Please help.

Now I know my cars - have done since I was in my push chair and do mods and servicing no problems at all. Im an electrical engineer and yet the car stereo world is like a black art - I've not got a clue!

Please could people list the components most recomended for a full system upgrade on a MK1 vrs. Im planning to fit -

Headunit (most likely alpine)

Front door speakers (do I replace or keep standard tweaters?)

Rear speakers (again do what with the tweeters, should I upgrade rear door speakers or fit 6x9's)

Amp (do I need a capacitor?)

Sub (not to big)

How many channels does the amp need? I'd like to run the speakers off the amp also.

I'm after the ultimate quality sound with a good kick to it without blowing the doors off or rattling all the bolts loose.

Finally what the hell is a crossover???? :confused:

budget is the most important thing here how much you want to spend?

you also need to allow for sound deadening and other installation bits such as wiring and many other bits as you can spend thousands on good stereo and it all be ruined by poor installation. think of it like modding an engine and spending thousands of pounds on the engine making it 400bhp monster and using standard suspension and brakes and ditch finder tyres.

a cross over separates the frequencies and sends them to the designated speakers (theres a hell of a lot more to it but thats the basic concept)

try talkaudio.com aswell as they tend to know there stuff on there and have saved me lots of greif over the years. there is a wealth of information there to help you make the right decisions.

:stupid:

Talkaudio is where it's at. Don't bother asking your questions though, they get asked a million times a day, just do a search.

I am in the process of doing a similar install myself. So far I've bought and installed an Alpine CDA-9887R head unit, a JBL GTO 75.4 amp and a JBL GT4-12 sub.

The head unit was fairly expensive I guess, at £289, but I didn't want anytihng garish looking but wanted good iPod functionality (and green illumintaion!). The amp and sub are both relatively cheap, I think the amp is around £100 and the sub was only £20! Although cheap, they are highly regarded as being excellent products for the money.

The amplifier has 4 channels. I'm currently only using two of them, these are bridged into mono to run the sub. The other two are vacant, ready to run my front speakers... when I eventually buy some!

Thanks guys, budget wise looking at a good few hundred quid. I'm with you on the i-pod function and the green illumination. I also just want a kick *** stereo without it looking like it belongs in some max power magazine!

Will have a look at that site.

Thanx again

I'd just upgrade the fronts, headunit and put a small sub in the back...oh wait I did.

I only speant £250 on the total setup and it's worlds apart from the standard system.

I'd just upgrade the fronts, headunit and put a small sub in the back...oh wait I did.

I only speant £250 on the total setup and it's worlds apart from the standard system.

Thanks but what type of front speaker did you fit? I've seen ones with the tweeter mounted in the centre. Is it best to stay with the original tweeter or fit these?

I got these mate;

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/3829.html

Can get them on ebay for £44 delivered if you look

hey there i was in your shoes about 6 months ago......i dint have a clue what anything was.......so i poped down to my local halfords and picked up the heynes book of ICE it has helped me no end it told me all i need to know about headunit,crossovers etc its great. it even game me enough knowledge to start to build my own install....its the best thing since slice bread on the ICE front......i suggest strongly that you spent the £20 and pic yourself one up............i am still using it for reference (when i can get it back of my friends)

well worth the investment

hey there i was in your shoes about 6 months ago......i dint have a clue what anything was.......so i poped down to my local halfords and picked up the heynes book of ICE it has helped me no end it told me all i need to know about headunit,crossovers etc its great. it even game me enough knowledge to start to build my own install....its the best thing since slice bread on the ICE front......i suggest strongly that you spent the £20 and pic yourself one up............i am still using it for reference (when i can get it back of my friends)

well worth the investment

Great idea, thanks. As long as the book assumes your an ICE numpty it should be OK!

I've decided to go for the new Alpine headunit designed with Apple for the ipod - Seen it for 225 notes . Most likely go for the infinity front door speakers as recomended by ethos. Now just got to find a good small amp and sub package. Not going to bother with 6x9's but will likely uprate the rear shelf speakers and disconnect the rear tweeters.

Thanks for everyones help.

I got this mate and am pretty happy with it;

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/4901.html

Try listening to different brands of speakers before you buy. I personally have never really liked any of the Infinity stuff, I always thought it seemed more suited to banging hard house and trance stuff, no my cup of tea.

The amp and sub package recommended is okay, but the amp is only 2 channel, so it won't run your front speakers if you wanted them amped. Amping up your front speakers will make a massive difference over running them off the headunit.

Finally, don't bother doing anything with your rear speakers other than disconecting the tweeters. You don't need them, there just there to provide a bit of filling, the sound should come from in front of you, not behind. I you put anything to powerfull back tghere it will drag the sound stage back and will sound wrong. Definately DO NOT put 6*9's in, especially if your runnning a sub.

Try listening to different brands of speakers before you buy. I personally have never really liked any of the Infinity stuff, I always thought it seemed more suited to banging hard house and trance stuff, no my cup of tea.

The amp and sub package recommended is okay, but the amp is only 2 channel, so it won't run your front speakers if you wanted them amped. Amping up your front speakers will make a massive difference over running them off the headunit.

Finally, don't bother doing anything with your rear speakers other than disconecting the tweeters. You don't need them, there just there to provide a bit of filling, the sound should come from in front of you, not behind. I you put anything to powerfull back tghere it will drag the sound stage back and will sound wrong. Definately DO NOT put 6*9's in, especially if your runnning a sub.

Where do you go to try out different speakers? I always feel a bit daft going into halfrauds and testing speakers in a large shop. Most of them have had their cones destroyed by little gits and will sound very different in a car enviroment anyway. That sub looks ok but I may want to amp the front speakers, although that alpine head unit is 50 watts per chanel - isn't that enough!

Thanks again all of you.

I haven't amped mine (alot more wiring) and tbh i'm more than happy with the sound. It's ALOT better quality than the standard setup.

Personally theres no way I'd need more power to the fronts for what I use my system for. There's the argument that the quality would be alot different but unless you're an audio freak I doubt it'd be night and day difference.

The infinity speakers have been used by various people on the these forums with good results for a cheap price, but I have no knowledge of other speakers in this car so can't comment.

Dan has more knowledge than me with this stuff tho, all I can tell you are my opinions!

Thanks ethos, iv'e given my thanks on the button thingy. Come home rather drunk . All i'm after is a marked improvement over the standard system and i'm sure Dan knows his stuff. But as the infinitys are tried and tested i'll stick with tho's. I know the depth of the speakers is important so any upgrade that fits is good with me.

if your looking for a simple way to do things try just the HU 1st and see how you find it as that often makes a massive improvement. then look into speakers, personally ive always found infinity to be a little sharp but its always difficult to listen to different speakers and most speakers in that price range will be sharp so i dought youll regret getting them tbh.

as for amps and subs if you going to buy an amp id get a 4 channel amp like THIS as i know a lot of people using these amps an they are very highly rated for there money. it will give you the chance to power a sub and amp your front speakers which again will make a vast improvement over using the HU's amp. as for subs the JBL GTO range is always a safe bet, and alpines SWS range is also good. i think that at then end of the day whatever you buy as long as you ask to make sure its not total poop will be good and do what you need.

Thanks guys, I managed to find a profesional car audio place but they are not cheap. The Set up they recommend for my case is as below. Now their prices for these comonents are crazy but the labour charge is cheep. Supply your own gear and the labour is £54 p/h :thumbdwn:

Basically swings and roundabouts so I may use all the components they sugest but fit it all myself. Now I heard some of their installs and OH MY GOD -

Kenwood Electronics UK Ltd. | Amplifiers > KAC-6403

Kenwood Electronics UK Ltd. | Regular Speakers > KFC-PS7100

Kenwood Electronics UK Ltd. | Component Speakers > KFC-P707

Basically they say a sub is not required, a decent stealth shelf (solid consruction) with 7x10's gives comparable base to a 10 inch sub yet also gives a full range complete sound. Front components they recommend a set of clarions (200quid:finger:) but these are likely to be too deep for the octavia so they sugest the kenwoods as the next best and compact alternative. All this driven by a 4 way 500w kenwood amp.

So what do you think?

Still planning to get the alpine head unit.

IDA-X001 - Alpine - Europe - Mobile Media Solutions

Hmm. I'm not convinced. Kenwood havenever struck me as being an amazing brand for car audio and as for the 7*10's, I'd say no to them for the same reason as 6*9's. You don't want a full range speaker behind you, it'll make everything sound wrong. If you really don't want a sub in the conventional sense, then you could get some 6*9 subs. I had a set of Genesis P96-8's, which are 6*9's, but a sub, no mid or tweeter. They will work as one and give the equivalent bass to a 10inch sub, but won't drop as low.

Really, I'd say do a little more research and hunting round befoer you buy. The headunit is suposed to be excellent. the only reason I didn't go for it was illunintaion (not green!) and I wanted something slightly more subtle!

imo avoid those rear speakers or any rear speakers as they drag the sound stage backwards and ruin it. you'll be much better off with a small sub. are you even mildly skilled in doing it yourself? it really isnt difficult if you take your time over it and dont rush it.

as installers saying that the speakers will make up for the sub would make me think avoid them. as for the HU its a good HU but no CD player in it.

as for the actual gear i havnt heard any kenwood gear for a long time so cannot comment. clarions id avoid as ive not heard any good comments for a while about them.

what are you looking at spending? and whereabouts are you located roughly as i may be able to get you to a good installer if your not happy with doing it yourself.

EDIT:

Beaten To It!!!!

Thanks again guys. In my opinion the standard system sounds so empty towards the back of the car. Every good sounding car system i've heard has had excellent full range rear speakers fitted, including a BMW with Harman Karadon pack and audi's with Bose packs.

Granted, these did have subs

But you're not listening to music in the back of your car! And dependant on how sticky out your ears are, you pick up sounds in front of you. The sound should appear to be coming from in front of you, in the middle almost as if you ahd a speaker instead of a Skoda badge on your bonnet.

Rear speakers are for rear passengers and should not be loud at all. I think your original plan was best. Source some decent comoponents for your front doors, a four channel amp and a cheapish sub. It won't be difficult to wire up and it will sound approx 785 times better than standard!

i agree with dan. think about when you goto a concert you stand facing the music not with it behind but then one persons good is another mans poor.

rear fill is normally only used for either large cars to give the rear passengers something to listen to or as part of a 5.1 system. ime bose systems to me dont sound all that but everyones ears hear things differently so aslong as your happy with what your buying.

also if you fit a sub ensure you seal off your rear speakers from the boot as the pressure created by the sub will damage the speakers.

not sure about this not wanting a full range speaker in the back trend. You want a balanced soundstage and the back is further away so you need somthing coming from there, did an install in my sisters mg with some awsome rainbow components up front and a vibe sub in the boot, but the sub sounds disjointed and odd. all low frequency from the back with mid range up front. My car has 6x9s and a sub at the back which combine nicly to give the whole range.

the frequencies comming from a sub are predominantly non directional so you shouldnt notice it to badly comming from behind you.