T100 didn't even have a tape deck when I got it. Radio and two door speakers. Hopefully it is obvious that I am not crusing around the Walmart with the whole vehicle going 'whomp whomp whomp'. You are likely to hear just about any kind of music when I have control of the radio. I'm just as happy with some Merle Haggered as I am with AC/DC or Talking Heads, etc. I listened to piano concertos this afternoon at work.

Everything sounds better with a built stereo....if you build it correctly. Again, I like some loud, but has to also be clear. It just allows me to enjoy music that much more. Also great for making sure you don't non off at the end of a long run down the interstate.

 

I was never in the competition level, but I always enjoyed *clean, hard driving music. (still do)

When I was stationed in Lubbock, Tx some of my squadron members would bust my chops because I bought a car stereo system when I didn't own a car yet.

One guy was shipping overseas, and asked me if I was interested in his system. I was indeed.

It was an Alpine cassette head unit, Alpine EQ with 4 Mosfet pre-amps, and a pair of Stillwater Kickers.

Got it for something like $400 for the whole setup.

Ran that setup for years in my '90 S-10 until I got a DWI, had to get rid of truck and stereo.


Nowadays, I just don't have the passion to put the money or time into it.

Heck, right now I'd like the time and money to rip off my rear suspension system and replace all the worn bushings. Then I could enjoy the music better.


Got a '96 Eldorado, and when I hit bumps it sounds like I've got skeletons rattling around in the trunk.


Priorities and all that I guess.

 

Refoam the JL. It's still a good unit. Amp technology however is much much better. JL makes dayum good amps nowadays too.

As far as what's good now? JL is still a top tier brand. With the tweak and fix boxes, and a laptop, you can tune your system light years better than when we first got into the audio game ( I'm same age as you). There are apps out now that do the same thing the multi thousand dollar analyzer boxes did back in the competition days of years past....measuring white and pink noise, spl, etc. It gives you the areas you need to tweak and fix on the cell app. You make adjustments, then retest. It's pretty crazy.

I tested the apps against a spectrum analyzer that costs thousands, and I'll be dammed if the free app wasn't showing the same info.

 

Bocefus is right, find a repair shop and fix your woofer. That's your most inexpensive route.

I need a vehicle worthy of my equipment that's sitting waiting. Dont want to put it in my work car. I have a JL 10W6V2 woofer, MB Quart QSD216 components that were $1200 list when I paid half that. Those are still in the box 16 years later.

Then I bought a pile of Zapco DC Reference amps to power everything.

 

I used to have extremely loud and great sounding stereo systems in my cars. That all stopped when I got my Audi. I saw no need to need with yanking the stock bose head unit out. It sounded great without having to try to mess with the German stuff.

Now I have a system in my boat. Since it's a marine unit, I can't reuse the head units that I have, not like i would want to anyway. Coated boards are necessary for a head unit, plus I don't need a CD player.I also want/ need Bluetooth. I play my music from playlists on my phone.

Yes, I have an amp and a sealed single 10" sub in my boat. .I'm working on getting small tweeters to mount in the corners of the windshield.

I'm an ex college radio station DJ, so music is a big deal for me. Having music while on the lake is a must. It also has to sound good.

 

Good thread. I was hard into car audio in high school and college. I built quite a few systems for myself and my buddies.

I never did like 6x9s. A well sealed 5.25 in kick panel or lower door and tweeter near windshield line is almost ideal. Im interested in hearing about sub being rehabbed.

My boy and I installed all of my old junk in his first vehicle last year. It was fun, it had all been sitting for nearly 20 years.

 

My buddies built all their own stereos back in the day. Crazy competition stuff.
While most of the guys were using 12" subs for big bass, one of the guys always used 10"
I believe this is the way to go if you like really tight bass.

 

Yes, 10" in a sealed box is exactly how you get tight bass. I've never run 12" subs because they don't produce the tight bass, but rather loud and sloppy. Not my style.

 

I am afraid that building and installing custom systems may be a thing of the past with the integration of navigation, hands free telephone and mobile internet that comes as standard equipment on the new cars

 

It's still possible, but it's much more complicated to integrate the factory stereo into the mix.

 

Yeah, it's possible. It's just not as easy. If you buy higher than the base model, you probably won't do anything to the receiver.

My brother just bought a 2017 transit van, and he was able to buy a multimedia receiver and mount kit for it from crutchfield.

 

Hell, even my base model fleet spec fusion has a radio that can be replaced now.

Need something like the JL Audio Cleensweep to make it work.

My Zapco's will work with just LOC's, as it has it's own built in computer controlled processors

 

Awesome! I figured I may be ridiculed after professing my interest in car audio. Seems there are other FHC members who used to spend time bent over in a trunk and annoying their neighbors 'testing' the results!

I will have to come back later and reply...busy day so far today.

 

I got nothing, was once upon a time but a hack at that. MikeInMa did hook me up with a nice amp for inside the house!

I had good luck refoaming my subs, pretty straightforward and very cost effective.

So....

 

I had one of the first under dash decent Sony cassette decks when everyone else had 8 tracks. I think it was in three different cars. The sound quality was worth getting belts replaced several times. I came across it in a box the last time we moved and I'm not sure what I did with it. Heh, it would be 48 years old if I still have it. I wish I still had ( or an equivalent ) home stereo system that I had back then too. I make do with the TV's surround sound which is great for movies, not so great for music.
One thing I have transitioned to is wireless bluetooth headphones. Except for long OS flights I can live without a headphone jack. Great to not have a wire flopping around when I'm running.

For the car(s) I just get by with plugging my ipod into whatever the car came with. Half the time I have the radio off in heavy traffic now anyway. Driving is nowhere near the fun it used to be with the heavy traffic and all the stop signs and lights.

 

I only ever had one crossover that I tried to integrate into my setup. I fought with it quite a bit trying to get it set and ultimately took it back out. Just couldn't get what I wanted out of it. Likely due to not knowing what I was doing <yes, that is what was wrong, I'm sure. I have been doing much reading and watching of videos as well as crunching some specs. Indeed, the brands of old still seem to be upper tier quality in this modern world. I have looked into re-foaming the old beast. I think I am going to, but I am also going to purchase a modern unit. I am a bit hesitant to jump into modern amplifiers (due to lack of knowledge). Obviously, there must be some good quality stuff out there but there is still much love for the old 'cheater' amps from the 90's in the car audio community. Though I have never viewed Boss as a quality brand...this really got my attention.



Love this guy's channel. So neat to see *actual output figures vs manufacturer's claims.
The green painted Fosgate is of the vintage of my old amp, though it is from the 'power' series where my unit is just a standard Punch 60.2. Very impressive.

A boat is a *great place to have some good tunes! What genre of music did you spin in college?? I always thought being a radio DJ would be cool, so long as I could pick the playlist.

I haven't had any issue with the 6x9's other than a tweeter finally giving out. I have them because that is what size holes were in the car for my first real build! The Quarts have been great for sound and volume. I actually ordered a pair of these yesterday. They should do fine just being fed by the head unit (hopefully).
XK1-169 X-Line Speakers: XK1-169: MB Quart X-Line 6x9 inch 2 way car audio coaxial speaker system with titanium dome tweeters (pair) @ MB Quart
I gotta go digging in the basement to find my 5-1/4s. They're down there somewhere, repacked in their original box even. They will reside in the rear doors. The 6x9s are in the front door kick panels. There are a couple factory 2"(?) tweeters above the door handles, but I have never messed with them to this point. I've never had a ton of low end, so I never went crazy on mids & highs. I've always only ever had a single sub except for a really early 'build' in my S-10 at 16 years old...lol. Cashed strapped, I had bought a couple Orion XTR dvc 8's and paired them to a real 'nice' Jensen amp and mounted them into some real fancy plywood boxes that I hand crafted. haha! Results were less than optimal. Equipment sold to a buddy later.

Sister's boyfriend back in the day had triple 10s in a Ford Ranger. They'd make your vision blurry. Techmaster P.E.B.!!

Oh goodness...the memories of the "808" songs and artists are flooding in...wonder if I can find any of that stuff still??

Oh Yeah!!





License To Ill was one of my favorite albums to 'bump' to. Paul Revere with reversed bass hit...genius.

 

OK, pulled the JL and discovered that I had been running the Amp at 1om. JL12W3D2. Dual 2ohm coils. But how can this be?? The fosgate isn't rated for 1 ohm??!! Hahaha. Old School Power!! Guessing the woofer was getting about 280w rms. Have ran it that way for literally decades. Both gains set very low and using the low pass filter in the Amp. Now at least I know the configuration I need. Back to shopping and research.

The old JL is so sad looking that I'm embarrassed to post a pizzher. What a fall from glory. It is likely repairable though. I'll look further into that later.