Car Audio 101
 

This thread was made to help new people understand what is being talked about in car audio. There are different subjects on different pages just look around and enjoy your reading!

Music Compression UPDATED 3/2012
So I want to shed some light on the different formats out today. When you download a mp3 or wma file from the internet, whether it be from LimeWire, itunes, amazon, or other site. The file is most likely compressed. The standard for itunes is becoming 256kbps, while amazon is still at 128kbps. Now for some people this is fine. These format mp3 and wma are compressed audio. Compression removes some of the quality in music, the lower the kbps the more quality is lost. These formats take the highs and the lows of them song and compress them to the bit rate that you have selected. The big debate with some is that at 320kbps you can’t hear the difference between a cd and that bit rate. As far as my personal opinion I disagree, but again this is my opinion.

The standard for most programs to rip any cd is 128kbps than it goes up from there as you can select in your ripping options menu. A normal FLAC or apple lossless song is around 800-1048kbps. This will allow you to get the best you can from a digital format. For itunes users it is pretty simple just go into your setting and go to the rip tab and select apple lossless. For windows media users go into setting and select Flac. For whatever you use for ripping cd's there should be a setting for the best quality you can get. Another disagreement upon people is that there is no need for full FLAC or lossless unless you have a serious sound system. Unless you are using a boom box and using a upgraded system you will hear a difference. Whether you’re listening to a good car sound system, quality headphones, or a system at home you should hear a difference.

All and all this may not be for everyone; some people do not mind compressed music. Also for people that are happy for their factory stereo they will still hear a slight difference just not as much as an aftermarket system. People that just use mp3's for their ipod threw ear buds might not notice the difference unless using a more expensive set of ear buds. All and all I hope this has opened your eyes to a new kind of music. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

For itunes users it is pretty simple just go into your setting and go to the rip tab and select apple lossless. For windows media users go into setting and select Flac or uncompressed. For whatever you use for ripping cd's there should be a setting for uncompressed.

All and all this may not be for everyone, some people do not mind compressed music. Also for people that are happy for thee factory stereo they will still hear a difference just not as much as a aftermarket system. People that just use mp3's for there ipod threw ear buds might not notice the difference unless using a more expensive set of ear buds. All and all I hope this has opened your eyes to a new kind of music. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Car Audio 101
 

Well class take your seats it's time for another lesson. Today were going to learn about car audio and the terms associated with it, and what they mean.
Let's begin!

Ohm's

Okay ohms or Ohm's law is the rule of resistance that something has. Most of you probably think about things like rubber and all having high resistance and that is correct. But in car audio we use ohms for what a speaker's resistance is at. For example if you have a sub that has a 4 ohm single voice coil. Than that sub can be wired up to an amp with the resistance of 4 ohms.

The next part of Ohms is power. If you look at any amp's specs you will see that is has something like 100 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (150 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms) 300 watts RMS x 2 bridged output at 4 ohms (4-ohm stable in bridged mode) so lets look at the first one. This one states that is can run 100 watts per channel "or speaker" as long as each speakers has a resistance or Ohm's of 4. The second one states that as long as all the speakers are at 2 ohms the amp can put out 150 per channel. The last one shows that it will put out to 2 channels 300 watts a channel if there ohms are 4 ohms. "you will also notice that is says 4 ohm stable at bridged mode." This states that the amp was built for the load of 4 ohms and is able to be bridged.

The thing with ohm's is that the higher the ohms the more resistance. So when you go with a lower ohms rating it can have much more power to run that speaker. You may be asking well can I wire different ohm rated speakers to two different sets output on an amp? You can ONLY do this if the amp is setup for it. If you want to get relay technical about Ohms law just google it and click on any of the first few links that come up. Or just simply ask.


RMS

Now you may have notice in the previous section when watts were being explained it said RMS. Something like 100 X4 at 4 ohms RMS. This is very important when choosing an amp. RMS stands for root mean square. In normal terms this means what an amp can continue to produce for long periods of time none stop. You may bee seeing things like 1200 watts MAX. In a few simple words this is a gimmick the amps will never produce this power and no matter how hard you try there just not going to make it. You always look at RMS when shopping for an amp. You will even see it on head units saying 50 X 4 max it is rely putting out around 12-15 watts RMS.

Amp Settings and Gains

So great you got your new amp and are wondering what in the world are all these knobs and switches on it for? Well here is your answer. Gain or volume. Some even say it differently than that but the deal with this is, think of it as a adjustment to insure your not clipping the signal. When you are all done installing your system is it time to put a test disk in of a normal song or a test tone of 80HRZ go to your amp and turn the gain all the way down than go back to the head unit and turn the volume 1/4 to full volume. Now you go back to your amp and slowly start turning up your gain until you hear distortion than turn it back just a hair. This will insure that your speakers are not going to distort or clip.

Now those Low pass and High pass knobs and all. Well a normal setup consists of your fronts being components. "speakers with separate tweeters" So the crossover will take care of the filtering of all that so your front should stay on Full. If you are going with rear speakers I would turn on the High pass filter and dial it to around 80 or maybe a bit higher. What these filter do are basically insure that the speaker will not get frequency's that it can not reproduce. The Low pass filter is fro when running a sub woofer your cut off should be around 60 for your sub.

Crossovers
So you know that little box that comes with your component speakers and some coaxial speakers. There things are called crossovers. Basically what they do it take the unfiltered signal that your amp sends it and sends the frequency's to the tweeter and the proper frequency's to the woofer. Some people like to turn there high pass on there amp to around 100HRZ so that way it takes more strain off the crossovers. It is a personal thing I prefer to let the crossovers to there thing.

Sub Wiring

This and this alone is the trickiest to master of everything in car audio. There are so many was to wire subs that it is very hard to explain, but I am going to try my best. There are 4 kinds of subs which included there Ohm's and all. There is a SVC "single voice coil" 4 ohm and a 8 ohm formats. Than there is a DVC "dual voice coil" 4 ohm and 2 ohm formats. The SVC are pretty easy. You can hook up a 4 ohm coil as a 4 ohm or if you have 2 you can wire them as 4 or 2 ohms. If you have a SVC 8 ohm sub than you can hook it up as 8 ohms. If you have 2 of them you can hook them up as a 4 ohm load. You can not wire different ohm rated subs or speakers together this will damage the sub and or the amp.

Which brings me to DVC subs. Honestly there are so many ways to wire them that I would hope that you IM me or consult this guide to help you wire them properly.
Subwoofer Wiring Diagrams

As always if you have any questions or comments let me know.

Next lesson will be on rely's, power wire, fuse ratings, and how much current until you have to upgrade your alt, and all. ENJOY!

Damn good write up. I thought about doing one of these along with my sound dampening thread but decided against it. Thanks for clearing up all the retorical and redundant questions. Probably could add a bit about crossovers though.

Thanks you I went ahead and added about the crossover in there. I will be doing more write up's as I have so much time to do it. Hope you enjoy reading them.

Like a said bro, a great write up for the amateur installer. For guys like Jeff, you or I to try to break this all down in one write up can be difficult but I think you pulled it off well.

How long have you been doing car audio/video? I've been doing installs for about 10 years but just over the last 4 or 5 years, I started getting into building custom boxes, fiberglass boxes, kick panels and what not. I checked out some of your builds and they aren't bad, but if you need any tips/tricks for custom builds, just let me know. You can check out my album, I have one of my fiberglass jobs in there.

Thanks man ya I am use to explaining things to people it comes easy for me for some reason. Well I have been self taught and been doing it for 4 years now if that. Built my first computer at age 7 and been into electronics ever sense. I can pick up on electronics in a few minutes of working with them. Thanks for the offer actually this weekend I begin learning fiberglass from what I have read so far it is pretty simple.

So can i come to you for advice on what speakers to get and such for my Z?
I used to "get it" and lately i am just not sure anymore.

Is it smarter to buy a component system or part out the tweeter and speakers?
Does it matter if all the speakers are the same? Or is mixing and matching fine?
Are base blockers needed for tweeters?

As of this moment i want base from the front speakers and sub.The side speakers i want pure audio/vocal. So i was thinking base blockers for the side speakers. A lot of people are saying the side speakers are not even needed because of the acoustics. That i am not totally buying if you have no vocals basically coming out of the front speakers.

Can i list some speakers i am looking at for your opinion as well?
I already have a in dash installed. Its the kenwood DNX 8100 series.

thanks

lol, simple is not quite the word I would use. It definitely gets easier the more you do it though. Key rules ... watch your ratios with resin and hardener. Too much hardener and it can become brittle, too little and it can take forever to dry as well as weaken the mix. Don't be afraid of the bondo, lol. Make sure to sand and sand and then sand some more, inbetween layers. NO AIR BUBBLES!!! If you plan on painting, make sure there are no surface scratches, bubbles, cracks etc. If you can stand on it, it's strong enough for bass, lol.

Just work on your skeletons and don't be afrad to try different techniques. If you got any questions, feel free to hit me up. A good site for materials is fiberglasssite.com great wholesale company with great prices and everything you could need.

If you have aim you can hit me up at reimermatt. But if you can not yes you can pm me and all. Your best be is to buy the tweeter and the woofer together. A component set already is setup for the best sound for those speakers and as well the tweeters will handle all your vocals and all. Honestly I dislike rear speakers anymore they just do not make the song sound real. Feel free to hit me up any way you want and I can truly help you out.

thanks....My handle is Darkstream81 on aim

ok so now the question for all of us that dont understand anything that u just said...what is the best sub? or a better question...what is your favorite sub? not the most powerful, or cheapest/expensive...what sub is your favorite? i'm not a brand whore. I have 10's, so if u want to be specific and say what is your favorite 10" sub...that would be much appreciated :)

My favorite of all time is the Image Dynamics series Q sub weather it be a 10 or a 12. Best SQ sub out there IMO sounds great and can play anything you want it to.
http://www.imagedynamicsusa.com/prod...hp?Family_Id=3

Adding DVD to stock navi unit
 

Yo Big, thanks for all your info. I wish you were in my city to do my installs! Listen, I have the BOSE system with navi and I was wondering about adding DVD and a back up camera. Do you see any problems with this and what do you suggest? There is a setting in the navi menu that say "CINEMA". I'm not sure what that is. I havent found anything in the manual refering to it or dvd playback.

The cinema that you are referring to is for making the audio sound like a theater. I do see big problems with adding a dvd player toy our factory head unit unless you are replacing it. If you replace the head unit than you should be fine. But At this point or even in the future I do not see any way of the factory head unti playing dvd's or having a dvd player connected to it.

A few subs to chew on...
 

I have messed around with and personally owned quite a bit of subs. Car audio has been in my life for about 10 years. Personally I like 10's for the quick tight bass in comparison to 12's or bigger that are mainly for heavy bass and picking up lower frequencies. Here are a few that I usually recommend for my customers... (not in any particular order)

10" MTX TR75-22 (400W RMS, DVC, great style, wide range of bass/music, great SQ, good price)

10" MTX TS85-22 (600W RMS, DVC, square design, decent price)

10"/12" Cerwin Vega stroker/pro (2000W RMS, DVC, very crazy bass, a little pricey)

10" JL W7 (750W RMS, odd 3ohm impedence can be hard to judge different adjustments, amps, etc. a little pricey and over rated. IMO)

Are you stationed in Beaufort?

John

Yep. Came from Camp Lejeune to here 2 years ago.

Cool, I'm in Charleston.

John

I've been waiting to get my hands on a Z so if you want a great custom install with amazing SQ hit me up sometime.:happydance:

Just sent a PM PRIOR to this post lol

PM'd back

Hey Matt, I got one for you.... Carputers?!?! Never done them and don't know how. Got any ideas?

Yep pm coming your way!


Also for those that only use yahoo messenger I have just made a name on there it is the same as on aim reimermatt

Well I start my next class for college tomorrow so I want to get this done tonight. Today we are going to talk about wire size, fuse ratings, and the difference between coaxial and component speakers.

Wire Size
So power wire is used to send power to your amp. Usually the rule is the bigger the wire the less resistance the power has going threw the wire. The normal size is usually 8 gauge or 4 gauge, the lower the number the bigger the wire....don't ask LOL. 8 gauge wire can carry power up to around 400 watts that is total from whatever your amp is putting out. If you are going to have more than that or 2 amps I would step up to 4 gauge wire. 4 Gauge is good up until 1000 watts. After that you will have to step up to 2 gauge or even the big 0 gauge. Now when you run any of these other than 8 gauge, you can use something called a distribution block. this allows you to hook up multiple amps to the same wire which is completely fine. Most of them will step down the size like 4 gauge in and 4 outputs of 8 gauge.

Ground Wire
This is a huge thing for your amp. Believe it or not DC "Direct Current" flows from negative to positive. SO your ground wire is as if not more important than your power wire. Now your ground should be on a solid piece of metal preferably on a main beam or brace of the car. Not saying that you can not use just any piece of metal just these are the better places. A lot of people like me do not like to drill holes and all so we look for bolts that we can place the wire under it. Before just drilling a hole make sure to check under were you are drilling you do not want to drill into a fuel line!!!. After you drill your hole sand or grind the paint off so your ground is a real nice ground. Before i go and install my ground I put some di-electric grease on there.

Fuse Rating
These little babies help from you starting a fire on your nice car! LOL DON'T GO RUNNING AWAY. Fuses are simply to protect the wire and the electronics from shorts weather it be on accident by touching a wire to ground or a wire slipping out of an amp. The easiest way to find out what kind of fuse you need for your amps is look at the fuses on your amp add them up and that will give you the correct fuse. Most people just run what fuse comes with the wiring kit which is fine.

Speaker Types
Let us start with component, a component setup usually consists of crossovers, a tweeter, and a woofer. This makes for the best you can get. The reason for this is because of the first component. The crossover, before that power even gets to your speakers the crossover filters the frequency's of the music and makes sure that only those frequency's that the speaker can reproduce, gets to them. The next part the tweeter, this takes car of all your high frequency's. Having it not actually on the woofer means that you can install it almost anywhere giving you the very best sound angle. Look at ti this way are you looking down at the ground at a concert is that were the music is coming from NO of cores not. That is why tweeters that can be mounted anywhere are better you can put them as if you were at a concert giving you a more true experience with your music. Coaxial, there cheaper and easier to install but not better. These are made for rear fill, or for someone who wants to do a quick and easy install. The tweeters are built right into them. This causes loss of power from the woofer as it can not move as far as one without the tweeter built in. Also it can not sound as good because there is resistance to the movement of the woofer the tweeter being right in the way is what dose this. Also there is usually no crossover to take car of the sound that calls for you to use your high pass on your amp and set it by ear.

Next time.... Well let me hear some suggestions from you!
Enjoy!!

Already here

If anyone is looking for specific info just let me know. I would be happy to do a write up on more stuff.

Any new suggestions for what to do a write up on?

Tweeters
 

I have a pair of Alpine model #6117 tweeters. Size is 3 5/8" x 5" x 7/8" W/L/D. Would that fit in the front speakers located in the dash?

You actually may have to buy some plastic sheets and make an adapter ring to hold it in it maybe be smaller than the opening. It should fit though if you make a adapter plate and use the tweeter pods. Sort of like this notice it is cut almost like a stop sign to fit in there but this is in a porsche.

Here is the plastic you need or may need http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1208900...t.html?tp=1114
http://www.jmlaudio.com/IMG_2972.JPG

Crossovers
 

Any suggestions on a compatible crossover/EQ using these Alpine tweeters with a 6 x 9 speaker located in the doors would be appreciated.

Also, I plan to add one or two? small 6" sub located in the hatch area. I haven't decided if a DD HU would improve the sound quality or whether a amp (2 or 4 channel) would work best connected to the base stock 370Z HU. Any suggestions are welcome.

Head unit should be changed before upgrading using the factory head unit is sort of like a last resort in my book. For crossovers just look for something that is going to send out a mid signal that the woofer is stable at and same for the tweeter. I think that you should of just gotten a component setup and not worried about running a 6x9 there, because the tweeters in the woofer will not work if you use a crossover and if you ar thinking about doing so don't it is a was and will not sound right. For head unit an alpine would give you nicer sound or even the kenwoods now but the alpines are gear more towards sound and ipod hooks up as well. For amps if you can afford them take a look at the higher end sound streams and the focal amps along with the audison amps there what I am going to be running I had one before but traded it the thing was awsome.

Okay so a lot of you are starting to get comfortable with taking apart your Z to install a radio. But some of you might be still lost of do not want to spend a lot of cash on a fancy head unit. I am going to try to clear up what is good and what is bad out there. For a good DD head unit expect to spend anywhere from 600-1000 for a nice one, some DD do not have the NAV which in that case drops the price tremendously.

Alpine- Very nice head units, Great sound quality from the factory or even if you are using an aftermarket amp. Great Interface for the ipod as well, almost as if it was made for the ipod "which some are"

Boss- A very cheap name brand usually sold at walmart or flea markets. Not by any means great or just good. These units have crappy interface and the music signal that it sends out can actually make your system sound worse.

Cadance- This company is more known for there amplifiers than there head units. I have known no one that has used them or has tried them. IMO I would keep away.

Clarion- Still ahs one of the best top of the line SINGLE DIN head units for a SQ active setup. Only thing is that is almost a grand. There other normal head units are nice as well though I am not sure if they have to many choices for DD's. They are still something to keep in mind. My only beef with them there ugly.

Dual- Yet another name brand sold by flea markets and bargan stores. These units are like your lowest end that I would allow in a car, there lower end models are like pyles, and there nicer ones are like a cheap pioneer but not as good.

Eclipse- A fantastic head unit for a nice setup it is right up there with Alpine. There very nice head unti for the money and have a nice interface as well, the only one I may stay away from is the which they do not make anymore, which is the one that integrates a tom tom gps and you use that as your main screen and your gps.

Fahrenheit- Another low class name brand not even sold at flea markets some will try to trick you into these as if they are great units, there not, buyer beware.

Jensen- While not the top or middle class these do have a lot to offer, but it comes at a price. The screen is by no means a god one to look at gps let alone a movie, and the signals that it sends out for an external amp can have engine noise in it as well "not all cars" If you are looking for a low end one to put in your wife's car to make her mad this is the one.

JVC- Middle class head units, while I have not had much to do with them I still have played with a few and such. There flashy screens attract those teens that want that boom boom in the trunk. They are nice units and can be fairly easy to use, only for the money you can always get something better.

Kenwood- Fantastic interface with the best NAV and blu tooth I have seen in years. You can not beat these DD units. If you are looking for a nice Nav interface and a nice unit for music look no further.

Panasonic- If you can get past the flashy blue screen you may like them "single dins" The double dins are nice as well sprting a lot to offer for a good price, but as soon as you want to add nav you are slamed with an extra 500 bucks.

Pioneer- If you do not know me by now I have sort of a beef with pioneer. I started installing stereos 5 years ago. I have used pioneers and had nothing but problems "in my own and others" Problems from face plates dying. internal amps frying, cd's not ejecting, engine wining noise and so on. But I will say this there premier units are pretty nice, and the sound quality signal you get out of them is nice as well. There ipod interface is junk and slow. Other than that there not bad units.

Sony- This company use to be the milestone in sound quality and use to be the baddest company on the block. Now there commercialized junk. I have seen these units literally short themselves out, the power signal you get form there head units and amps are garbage and so on. Stay away!

Valor- Yes they look like a great package don't they? Do not be fooled another name brand just like pyle and Boss only a tad nice, they may look nice but that's all.

I hope this has helped you in some way. I know my reviews may of been a tad harsh but i have used them and know how they are.

I like this unit:

Clarion VX709 DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Built in bluetooth, and the microphone is built into the front of the headunit. It also plays MP3 amd WMA on DVD, so you can get a lot of material on one disc, albeit at reduced quality. I don't really need nav.

John

That is a nice one not to mention the car in the pic LOL

Alpine's EQ/Crossover PXE - H650
 

If one stays with the base HU and adds an amp and sub and front speakers, would the addition of a Alpine EQ/CrossoverPXE-H650 improve the sound?

That is the only way to install it on the bose model, yes it will help a bit on the base head unit as well. My first choice would be to change the head unit, it will be the best bet for SQ and also look better IMO.

Don't forget the WiringWizard!
Rockford Fosgate® - Woofer WiringWizard

DVD Audio
 

Does the Kenwood play DVD audio CDs or only DVD video?

Depends on which model you are looking at, the 6140 will play dvd audio and video as far as I know.

just joined the other day and I just want to say what a great site and THANK YOU bigaudiofanat. i just got a new nismo and had no clue what i had or what to do about it. thanks to everyone on this thread. i feel educated. nicely done. hope to contribute sometime down the road.