Alright, Being an employee at Circuit City I can get nice deals to certain things. So in order to keep a nice system cheap, I'll be going in that direction. Here's what I thought of so far. First, Actually, I will be keeping the stock headunit for right now. I've heard that the 2007 headunits are a PITA to replace and I dont mind the HU at all. I just want better sound quality.

I listen to rock, metal, and rap/hip-hop every once in a while. So I need tight, solid bass from the woofers for all of the bass guitar and double kick drum things; and crisp, clear highs and mids for guitar, cymbals, and some vocals.

All of the speakers are Polk Audio:

- Front Doors (6.5" or 5.25" ?) - http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/specs/db525/ OR http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/specs/db650/

- Rear Deck (6" x 9") - http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/specs/db690/

- Two 10" Woofers - http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/specs/mm2104/

Amps are also Polk Audio (I'm open to other brands if it would be better):

I want to start off with an amp for the woofers only - I'll maybe add an amp for the speakers later...won't if I don't have to.

- C500.1 500W - http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/specs/c500_1 (Will this work for the woofers?)

Other things:

- MonsterCap Capacitor (.5 farad or 1 farad ?)
- Monster Cable Amplifier Power Kit
- Possibly Monster Cable Speaker Wiring (Is this necessary?)


As you can see I trying to stay on a type of budget but with my specials I can get, it isn't a big deal. I want nice quality sound, that's all. If my questions in blue could be answered, it would be great. I plan on installing myself. I'm really skilled with electrical, just not so much with the technical aspects of audio. Any suggestions are also welcome. Thanks a lot for reading!

Bumping... Should I head over to a specialty car audio site instead? :p

 

Polk Audio is da shiznit

 

the amp should work perfect for those 2 subs.. make sure wire them in series so you get 2ohm and it will run perfect..

Monster wires are expensive but strong though..
if you wanna stay on budget you can get other brands that are much cheaper and they work great also.. like i have stingers and they work great...
and for the capacitors you are wasting money on it... if you really want capacitors to be work you'll have to series them at least 10 of them.. 1 will work like crap...it wont help a bit.. i rather get second battery ..with that...
and you should be ok with no amps for the speakers as long as you dont turn them loud and loud.. thats where the amps come in go over the limit once you add them on you can turn it on loud and you won't hear any bad noise..

 

PERFECT! I can for sure trust your word too. It's great since I get about 62% off on everything that's Polk.

Ok...the monster cable price isn't bad for me considering I get 60% off cables and 50% off power...so it isn't a big deal.

So for these two 10"...how will be bass sound? Nice and clear as I said before?

and for the front speakers... 5.25" or 6.5"? Differences? Advantages?

Thanks for the opinions!

 

Sorry dude but in electronics the only "serial" you do is the serial numbers on the equipment. You wire things in either series or parallel.

 

Also...I see they have component speakers... Is that just basically splitting up the tweeter from the low/mid speaker? Would this be a better way to go?

The only way listed on their website to wire 2 SVC woofers is this:

2 SVC Driver
Parallel

These two wiring diagrams are identical, because the "SUB 1" output is paralleled to the "SUB 2" output. If you don't want to crimp the wires together, the extra "SUB 2" output is an excellent way to connect your subwoofers. The total impedance of these systems is 2 Ohms.

 

Like I said, either series or parallel. In a series circuite resistance is additive. 2ohm=2ohms=4 ohms of resistance. In a parallel circuit given equal value resistors you divide the resistance by the number of loads to get your total resistance. 2 2ohm speakers/2 gives you 1 ohm of resistance for the parallel circuit. There are other formulas for unequal resistance but since you should never mix different ohm load subs you don't need to worry about them. Now look at the prescribed ohm load your amplifier is designed for and either series up or parallel down the ohm loads to match.

 

Alright, thats what I thought. So since it is a one channel amp, I will go parallel. Each woofer is 4 ohms and the amp operates at 350W @ 4 Ohms and 500W @ 2 Ohms, so the speakers in parallel will be 2 ohms and will then be receiving 500W from the amp. Thanks!

So for these two 10"...how will be bass sound? Nice and clear as I said before?

and for the front speakers... 5.25" or 6.5"? Differences? Advantages?

Also...I see they have component speakers... Is that just basically splitting up the tweeter from the low/mid speaker? Would this be a better way to go?

 

All sounds pretty good!
Im not really a fan of polk audio though... But if your gettin it for 62 percent off, DAMN!!

 

If you need to wire your subs in series to match a higher load for your amplifier all you would need to do is go from the positive terminal on the amplifier to a positive terminal on a sub to a negative terminal on the same sub to a positive terminal on the other to the negative on the other back to the negative on the amplifier. The below link has pictures of both methods. And still no serial wiring.

http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/wo...s.asp?Q=2&I=41

Edit: Go with a component set if you can, they're worlds better IMO.

10" woofers generally give you nice punchy bass, not too deep but deep enough. It should be nice and clear as long as you have a quality head unit and amplifiers.

Go with the 6.5" as they will give you better mid bass responce than the 5.25's and should still give you plenty of the high frequency sounds.

That's basically it, with a component set you get a true mid bass driver and a tweeter. The mid bass driver handles all the mid range frequencies and there is an x-over between them and the tweets that filters out the lower range freqs so that all the tweets are playing is make your ears bleed high freq sounds.

 

So since that would end up being 8 ohms, that wouldn't work though...right? And when you say "load" are you talking about the wattage?

As far as the HU, I will be using my stock one for now. Later on, I'll probably upgrade, but for right now, I'll stick with it. Since it has the input Aux jack, it isn't a problem. Post 3, tonylee232 said I would be okay without an amp on my main speakers...do you think that'll work out alright? I don't want to have to buy another amp at the moment if I don't have to.

 

It would work...at 1/4 power.

I was just showing you a diagram of series and parallel wiring for sub woofers. Stick with what the manufacturer recommends on ohm loads. When I say load I mean the subs, the load is what uses the power(watts). An Aux input will not give you the signal you need for your sub amp. An aux input will simply give you a line in for something like and I-pod or what ever fits in the jack. Since you're keeping your stock HU for now you're going to need a Line Level Adaptor for your RCA style inputs on your amp. And you should be okay with using the factory amp for your stock speakers(doors, tweeters, and rear deck). You may want to turn the gain down on your subs though as you might over power your stock speakers. If you think about it you'll have these super awesome subs blasting out at a much higher dB than your stock sub is and it could very well drown out higher frequency sounds. You don't have to upgrade, but it's going to give you a much better sound than otherwise.

 

Yeah I know about the line in...I was just saying that the features of the HU suit me... I don't need to upgrade as soon as possible just for the capability to play MP3 cd's or anything.
And the amp I was looking at has a high level input switch, so I'll just splice the RCA inputs at the opposite end and just tie into the rear speakers.

Also, you mentioned a factory amp...lol I don't have one. I have the lowest base model Cobalt. So, does that change your idea about the speakers at all?

 

It's just a question of how loud are they now? Do you still think you'll be able to hear our mids and highs over your subs? If you like tons of bass and not so much the mids and highs then it won't matter. If you're like me and can't get enough of the sound of a guitar then you'll want to put an amp in soon. I don't know how loud a base stereo in a cobalt is but replacing the stocker speakers should give you a pretty good boost in sound levels and quality. I'm not sure if I follow you on splicing RCA's, I've never heard of anyone doing that. If you're using the high level input shouldn't you splice the factory wires into a harness made just for that amp?

 

I found all of this out in the manual for the amp. Basically, next to the gain knob, there is a input switch that can be only set to "High" or "Low." There is one set of 2 RCA inputs (Left and Right). Now the manual says that if you are connecting the amp straight to subwoofer preamps, put the switch to low. It says you can also connect the amp straight to the rear speaker wiring by splicing the other end of the RCA inputs and setting the switch to "High."

Here what it says exactly out of the manual:

"7. INPUT TYPE SELECTOR: This switch allows you to select the type of connection
being made. The default for the average head unit is the
LOW position, as the most popular head unit output connections
are low voltage. To use HIGH level speaker wire
inputs, simply splice an RCA connector onto your speaker
wire, then set this switch to HIGH. If you have a higher output
head unit, a 4V or 8V head unit output (see your head
unit’s owner’s manual), set this selector to HIGH because
you will have high voltage coming into the amp."

 

Okay, I just got done checking out the owners manual and it looks like you're going to have to use a line level adaptor for your RCA's. I didn't see an input for the style of connector I'm thinking about on the pictures of the amp. I did see RCA in though. I'm not quite sure what these guys are talking about splicing RCA's for, but if you get a line level adaptor it will be nice and clean. Splice the adaptor in, and simply plug RCA's into it and the amplifier. As far as the input high and low you'll most likely have it on low. Check and see what voltage the line level adaptor will put out it's signal and that will be what you set your amp for. Well I'm off to bed but I'll see if I can't get some pics of the differences in what I'm talking about and what you're talking about so I can explain it better. I hope I didn't confuse you with my rambling.

 

No, actually you cleared a lot of stuff up for me. I do understand how to high-to-low adapters work, I just thought it would be easier to do it using the amp. It doesn't matter though. It's only an extra few bucks. :-p Thanks a lot for the help. Hopefully I can get started on this in a few weeks. I can't wait until it's done.

Whenever you get back on, or if someone else would like to answer, I have another question. What would be the best way to mount the box in the trunk. First, facing the cabin, or the trunk lid? Second, should I place a new piece of thicker plywood in there under the box? I saw that someone else did that on here... If it isn't necessary, I don't want to do it. Thanks again!

 

it isnt possible to wire those 2 subs to a 2 ohm configuration. I am dealing with the same issue right now with my alpines. That amp would work... just not very well. Look for something that is 400 watts at 4 ohms. Just my two cents.

 

Face the trunk lid. It wont work for you, but for myself, (since i have no carpet) I welded in bolts that keep my boxes from moving around at all.

You can use plywood if you want. It wont make much of a difference, If I were you I'd "Dynamat" Your whole car. Get Two Rolls of RAAMmat, 100-125sq ft of Ensolite and do the entire car, and your sound system would sound even better, and you'd have a quieter car on the inside

 

actually it would be 250watts each subs since you got two of them running to one amp..

 

Yeah, but his amplifier will still be putting out it's best power given a 2ohm load, which I think is what he was trying to get at.

Why can you not wire those 2 subs into a 2 ohm configuration? I just got done looking at the owners manual and it says they are single voice coil 4 ohm subs. 4/2=2.

 

So I could drill the box down straight into the stock "flooring" in the trunk? LMAO I remember when I had my 1998 Saturn about 1.5 years ago and I drilled my box into my gas tank... probably the stupidest thing I've done in my life. Anyways, and then the dynamat thing. I was already going to dynamat the trunk but the whole car? I realize it'll make a huge difference, but I don't have the patience to strip my whole interior or, do I have to strip it down?

 

I would get "pegs" welded in if you want to secure the box.

If you're going to dynamat, just do the whole car while you're at it, It should take you a whole day, and you'll need about 100 sq ft

 

Pegs? How do those work? Would you say stripping the car down is difficult? Or just time-consuming? Thanks!

I was looking around and dynamat is pretty expensive. It's gunna cost over $500 for 100 sq. ft. What if I did the trunk only? That's what I was originally going to do.

LOL nevermind...found B-Quiet on ebay for $100...same thing as dynamat right?