is Phoenix Gold system good?
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is Phoenix Gold system good?
i went to an audio shop, and i was looking for JL stuff, but the dealer was kept pushing me to get Phoenix Gold stuff, they are pretty expensive.
any body have any experience of Phoenix Goild?
any body have any experience of Phoenix Goild?
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Hey. Phoenix Gold makes some great stuff. Which of their products were you looking at? Their Titanium line is excellent but it is expensive. I have JL 12w7 and love it to death. The only problem is that you need a pretty hefty amp to run it properly. JL amps are also a good choice. Give me a little more information so I can properly help you out.
peace-
Noel
peace-
Noel
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hey noel,
you obviously know your stereo systems. i was wondering if you can give me some advice. i have a cab with alpine amp & head unit. i use the factory door speakers as my subs. wondering if a can make a custom box in the rear seat for 2 10" JL subs. will it be to much bass. and do you think i should replace all speakers. does it make a noticeable difference. like Focal, don't know if it's worth the money.
you obviously know your stereo systems. i was wondering if you can give me some advice. i have a cab with alpine amp & head unit. i use the factory door speakers as my subs. wondering if a can make a custom box in the rear seat for 2 10" JL subs. will it be to much bass. and do you think i should replace all speakers. does it make a noticeable difference. like Focal, don't know if it's worth the money.
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I have a PG amp in my boat...good stuff.
I would change out your door speakers (all of them really!!) without hesitation! Those things are total crap. I'm running to 8" JL's in the rear of my car, works awesome, looks good too. Focal is a great brand, so are A/D/S and Eclipse. Alpine makes great stuff, however I did switch my Alpine amp out because of how heavy the thing was. I'm running two Audison amps now. A five and two channel. I am looking to get a Nak head unit once they support XM. I gotta have my XM!
Here is a picture of my subbox enclosure, it's wrapped with Porsche OEM leather to match.
I would change out your door speakers (all of them really!!) without hesitation! Those things are total crap. I'm running to 8" JL's in the rear of my car, works awesome, looks good too. Focal is a great brand, so are A/D/S and Eclipse. Alpine makes great stuff, however I did switch my Alpine amp out because of how heavy the thing was. I'm running two Audison amps now. A five and two channel. I am looking to get a Nak head unit once they support XM. I gotta have my XM!
Here is a picture of my subbox enclosure, it's wrapped with Porsche OEM leather to match.
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ok, here's what the dealer recommand me to do.
AMPs, PG Ti600.2
PG TI500.4
Speakers PG TI Elite 6 x2
Sub PG Ti 10 D
CD player pioneer DEH-P940MP/ Alpine CDA-9827
what do you guys think£¿
and i heard of a issue that PG subs blow so often.. and a lot of customers in the audio store talk about it..
AMPs, PG Ti600.2
PG TI500.4
Speakers PG TI Elite 6 x2
Sub PG Ti 10 D
CD player pioneer DEH-P940MP/ Alpine CDA-9827
what do you guys think£¿
and i heard of a issue that PG subs blow so often.. and a lot of customers in the audio store talk about it..
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Eride996:
Thanks for the compliment. I've been into car audio and audio in general for some time now, and before I purchased and installed my car stereo I researched for about a year or so. The whole affair can get expensive really fast. I spent around 5-6k when all said and done. I did all the installation myself and didn't pay full price for anything. Here is a list of stuff I used in my install
Arc Audi 1500DR
Arc Audi 4150
Pioneer Premier DEX-P9
Pioneer Premier DEQ-P9
MB Quart 216 QSD's
JL Audio 12w7
Knukonceptz wiring
Alumapro CAP
B-Quiet Sound deadening
Cascade Audio products
The short version to your question is to get 2 10†subs and replace the front speakers with a better set.
The longer version is right here:
SUB:
A custom box can be made to house two 10" subs in the back. Here is a great example of one that was put into Turbo.
Will it be too much bass? That depends on a lot of different factors. One factor will be what kind of subs are you going to put back there. The subs in that Turbo are JL 10W7 and I can tell you from experience that those subs can get loud, really loud. Like I said earlier I have the 12" version of that sub and only one them. I have the sub in an SUV and the bass can be overwhelming at times. Another factor is the size of the amp you use to drive the subs. I have a 1000w Arc Audio amp on my sub and I believe that it works quite well. A more obvious factor is what kind of music you listen to. I personally love Dave Matthews Band, go ahead and flame me, but I think his music sounds awesome. So I really don't have any bass problems. Now if you are ghetto fabulous and listen to JZ or 2pac there is obviously a lot more low frequencies in that kind of music, thus the bass will be heavy. The size of the enclosure will also play a role in bass response. The cross over frequency will too have part in how the bass sounds. Sorry this is a lengthy explanation. Basically, if the system is set up correctly, like the one in that Turbo, the option to have an awesome amount of bass will always be there. One reason that the guy that owns that Turbo might have 2 subs is for aesthetic value. I've seen this exact car in a car audio magazine. If it was my cab I would put 2 subs in the back mainly because there are ways to control the output from the subs. I think it's a nice option to be able to really crank up the music. When I play a something with heavy bass the pressure caused by the sub will actually move my hair and I can feel the vibration in the seat of my pants. The great thing about JL's W7 and W6 series subs are they stay clean and really high volumes. This will especially be true if you get 2 10W7. The smaller the cone size on the woofer the less mass the magnet has to move, which in return gives the sub a more accurate and tight sound. This is handy if you listen to Jazz or other types of music that can be technical.
One of my friends has a Bose system in his G20 and his comment is how he can really feel the music in my car. The simple reason that he can feel the music in car and not in his is because the frequency response on a Bose system is something like 140-20k. My sub alone plays at 50hz and down. There are a ton of sounds that are completely missed in the music when heard on a Bose car system. And for the record people that think Bose is a premier audio company are sadly mistaken. Check this website out that was made by a fellow car audio enthusiast who became so fed up Bose’s crap that he made a website to educate the naïve. http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html
An easy way to think about it is getting a Turbo only to put American Racing wheels on it. Do you remember back when you were in high school and your friends or someone you knew had a pair of 15 or 12†subs in the car? The bass was loud but you couldn’t hear a god damn vocal track if your life depended on it.
That is because they were still retaining the stock speakers and they could not keep up with the subs. Another thing you might have noticed is when they would turn the volume up really high all the speakers would start to distort. That is because the speakers are trying to play frequencies much too demanding on their paper little cones. After continual abuse the speakers will eventually blow.
SPEAKERS:
I would replace the front two speakers with a set of components and completely discontinue the use of the rears.
The reason you don’t want a set of rear speakers is because you want to the music to sound like it is about middle of the windshield. As if you were at a rock concert. Based on this idea rear speakers would draw your ears away the center of the windshield. Using the same idea of up front sound you’ll want to crossover the sub somewhere under a 100Hz, this depends on the response of the vehicle. I personally cross mine at 50Hz. When the frequency is low like 20-100Hz the waves become very non-directional. Therefore giving an illusion that the sub is actually in the front of you.
So to do it right I would replace the front speakers with a nice set of components. Go to your local car audio shop, preferably not a Best Buy type of operation, and listen to some of the speakers on the demo wall. Keep in mind that a demo wall can be deceiving. A demo wall will usually place the speakers in an optimal listening position, not something that you will experience in a car environment. There is a possibility that you could listen to a set of speakers on a wall that sound great and then once they are in your car they could sound like rubbish.
Focal makes a great speaker but at the same time there are many other great companies out there that have just as good speakers. One thing that you will want to be weary of is the lower line of Focal’s and MB Quarts is the use of titanium in the tweeter. The sound produced by this driver will be harsh and unpleasant to listen to for any length of time. I personally have a pair of MB Quarts, the QSD line http://www.mbquart.com/2003/en_US/pr...&model=QSD+216
and they sound wonderful. The use of dampeners in the titanium tweeter housing makes this tweeter sound wonderful.
INSTALLATION:
The installation is the most vital part of the car audio process. A good rule of thumb to remember is that a system is 20% equipment and 80% install. You might have noticed that you don’t sit directly in the middle of the car and as a result the listening position isn't correct. As a driver you hear things from the left speakers way before you hear things front the right side. To combat this problem you can put the speakers in the kick panels to equalize the path lengths. So for example let’s say you have a pair of 6.5†mids and a 1†tweeter. One idea could be to put the tweeter up in the a-pillar and the mid down in the kick panel. And using a digital processor you can manipulate the sound coming from the speakers. There is even a setting called time alignment, which allows you to adjust when the sound waves actually arrive at the listen. For example, if you are in the driver seat you can adjust the sound so that the waves coming out of the left speaker (nearest to you) are arriving slower than the one’s coming from the right side of the car. This gives an illusion that the sound is in the center of the windshield. Time alignment won’t make up for poor speaker placement; it will just help tweak the system. There are a million different ideas and topics on speaker placement and processors, far too many for me to go into here.
Sound dampening is very important in a car stereo. I know this is a bad thing for people who are concerned about weight. This will add some weight to the car, but it will make the system sound much much better. Cascade Audio makes some light weight stuff that works well. www.cascadeaudio.com . When you install a pair of components, let’s say in the door, the speaker will vibrate the hell out of your metal door panel. It will give off terrible resonance and a lot of energy is lost from the speaker into the metal door panel. When you dampen the door the speaker will sound better and the metal won’t rattle all to hell.
Christ. My adderall is wearing off and I need to write a paper. If you have any specific questions that aren’t answered here just let me know. I would love to help you out. A good resource is www.carsound.com . Use their forum. The people on that forum know their sh*t. I purchased my speakers from a guy off of that forum that has won lots of world titles with MB Quart. Scott Buwalda is his name and here is what the inside of his car looks like. Obviously not something that you would want to do to your car, but nonetheless he knows what he's talking about. And there are many more people like him over there that are more than willing to help you out.
Peace
Noel
Thanks for the compliment. I've been into car audio and audio in general for some time now, and before I purchased and installed my car stereo I researched for about a year or so. The whole affair can get expensive really fast. I spent around 5-6k when all said and done. I did all the installation myself and didn't pay full price for anything. Here is a list of stuff I used in my install
Arc Audi 1500DR
Arc Audi 4150
Pioneer Premier DEX-P9
Pioneer Premier DEQ-P9
MB Quart 216 QSD's
JL Audio 12w7
Knukonceptz wiring
Alumapro CAP
B-Quiet Sound deadening
Cascade Audio products
The short version to your question is to get 2 10†subs and replace the front speakers with a better set.
The longer version is right here:
SUB:
A custom box can be made to house two 10" subs in the back. Here is a great example of one that was put into Turbo.
Will it be too much bass? That depends on a lot of different factors. One factor will be what kind of subs are you going to put back there. The subs in that Turbo are JL 10W7 and I can tell you from experience that those subs can get loud, really loud. Like I said earlier I have the 12" version of that sub and only one them. I have the sub in an SUV and the bass can be overwhelming at times. Another factor is the size of the amp you use to drive the subs. I have a 1000w Arc Audio amp on my sub and I believe that it works quite well. A more obvious factor is what kind of music you listen to. I personally love Dave Matthews Band, go ahead and flame me, but I think his music sounds awesome. So I really don't have any bass problems. Now if you are ghetto fabulous and listen to JZ or 2pac there is obviously a lot more low frequencies in that kind of music, thus the bass will be heavy. The size of the enclosure will also play a role in bass response. The cross over frequency will too have part in how the bass sounds. Sorry this is a lengthy explanation. Basically, if the system is set up correctly, like the one in that Turbo, the option to have an awesome amount of bass will always be there. One reason that the guy that owns that Turbo might have 2 subs is for aesthetic value. I've seen this exact car in a car audio magazine. If it was my cab I would put 2 subs in the back mainly because there are ways to control the output from the subs. I think it's a nice option to be able to really crank up the music. When I play a something with heavy bass the pressure caused by the sub will actually move my hair and I can feel the vibration in the seat of my pants. The great thing about JL's W7 and W6 series subs are they stay clean and really high volumes. This will especially be true if you get 2 10W7. The smaller the cone size on the woofer the less mass the magnet has to move, which in return gives the sub a more accurate and tight sound. This is handy if you listen to Jazz or other types of music that can be technical.
One of my friends has a Bose system in his G20 and his comment is how he can really feel the music in my car. The simple reason that he can feel the music in car and not in his is because the frequency response on a Bose system is something like 140-20k. My sub alone plays at 50hz and down. There are a ton of sounds that are completely missed in the music when heard on a Bose car system. And for the record people that think Bose is a premier audio company are sadly mistaken. Check this website out that was made by a fellow car audio enthusiast who became so fed up Bose’s crap that he made a website to educate the naïve. http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html
An easy way to think about it is getting a Turbo only to put American Racing wheels on it. Do you remember back when you were in high school and your friends or someone you knew had a pair of 15 or 12†subs in the car? The bass was loud but you couldn’t hear a god damn vocal track if your life depended on it.
That is because they were still retaining the stock speakers and they could not keep up with the subs. Another thing you might have noticed is when they would turn the volume up really high all the speakers would start to distort. That is because the speakers are trying to play frequencies much too demanding on their paper little cones. After continual abuse the speakers will eventually blow.
SPEAKERS:
I would replace the front two speakers with a set of components and completely discontinue the use of the rears.
The reason you don’t want a set of rear speakers is because you want to the music to sound like it is about middle of the windshield. As if you were at a rock concert. Based on this idea rear speakers would draw your ears away the center of the windshield. Using the same idea of up front sound you’ll want to crossover the sub somewhere under a 100Hz, this depends on the response of the vehicle. I personally cross mine at 50Hz. When the frequency is low like 20-100Hz the waves become very non-directional. Therefore giving an illusion that the sub is actually in the front of you.
So to do it right I would replace the front speakers with a nice set of components. Go to your local car audio shop, preferably not a Best Buy type of operation, and listen to some of the speakers on the demo wall. Keep in mind that a demo wall can be deceiving. A demo wall will usually place the speakers in an optimal listening position, not something that you will experience in a car environment. There is a possibility that you could listen to a set of speakers on a wall that sound great and then once they are in your car they could sound like rubbish.
Focal makes a great speaker but at the same time there are many other great companies out there that have just as good speakers. One thing that you will want to be weary of is the lower line of Focal’s and MB Quarts is the use of titanium in the tweeter. The sound produced by this driver will be harsh and unpleasant to listen to for any length of time. I personally have a pair of MB Quarts, the QSD line http://www.mbquart.com/2003/en_US/pr...&model=QSD+216
and they sound wonderful. The use of dampeners in the titanium tweeter housing makes this tweeter sound wonderful.
INSTALLATION:
The installation is the most vital part of the car audio process. A good rule of thumb to remember is that a system is 20% equipment and 80% install. You might have noticed that you don’t sit directly in the middle of the car and as a result the listening position isn't correct. As a driver you hear things from the left speakers way before you hear things front the right side. To combat this problem you can put the speakers in the kick panels to equalize the path lengths. So for example let’s say you have a pair of 6.5†mids and a 1†tweeter. One idea could be to put the tweeter up in the a-pillar and the mid down in the kick panel. And using a digital processor you can manipulate the sound coming from the speakers. There is even a setting called time alignment, which allows you to adjust when the sound waves actually arrive at the listen. For example, if you are in the driver seat you can adjust the sound so that the waves coming out of the left speaker (nearest to you) are arriving slower than the one’s coming from the right side of the car. This gives an illusion that the sound is in the center of the windshield. Time alignment won’t make up for poor speaker placement; it will just help tweak the system. There are a million different ideas and topics on speaker placement and processors, far too many for me to go into here.
Sound dampening is very important in a car stereo. I know this is a bad thing for people who are concerned about weight. This will add some weight to the car, but it will make the system sound much much better. Cascade Audio makes some light weight stuff that works well. www.cascadeaudio.com . When you install a pair of components, let’s say in the door, the speaker will vibrate the hell out of your metal door panel. It will give off terrible resonance and a lot of energy is lost from the speaker into the metal door panel. When you dampen the door the speaker will sound better and the metal won’t rattle all to hell.
Christ. My adderall is wearing off and I need to write a paper. If you have any specific questions that aren’t answered here just let me know. I would love to help you out. A good resource is www.carsound.com . Use their forum. The people on that forum know their sh*t. I purchased my speakers from a guy off of that forum that has won lots of world titles with MB Quart. Scott Buwalda is his name and here is what the inside of his car looks like. Obviously not something that you would want to do to your car, but nonetheless he knows what he's talking about. And there are many more people like him over there that are more than willing to help you out.
Peace
Noel
Last edited by Noel; Feb 11, 2004 at 07:30 PM.
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