Audio Setup

[Guinness]

Well I never have been much of audio bloke but as its a 1.2 I am rather lacking in what to do next. So this is what I am planing, I fancy chaning the front and rear speakers, putting a sub and amp (hoepfully building sub into just behind wheel arch in the boot).

Anyway Im after ideas of what I should buy Im not after spending a fortune just something better than stock, Im also intrested in dynamating possibly. Know there is an ICE section but its rather dead and this is quite mk4 appropriate as Im looking for something not too far from OEM.

Thanks again lads n lasses

 

[BeEzA]

vibe slick series mate. just new out but are really good for the money. im running a full vibe set up in mine an they sound great. dont use dynamat if your gonna sound proof it cos its extremely expensive stuff hehe. i used carpet underfelt but not the rubbery stuff they use nowadays its more like real felt. i stuck the felt on with bodyshoot an by christ did it make a huge difference.

 

[St3f!]

hi mate i have custom doorbuilds in my ibiza looks really smart in my opinion should really take pics also i have some dynamat in the boot and doors really makes a huge difference! also have MTX Sledgehammer 5500 bass is unreal shakes the car apart and I'm running these off the DAB Blaupunkt headunit which maybe for sale if you are intrested!?

 

[Poverty]

Well I never have been much of audio bloke but as its a 1.2 I am rather lacking in what to do next. So this is what I am planing, I fancy chaning the front and rear speakers, putting a sub and amp (hoepfully building sub into just behind wheel arch in the boot).

Anyway Im after ideas of what I should buy Im not after spending a fortune just something better than stock, Im also intrested in dynamating possibly. Know there is an ICE section but its rather dead and this is quite mk4 appropriate as Im looking for something not too far from OEM.

Thanks again lads n lasses

What is your budget?

My audio equipment cost me £500, and nearly £200 to install and I would say its pretty damn good. You can see what I got in my sig. CarAudioSecurity is easily the cheapest out there and do fantastic deals so will definetly recommend them. As for soundproofing, every where I went said I wont be needing it for my setup, and now that its all been installed I agree. No need for it IMO. The Ibiza keeps the sound inside the car very well as standard and even when my system is turned up to the max it sounds great.

Id say get some sets of different components and run those off the headunit. Then get a seperate AMP installed for the sub.

 

[Poverty]

hi mate i have custom doorbuilds in my ibiza looks really smart in my opinion should really take pics also i have some dynamat in the boot and doors really makes a huge difference! also have MTX Sledgehammer 5500 bass is unreal shakes the car apart and I'm running these off the DAB Blaupunkt headunit which maybe for sale if you are intrested!?

Can you describe the difference in the quality of sound before and after soundproofing mate?

 

[lard44]

£200 installation? Do it yourself mate!

The door cards come off real easy front and back, signal cables down the right and power down the left - can be done by a newbie in half a day.

I WOULDN'T change the rears. Do you ever drive from there?

Spend the extra on a decent set of components for the front (or even co-axials if you want to keep it looking OEM), a 4 channel amp and subwoofer. JBL are quite good entry level, as are Infinity. Look for decent RMS wattages and a wide frequency response in the speakers.

I had Mac Audio co-axials in the front and loved them to bits - replaced them with Infinity reference range but they weren't as good. They WERE half the price.

 

[Poverty]

I have infinity references. Have taken the doors cards off but all the other stuff especially the wiring up of the amp to the ground and battery etc would have been too daunting for me.

So co-axials are better than components? Are you running the speakers off the headunit or are they amp driven?

 

[Aimez]

i used coaxials as they are easier to put in, but even then i didnt know about earthing and all that got 2 amps sub and speakers installed plus aerial adapter for headunit for £120 in one day.
But i had to then take the speakers our myself and install new ones as i got a duff pair from the manufacturor and it wasnt that hard.

 

[lard44]

I have infinity references. Have taken the doors cards off but all the other stuff especially the wiring up of the amp to the ground and battery etc would have been too daunting for me.

So co-axials are better than components? Are you running the speakers off the headunit or are they amp driven?

Components are definitely better because of the tweeters but co-axials are easier to fit if you want to save a little work.

Speakers are running off an Infinity 4-channel amp, which is also powering my (dreaded) 6x9s.

 

[lard44]

PS I got the car audio shop near me (Paragon) to run ALL my cables (which I supplied except the speaker cable which was too short!) for £60.

Absolute bargain I thought, and I WILL be going back!

 

[Aimez]

yeh lard44 is right thats the only reason i didnt get them, i kept the standard tweeters plugged in they sound alright. Mine are running of a 4ch magnet scopion amp the sub off an alpine v12 2 ch amp.

I had the same luck local shop (steered clear of the 17 year olds at halfords touching my car) and i supplied all but 1 cable and they threw in aerial adapter really cheap. People on here were saying £120 for a days work was too cheap and they'd wreck the car but it was fine.

 

[Poverty]

the place that installed mine tried bumping me, they tried charging me £320 but I was on top of things and was like naaaaa

 

[Guinness]

Iv got a budget of about £300 but that will go over as always with me Im going 2 do it in small steps like replace speakers first etc.

 

[R1ch85]

Iv got a budget of about £300 but that will go over as always with me Im going 2 do it in small steps like replace speakers first etc.

I replaced my head unit before i replaced my speakers n it made a huge differnce over the standard one. Whats the point in buying expensive, good quality speakers if the thing powering them is of poor quaility? Better to start from the source in my opinion.

I bought components (Rockford Fosgate P162S )for the front about 6 months after the head unit, and again, a big difference in sound quality compared to standard, and that was running off my new headunit! (Alpine 9854r). It is easier to fit co-axials as there is less work, but changing the tweeters wasnt particularly difficult, just finding a suitable place to mount the crossovers took sum time!

I changed the rear speakers too, bought a pair of alpine type-r co-axials. Only reason i went for these is that they were a good price and better than standard. Obviously i dont drive from the back but i regularly have passengers in the back and i dont want the speakers to sound awful compared to the front.

Also, total money spent so far, £300 compared to rrp of £550. Shop around, plenty of bargains out there.

 

[lard44]

Passengers? PAH, they slow me down!

 

[Guinness]

Iv already replaced the headunit mate lol. just wondering realy what speakers to get for the from and back ie what people are runnign I dont want like stupidly pricey just better than stock

 

[R1ch85]

Iv already replaced the headunit mate lol. just wondering realy what speakers to get for the from and back ie what people are runnign I dont want like stupidly pricey just better than stock

lol, sorry.. i didnt think you had, however i have been up since 5am so i could just have missed it!

 

[Mr Max]

my advice, go see what halfords sell, then you'll know exactly what brands you need to avoid. Go see a proper audio dealer, my choice would probably be MTX

 

[spyke85]

my advice, go see what halfords sell, then you'll know exactly what brands you need to avoid. Go see a proper audio dealer, my choice would probably be MTX

Haha, well said!

 

[Poverty]

halfords got some half decent subs for sale, fli ones and vibes, but not with very competitive prices.

For around £300 I would get a 10 inch JBL sub amp and wiring package, and some pioneer components at a total of about £320