New radio and speaker ques....

I am replacing the factory radio and speakers ( they blew ) I have a '95 rodeo that has speakers mounted right behind the back seat almost next to your shoulder if your sitting in the back seat. I am looking at getting infinity subs for these two areas and 2 Audiobahn 2-way speakers. I'm looking at getting the Sony GDX-GT100 Cd player. It has a onboard internal amp...many great reviews for this for the amp. Does this sound good? I have no idea about speakers or anything so any advice would help.

It sounds nice. I've never heard any of those components, but I guarantee you will like it a lot better than the stock set up. It will be a million times better.

the set-up sounds nice, but...

you're going to want more power running to those speakers than the deck can handle putting out. it will sound nice as is, but it would be better with an amp thrown in there.

yea, a real amp, that's separate from the radio will make it amazing. Still, what you have is nice, but add an amp and it's amazing.

Cool, thanks guys!

Guys,

I'm also doing a sound upgrade on my 99 rodeo 4 door and need a little help with getting it right. I don't want to ask a money hungry salesman. I not after Doof Doof. Just a reasonable MP3 unit with better sound and reasonable bass.

Firstly I replaced the factory speakers with 4 x Pioneer 6.5" TS-G1640R 160Wmax. 30Wnom. in the front and rear doors. Actually modified the front slightly to make them fit and mounted the rears in the rear doors, rather than keep the tiny 4" speakers in the rear roof.

Secondly I install a Pioneer DEH-P5750MP head unit with 4 x 50Wmax or 4 x 22Wnom output.

It now certainly sounds better but the bass doesn't get to sounding full. It seems to go flat easily. Why?

Why when my every day company car with plain old low power stock head unit and I would guess cheap speakers gives a better fuller bassy sound. That just confusses the %^$# out of me.

Is an amp the answer. Do you need amps? The company cars standard set dosn't need one. Do I just need cheap low power speakers like the company car?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Have you adjusted the bass setting on your head unit? The new 6.5 speakers require more power than the factory speakers do. That said, They arent really designed to put out much bass. To round out your system, I recommend a nice 10" sub with 100-300w.

I've adjusted the bass settings and used the tailored equaliser curves and it can sound reasonable but it just falls short when compared to the standard system in the company car which only uses 4 x 6" speakers.
Is it because my new speakers require more power to do the same? Can you buy speakers that just match the head unit output so you don't need amps so you can keep it simple and reasonable?

It's possible that your new speakers have a somewhat high frequency response. In other words, they sacrifice low end in order to produce better high frequency sound, which makes sense. I don't think replacing them again would be a good idea. High quality sound is acheived when there is are separate speakers for different frequences. (subwoofers, mid range woofers, tweeters) You can get a decent small subwoofer for $50-100, a small amp for about the same, and make your own custom box to get the best sound out of it for about $25.

I guess I should also ask what kind of company car it is. :iceslolan

Short answer, YES an amp is the answer. An amp will give you everything you want. You may even want to get a 5 channel amp and put a small sub in the rodeo as well. Trust me, it will be much, much better. Head units can only do so much. The amp also makes the sound seem cleaner and more crisp. This is due to the cleaner power to the speaker.


Your question about the company car is valid. Those systems are designed for optimum performance for little money. They lose effectiveness. It is a newer concept in my opinion. Auto manufacturers are paying more attention than they used to to car audio.

Don't be surprised if your company car has an amp. Many cars have them now and the buyer has no idea. The manufacturer hides them somewhere in the car where the owner won't bump into it.

marc

Another thing I may suggest is sound proofing. These Isuzu's are not the most sound proof vehicles out there. If you are into car audio, these vehicles are prime candidates for some help. It will improve the sound exponentially.

marc

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll go get myself an Amp and see what happens. As for the Company car, I'm in Australia and you wouldn't know the model. But if you've seen the new Pontiac GTO, which we make for you, then visualise that in a four door wagon,,,with the steering on the correct side. ;) I have to agree, they probably are building in amps to get the performance they deliver standard now.

Thanks,
Wayne

A Holden? Well for the amp you should only need something small like 30x4 or so. You can get a little higher powered one and just turn it down a little.

Yep, a GM Holden. But it doesn't have the LS2 6.0L motor :( just the 3.8L Buick V6. Family car. The Rodeo as you call it or Frontera as we do here, was sold as a Holden, not directly by Isuzu. But no more. No more Troopers (Jackaroo) or Rodeo (Frontera) any more. Replaced by a four wheel drive version of the car I drive. At least it comes with the LS1 5.7L option or the V6. If I can lift it, then I may think of trading up.

http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/vehicleentry?vehicleid=22

a simple 10 inch sub helped me and i swapped out all 4 speakers with sony explode series 5'1/4's in the front(had to mod it a bit) and 4 inch plates in the back with a 10 inch sony explode sub and 400 watts just running to the sub...the head unit is a jvc and i have to take the bass down to -2 or it overdrives the sony's and distorts the sound...

I feel a real goose! I found the problem. There is an audio setting on this unit for a High Pass Filter that was turned on. This cuts out the Sub Woofer frequencies below a settlable point of 40, 100 or 160Hz for the four normal speakers. I guess this is so you can drive a woofer with low frequency and keep the standard speakers for Mid to Hi response. Sounds much better now, but I will still explore the Amp and small Sub.

Thanks,
Wayne.

It would be cool if people with custom installs posted pictures. It would give others some ideas. I don't have anything custom, but I'd like to soon. My only concern is amp placement. I don't want it getting stolen.

I'd like to see how people got larger speakers in their Rodeo's. I know I am not happy with the 4" in the rear roof. I'd love for some 6x9's to fit up there. I'd also like an area to hide an amp. I've got a 5 channel amp sitting at my parents house that I wish I could use. I've had dreams of attaching it to the tailgate, but I don't know about that. I've also thought of getting a 4 channel amp and putting it under the front passenger seat.

If anyone does post pictures, start a new thread.

marc

I had the same 4" speakers in the rear, but it is fairly simple to rewire a set of 6" or 6"x9" in the rear doors, as long as they are not too deep. The later models came with speakers in the rear doors but they sit too far back and get covered by the seat. There's ample room foward of the courtesy light. The speaker though can't attach to metal work there and is only mounted to the plastic shell. I'm going to glue some mdf board on the rear and give it something more stable to hang on to. I'll get a photo on later. I'll stick it on a new thread if one hasn't started by then. I'd like to see what others have done as well.

Wayne.

I wish isuzu would have left off that useless cargo net thing on the tail gate (every thing I put in it falls out). I've been thinking of ways to put 6x9s in the tail gate and get rid of the 4s but that stupid cargo thing is in the way.

I wish isuzu would have left off that useless cargo net thing on the tail gate (every thing I put in it falls out). I've been thinking of ways to put 6x9s in the tail gate and get rid of the 4s but that stupid cargo thing is in the way.


Agreed, that net is worthless. That is where I keep my oil and it slides all over the place. For the last year I've been meaning to pull that back cover off and see if I could mount my amp to the cover of the tailgate. I think it would look real nice there and it may not be noticeable to outsiders either.

I wish isuzu would have left off that useless cargo net thing on the tail gate (every thing I put in it falls out). I've been thinking of ways to put 6x9s in the tail gate and get rid of the 4s but that stupid cargo thing is in the way.

fiberglass and time. you could take the shell off and use it to make a template and fab up a new one the allows for deeper pockets for speakers--the same could be done for the speakers on the top.

fiberglass and time...:rolleyes:

Was looking for this link when I did my last post but couldnt find it, just now found it. If you want lots of sound you could do an install like this guy did in his rodeo.

http://www.mitekeurope.com/article.php3?id_article=708

Wonder if he would make me a custom tailgate cover to fit 6x9s :) I've done fiberglass before but was just for repairing stuff, my fabbing skills need help.

that looks nice. way more thn I am looking for. I'd wake up one morning and it would all be gone.

looks good though...

http://www.mitekeurope.com/IMG/jpg/winMarch2_Lrg.jpg

http://www.mitekeurope.com/IMG/jpg/winMarch0_Lrg.jpg

I like the way the tailgate looks. I'd love to be able to fab something like that, but I have no idea how to. What materials would you use?