Music System for a VTEC

[aggressive_anush]

Hi,

I need to upgrade the music system in the VTEC that i bought last week. It has the standard Alpine system with 4 speakers and all... I have no idea about anything related to c ar stereos so i really dont know what to look for.

Most of my music is on CDs .. so the tape deck is almost worthless to me.. I wanted to get rid of it .. but mum wanted the tape deck for her music.

So.. was looking for a CD changer to add to the system..went looking around for some stuff.. but everyone says that the alpine head can take only an alpine changer and that is just too damn expensive..

So.. please let me know what i am to do..
Should i change the head unit itself?? and if so what should i get. Also... what would i get for the current alpine head.. i showed it to one shop and he told me he would give me 3500 bucks for it. Is that ok?

And.. the speakers in the car sound ok.. but not too great.. what should i get in exchange?

Please let me know your recommended system and what it would cost.

Also if there is anyone in bangalore i could meet from t-bhp who knows something about car audios and stuff that would be great too..

Btw.. i listen to a lot of rock and metal and stuff.. so keeping that in mind i would like a system to suit those sounds and all.

Thanks
Anush

[Shan2nu]

Firstly, congrats on your new buy. Please don't throw away the Alpine system, it's a great one, it's just that the speakers that come with the Vtec are average performers.

Check out Rush's System in his Vtec.

Rush's Vtec Music System........

Shan2nu

[satish_appasani]

Congrats on your buy.

Can you please give some details about the deal. Price, mileage, year of manufacture etc.

[aggressive_anush]

Its a 2003 Jun Registration. Golden colour.
19000 Km. With the alloys and tyres changed. Running on Michelin Pilot Preceda 195 tyres.
Cost 6.6 Lakhs.

[navin]

CD changer 2 options.
alpine: expensive but alpine decks can only control alpine changers.
other: via FM modulator. if you get a good FM modulator you can get decent quality with this too beware th FM modulator costs 2k too so add that.

speakers:
depending on budget. I'd get Blau's coax drivers or even JBL. If you can afford and external amp then get components.

for your tastes i'd get 6x9s 2 way or 3 wya in the rear (unless you are adding a sub) and a pair of 5-6" coax in the front.

there are some coax drivers that have the tweeter angled up to the listener. they make sense for door installs. why even for dash installs a 4" with a angled tweeter makes sense only in that case I'd fire the driver side tweeter towards the passenger side and vice versa.

[navin]

one other option.
get a sub and front speakers only. the sub can provide rear fill and LF and the front will give you great imaging. This is hwoever a pure SQ system so dont expect ear bleed levels from the this.

[aggressive_anush]

Thanks Navin.
Will check out the prices this weekend.
Do you know how much it would cost to install the new speakers?? And is an amp essential?
Also one more question... if i want to put a cd changer that plays MP3s or DVDs...do i have to change the head unit or is the changer itself sufficient?

[aggressive_anush]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (navin @ Oct. 20 2004,12:22)]I'd get Blau's coax drivers or even JBL. If you can afford and external amp then get components.

Also.. I dont know what coax or components are.. Please help.

[navin]

If you want to install a CD/MP3/VCD/DVD changer you have 2 options (a) get one that can be contrlled by the head unit (that means Alpine). the Alpine CD/MP3 changer will run about 18k and DVD changer will run over 50K. (b) get one that works via a RF modulator usually set at 87.7Mhz or 108.1Mhz. U can get a Necvox DVD/VCD/MP3/CD 10 disc chagner for about 20K.

as far as screens (for VCD and DVD only) go you can get a basic Necvox screen for 6k or a Alpine /Blaupunkt one for close 20K.The Blaupunkt one I have seen allows yu to connect a headphone and also play station!

coax speakers come in 2 types. (a) simple fullrnage cones with a smaller cone called a whizzer attached to the apex of teh cone. they can be quite good if one were to consdier the ones philips made for OPEL in the 90s and hte Fostex fullrange cones. (b) a cone with a tweeter moudle attached to the pole plate through the apex (where the dust cap or phase plug of a woofer would normally be). this type often comes with 2 or more smaller drivers showhorned onto a plastic or metal sub frame. these drivers are more common as their sound is more exciting. Here too there are some excellent sounding speakers most of which I have seen are simple 2 ways (woofer and tweeter). What I see most in India is a Pioneer 6990 with a woofer and 3 "tweeters". the woofer covers almos tthe whole musical range up to 2000-3000hz and the "tweeters" take over from there.

one BIG advantage that these drivers have is that they are usually 2db more sensitive than components. this is because they rarely have a big crossover attached to them the ones I have seen usaually run the woofer without any filter at all and use only 1 capacitor for each "tweeter" they have. WHile this is not such a bad thing per se I prefer to have 2 quality parts than 4 of lesser quality. remember there is no free lunch. Pioneer, Alpine, etc... have to make a profit on each speaker they sell. However now we are delving into audio marketing techniques which should be reserved for another thread or forum.

component speakers are often (but not always) better than coax speakers and are almost always more expensive. They usually require an external amplifier and each speaker system will have a woofer, a tweeter and a crossover in 3 seperate peices. Some larger component systems will have a midrange or misbass too.

an external amplifer does 2 things. (a) It allows for your HU to run cooler since it's internal amplifer is not being used. (b) it allows you to have a really nice amplifer offering better control of your speakers. In the 70s and even as far as the late 80s. most companies did not include an amplifier in their best HUs. You were expected to use an external amplifer. The Nakamichi TD700 or Alpine 7385 were such. My 7385 was bought in 1987 and stll runs well. It has seen 4 cars. When they sold it It came in an exquisite leather case and with a spare head and pinchroller. The Nak 700 is even better built. I dropped one from the 3rd floor and it survived with barely a scratch.