[navin]

There are a lot of questions on What Stereo to get etc....here are some rules that will help narrow things....many thanks to Aseem, Sam, Vivek et. al (alphabetically).

a) Budget under 20K.
Spend half on a good HU. A Sony with Bill and warranty will work fine. JVC, Pioneer and Kenwood are other options but Pioneer does NOT have a authorised dealer in India
Look for a HU with 4V pre-outs. 3 pairs of these are good but 2 pairs will work in this budget unless one is keen on adding and controlling a subwoofer from the HU.
Spend the other half on 4 speakers. Of this half 60-65% on the front and 35-40% on the rear. Use Stock locations and avoid such gizmos as those surface mounted tweeters (like the common TS20).


b) Budget 20-30K
Same as above but add a 4 channel amp (Sony's 504 sells for 4.2K) and a sub (JBL has a tube for about 5K). I dont know of an active sub under 6K yet.

c) Budget 30-40K
Same as above but now you can afford a nicer amp (like Alpine's 340), maybe component speakers in the front or an active Sub but probably not all 3. so you gotta pick your poison(s).

d) Budget 40-50K
The Apline 9830 or 9847 at 18-20K work well in this segment as do the second from top of the line Sony and Pio units.
Add 4 speakers for about 15K (components in the front and rear)
Add active sub at about 8K and a 4 channel amp at about 6-7K.

e) Budget 50-70K
Alpine's 9833, 9851 and 9835 and Nak's CD500 at work well here as well as some Sony, JVC and Pio DVD capable units. HU would cost about 22-25K.
Add 4 speakers at about 15-20K
Add 2 active subs at 15k
Add 4 channel amp at 8-10K

I know I have not included wires and cables. The reason is I expect one to get some discounts on these prices and the money saved from the discounts should be enough for a set of power and RCA cables.

[navin]

sam, how does one edit the title? maybe the mods can help.

[muni]

hahaha

Nice quick and dirty job over there navin...what was wrong with the title..u mean u wanna change the dirty part of it

Coming to the topic u say the addition of an active sub from point C. Is there a need for the 4 channel amp then when there is an active sub? . Agree there would be proper/stable supply of energy to drive the speakers .The head units.. cant they handle the 4 speakers or am i not getting the basics right here

Pls forgive me if my question sounds stupid.

[Vivekphadnis]

Navin, I saw the website and the Sony 504 costs Rs. 5990. But that one and 502 (3790). And are these two IC amps because the site mentions MOSFET power supply and nothing about the output stages. Maybe they are bipolar outputs. I think the 502 will be good for a sub.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by navin

sam, how does one edit the title? maybe the mods can help.

Yes MODERATORS please help change the title of this thread to

"The quick and dirty on Car HEAD UNITS"

Thank you so much

[navin]

active subs have 2 features not always found on a amp-passive sub combo.

1. facilities to tune the sub's output (usually some sort of parametric or quasi-parametric equalliser)
2. an amplifer designed to drive the sub. when an amplifer is designed the designer is not fortunate enough to know what it will drive so has to make assumptions. With a dedicated amplfier these assumptions are not needed. It usually leads to better amp-sub mating.

a 6 pre out (3 pairs) Hu will have RCA (line level) outputs for front, rear and stereo subs. The reason I like Alpine is that they sound less harsh and they provide some very useale features when mating a sub to your speakers.

The 4 channel amp will be for the front and rear speaker and the active sub will take it's input from the sub-out of the HU.

[Vivekphadnis]

Navin, how would it be if I buy the 504 amp and drive the rear 6x9s and bridge the other two channels and drive a sub. The fronts can work on the HU's inbuilt amp.

[Rtech]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Yes MODERATORS please help change the title of this thread to

"The quick and dirty on Car HEAD UNITS"

Thank you so much

But it doesn't seem to be only on HU's. Unless that's what you want it to b from now on? HU's & Amps? But this will eventually end up like the other thread.

[navin]

the reason i did not spec speaker models is that these are most dependant on taste.

[5u3zEr0]

Originally Posted by navin

e) Budget 50-70K
Alpine's 9833, 9851 and 9835 and Nak's CD500 at work well here as well as some Sony, JVC and Pio DVD capable units. HU would cost about 22-25K.
Add 4 speakers at about 15-20K
Add 2 active subs at 15k
Add 4 channel amp at 8-10K

At that budget I would highly recommend seperate amps for the speakers and subs. One 4 channel amp for the speakers and a monobloc or a 2 channel amp for the sub or subs.

For setups with budgets over 30k, its important that you get the system installed by a capable and professional installer who uses good cables for the entire system. Power, ground, RCA, speakers, etc. Also if a installer is famous or does a lot of business, doesnt mean he is good!

A good install can even make a budget system sound great and a bad install can make a great system sound like s***!

[ntomer]

i deviated a bit from Navin's golden rule. I had spent 15000 till now on my system, out of which 80% on HU and 20% on speakers. I bought a Sony 7710S (with 3 pairs of 4V pre-outs) and bought two pairs of Sony 1621 (6" co-axial) speakers for my Getz. After setting the equalize to Vocal, turning "Loud" on and bass to high, I am getting remarkable clear sound. Although I increase the volume even to 25% the sound starts distorting; the clarity till then is amazing. If anybody intends to listen to only soft music this set-up must be adequate.
P.S. As I have mentioned earlier as well, I plan to include a 4 channel amp and a bass tube later on.
Navin, what do you suggest - a bass tube aur active-sub?

\N

[5u3zEr0]

Originally Posted by navin

active subs have 2 features not always found on a amp-passive sub combo.

1. facilities to tune the sub's output (usually some sort of parametric or quasi-parametric equalliser)
2. an amplifer designed to drive the sub. when an amplifer is designed the designer is not fortunate enough to know what it will drive so has to make assumptions. With a dedicated amplfier these assumptions are not needed. It usually leads to better amp-sub mating.

You could be right but would like to point out that active subs are very rare. Few companies manufacture them that I know of. And in India I have hardly seen cars with active subs. Even in competition cars abroad both SQ and SPL, I have not seen active subs. Hence, a passive sub powered by a good clean amp will sound as good as an active sub and can be controlled too.

In reply to your point 1, My 8950 Hu has a parametric EQ through which I could centre the sub frequency at 40, 80, 120 or 150 Hz and change the width of the Q. That gives me a lot to control the output of the sub plus the amp comes with its crossover. My Hu even gives me the option of running the sub out of phase!

In reply to your point 2, We do have amplifiers which are designed to power only subs, like monobloc amps or some 2 channel amps which can power 2 subs or bridge both channels to power one sub.

[5u3zEr0]

Originally Posted by ntomer

i deviated a bit from Navin's golden rule. I had spent 15000 till now on my system, out of which 80% on HU and 20% on speakers. I bought a Sony 7710S (with 3 pairs of 4V pre-outs) and bought two pairs of Sony 1621 (6" co-axial) speakers for my Getz. After setting the equalize to Vocal, turning "Loud" on and bass to high, I am getting remarkable clear sound. Although I increase the volume even to 25% the sound starts distorting; the clarity till then is amazing. If anybody intends to listen to only soft music this set-up must be adequate.
P.S. As I have mentioned earlier as well, I plan to include a 4 channel amp and a bass tube later on.
Navin, what do you suggest - a bass tube aur active-sub?

\N

Either the speakers are getting less power or the speakers are not able to handle the bass. By turning "Loud on" you are boosting the low and high frequencies thats treble and bass and then you are again setting the bass level high, thus your speakers arent able to produce the bass.

You need to change your speakers and then add an amp and then a passive sub or if you like the sound of an active sub, then an active sub.

With a 4 channel amp you can run 4 speakers by paralleling them of 2 channels of the amp and then the remaining two channels of the amp you can bridge and power a sub.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Rtech

But it doesn't seem to be only on HU's. Unless that's what you want it to b from now on? HU's & Amps? But this will eventually end up like the other thread.

RT you're right. Navin was just making a sticky statement on head units and look whats happened

This is the same thread as the other. Navin? what do you want to do?

[navin]

Originally Posted by 5u3zEr0

At that budget I would highly recommend seperate amps for the speakers and subs. One 4 channel amp for the speakers and a monobloc or a 2 channel amp for the sub or subs...!

active subs have amplifers built in and would qualify by this requirement.