newbie sound system help

laser2kgt said:

i just got my 2000 laser red gt, the only problem is that the stock 460 system is totally messed up. i noticed that on the rear speaker box there are only two tiny speakers. thats right, no two amps or 8" speakers, nothing. those two tiny speakers arent stock either, theyre a crappy lil brand. in fact the only functional speakers in the whole car are the front door-mounted tweeters!! however, there is a thick red cable running from the battery to the trunk, so im guessing its pre-wired (im a newbie at this). well, the point is, what should i do, get the whole mach 460 system off of ebay and reinstall whats missing or go after market? my plan was to replace what is missing with the stock 460 and buy a good amp and two 12" subs for the trunk (BASS). i know i can get 2 12" xplods and an ok kenwood amp for $150 from a friend. wut do u all recommend?

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It sounds as though someone ditched the Mach 460 system, or part of it, for an aftermarket system and then removed that equipment when they were preparing to sell the car. I wouldn't recommend the Mach 460 over a nice quality aftermarket set-up, but that's your call.

laser2kgt said:

thanks for the help. i do want an after maket system, but what should i look at? i was just thinking of getting the amp and a pair of 12"s. are these any good? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&category=18803&sspagename=STRK:MEBWA:IT&rd=1

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To make things simple, no they are not. Buy anything but Sony car audio equiptment. Sony=All show and no go.

theres a reason sony calls them "xplod"

laser2kgt said:

ok, then what is a good brand to consider for both the amp and subs? i dont know crap.

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You know what? There are a ton of brands we could sit here and try and name for you but I think it would help if we knew how much you wanted to spend and what you want to get out of your system (goals) etc..

For instance.. a lot of people are very happy with brands like pioneer, pheonix gold, jbl, rockford etc.. but there are a lot of people that are always trying to find the highest end equiptment. In my opinion some of these include mcintosh, xtant, maybe even zapco or soundstream and some people are talking big about tru techonologies, but I have no idea how good these amps really are.....etc.. (there are a lot more that I havn't mentioned).

Some argue memphis, american amps, audiobahn, and a lot of other equiptment I havn't even had a chance to hear myself is right up there too.. But what I and most other people have found is that you get what you pay for.. and if you shop onlinie you can usually get better deals than what your local car audio dealer will give you.. so how much $$$ you are willing to spend plays a huge part in what product you end up with.

Edit. You might even want to read the official faq (sticky), it might help you out a little bit too.

DON'T waste your money on "exploding" subs. I've worked in car/home audio for a few years, if you can afford JL audio get 2 12w0's there around 100 bucks a piece best sub imo for that price point. Get a slot loaded box, these things slam!! Not your every day ported boxes. Dont buy JL online, like ebay (NO WARRANTY).Go to the jl dealer get the subs and box together you should get 2 year warranty on subs that way Also check out the 250/1 amp. Sure there are cheaper setup but that’s just the case. This wont break the SPL record, but will sound great! As for the mids & highs you gotta listen to some and go with which ever you tink sounds best.

stangtoy1176 said:

DON'T waste your money on "exploding" subs. I've worked in car/home audio for a few years, if you can afford JL audio get 2 12w0's there around 100 bucks a piece best sub imo for that price point. Get a slot loaded box, these things slam!! Not your every day ported boxes. Dont buy JL online, like ebay (NO WARRANTY).Go to the jl dealer get the subs and box together you should get 2 year warranty on subs that way Also check out the 250/1 amp. Sure there are cheaper setup but that’s just the case. This wont break the SPL record, but will sound great! As for the mids & highs you gotta listen to some and go with which ever you tink sounds best.

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I think this was a good example. JL is a company that has proven itself and has a lot of support behind it. If this is your price range, you can also consider brands like kicker, phoenix gold, jbl, us amps, tru techonologies (no idea how good this product really is), or maybe even rockford or pioneer. Rockford has went downhill the last few years, but this years line is pretty smoking!! one step closer to the way they used to be at one point (untouchable).. I know a lot of people also speak highly of MTX and memphis and stuff like that... Also, a lot of people like elemental subs for some reason, I"ve never heard them before but apparently they are of good value.. hmm what else.... alpine type R's......etc

You can go to even higher end products as well, but you're looking at spending a quite a bit more depending on the name.

Just make sure you aren't in a huge rush to get this stuff in your car.. take some time and try and listen to as many different brands as you can..hopefully you find one that jumps out at you.. Also, it doesn't hurt to go to forums like sounddomain.com etc.. and listen to what people over there have to say about the products they use.