Simple Guide to building a System.
60hz163.5db
11-13-2003, 01:25 AM
Fuck It let's jump right in:
HeadUnit: Source of music. Apparently this is important. Choosing the "best" is a matter of opinion. All hu's are different. I don't care what brand you buy but if you are serious about your sounds. Spend some change basic shit=basic sounds. This will pay off in the long run.
Wiring:Always use solderless connections buy a pair of crimpers if you are serious. If you want your shit to work properly and last for a long time install it right. I always use a wiring harness never chop off a plug. It will either not be used and set off to the side or needed so why damage it.
Fitment: Go to any shop that sells metra this company makes tons of dashkits. Most honda's if they have a pocket underneath the radio don't need a dashkit. Otherwise you prolly do.
Power wire and rca's: When purchasing powerwire upto 300wrms 8gauge 600 to 1200wrms 4 gauge anything above that 1/0. Fusing should just be adding up all fuses in amps getting a total allowed current draw. Your ground must be as thick as your 12v wire. Always run through a grommet if needed go to the place you bought your stuff or an audio shop and just ask them to make a w/grommet. Keep fuse removed till all connections are made. Rca's never run on same side as powerwires. Qaulity of rca's does matter better ones have a lower resistance and more shielding.
Amps and Subs:There is no magic combination. It's quite simple look at your subs and realize that a dual 4 ohm sub can be wired to 8ohms or 2ohms where as a dual 2 ohm sub can be wired to 4 or 1 ohm. Now look at amps that have specs such as "300wrms@2ohm" or whatever the case may be. The subs will also have a Wrms which means Watts Root mean sqaured. Which translates into constant power handling abilities. Find an amp first this is easier since they are more expensive and usually determine the system. Mono Amps vs. 2&4 channel amps. Mono amps are pretty much designed for subs since stereo which is atleast 2 channels. Subs don't require this do to bass being omnidirectional. Since the desired effect is Spl Sound Pressure Level or boom. Not only that mono amps usually produce large amounts of power. 2 channel amps can be bridged mono and 4 channel amps can be bridged to 2 channels usually. More on bridging and sub wiring later. A cheap way to gain nice imaging. Imaging is setting a good recreation of the soundstage ie if you were there during this recording watching it, it would sound the same with say the guitarist on one side of a stage and walking across and the music follwing him. Use a nice two channel for your front speakers and use the Headunit for the backs. Otherwise get a 4 channel and then you can control the fading and imaging with gain and amp xover settings.If your subs drowned out your highs you need an amp for the highs.
Interior Speakers aka "highs": Hondas and Acuras almost always take either a 6 1/2" upfront with either 6x9"or 6 1/2 in the rear. You want your more expensive speakers to be in the front for Imaging and sheer clarity. If you were at a concert you wouldn't turn your back on the stage. Component Speakers consist of a tweeter a crossover and a driver. Some cars have factory tweeter spots if so i recommend using them. If not cutting holes in door panels is not hard just simply trace and cut just inside the circle. Then test fit and trim accordingly. Mount the x-over either in the door or near the amp pending on what type of display you are concocting. The driver goes where the old one was.I will discuss removing door panels later.
HeadUnit: Source of music. Apparently this is important. Choosing the "best" is a matter of opinion. All hu's are different. I don't care what brand you buy but if you are serious about your sounds. Spend some change basic shit=basic sounds. This will pay off in the long run.
Wiring:Always use solderless connections buy a pair of crimpers if you are serious. If you want your shit to work properly and last for a long time install it right. I always use a wiring harness never chop off a plug. It will either not be used and set off to the side or needed so why damage it.
Fitment: Go to any shop that sells metra this company makes tons of dashkits. Most honda's if they have a pocket underneath the radio don't need a dashkit. Otherwise you prolly do.
Power wire and rca's: When purchasing powerwire upto 300wrms 8gauge 600 to 1200wrms 4 gauge anything above that 1/0. Fusing should just be adding up all fuses in amps getting a total allowed current draw. Your ground must be as thick as your 12v wire. Always run through a grommet if needed go to the place you bought your stuff or an audio shop and just ask them to make a w/grommet. Keep fuse removed till all connections are made. Rca's never run on same side as powerwires. Qaulity of rca's does matter better ones have a lower resistance and more shielding.
Amps and Subs:There is no magic combination. It's quite simple look at your subs and realize that a dual 4 ohm sub can be wired to 8ohms or 2ohms where as a dual 2 ohm sub can be wired to 4 or 1 ohm. Now look at amps that have specs such as "300wrms@2ohm" or whatever the case may be. The subs will also have a Wrms which means Watts Root mean sqaured. Which translates into constant power handling abilities. Find an amp first this is easier since they are more expensive and usually determine the system. Mono Amps vs. 2&4 channel amps. Mono amps are pretty much designed for subs since stereo which is atleast 2 channels. Subs don't require this do to bass being omnidirectional. Since the desired effect is Spl Sound Pressure Level or boom. Not only that mono amps usually produce large amounts of power. 2 channel amps can be bridged mono and 4 channel amps can be bridged to 2 channels usually. More on bridging and sub wiring later. A cheap way to gain nice imaging. Imaging is setting a good recreation of the soundstage ie if you were there during this recording watching it, it would sound the same with say the guitarist on one side of a stage and walking across and the music follwing him. Use a nice two channel for your front speakers and use the Headunit for the backs. Otherwise get a 4 channel and then you can control the fading and imaging with gain and amp xover settings.If your subs drowned out your highs you need an amp for the highs.
Interior Speakers aka "highs": Hondas and Acuras almost always take either a 6 1/2" upfront with either 6x9"or 6 1/2 in the rear. You want your more expensive speakers to be in the front for Imaging and sheer clarity. If you were at a concert you wouldn't turn your back on the stage. Component Speakers consist of a tweeter a crossover and a driver. Some cars have factory tweeter spots if so i recommend using them. If not cutting holes in door panels is not hard just simply trace and cut just inside the circle. Then test fit and trim accordingly. Mount the x-over either in the door or near the amp pending on what type of display you are concocting. The driver goes where the old one was.I will discuss removing door panels later.
60hz163.5db
11-13-2003, 01:59 AM
Coaxial Speakers: Meaning the tweeter is attached.If you do not have the money these are way better than stock. Note: If you are building a loud bass system sometimes you don't even need to run rear spkrs. Also if you have a trunk sometimes leaving the rear spkrs and dynamating the rear deck can improve your performance.
Box Types: Sealed boxes are the most musical of boxes yet the most inefficient. Being the most musical it can go down the lowest and play the tightest. If you have the power and space build/buy the box that is the maximum rec. cubic ft. If you are building make sure that one side is atleast ever so slightly angled to reduce standing waves or waves that cancel each other out. Also make sure sealed means sealed!
Bandpass boxes: There are two types commonly used 2nd order and 4th order. 2nd order would be a ported box where as one side of the speaker is exposed either the cone or the basket. These are next on the musical scale the ports are tuned by making them a certain size/dimension. This varies Private message me or look up how to calculate for dimension to frequency. The frequency varies with the size of the port being tuned means that the port does not play below a certain frequency measured in Hertz Hz. These can be louder and pretty tight with lower power amounts. 4th order is the type of box which you see that has usually two subs behind plexiglass. These are loud but greatly lack musical ability.
Note: there are also boxes called transmission line boxes. You do not see these often. Due to the sheer difficulty to make.
Wiring subs: I already went over subs a little. When wiring subs it's important to remember what ohm load your amp can handle.
Here goes: If you want a 4 ohm load and you need
2 8ohm single voicecoil subs wired in parallel
1 dual 2ohm voicecoil sub with the vc's wired in series.
2 dual 4 ohm w/ the vc's wired in parallel and the box in stereo. Note: this is just the basics any other questions just pm me.
Bridging amplifiers: Why? well when you bridge an amp you usaully run it at a lower ohm rating and since ohms are a measure of resistance. Less resistance eqauls more power. But there are limits to this. Each amp has a different impedence in ohms it can be takin down to. Like for instance kicker 200.2's can go as low as 2 ohms.Do Not go below the manufacters implied ohm rating this will cause a plum of smoke and a dead amp.
Door Panel removal: Well this varies from car to car but usually all you have to do is. Look at the door panel you will see screws in various places. Remove them and most panels will just have plastic trim plugs that hold it the rest of the way on simple use a flathead screwdriver or panel tool. Insert it at the bottom of the door and pry not too hard the panel away from the door. Now lift it off and disconnect any wiring that is attached to window switches or door lock switches.Note: Sometimes the screws that hold the panel on are covered by little plugs or covers a pick set is nice to remove these.
Multiple battery setups: First and foremost match the Cold Cranking Amps of the batteries. Otherwise one battery will constantly drain the other. If you are going to put an optima in the back put one in the front.
Isolaters are ok but you do not have to use them.
High Impedence convertors: These little gadgets are great. If you want to run an amp with your factory head unit this is the key. All it does is connect to the left and right speaker leads and converts it into low level RCA format.
Tool List:Crimpers with cutters at the tip.
Drill w/ multiple bits ie. Phillips ,hex keys ,extensions.
Pick set
Logic Probe <--- usually only available from large tool suppliers ie snap on/ cornwell.Also called a hummingbird.
Unibit this is a bit that will drill multiple sized holes.
super glue and various adhesives
Digital Multimeter <-- will tell you alot of things such as what the impedence of a sub is or if something is getting power.
Razor blades
Socket set Metric and Sae
Panel Tool<-- again usually sold by large tool companies I like snap on's the best.
These are the basics and will get you through most installs,but my tool box is rather huge, but i have been doing this a while and do it for a living.
Misc parts: Solderless connectors aka butt connectors
Various fuses
self taping screws
Wood screws
Electrical tape
Zip ties
Female spade connectors
A roll of 14 awg speaker wire
Key words:
Amperage: In laymans terms this is current measured in Amperes or amps. This is what the numbers on fuses mean.When applying to ohm's law it is represented by the letter i.
Resistance: measured in impedence. when applied to ohms law it is represented by the letter r.
Voltage:EMF or Electromotive Force this is what "pushes" the current through the system.When applied to ohm's law it's letter is e.
Power:Measured in joules and converted to watts. This is the amount of energy that a device puts out or consumes divided by the time the device is operating.Letter p in ohms law.
Ohm's Law: The relationship between current,voltage,and resistance. I=e/r and E=ir and R=e/i squared.
Ok this is about all i can think of. If you have found this thread to be helpful or atleast answer some questions please reply to it and say thank you. I posted this for newbs and ppl that are eager to learn. IF you have any questions just ask.
Box Types: Sealed boxes are the most musical of boxes yet the most inefficient. Being the most musical it can go down the lowest and play the tightest. If you have the power and space build/buy the box that is the maximum rec. cubic ft. If you are building make sure that one side is atleast ever so slightly angled to reduce standing waves or waves that cancel each other out. Also make sure sealed means sealed!
Bandpass boxes: There are two types commonly used 2nd order and 4th order. 2nd order would be a ported box where as one side of the speaker is exposed either the cone or the basket. These are next on the musical scale the ports are tuned by making them a certain size/dimension. This varies Private message me or look up how to calculate for dimension to frequency. The frequency varies with the size of the port being tuned means that the port does not play below a certain frequency measured in Hertz Hz. These can be louder and pretty tight with lower power amounts. 4th order is the type of box which you see that has usually two subs behind plexiglass. These are loud but greatly lack musical ability.
Note: there are also boxes called transmission line boxes. You do not see these often. Due to the sheer difficulty to make.
Wiring subs: I already went over subs a little. When wiring subs it's important to remember what ohm load your amp can handle.
Here goes: If you want a 4 ohm load and you need
2 8ohm single voicecoil subs wired in parallel
1 dual 2ohm voicecoil sub with the vc's wired in series.
2 dual 4 ohm w/ the vc's wired in parallel and the box in stereo. Note: this is just the basics any other questions just pm me.
Bridging amplifiers: Why? well when you bridge an amp you usaully run it at a lower ohm rating and since ohms are a measure of resistance. Less resistance eqauls more power. But there are limits to this. Each amp has a different impedence in ohms it can be takin down to. Like for instance kicker 200.2's can go as low as 2 ohms.Do Not go below the manufacters implied ohm rating this will cause a plum of smoke and a dead amp.
Door Panel removal: Well this varies from car to car but usually all you have to do is. Look at the door panel you will see screws in various places. Remove them and most panels will just have plastic trim plugs that hold it the rest of the way on simple use a flathead screwdriver or panel tool. Insert it at the bottom of the door and pry not too hard the panel away from the door. Now lift it off and disconnect any wiring that is attached to window switches or door lock switches.Note: Sometimes the screws that hold the panel on are covered by little plugs or covers a pick set is nice to remove these.
Multiple battery setups: First and foremost match the Cold Cranking Amps of the batteries. Otherwise one battery will constantly drain the other. If you are going to put an optima in the back put one in the front.
Isolaters are ok but you do not have to use them.
High Impedence convertors: These little gadgets are great. If you want to run an amp with your factory head unit this is the key. All it does is connect to the left and right speaker leads and converts it into low level RCA format.
Tool List:Crimpers with cutters at the tip.
Drill w/ multiple bits ie. Phillips ,hex keys ,extensions.
Pick set
Logic Probe <--- usually only available from large tool suppliers ie snap on/ cornwell.Also called a hummingbird.
Unibit this is a bit that will drill multiple sized holes.
super glue and various adhesives
Digital Multimeter <-- will tell you alot of things such as what the impedence of a sub is or if something is getting power.
Razor blades
Socket set Metric and Sae
Panel Tool<-- again usually sold by large tool companies I like snap on's the best.
These are the basics and will get you through most installs,but my tool box is rather huge, but i have been doing this a while and do it for a living.
Misc parts: Solderless connectors aka butt connectors
Various fuses
self taping screws
Wood screws
Electrical tape
Zip ties
Female spade connectors
A roll of 14 awg speaker wire
Key words:
Amperage: In laymans terms this is current measured in Amperes or amps. This is what the numbers on fuses mean.When applying to ohm's law it is represented by the letter i.
Resistance: measured in impedence. when applied to ohms law it is represented by the letter r.
Voltage:EMF or Electromotive Force this is what "pushes" the current through the system.When applied to ohm's law it's letter is e.
Power:Measured in joules and converted to watts. This is the amount of energy that a device puts out or consumes divided by the time the device is operating.Letter p in ohms law.
Ohm's Law: The relationship between current,voltage,and resistance. I=e/r and E=ir and R=e/i squared.
Ok this is about all i can think of. If you have found this thread to be helpful or atleast answer some questions please reply to it and say thank you. I posted this for newbs and ppl that are eager to learn. IF you have any questions just ask.
whiteracer
11-13-2003, 04:46 PM
very nice, needs some grammar work. I'm sure if we had mods that actually read these boards, this would be stickyed. Not to bash on the mods that do come here, it just seems that the whole Honda forum needs rebuilt.
60hz163.5db
11-14-2003, 01:59 PM
does anyone think there should be something added? has anyone else even read this whole biotch?
T!mmy
11-14-2003, 02:06 PM
Hey I greatly appreciate this dude...helps me understand it that muchmore...although can you go into more detail about the dual battery setup?
l2ice rocketz
11-15-2003, 06:29 PM
Looks like my Car Stereo cookbook, but in cliffnotes form.
60hz163.5db
11-18-2003, 01:15 AM
ok last post first. As for the carstereo cookbook i have read that book a while ago. It is very elongated i have gone to school for electronics and been in the field for about 3 years professionally i'm mecp installer certified. But all of this means nothing without experience i have found that experience is key.
Ok doing multiple battery systems.
When doing this make sure of a few things. First that your alternator will be able to handle this new load? An extra battery added to a system that is already stressed won't help anything except to make your wallet lighter. Assuming that you have a honda you may want to either try a new alternator which doesn't have to be comp grade i've actually tried retrofitting alternators from the larger engines like the 2.0 and 3.2 with mixed results. Or try a optima or deep cycle battery with a large capacitor or batcap which are made by x-static. But if you have read all this and are still feeling the need for another battery or two. Here goes:
First off use atleast 2 gauge and if you are doing multiple batteries use 1/0. It's just like running wires for an amp cept you run it to another battery. Use a ground isolator and if doing multiple batteries use one ground. THese isolators also called battery isolators are available at audio shops and rv stores. Make sure you upgrade the chassis ground on your car THIS HELPS IMMENSLY instead of some braided steel you have 2 gauge copper. A larger path=more power or ground for that matter. As i said before make sure the batteries are the same CCA cold cranking amps or one will constantly suck from the other.
Ok doing multiple battery systems.
When doing this make sure of a few things. First that your alternator will be able to handle this new load? An extra battery added to a system that is already stressed won't help anything except to make your wallet lighter. Assuming that you have a honda you may want to either try a new alternator which doesn't have to be comp grade i've actually tried retrofitting alternators from the larger engines like the 2.0 and 3.2 with mixed results. Or try a optima or deep cycle battery with a large capacitor or batcap which are made by x-static. But if you have read all this and are still feeling the need for another battery or two. Here goes:
First off use atleast 2 gauge and if you are doing multiple batteries use 1/0. It's just like running wires for an amp cept you run it to another battery. Use a ground isolator and if doing multiple batteries use one ground. THese isolators also called battery isolators are available at audio shops and rv stores. Make sure you upgrade the chassis ground on your car THIS HELPS IMMENSLY instead of some braided steel you have 2 gauge copper. A larger path=more power or ground for that matter. As i said before make sure the batteries are the same CCA cold cranking amps or one will constantly suck from the other.
60hz163.5db
11-18-2003, 11:31 PM
i am simply keeping this post from slipping into the haze which is the 2nd page of the thread.
abeighle56
02-27-2010, 10:23 PM
i am simply keeping this post from slipping into the haze which is the 2nd page of the thread.
Hello, what would cause subwoofers to have static and cut out after being turned up to a certain level?
Hello, what would cause subwoofers to have static and cut out after being turned up to a certain level?
PaulD
02-28-2010, 01:15 AM
dude, this thread is like 7 years old
it sounds like you are turning up the sub too loud
it sounds like you are turning up the sub too loud
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