Comp. selection and Instal questions!!

[dakfink]

OK looking to upgrade the system in my RC.

Far as i know it's pretty much stock except after market speakers in the doors.

I will be putting 1 or 2 10"s behind the seats. JL Kicker and Polk all make slim-line models that should fit. I'm 5"8" on a good day so I give up a bit of leg room anyways.

For the doors I'm looking at Cadence CWM-6. These are a really good speaker as far as sound quality. Even though they are an OLD-model. So much so that Cadence has had a Run of them made the beginning of each year the last 2 yrs, and they are 1/4 the price I paid for them in 2000.

Now here is my questions?

1: I'm thinking of getting Q-forms for the kick panels and putting a second set of the Cadence CWM-6 in them. Is there any reason I shouldn't do that?

2: How do you match an amp to the speakers? What qualities of the amp need to match the qualities of the speakers for the best sound and performance.

3: Is it better to have an amp that is matched up exactlly with the speakers RMS capability or one that is slightly larger?

4: Is there a speaker behind the seat in the side on a RC? I can't find any pictures that show one and I'm not in the US at this time to look for myself.

5: What is the biggest Trick/Secret to installing a stereo system and have it sound good? The mechanics of wiring it up and making it work is all straight forward and simple. (I've been wiring airrcraft for 20 yrs). Reason I ask is I have seen people use good quality components and get it all in and wired up and it all works as advertised but still sounds like ass.

6: How do you set the adjustments on the amps? Gain, etc.

7: Any pieces like Cross-overs, EQs, Signal Processors that are a Must to have or avoid at all cost?

8: Brands??? What is the GOOD Stuff and what is pure-junk, waste of money.

Last time I messed with doing this stuff on my own. Rockford Fosgate and Orion dominated, Soundstream just hit the Market and Alphasonic was just starting out. That was about 1990, I think!!

I had a Planet Audio system put in my Laser about 3 yrs ago, but since have gotten rid of that car and the subs from it won't fit and the Cadence speakers got damaged from water leaks in the doors. It sounded awesome but the guy that did it doesn't do Planet Audio any more. He said something went south with the company.

I'm contemplating doing it myself, for the simple fact the same guy is always busy and I have limited time at home to get it done. If I take it to him I may have to wait a week just for the stuff to come in and another week to get an appointment for the install and 1-2 days for them to get it done. 1/2 my leave gone.

[dakfink]

OK NO THANKS TO ANY OF YOU S.O.Bs. !!!:jester::nana:

I think I got this figured out.

Putting 2 sets of Cadence CWM-6's in the front, 1 set in the door and another set in Q-form kick-panel pods.(6.5" 2-way components 100w RMS)

Rockford Fosgate P3L-S10 (10" sub 300w RMS) behind the seat.

Amp will be a Cadence 5-channel 100w RMS @ 4ohm x 4 ch. and 300w RMS @ 4ohms.

Head unit will be Pioneer DEX-P99RS. It is a bit pricey but with the ability to replace an EQ and X-over and Head unit all in one it actually turns out cheaper and means less BS to clutter up a Regular Cab.

Anybody have any clue with any of the stuff I listed? Good choice? or there better out there for the same or slightly more/less $$$$$$?

[Kingst3r]

A lot of people like kicker, including myself. I also prefer alpine for a headunit and speakers.

It is better to over power speakers than it is to under power them.

With most amps you can adjust the settings right on the amp itself.

I run a mono amp for my sub and will be running a seperate 4 channel amp for my speakers.

You can run a 5 channel amp if you want that to power your subs and speakers.

I think 2 channel amps are a little pointless. Just get a 4 channel amp to power all your speakers and run a mono for your subs.

You can get a equalizer and crossover and that crap to control what you want to go to your amp. I dnt need that shit as im not that big into it (yet).

Thats a good amount of what I know, hopefully a true guru will chime in and help you out.


N oh, google can answer a lot of all your techy questions, thats what I did. I learned a lot about RMS, peak power, and all of that good stuff. I still have a lot to learn.

[Addicted2Blue00]

ive always been a alpine and memphis fan. if you want to hook up an amp to the door speakers then a set of components would be good enough and sound great.

my suggestion
HU is your own choice, this is a "you get what you pay for"
6.5 components with 200w-300w amp
2 8s or a single 10" sub with 800w amp

[dakfink]

A lot of people like kicker, including myself. I also prefer alpine for a headunit and speakers.
I like Kicker myslef but I accidentally found these Rockfords. They are something new they came out with just for regular-cab trucks. They only measure 5.5" deep
It is better to over power speakers than it is to under power them.
Everything I found said the same. 70-125% of speaker RMS rating

With most amps you can adjust the settings right on the amp itself.

I run a mono amp for my sub and will be running a seperate 4 channel amp for my speakers.

You can run a 5 channel amp if you want that to power your subs and speakers.

That's whay I'm looking at the Cadence F100-5. It will fit nicely under or behind a seat and only akes up the room of a typical mon-amp. I was actually suprised that SoundStream didn't have anything compact. That was their selling point when they came out in the 80's. You could easily put one of their hi-power amps in a Vette or a Ferrari easily.

I think 2 channel amps are a little pointless. Just get a 4 channel amp to power all your speakers and run a mono for your subs.


You can get a equalizer and crossover and that crap to control what you want to go to your amp. I dnt need that shit as im not that big into it (yet).

That's why I am looking at the Pioneer HU DEX-P99RS. Has a 31 band EQ and X-overs built in. I was Originally looking at the JVC AVX-77 but that waould mean I would need EQ and X-overs seperately. Whcih means trying to cram more quipment in a Reg-Cab and more Money.

Thats a good amount of what I know, hopefully a true guru will chime in and help you out.


N oh, google can answer a lot of all your techy questions, thats what I did. I learned a lot about RMS, peak power, and all of that good stuff. I still have a lot to learn.


Yeah I googled and got the most help from Car Audio Mag and Crutchfield.

Biggest thing is knowing how to tune the stuff after it's all set-up.

[dakfink]

ive always been a alpine and memphis fan. if you want to hook up an amp to the door speakers then a set of components would be good enough and sound great.

my suggestion
HU is your own choice, this is a "you get what you pay for"
6.5 components with 200w-300w amp
2 8s or a single 10" sub with 800w amp

I think I got this covered? Pioneer DEX-P99RS ($1099-1399)
The Cadence F100-5 have 100wRMS @ 4ohms on the 4 main channels and 300wRMS @ 4ohms on the 5th ch.

Not quite as much W on the Sub/s but they are a smaller slim-line model.


I used to like Alpine as well but they got too BIG for themselves and it has cost them, Sony as well. Back when I used to admire car audio in the 90's(couldn't afford) Alpine and Sony were always the TOP and IN thing to have if you wanted the latest and greatest and quality.

I know a few Car Audio shop owners and they all say the same thing. They can't carry Alpine because they require you move a Minimum of $XXXXX.XX product to even carry their line. And mostly places like BestBuy or Online Stores can move the volume they want and even then it's all the mid level stuff.

Pioneer seems to be holding their own now a days. When I had one of the Local Shops (know the owner) install a stereeo for me. He aksed me which was more importanat Flash/Bling and options or Sound quality. I wanted sound quality because I listen to just about every type of music out there on a continual rotating basis.

I had originally picked out a $1100 flip up screen from Pioneer. He had me listen to this other one that he had and compare the 2. The second one he showed me just blew the Flip-Screen out of the water for sound quality through the same speakers. The price $450. He said most of the Quality Sound units aren't the expensive ones. OF Course not the cheap ones either.

I picked the HU (Pioneer DEX-P99RS) kind of by stumbling on it!!

I was looking through CarAudioMag at other stuff and kept seeing this stereo. I liked the clean simple look but wasn't too sure if it wasn't too simple. Up on more research i found that CarAudio Mag rated it #2 in their top 10 Audiophile stereos and it was 1 of 2 that were available for purchase, the rest were models from the 90's.

After reading and watching video on professionl installers reviews of the HU I was pretty much set to get over the $1100-1300 price tag. It has a 31 band EQ built in, X-overs built in an Ipod/ USB and Satellite can all be added to it.

Only thing is you have to use amps with it. It does not have Line Out for speakers.

Far as the woofer/s I am still bebating to use 1 or 2.
They are rated at 300wRMS @ 4ohms.

The amp is rated at 300wRMS @ 4ohms or 600wRMS @ 2ohms on the 5th channel.

[Kingst3r]

I used to like Alpine as well but they got too BIG for themselves and it has cost them, Sony as well. Back when I used to admire car audio in the 90's(couldn't afford) Alpine and Sony were always the TOP and IN thing to have if you wanted the latest and greatest and quality.

I know a few Car Audio shop owners and they all say the same thing. They can't carry Alpine because they require you move a Minimum of $XXXXX.XX product to even carry their line. And mostly places like BestBuy or Online Stores can move the volume they want and even then it's all the mid level stuff.

Pioneer seems to be holding their own now a days. When I had one of the Local Shops (know the owner) install a stereeo for me. He aksed me which was more importanat Flash/Bling and options or Sound quality. I wanted sound quality because I listen to just about every type of music out there on a continual rotating basis.

I had originally picked out a $1100 flip up screen from Pioneer. He had me listen to this other one that he had and compare the 2. The second one he showed me just blew the Flip-Screen out of the water for sound quality through the same speakers. The price $450. He said most of the Quality Sound units aren't the expensive ones. OF Course not the cheap ones either.

I picked the HU (Pioneer DEX-P99RS) kind of by stumbling on it!!

I was looking through CarAudioMag at other stuff and kept seeing this stereo. I liked the clean simple look but wasn't too sure if it wasn't too simple. Up on more research i found that CarAudio Mag rated it #2 in their top 10 Audiophile stereos and it was 1 of 2 that were available for purchase, the rest were models from the 90's.

After reading and watching video on professionl installers reviews of the HU I was pretty much set to get over the $1100-1300 price tag. It has a 31 band EQ built in, X-overs built in an Ipod/ USB and Satellite can all be added to it.

Only thing is you have to use amps with it. It does not have Line Out for speakers.

Far as the woofer/s I am still bebating to use 1 or 2.
They are rated at 300wRMS @ 4ohms.

The amp is rated at 300wRMS @ 4ohms or 600wRMS @ 2ohms on the 5th channel.

Yeah you get what you pay for, to a certain extent that is. I'm not really up into my game so I dont know if my HU has x-overs n that stuff, its a $200 alpine unit, so Im not sure.

As for that amp your looking at, it sounds good. Cause you want 4ohm for speakers and 2 ohm for subs. 300wRMS is good for the speakers n 600wRMS isnt too bad. If your going to run two subs at 300w RMS that might not be enough. If you run one, I dont think you will have enough, and you can get way more out of your amp, but two might be too much. Also check the subs peak power n the amps peak power. The subs might have a higher peak power than the amp, so you will be under powering them. I imagine you dont want to much bass, granted your not a 17 year old, so that amp paired with a 500wRMS sub would work great. Granted you can find that in a slim sub, but if not that set up wouldnt be too bad sub wise.

[Addicted2Blue00]

poineer is good and would be my 2nd choice but ive never cared for sony. if i was to go for a new system i would be in the same boat as you, my current setup is considered old now, HU is 7 yrs old and amp/subs 8-9 yrs old, only thing thats new is the door speakers since my mids/highs amp shorted my old component set. i am happy with my setup still and itll still blow away the younger gen thats all into it

[ADakotaRTGuy]

Ever look at Eclipse head units? Also the thing to look for on a head unit for external amps is the Line out voltage, the higher the voltage, the cleaner the sound.

[dakfink]

Eclipse was at the top of my list when I started looking. Alpine, Eclipse, Pioneer, JVC, Sony, Kenwood, Clarion in that order.

They just aren't what they used to be.

Yeah I knew about the Pre-Amp Voltage for cleaner signal.

This particular HU doesn't state what the V is.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Stage4/CD-Players/DEX-P99RS

Pioneer also has an ODR (Optical Direct Reference) system that is suppose to be really good. It carries the Optical (CD/DVD) signal all the way through the system to the amp as a Digital signal where it is then converted to Analog. Suppose to get rid of any losses that are normally incurred from the HU to the amp, when the normal analog signal passes through things like EQs and X-overs and cables.

It is nice and clean and kind of reminds me of a Bose Home system. But you have to use all the ODR stuff to get the full effect and it has a lot of pieces to it.

I wanted somthing that is more compact and simple but quality.

[dakfink]

poineer is good and would be my 2nd choice but ive never cared for sony. if i was to go for a new system i would be in the same boat as you, my current setup is considered old now, HU is 7 yrs old and amp/subs 8-9 yrs old, only thing thats new is the door speakers since my mids/highs amp shorted my old component set. i am happy with my setup still and itll still blow away the younger gen thats all into it

LOL yeah Sony is crap now. They used to have some really good units back in the day.

AGE I am not worried about the.The Cadence CWM-6 components are actually a 11-12yrs old design that I actually put in my other Dak (the one at the chassis shop) back in 2000 I paid $269/pr for them back then. I even swapped them over to my Laser when I put a system in them.

The guys that installed that system, is a Cadence dealer and he siad it was a pitty they no-longer made that speaker it was the best they ever made and up at the top of the list over-all.

Cadence had such a request and demand for them they actually made a limited run of them last year and sold out in a few months. They did it again this year (I just snagged up 3 sets) for $79/pr.

After talking to the Cadence Dealer mentioned above he sayed that the quality over the years has gone to crap. Everyone is just trying to make a $$$. Many brands have gone over-seas. Very few carry Top-Shelf and Competition Quality products anymore. Those that do you pay for it.

As he put it they are all trying to cater to the BestBuy customers even though BestBuy doesn't carry their product.

[Addicted2Blue00]

i see your point and understand, that dealer told you right its about money and hard to find actually quality without havin to fork over the credit card to be maxed. IMO memphis did the same but are still decent, ive got a set of subs that could stand beside their now mojo's in compet's which i did last year. they are still good in my book tho and still have a tech line with people that actually know what they are talkin about.

[dakfink]

i see your point and understand, that dealer told you right its about money and hard to find actually quality without havin to fork over the credit card to be maxed. IMO memphis did the same but are still decent, ive got a set of subs that could stand beside their now mojo's in compet's which i did last year. they are still good in my book tho and still have a tech line with people that actually know what they are talkin about.

I considered Memphis as well but couldn't find much from any of the BIG online stores.

That could be a good thing, though!?

I didn't want to have to build and piece things together as much as possible.

My goal was to put something Simple but decent quality and reasonable cost together and not have a fortune in it. Also being in a Regular Cab what will fit and the sound stage quality is limited anyways.

Todays Competitions aren't what they were when I was a kid going to car shows. Back then it was how clean and hidden you could install everything and still maintain a nice quality sound stage.

In short they didn't want to see anything but your head unit and maybe an EQ. Everything else should be out of sight.

And they wanted a sound quality that you could rock-out to Bethoven or Symphony Music.

Today they seem to want everything all in your face, and just plain LOUD!!!

Granted I haven't been to a Comp. in a while so I don't know how well sound Clarity and Quality play into the factor now.

[Addicted2Blue00]

meant to mention before, get a set of tweets and have them some where in the truck above the door handle. problem with this trucks is the sound is at your feet so gettin the sound out of the floor will make it alot better.

[dakfink]

meant to mention before, get a set of tweets and have them some where in the truck above the door handle. problem with this trucks is the sound is at your feet so gettin the sound out of the floor will make it alot better.

I'm putting the tweets from 1 set in the factory location in the doors, and the other complete set in Q-forms pods so they should be pointed at my face. Granted still from the floor.

Unfortunately Dodge didn't put dash speakers in our Daks. If they had that would have been alot better.

[stunnapj]

Use the Memphis EQP7 to fine tune your system after your completely done but you must have a real keen ear, and it looks sick with its shiny chrome finish.:woot: