OK people, I have $1000 to spend and want some advice. My current system consists of a Kenwood KDC 5018 head unit with 6 stack in the boot. Rear speakers are Alpine SPR 692A's (coaxial 2way 6*9's rated at 50w rms or 180w peak). Front splits are frashed and wont be reused. Where is the money best spent? Should I keep the rears and get a good set of front splits and a good quality amp to run it all or will these rear speakers hold the system back? Will a good set of fronts and a couple of 10 inch subs suffice (budget permitting of course). I usaully jump into things half a*** and get ripped off so I want as much info on this before I blow my dosh. And I will be doing the install myself so dont factor installation into the equation. Thanks everyone.

rears are fine

do u want brands or value?

i hear the jaycar amps are good value for money...


id recomend maybe a 12" pioneer sub (or 2) and a jaycar amp, and some good front splits

thats about all thats needed.

the rear speakers arent that important (can be driven by h/u)

I would go a nice set of splits for the front, run em off a good 2 channel amp. And then go a single 12' sub and run that off of a monoblock amp.

That should be a good $1000 speant! Dont worry about the rear speakers its the front speakers and sub that you really want to fucus your money on.

Hope thats given you a bit more to ponder about

Yeah I was thinking a couple of Jaycar amps, some splits and 2 Rockford 10 inch subs. I want 10's as all the 12's and 15's Ive heard dont sound tight enough for the type of music I listen too (Metallica, Pantera etc). Jaycar currently have a special on a 2 channel, 150w RMS (per channel) for $199 which should be good enough to run a couple of subs. Add a 2 by 80w RMS Jaycar amp for the fronts ($169) and Ive been told $250 each for Rockford Fosgate 10 inch subs. All that for $870 which leaves me about $300 for fronts (Ill stretch the budget if need be). That or I could run a single 4 by 100w RMS amp and run the fronts off 2 and the subs off the other 2 channels (update to a monoblock later). What sounds the better option?

I listen to rock and heavy metal etc. and a 12' sub is perfect for that type of music. My Alpine 12' sub is very tight and punchy!

I also forgot to mention I have a sub box at home. And guess what, it has 2 holes cut in it to suit.............10 inch subs.

Ahh okay well, then no point in wasting it!

2 10's will provide better sound than a single 12" anyway.

I don't agree but hey thats just my opinion. I believe a single better quality 12" is better than 2 x cheaper 10's.
(i.e. 1 x $200 12" is better than 2 x $100 10's)



No problem then no point wasting the box go with 10's..




Rockford 10's will be are fine, are well built and nice sounding.
Your much better off getting a monoblock to run the subs though. It will have heaps more power, produce the power while drawing much less current (better for your electrical system, will get less hot and not need upgrading later on if you go with larger subs or even another 10" (1.33ohm load). Ideally get 2 x dual 4ohm voice coil 10's for a 1ohm load on the monoblock. Jaycar monoblock is rated at 820rms at 1ohm which is 400rms per sub. A lot more output than 150rms + other benefits mentioned above. Only $120 more at $320.

Subs $500 ($250 each as you outlined)
Jaycar 2 x 80rms $169 (i would got he 2 x 150rms for $199)
Again no need to upgrade the amp later on if you decide to go with a larger front stage or 3 way front stage. Also allows you to have the gains down very low and avoid introducing noise into the system which is especially important with front stage.

Then splits (allow $300) for something nice in 5 1/4" or 6.5"

$319
$500
$199
$300
$1318

If thats too many $$$ then:
- Buy 4 channel (4 x 100rms) Jaycar amp for $270 in place of the mooblock and 2 channel
- Buy 2 dual 4ohm 10" subs
- Run front stage from channels 1 & 2 (100rms) and bridge channels 3 & 4 for subs. Run subs series, parrallel for a 4ohm load with 380rms between them.
- Later on you can add the monoblock to run the subs and still get a 1ohm load from that configuration by running parallel + parallel;
PLUS have 100rms to both fronts and rears.

Cost

$500 - subs
$296 - 4 channel Amp
$300 - splits
$1,069 Pretty close to your $1,000 limit + no ned to sell anything off at a later date to upgrade.....


Must be poorly set-up, 12" in a sealed enclosure designed properly should sound nice and tight. Mine sounds very transient i'm happy to audition it to others, although it will soon have 2 x 12's so may sound a little different.

Yeah for sure aaron some good advice thier, i pretty much believe the same thing also, gotta love the single 12' sub setups.

I so wanna hear you play some Slipknot and Rage Against the machine in your car!! i reckon it would sound awesome!

mate if i had $1000 to spend id would get one of the new jaycar 4x100 amps
jaycar or other brand front splits
and some half decent subs ,run the splits off 2 of the channels of the amp and bridge the other 2 to run the sub ,run the rear speakers off the headunit

Thanks everyone for your input. Ive since removed the old torn 10 inch LA Punch subs out of the box and found its made of fookin chip board. Decent subs will probably shatter it so a good single 12 inch may be the way to go (Ill custom make a box for it. It will be a good excuse for firing up the Triton workbench ). And my guess would be a good 12 inch will be cheaper than 2 good 10's. Ill be able to afford a monoblock amp that way. Hmm. decisions, decisions.

nice to see someone who listens to pantera here! haha, i have been told to get two 10" subs from many people for the quality of sound when listening to music with double kicks.. eg. listening to double bass drum part in one by metallica... sounds amazing through two 10" subs, and not as great through a single 12" or 15"

I'll take the challange, I believe my 2 x 12's sound as good as any dual 10" set-up that i've heard.

At the Audio Workshop day or the test and tune bring the car and the song and we'll do a back to back...

What products are we going to be comparing here? Wouldn't this all even come down to damping factor as well?