matching frontstage to substage

[mattxc 0]

this may be in the wrong section so mods plz move it if needed

ok. substage sounds absolutely amazing but i'm tired of turning the sub volume down so i can hear my frontstage. which is bose btw (ftl!). sooo.... time for an amp and some comps! i am getting around 1200 clean watts to my Q. what kind of power should i need up front to match or at least keep up with my sub?

no real budget here... just because i have no idea what kind of money i will need to spend. once i figure out what power i should need, then i will figure a budget

lol... i can see the answers now... "its all in the application" or "i cant help you unless i hear the car" or whatever.... just humor me plz

ps. setup in sig

[JimJ 11]

Can you post it for those of us that have signatures turned off?

It's not really a question of power, really you should do the front stage first and then match the sub up to that. 100Wx4 would be where I'd start - a lot of good drivers are 8 ohms anyway, and I've heard more than one case where more power actually made things sound worse than before. But at that power range there are a lot of good amplifier choices out there.

[mattxc 0]

Loaded 12" Fi Q D2

2.26cuft @ 34hz

Hifonics Bxi 1608d... meh

4ga Stinger Power Wire

Pioneer DEH-4000UB

and yes i know i shouldve done front first then back.. but what can i say... i'm a noob...

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

VWhat size stock speakers do you have? And would you consider trying active?

[idlewild 0]

you should take a look at my setup it's in my sig. My sub set up is very similar to yours, my front stage only becomes a little washed out at very high volumes. For those that have sigs turned off here!

-Alpine CDA-9885

-MB Quart rce 216 in front

-Infinity Kappa 62.7 in the rear

-MTX TC4001

-MTX MXA6001

-12" FI SSD in 2.6 cu.ft +port tuned to 33Hz

-139.3 db on a TL @ 38Hz at dash(legal)

-138.1 db with music on a TL at dash(legal)Church Heathen-Shaggy

-Stinger digital cap, stock alt, stinger battery(sp51)

It's a fairly buget daily driver and most of the stuff is easy to find. Accept maybe for the MB's as I can't get them in canada anymore.Going to a component will greatly help your effort.

[mattxc 0]

VWhat size stock speakers do you have? And would you consider trying active?

the stockers are 5.25 but i know how to upgrade to some 6.5's pretty easily.

and what do u mean by active? sry

[audiolife 14]

if you want "easy kick arse" get a set of boston spz's hooked up to a 4 channel 100x4 amp bridged...if you go active make sure you have the equipment to cross everything over to run proper. active will give you more tuning options and can potentially sound better..how much better depends on how much money and work you want to throw at it.

[KU40 173]

do you know what you want out of the sound? IMO, figuring out what type of tweeter you want is a good first step. silk vs. metal. Some can sound similar, yes, but most of the time the two have a distinct sound. You may want to go to a local store and just listen to a bunch of different speakers. Sure they'll sound a little different in your car than on the wall, but I think you can get a general idea. If/when you go, don't stand right in front of the speaker, as that's probably not how you'll be hearing them in your car. Stand off to the side to get the off-axis response.

From there, figure out a budget for the front stage. You can go with something already put together from a manufacturer or you can piece your own together.

Active refers to using a powered crossover for the speakers instead of the passive (the small boxes that come with component sets) crossovers. I'm not familiar with that head unit, but I don't think it has crossovers on it? If not, you can either buy an amplifier with crossovers you can use or buy an aftermarket crossover to put in the signal chain between the head unit and amplifier. If you go active you'll need one channel of amplification per speaker. So for a 2-way setup up front you'll need 4 channels. Conversely, if you go passive and just use a manufacturer's premade component set (easier to setup), you'd only need a 2 channel amp.

[mattxc 0]

ok from what i'm reading here i should be happy with passive rather than active. hopefully tomorrow or next weekend i can make it out to some audio shops and listen to some speakers... thanks for the advice everyone. what i'm mostly unsure of, however, is what kind of power i should need. frankly i dont want to just guess at how much power i need and buy an amp but maybe thats the only way to really do it. hopefully at some shops i can have some guys listen to my setup as it is now and recommend me something.

keep the advice coming, i'm sure as i dive into this i'll have lots of dumb questions for you all

thx

[mattxc 0]

do you know what you want out of the sound?

not particularly lol.

its difficult because i listen to every kind of music. some days i'm bumpin to gorilla zoe and young jeezy, other days its impending doom and as i lay dying, sometimes its jazz, post rock, so really i need something pretty versatile

and i guess my budget is pretty low, around 300 for the entire setup. amps, wiring, speakers, etc. i can save up some more than that if necessary because frankly i dont know what are reliable brands for lower cost, etc

[KU40 173]

don't worry about the power. Figure that out once you decide on speakers. You'll likely end up getting something between 50 and 100 watts per channel in a 2 channel. That's pretty average. The amp is really about the least important piece of the system.

[mattxc 0]

don't worry about the power. Figure that out once you decide on speakers. You'll likely end up getting something between 50 and 100 watts per channel in a 2 channel. That's pretty average. The amp is really about the least important piece of the system.

orly?

sounds good to me. so i guess i need some ideas for speakers that fit in my budget. ive been recommended infinity kappa's how do they sound? also type r's and then a friend said he could try and get me a deal on some upper end cdt's but they may be out of my price range.

[KU40 173]

yeah, I mean power is power. Kappas are all right. The ones I heard were kinda bright, but they were a coaxial. With a component set you should be able to dial the tweeter down on the crossover.

[X-OvrDistortion 0]

yeah, I mean power is power. Kappas are all right. The ones I heard were kinda bright, but they were a coaxial. With a component set you should be able to dial the tweeter down on the crossover.

Shush nick.

^^don't know chit about chit.

[KU40 173]

yeah, I mean power is power. Kappas are all right. The ones I heard were kinda bright, but they were a coaxial. With a component set you should be able to dial the tweeter down on the crossover.

Shush nick.

^^don't know chit about chit.

It's true.

[mattxc 0]

[///M5 2,833]

IMO, since you say match in your initial question you should be prepared to spend at least as much on the front stage as you did your sub setup. I'd also expect to spend more on installation than on the hardware itself including copious deadening and some nice mounting baffles. If you forego those steps then you might as well cut even more corners.

[mattxc 0]

i'm interested in cutting a lot of corners then