Assist me in choosing system components

[johnecon2001 82]

I would do this myself, but being out of the "car audio" loop for 8 months puts me at a pretty serious disadvantage.

I still have ALL of my old gear:

- Eclipse CD8053 w/Commander and BLA

- Arc Audio 2500CXL 2-ch A/B

- Monitor 1 Mk4.70 4-ch A/B

- Monitor 1 MX1 2-way crossover

- Aura Sound Tweets (whatever ones desertheat sold back in the "day")

Don't get me started on subs..

- 2 Adire Audio 12" D8 DPL's

- 1 Adire Audio 12" D8 Shiva

- 1 CDT Carbon 8" EF8 S4

- 2 RE Audio RE8's D4

ehh nothing else worth mentioning.

But this being a new truck, I kind of want to start anew.

1) The doors already house a stock 2-way component setup (6x9's low, and a 1" paper tweet). With the speakers out, there is almost 3" of depth in the doors and enough room to fit a 10" driver in (although 7" should be plenty). I'm intrigued by using the stock locations and doing an active 2-way setup.

2) As far as low freq's go, I'm no longer really interested in pounding my brains out. A single beefy 8 should do the trick. Besides, I wanna keep this smallish. Even a 10" would be ok.

3) I've also gotten interested in in car video and navigation. Although the navigation part is just icing on the video cake. So I'm now looking for a Dual Din DVD type HU that will have enough audio controls to satisfy my control freak inner-child.

I'm open to any suggestions within these 3 parameters. I want the front stage to be nice sounding. Pure. None of my prior equipment has to be used. If you can think of something better I should look into.. Mention it!

gimme some ideas guys.

oh yeah, one pic for now.

[Ceezer 0]

I would do this myself, but being out of the "car audio" loop for 8 months puts me at a pretty serious disadvantage.

Tell me about it... I've been "out of the loop" for 15 years and everything has changed. Back then everything was sealed and all you had to worry about was getting the biggest magnet for the biggest thump. Back then the only real subwoofer options were JL, Orion, and Kicker (MTX was starting to make a name for itself and Hollywood had just entered the scene making a big splash); for good amps you had Phoenix Gold and PPI (Orions were decent); for components pretty much just Infinity and MB Quart.

Man, I remember in the 80s (well, this was like 88-89 when I was building my first car) going to the junkyard and finding a 'sound amplifier' or something similar that mounted under the dash. My cousin (who thought he knew what he was doing) and I spent the whole day trying to figure that thing out and by time we got done with it you had to turn on the headlights to even get the radio to work...

Anyway, nice truck. I really like those newer Tacomas and have considered trading in for one. I'm sorry I can't be of more help but I did want to toss in this url for a site that does Tacoma specific work - www.tacotunes.com

[///M5 2,833]

John, what space do you have? I hope with an 8053 you are thinking of going the active route...

[johnecon2001 82]

Sorry I forgot to add that.

I can either do Dual Din or single Din.

Like I said earlier too.. I'm not married to the 8053, its nice, but it lacks pretty video screens and DVD playback

[///M5 2,833]

But it has active crossovers which are >>>>>>>>>>video.

[JimJ 11]

An Alpine screen unit would give you video and the ability to control an H701 processor

Keep the amps...if you can fit the Shiva, I'd probably use that, no real need to buy another sub when you have one that'll do the job fine. And if you can get the output you want while keeping cone movement low, all the better.

[///M5 2,833]

Large format tweet possible?

[johnecon2001 82]

Alpine ehy? kewl.

I could put the Shiva into a sealed box to keep my "backseat" still useable.

Here's some pics of the Dash, tweet locations and the size of the interior.

[johnecon2001 82]

JimJ:

Which Alpine specifically? The newer ones listed on www.alpine-usa.com don't list it as one of the compatible accessories. So I'm guessing it would be an older one.

Also, as I get deeper into this screen thing, I start thinking about in car 5.1.

I still have the Monitor 1 amp and MX-1 crossover. I could conceivably use it to actively cross the front components over while feeding the MX-1 from the PXA-H701 or Some other screen that ouputs 5.1 :/

So.. as it stands now, We have:

Active 2-way system (of unknown drivers) crossed using MX-1, powered by Mk4.70

Adire Shiva in sealed box, powered by unknown amp

Unknown DVD/Screen HU (single or dual Din - single would allow center channel)

Or skip the amp problems and go right to a DLS A7.

Edited June 23, 2007 by johnecon2001

[///M5 2,833]

An Alpine screen unit would give you video and the ability to control an H701 processor

Keep the amps...if you can fit the Shiva, I'd probably use that, no real need to buy another sub when you have one that'll do the job fine. And if you can get the output you want while keeping cone movement low, all the better.

Not the W200 & 205, it needs to be a 300 or greater to control the 701.

I wouldn't bother with the 5.1 anyways. Watching movies in your truck won't be that exciting and really nailing down a stage and setup is a much better way of spending your money if you ask me. To top it off 5.1 is completely useless with music.

Do you have a driver budget? Without knowing one, I'll assume you want to go all out and recommend Seas Nextel and the Scan Speak 7100.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/advanced_...;imageField.y=0

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...roducts_id=1596

Ear secks to follow.

[johnecon2001 82]

An Alpine screen unit would give you video and the ability to control an H701 processor

Keep the amps...if you can fit the Shiva, I'd probably use that, no real need to buy another sub when you have one that'll do the job fine. And if you can get the output you want while keeping cone movement low, all the better.

Not the W200 & 205, it needs to be a 300 or greater to control the 701.

I wouldn't bother with the 5.1 anyways. Watching movies in your truck won't be that exciting and really nailing down a stage and setup is a much better way of spending your money if you ask me. To top it off 5.1 is completely useless with music.

Do you have a driver budget? Without knowing one, I'll assume you want to go all out and recommend Seas Nextel and the Scan Speak 7100.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/advanced_...;imageField.y=0

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...roducts_id=1596

Ear secks to follow.

864.10 might be a little over the top.

Although I do like seeing ideas thrown around. Lets assume I have a $550 speaker budget, a $950 amp budget, and $1k HU budget (since video isn't cheap). I suppose I can flucuate those numbers to achieve different ideas as well.

Also with the H701, I read a little into it, and it looks like more of a 5.1 processor than a multi speaker crossover. I realize that each channel has its own set of crossovers and Eq's, so I could conceivably run an active setup off of it.

Another thing to consider if I go to the A7 route (which I am leaning towards), is that it puts out 4x60 @ 4 ohms and 4x100 @ 2 ohms. I don't remember if it's 1ohm stable.

So I need drivers that fit within those specs (or I need a different 5-ch amp), 8 ohm tweets would probably be ok as well.

[///M5 2,833]

8 ohm everything is okay (midbass to 20kHz anyways). The H701 is a great multi-speaker crossover, the 5.1 stuff is a joke it includes for some unknown reason to me.

As for the $550, that is a healthy budget and there are a lot of choices. Knowing what size tweeter you can fit and your preference of metal vs. silk would help in narrowing it down.

[johnecon2001 82]

As for the $550, that is a healthy budget and there are a lot of choices. Knowing what size tweeter you can fit and your preference of metal vs. silk would help in narrowing it down.

2" tweet, although I'm sure it could fit something bigger if there was such a thing. I prefer Silk over metal, just because I find most metal tweets to be a little on the harsh side.

Madisound has a lot of neat stuff, but tbh, I'm a bit overwhelmed looking at all of it simply because I've NEVER heard any of it. So this is really helping me out a lot.

[JimJ 11]

Hiquophon & Morels might be another place to look...little cheaper than the Scans, at least the ones linked.

[flakko 1]

what about these:

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...roducts_id=8208

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...roducts_id=8209

they are on sale right now.

[johnecon2001 82]

what about these:

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...roducts_id=8208

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...roducts_id=8209

they are on sale right now.

I found a couple reviews on the 18w/4545, but none on the D2904/9400SE.

The mids look good though, just like to get some feedback on the tweets.