Decent In Car Audio

[solitaire]

Hiya,

One thing that blew me away with my civic is that the factory stereo is amazing, there's no sub but the front components have a pretty reasonable sized woofer. So it seems to me that you can have good sound without some massive amp and subwoofer.

Question is, what components would be best placed with a small amp for nice punchy sound? is it simply a case of spending more on high end components or is there some other trick i am missing? i previously had components teamed with a n amp in my corolla but was not blown away, i dont understand how this seemingly ampless factory stereo in the civic is so much better?

[DeeCee]

what year civic and what year corolla? Need to understand whether we are comparing apples and oranges here.

Old cars are generally tin boxes which need resonance reduced and doors turned into speaker boxes to get a reasonable output. I normally close up or minimise the door utility holes to turn the door into a more effective cabinet.

Modern cars may have door trim which fits better on the doors and more effective sound deadening as a result of more emphasis on road noise within the cabin. Also, stereos are being optimised for the cabin as a result of factory audio systems incorporating more speakers and the need to increase the user experience by providing premium audio systems in vehicles.

[solitaire]

I think you have hit the nail on the head.

I'm comparing a 1990 Levin with a 2008 Civic.

It sounds like if I want to get the best out of the component woofers they need to be in a sealed box? Like you would do with sub woofers?

[DeeCee]

Component speakers for cars are designed to work in free-air / open environments. Generally free-air design is actually large enclosure design, so applying that logic to a car door, we want to create a large enclosure which will allow the speaker to perform with more cone control, producing more sound at the lower end. Also, there is a reduction in the lost back wave energy from the rear of the speaker.

So yes, you want the speakers to work in an enclosure, hence the reason why I recommend closing up the door utility holes as best as possible.

Here is an example of my Forester. I used plastic serving trays cut into shape (note, they are ABS plastic, like McD's trays, not the hard/brittle type)





When you break down what you are missing, it will most likely be low end mid bass sound. The speaker design will also dictate what sound output you can achieve, so a set of speakers with small magnets with little suspension and flexible cones, will more than likely not be able to provide the more substantial mid bass sound that is missing.

Sort out the installation and maximise the environment the speaker works in before upgrading speakers. Fixing the 'mechanical' side of the system before applying electronic equalisation is what I recommend.

[solitaire]

Thanks, will do that.

Are those custom speaker mounts you have made there? Looks impressive... fibreglass?

[DeeCee]

Yes. Dual 6.5" Image Dynamics CXS component set was used at the time. Made a lot of noise, but the pods were very intrusive with legs. Pods built out of fibreglass, mdf, hot glue and screws..

photobucket album for the forester build here: http://s60.photobucket.com/user/Dee_Cee ... t=2&page=1
second album here: http://s60.photobucket.com/user/Dee_Cee ... t=2&page=1

Plenty of tips and tricks throughout my car audio and car albums and all should be open for you to explire. If I only had the write ups which were on the old NZICEmag forums, then you would have more detailed information, reasoning/decision making and guidance.

[shouhei]

Haven't posted here in aaaages..

Anyway, I had 2 FD Civics and I strongly believe the factory speaker are pretty damn good. I took out the rear speakers, amped the front 2 factory speakers/good headunit/8 inch ported sub and I thought the SQ was pretty amazing considering the cost. My second FD was the same setup but without a sub and I was still satisfied with the fronts doing most of the work with the rears faded. A good headunit with time alignment and crossover control is pretty much mandatory.

The stock headunit sucks balls hard! Get a fitting kit and replace it ASAP and your can retain steering wheel controls with the AXXESS ASWC-1 which you can get off ebay

I would replace the speakers as a last resort since you will have to cut the door to fit anything decent in there.