What do I need for a car stereo system?

Question 1
What do I need for a car stereo system?...  Alright so what exactly do I need I'm on a budget but I need a decent system for roughly a grand

So correct me if I'm wrong I need:

1 deck

4 speakers

2 subs

1 amp



What do you recommend for brands and what about sizes of speakers and the type of amp or w/e. I don't want to go cheap on this but not overly expensive i just wanna be able to rock out in the parking lot at school. Is there anything else i might need. I'll prolly get all this stuff at best buy prolly awesome if u could recommend something.

Answers
1)   just a kenwood head unit will do pretty much anyone that is like 50-75 watts rms for sub may i suggest a fi bl fully loaded off of ficaraudio.com with maybe an aq2200d amp from audioque.com as for speakers i don't know much about mids and tweeters yet but decent 75-100 rms will be fine per speaker hope this helped a little - john k

2)   You're basically correct. You also may want to consider amplifying the four speakers, but that is an added cost. The only things you left out are wiring harness, mounting kit, and antenna adapter for the deck install. Possibly speaker harnesses for the speaker install, and finally an amplifier installation kit for the subwoofer and amplifier installation. Depending on the vehicle you may need a GM battery tap. You'll also need an enclosure for the subwoofers. If you're on a really tight budget, I'd look into Pioneer or Kenwood. They'll be the best bang for your buck in regards to quality and cost. - designkidcom

3)   you can get a pretty mean system for a grand. ur basically right on what u need but u have to be specific on exactly what u need, First u have to find what size speakers u have in ur vehicle. Most decks will almost fit any car what i had all ready that i loved was alpine, pioneer and sony. Ur also going to need an amp wireing kit to hook up the amp to the deck and the amp to the sub. For the box u need to know what size of space u have in ur trunk cause all subs require a specific cubic feet to hit the best. As for the amp u need to figure out what size sub ur getting and what power it requires. The speakers u should get 2-ways or 3-ways so u have ur mids and highs. I think infinti kappas with the crossovers are the best and the best place i found to get all ur stereo equipment is online discount stereo they have excellent prices. - shustack

4)   Eonon is a good deck for your burdget. Now they are under Christmas promotion with up to 40% off. You can check them out, since not only they're cheap, but also they are with good quality and after sale servic, 2 years warranty. - Linda


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Question 2
I need Help With The Subwoofers Im about to Buy?...  Ok Crutchfield is having a sale going on they are selling to 10" Kicker CompVR subwoofers buy one for 129 get the other one Free its peak wattage is 800 I plan on getting two of these and then for my Amp I wanna get a Kicker 08x750.1 Amp for 319 it is a Mono subwoofer amplifier 750 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms. And then for my Head unit I was looking at a Pioneer DEH-2100IB for 129 This equipment will be going in a 2001 toyota celica I just want to know if this system setup will be any good Thanks For the Help

Answers
1)   Don't buy stuff from Crutchfield. Their products are overpriced and they will rope you in with nonsense like preferred customer charges without your permission. They did that to me and it ended up over drafting my checkering account and costing me hundreds of dollars. They never made good on the charges and I later found the same products they sold me at Sears for quite a bit less and no shipping fees. - Carl L

2)   its a good match-up but shop around and see if you can get it cheaper - lowestnotes06

3)   The BOGO offers on Crutchfield are great. And when you find one on excellent products like the Kicker's, there's good value too. Both the CVR's and the Kicker monoblock are excellent choices and should provide some serious low end for your Celica.



A somewhat less expensive, but still excellent amp would be the MTX JH600. Crutchfield has it on sale for $170. Probably the best value on a mono amp anywhere online.



The Pioneer is a little overpriced and underpowered. The RMS output of it's built-in amplifier is only 14 watts, little more that some factory receivers. For exactly the same money, you might consider the Alpine CDE-102 which has 18 watts RMS output. But better still, with the Alpine you can add the KTP-445 Head Unit Power Pack which increases the output to 45 watts RMS, comparable to many entry-level 4-channel amps. And it's "plug and play". No amp wiring kits. No RCA's. Just plug it in. Also, the CDE-102 has a front-panel USB input as well as an AUX input. Just load a thumb drive with MP3's and play all day. The Pioneer does not have a USB input.



If you are a first-time purchaser at Crutchfield you can get a $20 discount off a $200 order if you use a "friend referral code" such as mine, which is: p7sdj-hrx8q-9800g. And any order over $129 that includes car audio products ships free. - PimpMyRide


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Question 3
Do i need a capacitor for my subs?...  I have two type r 12' 2ohm subs and i am going to be getting an mrp-m1000 watt amp for it. question is will i need to get a capcitor. if so what type and any other additional information about it? thanks

Answers
1)   buying a cap will not solve anything try upgrading the battery and alternator as well as using the right size cables. - lowestnotes06

2)   You do not need a capacitor. They help with transient bursts, but they do not make more electricity than is available. Your battery is 12 volts. It's going to be 12 volts, capacitor or no capacitor. To produce 1000 watts, the amp needs almost 85 amps. You could arcweld sheetmetal with that kind of power. That must come from the alternator and the battery and there needs to be enough current left to run the car. How about this, get a 100 Farad ultracapacitor since you're happy getting 1000watt amp. Excess is the goal, isn't it? Get 2 of those capacitors. Get used to sign language too. You're going to be deaf as a snake. - don r

3)   cap's are near useless for car audio. do 'the big 3' instead. it will work 10x better for less cash.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+big+3+upgrade&nomobile=1&hl=en&gl=US&client=mv-google - dragon breath


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Question 4
Kenwood amp cutting out during heavy bass...?...  Ok i really need some help here, try to stick with me haha.



I have a Kenwood kac-9102d amplifier, powering a 12" kicker L7.

The amp puts out 500 watts rms at 4 ohms, and 850 watts rms at 2 ohms. The kicker runs at 750 watts rms. I had this set up in my Saturn Ion Redline wired to 2 ohms and it BUMPED! Heres the problem...

I put my Redline away for the winter so i figured i would put the amp and sub in my Saturn Vue for the winter. I have it all wired up to the stock radio and it works perfectly until i turn up the volume quite a bit. The thing is that i used a lower grade power/ground cable that i thought would still work in the vue. When i turn up the volume it works fine until there is a big hit of bass and then it cuts out and the light on my amp turns off for maybe a second or two. It does this everytime the bass gets loud. I think its protection mode but i'm not sure. I really dont feel like buying and running new wire. If i wire the sub to 4 ohms will it not cut out as bad? I want it to be loud like in my redline. I'm not sure it's the wire but i dont know what else it would be since its the only thing thats different from the redline. Will a capacitor help? Is there a better way to wire the sub? Any help or suggestions will be appreciated, Thanks!



Heres the difference in wire...

Redline: http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDe...prodID=KOL-AK4

Vue: http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDe...?prodID=KLM-K4

Answers
1)   kickers are power hungry, gotta feed them right so they perform the way the were built, try 4 guage cables a cap might help but not worth the money just feed the amp the power it needs - lowestnotes06

2)   You can think of speakers and amps in terms of water. The speaker will try to draw as much water as it needs to produce full power. If the amp is too small it will not be able to supply enough water to the speaker. So the speaker "clips", in other words, runs out of pressure. The amp has to recover and attempt to deliver more water to the speaker.



It is always better to have more amp, and bigger wire (pipes) so the speaker can get as much as it needs.



Your Kickers are trying to draw 750 'gallons' of water from an amp only built to provide 500 'gallons'. The size of wire makes a difference, in that it must be large enough to distribute all that water, just like a pipe.



Also, the amp needs a certain amount of water going into it from the radio. If the radio cannot supply enough signal the amp can't get a grip on it and crank it up. (All has to do with gain ratios).



Sounds like the radio isn't giving the amp a large enough signal. - Vic J


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Question 5
speaker sizes for a 2003 saturn ion?...  I would like to know what the speaker size is for the doors and the trunk i measured them at 6 inches but I was told that they were 5 1/2 inches by one teck and 6 1/2 by another so i am confused know.

Answers
1)   The correct size would be 6-1/2". - designkidcom

2)   It depends do you have an Ion 1 2 or 3 do you have 6 speakers or just 4??? - Lance


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