Originally posted by: wongsoongpak
THANK YOU for the very informative post. but now i have a few more questions...
1. what is a bandpass box? how does it differ from a normal sub enclosure?
2. What are crossovers for?
3. Are equalizers really necessary? Or is it only necessary if you are really critical?
4. When I use an amp to power the components...do I use one amp to power all of them (I think I have 4 in the truck)? If so how much wattage will I be looking at?
5. You advised me to get twice the wattage I need when purchasing an amp for my sub. The problem is I am not even sure how much wattage I need for one sub. How can I figure that out?
6. Should I even consider buying a HU that has MP3 capabilities?
7. My friend has hookups to sony (30% off). Should I settle for Sony or pay more for the brands that you had recommended?
I thnk thats it for now. Again...thanks for all the help!
1) Kinda hard to explain. Essentially, a bandpass box, if deisgned correctly, allows for flat response through x and y points. Ported boxes are generally flat to the tuning frequency of the box, there theres a sharp rise, then a drastic fall below tuning. Sealed boxes geenrally are a gentle slope downwards in response. Now, bandpass arent bad, its just they HAVE to be specifically designed for the woofer there going to be used in. in other words, to work like there supposed to work, you buy the sub, take the specific parameters of the sub then design the box around it. All too often the stuff in stores is a generic "one size fits all" prefab bandpass with subs thrown in. This works for sealed, can be doable with ported but is an absolute flop in bandpass. Nature of the beast. There also pretty difficult to make.
2) Crossovers. Essentially, it says "These frequencies go here, these frequencies go there" OR "these frequencies can go. These frequencies do not pass.". In laymans terms, it makes sure you tweeters arebt playing bass and your subs arent playing highs. A general breakdown, your tweeters play from 20,000 hertz to 7000 hertz. Midbass from 7000 - 120 and bass is 120 and down. Well, full range is 0 - 20000 hertz. Crossovers break that down, so the 7-20k goes to tweets, the 120 - 7000 to midbass and below 120 to subs. VERY IMPORTANT! You WILL need X-O's if you replace all speakers. A tweeter will die a painful death playing low notes. Now, a sub can play high notes fine, but small speakers DO NOT like low tones. Usually, any decent set of components comes with passive crossovers so your set there, and most sub oriented amps (Mono or high power) cross overs built in for the low frequencies. So, its not too important to buy them as they sho8uld be included, but it IS important to use them.
3) Are EQ's required. Thats really a good question. Yes and no. They allow you to fine tune your system,. more then the HU allows. Its one of those things I would put later on in my list of things, unless I was designing a competition system from the get go. Once you done, if you find you want just a little better response from a very specific frequency (Say, one particular vocal note just isnt there) then you may get one. But, usually the HU controls do a good enough job.
4) Amps for components. Well, you need 1 channel on the amp for the components side. Thus, a 2 channel amp will drive a component set, left and right. A 4 channel will drive left front right front left rear right rear. Thats the simple terms You can get funky, have 2 channels for components, 2 channels for dedicated midbass, or run each speaker from a channel, but it takes a bit more work and wiring. To keep it simple and still sound pretty darned good, just get 1 channel per component side (The left side, right side) So, a 2 channel amp for a component set.
5) Only twice the wattage is you want to upgarde in the future!! Twice the wattage in even experienced hands can quickly kill subs. VERY quickly! So, if you really want a 2 subs system, but can only afford one, get the power you need now.
6) Not required, but JESUS I wish I had it!! Its a very nice feature.
7) Only you can decide the equipment you want. Unfortunately, Sony doesnt have the best, or strongest, name in audio. But then again, if the shoe fits, wear it! So, the best thing to do is go somewhere and listen to some Sony stuff. If you like it, why not? Theres alot of places online to buy really good equipment at really good prices though so....Keep your eyes peeled.
And really, the most important thing in car audio...
DEMO DEMO DEMO!!
I have personally heard 800 dollar components that I didnt like. Oh, they sounded AMAZING! But, the highs were too bright for me. I like pretty mild highs. 800 bucks, and there some of the best you can buy. So, you have to buy what YOU like the sound of.
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