Sound advice

Hey guys,I hope everyone is enjoying the break and for those who are going away safe travels :woohoo:

Im sure there are a few audiophiles around here and ive got a few questions about installing sound in my bakkie and would appreciate feedback from guys who know what they're doing:

1: I'm looking at a Sony MEX-N45..sumtin sumtin head unit.

2: Pioneer TS-A series speakers for the doors,I'm not sure what wattage is recommended? (and a pair of 6x9's later on)

3: A 12" 2000w pioneer champion series sub.(also latter on)

4:I'm battling to find an amp or amp Combo that can power all this.

So my question is whether this is a good Combo or if there are better quality components out there that wont kill my budget?

I dont plan to do any competitions or anything,I just like my sound.I have done quite a bit of research and these components have very high ratings in sound quality as well as durability, I wouldn't know for sure but the people in the industry should have an idea.

Thanks ahead

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everything looks fine and should just run off a decent 4 channel amp. Something around 2000w should be enough since you aren't going for competition.

I see you going all out pioneer on the speakers. Decent subs and speakers, however with the amp i would go with something like a starsound amp.

Then you mentioned 6x9's later on... i don't think they are needed. I would just fit a set of decent splits up front (mid, tweeter and crossover combo) as the crossover will give you decent clarity between the speakers without having to fine tune the amp and settings to the right frequencies. Then later on if you feel you need more sound in the front i would just add a set of decent co-axials instead of 6x9's. the 6x9's will just give off alot of bass which you are already getting from the sub. I think the big mistake people make is fitting 6x9's when they already have a sub. The 6x9's give off different levels of bass which kind of clashes with the sub and as a result you don't really here the song clearly due to all the different bass levels given off between the 6x9's and sub.

I hope this makes sense... i always advise people to fit 6x9's if they don't plan on getting a sub. This way you don't have 2 different speakers battling for bass which essentially gives of a crappier sound and affects the clarity of your music.

Later on i'll post a pic of the sound system i had in a previous car. 50k setup!!

Thanks for the help hoosain +1

I'm looking at the pioneer 300w-320w 6" 3 way speakers for the doors. Should I rather get coaxial or component speakers for the doors?

I will put a hold on the 6x9's and do what you suggest in the future, makes perfect sense.

Will the 2000w amp power the 4x300w speakers as well as the 2000w sub?

Is pioneer a good choice in the class I'm looking at? People tell me to go with JBL speakers but my research tells me that the pioneers are some of the best speakers of 2017??(in its class)

I personally had a set of JBL splits, they were pretty much playing the same quality as the rockfords my brother has.
JBL is definitely better than the pioneers... however they come at a slightly higher price as well.
I guess that also tells you that i would go with the component speakers over the 3 ways. The big attraction with the split system is that it's less hassle to get the setup playing nice. You'll see guys add tweeters and mids direct to the amp/head unit and then you get this high pitched sound because the frequency to the tweeters are not tuned properly. Then they try getting the frequency to the tweeters tuned properly and it throws the mids out hahaha. The crossover in the component system eliminates that issue and i would run each component side on a channel of the amp (2 different channels)

Do you want crazy bass? If yes then you can go for a bigger amp and use the sub to its full potential. If you just want a little bit of a thump then the 2000w 4 channel will be fine for everything.
I would bridge the amp over 2 channels to essentially get "1000w" across the 2 channels going to the amp.

If you really want serious sound then i suggest we start looking at RMS ratings and decide what your ideal sound would be (SQL or SPL) and we can go from there.

this was my old setup
rockford p1000.2 amp
running 2 x 600w RMS vibes 12"s
Bass control by remote bass controller in vehicle

LA bolt b400.4 amp
running JBL splits up front and JBL co axials at the rears

then there was teh caps which i later disconnected and just ran a better battery. Found the caps to be a waste of money

You've been such a great help so far hoosain and what a setup!!

This is one of many reviews that convinced me about the pioneer's,I was worried about favouritism but they promote and speak well of just about every make in its own respective reviews. www.toptenreviews.com/home/auto/best-car-speakers/

I'm an alpine guy so pioneer is actually a bit cheaper than what I was originally going for but I will have a deeper look into JBL.

My only concern with the amp is that the nominal rating for the sub is 600w if I remember correctly,and so I've been looking for an amp that can deliver the nominal power or is it just a waste if time?.

Let's have a bit of an in depth approach to this in terms of power,speaker size as well as quality. What is SQL and SPL?

I'm a "do it once and do it right" type of guy but rockford is out of my budget. Alpine,pioneer,Sony and jbl will work with me, I just feel from what I've read about jbl is that their quality has gone down,so you can understand my skepticism

pleasure bro. And yes it was an awesome setup. This was a SQL setup which is more for quality of sound than for bass... SPL focuses more on base and that's where the guys push for crazy db readings.

Alpine is an awesome brand but pricier than pioneer yes.
Like i initially said, pioneer is a good brand so you won't go wrong with it.
I haven't check sound pricing in quite a while but i'm pretty sure they won't come cheap either. Do a comparison between pioneer and infinity as well... infinity quality is excellent for a crisp clear sound and pricing is still decent as well (or at least it was a few years ago lol)

ok so the rating is what you looking at. So yes we definitely want to check the RMS value if you going for quality and a do it right first time setup. Then we try and get an amp to match the sub and speaker values. a decent 4 channel amp once again is all that i think is neccesary, they will normally give you the RMS values for 1 channel, 2 channel and 4 channel modes. What you'll focus on is obviously the 4 channel mode keeping in mind that the 2 channels will be bridged as one. You can then try to get these to match your setup as close as possible.

With that said... just because you have a 600RMS sub does not mean you need to have 600RMS available on your amp. We don't want to max out your amp or sub as you will just end up frying one of them.
I assume you having someone install it? If yes a decent installer will also advise which amp to get based on your sub or vice versa. If he is really good he will also advise you to get a proper cabling kit. These "2000w" wiring kits are rarely enough. I will always suggest getting 2gauge wiring for a decent setup. Kak wires will end up in kak sound! also ensure that your battery and alternator have decent wiring and are earth properly. Earthing everything is also very important! Once again it falls under wiring and like i said about kak wiring, will result in kak sound and eventually stuff up your battery as well.

Power of speakers are normally seen as "bigger is better" but i disagree. I remember my first car which has cheap ass second hand low budget speakers and amps. My brother (auto electrician) wired it up nicely and got the port size on the box right and my cheap shit outplayed alot of high end setups which weren't fitted properly.
Think of it like going on a cycle with all the best gear but diet and training is not done properly... a waste of good gear, or in this case good sound components. So don't focus too much on highest power and biggest speakers as it will not always be the best for you. Just ensure whoever installs knows what they doing.

Budget is important yes... i will never ever spend 50k or even half that on sound again lol. Also not sure about JBL quality these days, haven't been doing sound for a few years now.
Do yourself a favour and compare lightning audio pricing to your current goodies. They are also made by rockford and give off excellent quality. Just a pity you not in Cape Town or else i could have pointed you to my brother and he would have done an excellent job at a great price

Oh and one last thing... RMS ratings are never accurate. They are based on a perfect world testing with voltage being directed only to the sound components unlike your car which has other components drawing current at the same time. This means your sound components are not getting as much current as they do in tests. Also shows why you need to ensure you have a good battery. if your lights are dimming while music plays then i suggest you get a bigger or if you willing a second battery installed.

I just saw that my last post didn't post

So we are going for an SQP setup,I think it would be more practical and enjoyable for me in this setup. I had a look at infinity and it's almost the same price as Rockford,so it's pioneer for now

An auto electrician friend of mine is doing the wiring for me and I will definitely get 2 gauge wiring.

I was really wondering if it will be such an improvement to have a split system versus component speakers?

I'm not an auto electrician but I don't think that the setup I have in mind should put too much strain on the battery, if I wanted to install a second battery would it be possible to just connect the two batteries in parallel without a controller or do I need a controller?

I'll get some pics of my options,and I'd appreciate your feedback on the components.

Did a bit more looking and component is definitely the way to go. I was hoping you could get just the mid range speakers alone but it looks like you can only buy the complete package

Here are the details of the components I'm looking at

1:2x Pioneer TS-A1606C 6.5" 350w (60w nominal) with soft dome tweeter and passive crossover.

2:1x Pioneer champion series 12" 2000w (600w nominal) subwoofer.

3:1x Sony MEX-N4200BT head unit 55w output

4:1x starsound 4 channel 2000w amp

Would my head unit be able to adequately power these speakers for a short while?

The setup you got is good to go.

If I were you I'd add the components onto 2 channels and bridge the sub on the other 2. That is kind of the same setup I hd I my Corsa. Also ensure you got a good box made for the sub and you'll get more than enough bass.

The battery could be run without a controller but then I would get a bigger alternator as well.