Car audio that gives good sound but won't break the bank?

[Ammo]

Not for the Lude but for the Golf. After something that has a decent sound not something to compete in a bass off, basically so it's not distorted if I turn it up cos at the mo I can't have any bass at all if I want it loud

Fronts and rears are both OEM components 6.5"

Currently running off an old Pioneer headunit

I have a amp and sub box which aren't currently fitted.

Anyone recommend any decent but not overly expensive makes of speakers? and/or ways to get rid of the distortion?

[Thebusofwoe]

IM having the same problem with my civic. Turn the bass down but it then becomes almost unlistenable I was thinking just fit front components and a new head unit. Not sure tho TBH.

[lewd lude lover]

sound deadening.

If you are on a budget thats where you start. Hell, its where you start if you are cash limitless.

The more you contain the energy from your head unit and force it in to soundwaves, rather than kinetic energy, the better your reproduction will be.
Your drivers are banging away most of their energy into the panels of the tincanally cars we all drive. The more resistance to this kinetic leakage your panels put up equals more energy getting expressed into the air. You will be reaching distortion way before the driver 'should' because its pissing itself into the metal rather than the air inside the car. Fix it hard into the chassis and soundeaden everything you can and see this energy returned to where you want it.

You also get a side benefit to correct sounddeadening in that outside roadnoise is reduced. this in turn means your headunit and system gain precieved volume as they are not having to be heard over the road noise. This is especially true of bass as most road noise is in the lower reach.


You can throw as much cash as you like at expensive audio equipment and have a jobby sound. Spend on sound deadening first, before replacing OEM speakers, and see what difference a little less rattle makes.

[Ammo]

So if I line the doors with sound deadening, do I need to do the whole door or just around the speakers?

and what stuff should i use?

[Shiny]

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... rClearance

I just bought the Edge 6x9s, Edge 6.5" components and the Vibe 6.5" coax for the grand total of £50.00!

Might be jobby, but i need some speakers for the Civic so i thought nothing much to lose. If they are crap, i'm sure they can go on ebay and get my money back (once of course the Halfords sale has finished ). But at £50 for 3 sets of speakers they have to be better than what is in the Civic already. I need 6x9s for the rear and 6.5" for the front, so i will try both sets of 6.5 and see which is best.

[CrunchyAdams82]

Distortion is also commonly caused by a weak/old head unit. How many wpc is it?

In terms of other equipment, I have previously looked into a company called 'The Loudest'.
http://www.theloudest.co.uk

Haven't tried any of their stuff myself yet, but they use MOSFET amps, & all the components are good power ratings for modest money. Might be worth a look?

And they also have an eBay shop - where their products tend to be cheaper than on site. So decide what you're after then look on eBay to try for a better deal.

And defo upgrade your Head Unit. I've always found pioneer to be excellent in this department.

[K30DPC]

best u can use for doors is dynamat but unfortunatelly expensive. You will be abble to chose something from ebay. Just type sound dedening andthere will be a lot of stuff.

I have used two layers on outside wall then I covered all holes with 2mm aluminium sheet and one layer on inside of the dynamat. Then I have installed 6.5" DLS R6A speakers on some MDF panels. Also I have stick in Silent Coat 8mm foam on the back of door panels. All together cost a lot more then £50 but like LLL said even the best speakers will not do the job without sound deadening

[RattyMcClelland]

Silent coat is the best sound deadening material. Thicker and cheaper than Dynafailmat.

But i wont add any more imput into this unless you want your budget to go over £2k.
My front speakers budget was £1000 alone.

[lewd lude lover]

My front speakers budget was £1000 alone.

I wont laugh when you post up that someones mum has put her foot through the passenger one

@ammo: the ebay stuff is ok for the money.The idea is to make the speaker mount as strong as poss and then spread that out. build up the layers from the energy source.
So minimum for an effect would be to take off the door cards and play the stereo. Start touching parts of the door to find the worst areas of vibration. these will get bits stuck on them specifically.
You want more layers closer to the speaker to isolate better. two layers on each side within 12'' of the driver is a minimum. I always cut it up into bits and just plaster them on howevers gonna give a nice thick coat.

this was thwe red type S

it had a total enclosure and double skin inside and out. If you are going for it you can seal up the doors like this and pad out the cards like this :


but for the little extra help for cheaps you are looking for i would think something looking like this would be ok:

you will want to put a few bits on the outside skin of the door as well. The vibrations will try and spread out from the driver edge so you want to maybe beef up the mounting and layer up inside and out from there.

[bb1boy]

^^ yeah, the aim is to turn your tinny, flappy, holey door, into a solid, sealed, speaker box (as much as possible)..