Component Questions

[huskyfan23]

I'm thinking about some components for front and rear, and am looking into Audiobahn. Are these good or is there better for around the same price? Will the speakers install in the factory location? And will a 2 channel amp work for powering all 4 with tweeters? I've never actually seen a set of these in person. Thanks for the help!

 

[izackary]

how much do you want to spend on them? I could sell you a pair of brand new Boston Acoustics that fit in the doors for about $200...

 

[jeff96]

The two channel amp may work well depending on what the ohms are for your speakers. But with that many speaker i am guessing it will have alot of impedance so you won't be getting as much out of your amplifier but it should still sound nice.

 

[aldive]

I would recomment componrnts in the front and regular speakers in the rear. Power the componentd only with the amp.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I have audiobahn components and I like them. I would run the same speakers front and rear, and with the audiobahn's I recomend an amp. I got mine brand new from a power seller on e-bay cheap.

 

[huskyfan23]

Well the amp I would use is only 200w x 1 or 50w x 2. So would that be good with Audiobahn components just in front?

 

[aldive]

Should be fine.

 

[Mbrooks420]

What brand amp? A high quality 200w could run 4. The audiobahns I have aren't power hungry.

 

[huskyfan23]

It's a Sony amp, I bought it because of the equalizer. Nothing special but I doubt it would be good enough for 2 sets.

 

[metalhed]

http://thezeb.com/caraudio/specials_speakers.html

CDT CL61's for $150.. I honestly don't think you'll find a better deal than this. Regular price is $300+ You're saving $150 because the red paint didn't turn out as bright as they wanted it to.

I hear nothing but great things about this set.. Very clean, non-fatigueing (tweeters not harsh at all), and they create a good stage. If you have any doubts that CDT isn't a quality company, just scroll down some. Check out their $1200+ set of components, and then tell me "non-market" brands are no good.

You'll be much much happier with these than those audiobahns. My friend had a set in his car, and they didn't sound as good as comparable sets in the same pricerange. But that's about all I can say, just go with your gut.

Have fun while you're at it.

 

[huskyfan23]

I'll look into those CDT's.. with Audiobahn and companies like that, you're really paying lots just because of the name. I don't really care what components I get, I want something good, and anything would probably beat the JBL GTO speakers I have right now.

 

[huskyfan23]

On eBay I just found some CDT CL-641 Components. It's a 3-way set, has 2 midbass, 2 midrange, and 2 tweeters for $112 right now. It ends in an hour, but these wouldn't work in an X would they? Where would I mount the midbass AND midrange? Would it be fairly simple?

 

[metalhed]

Those are at $152 and climbing. Would be a decent set, but you'd probably be happy with the cl61's for the price.

If you decide to go with 3ways, I know a guy that can help you out.. His name is Expo5.0 on these boards, or svt exploder on AIM. He's done a couple custom interiors, including extensive work on his own x. He should be able to hook you up pretty good with some decent kickpanels.

Hit him up either way.. You're going to want to get kickpanels either way with components.. It'll help with the staging and SQ.

 

[huskyfan23]

How does putting the components in kick panels deliver better sound than having them in the doors?

 

[Mbrooks420]

It's better imaging. The speaker points at your face more.

 

[huskyfan23]

Wouldn't angle mount tweeters work the same way?

 

[aldive]

My tweeters are A pillar mounted and sound great.

 

[metalhed]

If he mounted them on a baffle inside the doors, the sound quality would be affected (negatively).

Kickpanels are a better solution than cutting a hole in your door.. You're eventually going to have to fill that hole up when you sell the car (and you're going to keep your components obviously).


Edit - You don't really want the tweeters pointing directly at your face.. Even if they are super clean, it's still going to cause some fatigue.

If you point them away a little bit and go more for imaging and staging, instead of in your face, you'll notice you can listen to music alot louder, and it will never be painful.

 

[huskyfan23]

Ok, I'm thinking about some Q-Forms. Now how exactly do I integrate an amp into this?

 

[metalhed]

Amps are easy.. You can either try to mount one under the seats, or mount it in the back somewhere.

All you need is a power wire coming from the positive terminal on your battery (you'll need to install a fuse about 6-12" away from the battery), and rout it back to the power input on your amp.

Create a good ground for it.. Pull up a small portion of carpet that you'll never see, scrape away until it gets to bare metal, then tap into it there.

After that, run an amp lead from the back of your headunit (the blue wire most likely) to the lead on your amp.

If you don't have RCA outputs on your headunit, then you'll need a line-output converter (wire your headunit to this, then plug the rca's into the other side) and route the rca's back to your amp.

After that, just run speaker wire, turn the key forward, and hope nothing blows up. j/k

That's just a very basic overview, but it doesn't get much more difficult than that. If you need any more help with anything just get back to me and I'll go more in depth.