Sound System help

Hey everyone,

I'm setting up to get a pretty kickin' sound system in my 94 Z28 Convertible. I know next to nothing about them, so I was wondering if anyone had any tips or anything. I've heard its easy to blow out your windows w/ certain systems, and was wondering maybe if the Camaros were more or less susceptable to such problems. I don't know how many watts I should be looking at...I'm probably looking for an amp, a subwoofer, speakers and a new cd player (god damn the stock ones are horrible). Any help would be cool. I'm probably looking at around 800 or so to spend.

Thanks

you would havto spend a hell of a lot more than 800 dollars to have a system capable of blowin your windows.. Only High SPL and competition systems and such will worry about breaking glass..

Now that thats out of the way.. What are you shootin' for? SQ? (sound quality) or SPL? (bass, very loud bass) Everybody likes a different sound so there system will be a bit different.. What kind of music do you listen too? that will help..
Also, many salesman will tell you otherwise but WATTS MEAN NOTHING! DO not buy something because of its power rating on the sticker, this means absolutly Zero..

For a head unit.. I like Alpine Hu's.. Kick ass cd players.. Try get a CD player that will play MP3's..

actually if you shop around you should be able to get a really nice system for 800 bucks.

yeah 800 bucks will get you a decent system from a flea market. check out these web sites a little, www.justamps.com and www.justwoofers.com or justsubs.com i forget. but they have good prices. also dont worry about your windows. i have a friend that goes to comps and there no prob with his windows. and hes got a hatch back saturn, 4 subs and 2 big amps. 2 power caps and a nice head unit. the inside of the car is like a box wheny ou stand outside by his window and system um you get blasted by air like a box port. the air is so powerful it moves you clothes pretty good. he spent around 800 for the apms alone.
just find what you can with that $800 that sounds good. wont get you that much but it'll do for a decent sound system if you look in the right places.
look at me im getting 12" sub in a box 1 120watt amp and all the wiring for like $30. from the kid with that loud ass system. hes got that stuff in his work pickup bed now. it has a top on the bed. but hes making a port going from the bed to inside the cab so he can hear the stuff. ill find out more from him today and see what he says about $800 for what your looking for.

i have about a 300 watt amp pushing one jl audio w3 15", and that sum bitch blows my ears off, its never broken any windows, ive never even heard of that, you're more likely to blow your windows out from heat pressure sitting outside on a hot day.

ok car repair i dont know much about but ive been messing w/ stereos for years now. heres what i would do if it was me get a good pyoneer or jvc head unit (cd player) for about 200. depending on if u want two twelves or tens or just one. if it were me w/ that amount of money i would get one apline type r 12 for about 150 new and get a bazooka 500 watt amp or if u wanna spend a little extra get the 750. either way it will sound good. wire it in paralell (im me for explanation of this) get it down to 2 omh (amp about $200) and a wiring kit for around 40 and u will have a hell of a system. everyone will think u have two 12s. or if u dont like alpine type r's (listen to them at circut city) u can get a solar baric l5 or l7(more expensive but easier to build a box for cause its square) and your set

o yeah and if you get 2 sub make sure to bridge the amp. you'll get more power doing that

im not a fan of pioneer or jvc head units. to me they dont perform as well as others. in my opinion, the best equipment you can get for an affordable amount is alpine. i got my 700 watt amp for 100 bucks new of the net. they make really good stuff. my head unit is a panasonic, which i had never gone with before but they are good stuff. in the past ive used blaupunkt and got good results. my friend had one of those bazooka amps and it hit really well.

it really depends on what you are looking for and what kindof music you listen to. if you listen to a lot of rock, than there is really no point in getting two 12s. if you listen to a lot of rap/hip hop than you want a system that can handle a lot of bass. i personally like the high frequencies. i love treble and being able to actually hear the lyrics. i have one type-s 10in and 4 3-way speakers. sounds great but wont blow your ears out. figure out what you want to do than go from there...

it all depends on what you listen to, or what your trying to achieve..

If you listen to a lot of rap, hip-hip, techno, anything with a deep bass, than get 12's.. (one or two either way) maybe even 15's but not many people use 15's anymore.. Use a ported box, but you'l need a bigger amp to run them

If your like me and listen to a bit of everything, a lot of rock and metal and that.. you'l probably want to get a pair of 10's in a small sealed box..a cubic foot per sub.. Sealed boxes will give the best sound range and will reqire less power to run the subs

Also, Get a Cap for your amp if your gonna be running more than one sub.. It'l really lessen the strain on your cars charging system and it'l give your amp a little more power..

Hmm...thanks for the input guys. Kinda sucks that it looks like i'm gonna have to lay out more than 800...but we'll see. I was checking out overstock.com and they seemed pretty good. I'm definately going to try and learn more before I go and blow all that money on something that might not be that good.

i got my kicker 12" solobaric L7, 1600 watt kenwood eXcelon amp, 1 farad cap, all wiring, and sub box for about $650. The amp alone has a MSRP of $750 and the sub $400....you just gotta know how to show on the internet.

BTW my shit is loud as hell!

before my truck's system was jacked i had a RockFord fosgate 9020 face, 2 mtx 12" 6000 searies subs, 2 RockFord punch searies 10's and i was pushing it all in sealed boxes, with a 250 watt directed amp, you could hear me almost a full mile away for a little over 1200 including them installing it (atleast 150) and my wire kit and stuff, so install it yourselfe and only get the mtx's and youll be arround $900, just remember shop arround your local stores and wait for the new stuff to get ready to come out and youll pick up your new system cheeper then what i did.

well i tend to disagree w/ the head unit opinion i like jvc and pioneer really well for two reasons. one most of the models even the cheaper one have 7 band equalizers and it allows for better fine tunning than just the preset ones many offer. and two because they offer good output for mids and highs if u dont wanna spend money on another amp for them although i did they usually have between 23-25 watts rms and most others only offer about 18-20. on top of that they have alot of extra features but so do most head units now. yes alpine units r good but often more pricey for the same or less features, but then again if ur willing to pay enough almost any brand w/ offer anything u want in a head unit. as for price u usually get what u pay for when buyin off brand amps and subs i gave u what i thought to be a great starter combo to work w/ your budget givin u great bang for ur buck. but one more thing i read i wouldnt try and do would be to install a ported box unless u have a profesional build it. theres alot of tunning that has to be done and they require alot more air volume in the box which camaro rear wells are not blessed w/

i went the sound quality direction and spent close to 300 bucks just in dynamat for the hatch.. got 2 12" Sony P5's with a Sony 1000W amp.. the shit rattles my hair when my volume is at like 6.. but the words dont get drowned out by the bass.. sounds awesome to me.. and you can still hear me a long ass ways away.. especially since my car isnt rattling...

For stereo stuff check out Ubid.com
I built a system consisiting of:

2 Infinity 12s
2 pioneer 3 way 6x9s
2 infinity 6 1/2's
2 infinity tweeters
A Pioneer Deh-p730 head unit
1 Profile California 800 watt amp
and 1 Orion CObalt 150 watt amp

All this for around 650-700 bucks, shipped to me, and everything except the subs (ebay) came off of ubid.com. All was brand new and I have been running this same system for going on 3 years, and it still sounds as good as it did when it was new.
I have used kicker, mtx, and soundtream subs in the past, but IMO for the money Infinity subs are the best there is, and they play all kinds of music really well :2cents:

Rob

You don't have to worry about busting out your windows. My camaro is running 2 10s and 2 15s with almost 4000 watts with the help of digital capacitors. I think the only prob you might have is just finding what suits you best. But a word of advice, 800 bucks will only get you a decent head unit and maybe some crossovers. Good clean amps cost $$$.