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-   -   Car Audio Advice from the Audio Gurus: Use "Search thread" before posting a new Q! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/6427-car-audio-advice-audio-gurus-use-search-thread-before-posting-new-q-344.html)

Car gain is a bit different from Room gain. besides in you car you have road noise etc.. so your noise floor is abit higher.

:)) its a transport - monarchy DIP-DAC for one flow..

also have a wireless HD- airport express connected to the DIP above.

yes.. simple things can be made complex and vice versa in the name of SQ :Cheering:

8" subs won't cut it in a car. Unless you are thinking of two of them. Even then the two 8" will about equal the moving mass of a single 12". The 2x8" will play tighter than the 12" but will not go anywhere as low as the 12" can go. You'll need a minimum of 10" for VFM bass, and for a compromise between tight bass and low freq bass. And in the car we will have a Sub, a Mid-bass, and a tweeter (in case of 2-way comps). The mid-bass takes care of 60hz and upwards (generally; or 70hz and upwards). A sub will be the only way you'll be able to get enough low-end grunt into the picture.

We generally XO our subs at 50hz or 63hz (more common) or 80hz. But this changes from setup to setup, according to taste, and according to the performance/capabilities of the other components in the setup. The XO point is adjustable (via the HU, or via the amp).

This is mostly up to you, but this is not something to sweat over much. The placement/aiming of the sub can be changed and set after trial-and-error if the sub is in a box. Some active subs let you change the phase. You can also wire it out of phase, but I don't think you'll ever need to worry about this. Sometimes (in some installs) midranges are wired out-of-phase for better results. Otherwise we don't generally mess with phase adjustments :-)

Nope. Being fussy is simply a factor of how much serious you are about your sound. Some of us here are downright anal and really sweat even the minutest details. And we enjoy our ICE even more that way. Getting it just right, and then tweaking it a bit more is a way of life :-)


Uhhh... you had better listen to JBLs and decide if you like them. In some cases, cars are a nightmare (as far a reflections are concerned). Some stock locations will fire a tweeter/co-ax into the windshield ans really mess-up imaging. Most good brands perform really well when even off-axis. Some speakers ned to be on-axis, facing you to do their stuff well. This is one reason I like Hertz. They do really well even while playing off-axis. That equals lesser install hassle and lesser heartburn (to me) once the install is done. I don't know how it is with other other brands, as I haven't really tried them in an in-car environment.

:) Now you're talking! More power to you! I would personally take the Verna simply because it is a notchback (and I do like its looks), and because it lets you install a 6.5" midbass in front without hassle. No idea about how rigid its body panels are though. (A verna also takes 6x9s in stock locations in the back) .


Slow and steady is the best way to go. It lets you boost enjoyment levels in increments, and lets you install good equipment instead of compromising for a full install on a limited budget.

Step 1 = Perfect! You really don't need 10 or 8 gauge for speakers. 14guage will be fine (even after you add an amp). You can even compromise for 16 gauge, but I'd suggest 14guage. A sub will need 8 gauge. You need to upgrade wiring only after you add an amp. For running speakers off the HU, the wires that com with your speakers will be fine. And the 6x9 co-ax will serve your bass needs fine for a while.

Step 2 = You really don't need to spend the extra money on a monobloc unless you are very finicky about your bass. You can get a decent 4-ch amp for about the same amount, and amp the front speakers and the sub. You'll need budget in power wire, RCAs and speaker wires here. Most likely a bit of vibration damping also.

Step 3: 2 ch amp only if you feel like it. Esp. as you are concerned about front sound-stage only. Maybe you can wait a bit for Stage 2 and get a really good 4-ch amp for about 80% of the cost of what you would have spent for a 4ch amp + a 2-ch amp.

I did not understand the part about the damping factor being high in cars. Anyway, whether a 8" driver is sufficient or not will depend on your listening tastes. I find the bass from most 8" subs adequate, especially if the sub in concern is planted in a hatchback. In sedans, there is a loss in bass because sometimes it is further away, and also because there is a loss of transmission due to the trunk being sealed off from the cabin. The advantage of using a larger driver, as you would know, would be the ability to play the same amount of bass with lower and hence more linear excursion. As for the delay in the subs arrival wrt to the other drivers, the biggest culprit is the distance that the bass has to traverse since it is placed further away. This is more pronounced than the effect of the sub having a poor impulse response time, or being sluggish. This can easily be corrected with head units or processors having a delay adjustment feature.


To avoid the sub from sounding directional, it's a good idea to stay at or under 80 Hz cut-off. This also would depend on how low your fronts are willing to go. With some mighty fronts, you could have the sub play under and upto 50Hz. Most amps allow a continuously adjustable cut-off frequency selector.

Good head units allow 0 and 180@ phase options. High-end amps allow you to set the phase correction variably from 0 to 180.

agree: this forum ROCKS agree:

Thanks a lot Bass&Trouble, hydrashok ,navin,vid6639 ( in alphabetical order :) )

I dont think i have got so much info with such a short interaction.. and its all due to your attitude + knowledge.

will pop in later to update on the system and will definitely meet you in other thread(s) till then.

Correction to the above the 2nd statement should read as

thanks again

FYI, we have a limit of 2 smileys per post.

I just noticed this part of your post. Does it in any way imply that JBLs or some of them atleast, have poor off-axis response?

By the way, I don't want to join the growing flock of advice givers. BUT before everyone feels really stupid later on, let me inform you that it looks to me like a lot of us could learn about hi-fidelity sound from sh@rpshooter.

Please see the quality of his posts and the depth of his knowledge before you jump in with fancy words that you have learned only recently. No, I do not know him (yet), but I do realise that he doesn't need us to fire out things he knows better than we do.

Though well worded and long, his enquiry was basic and very clear. And yet, we have 2 pages of people falling over themselves trying to explain to an old horse what good quality sound is. To someone who (clearly) has studio experience and is old enough to know his (very good)music and his preferred frequencies and their nuances.

I do not point this out to any one person in particular. I am making a sweeping broad statement and am not referring to any particular post at all. But guys, come ON!! Atleast read the original post and understand the experience level of a guy before the advice is doled out.

Sam, I guess everyone (including mestupid:) was just trying to be helpful. I think all of knew that sharpshooter is much more knowledgable than most of us here.

He had mentioned he was new to car audio hence guess we all jumped in.

Even then I would say the discussions we had with him after replying to his posts were very knowledgable to us amateurs.

If we hadn't jumped in we would have missed out on a lot. I had no idea on quite a few things and these 2 pages helped clear a lot of stuff.

I guess Sam your right and the misunderstanding was giving advice and suggesting.

We can all suggest but giving advice is another thing.

Thanks Sam and cheers for bringing it up. :)

No,no,no! Absolutely not! I should have put a carriage return after the first sentence. I simply meant that sh@rpshooter should listen to the JBLs and see if they are too bright for his taste before he goes for them. He'd asked about whether they would sound different when coupled "with warm electronics". I have no idea whether that would be so.

The rest of the quoted part were just general statements, except what I said about Hertz, which was specific.
Ditto here :)

You boys are sweet. Keep up the good work. Well done. Soon Navin and I will be jobless.

Sam, you give me way too much credit....
Have by now realised how different a car setup can be..need to adjust some expectations from it too !

..and advice/suggestions are always welcome..have been soaking up a lot of knowledge in this thread and a lot of it from you and navin

navin, your point on Smileys is acknowledged..

Sam I already am. I was jobless BEFORE this thread got started.

No he does not! I can second that. I tried to hint (DAC, Transport) but it was overlooked! :-)

Welcome to ICE, SS.