My speakers

[grimez]

Hopefully this thread will slowly grow into a collection of all my photos taken while installing my new audio system. I say slowly, because im in college, and I have limited time to work, and im piss broke. So, everything I order takes a while to save for.

Anyway, here are the things I have ordered thus far:

Front Speakers (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-r4G04aIdo3f/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=410&I=023VC650&search=Blaupunkt+VENDORID023&SearchDisplay=Blaupunkt)

Rear Speakers (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-r4G04aIdo3f/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=51800&I=023VELO542&search=Blaupunkt+VENDORID023&SearchDisplay=Blaupunkt)

Amp number 1 (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-r4G04aIdo3f/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=120&I=023GTA4&search=Blaupunkt+VENDORID023&SearchDisplay=Blaupunkt)

The plan is to get another amp to run maybe one or two small subs in the rear of the car. My only problem is, I don't want to lose a lot of the functional space of the car, so we will see what happens. My uncle is big into fiber-glass'ing stuff, so I might come up with a pretty nifty solution.

[boris13]

It looks like that amp would fit under the driver's seat. Very slim design; I like it.

Can the tweeters in the front speakers be mounted in a simple coaxial setup?

[ChinoCharles]

Nice choices.

[07WYarisRS]

I'm no longer a fan of Blaupunkt.
But it will be louder and sound better then stock, that's for sure.

There is plenty of room under the seats.
If you need to you can saw off the jack brackets from under the driver seat (liftback) the jack will sit nicely on top of the spare tire or infront of ot or beside it whatever. No need to have it under the seat.
I decided to put my sub amp under the passenger seat because of the heater/A/C ducts. The YAris lift back anyway ...has the rear A/C ducts come out right under the seats so I will alway have plenty of air moving over the amps and in the summer cool air blowing directly on the amp.

[nsmitchell]

The jack under the drivers seat is what gives the Yaris perfect 50-50 weight distribution! Do not move it! Just kidding!:biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

But seriously, will these components be hooked up to the stock head unit?

[bigsky2]

Good stuff, just make sure you wire everything nicely and secure all your amps/subs to your desired locations.

[grimez]

Just out of curiosity, why are you no longer a fan of Blaupunkt?

[grimez]

And, no, they will not be hooked up to the stock head unit, I am getting a better head unit for sure as soon as I get the cash together.

[07WYarisRS]

Just out of curiosity, why are you no longer a fan of Blaupunkt?

Few years back my parents bought a new 2002 Buick regal GS. Awesome car but the stock sound system sucked liked most OE units and the CD player skipped with every bump. So in 2004 they had it replaced

They had thier entire sound system replaced by a local audio shop.
New Blaupunkt HU and CD changer
4 new 2 way Blaupunkt speakers
At first it sounded great....

Within' a year the passenger front speaker started to rattle and both were replaced with the same class Pioneers. This last summer one rear deck speaker started to sound crunchy and the HU started to cut out. I replaced the rear deck speakers with Alpine and removed the CD changer that was constantly jamming up. The rear speaker vc was shorted out.
The HU seems ok but overall I've very disapointed in the quality of the basic Blaupunkt components.
I've used entry level JBL, Alpine and Pioneer for years with no problems. My parents sound system is rarely used and when it is it's not abused or played loud at all.

[bugnuts]

I worked for Pyle Speakers around 10+ years back, They produced some pretty crappy car stereo components themselves, and they also made speakers for Blaupunkt..They used the exact same components as they did for the Pyle speakers only changing the dust cap in the center that had the company logo (This is no shit!), Almost constantly they would get speakers all the way past testing to the final pack area and the backplate and magnets would fall off of them! This is the same as RCA making GE equipment (it is also crap!)There is a lot of companys producing components for other companys like this, It is hard to tell who made the rest of Blaupunkts equipment.:thumbdown:

[grimez]

Well, I certainly hope the quality has improved. I tested out all sorts of speakers in an audio studio at my local car audio shop, and the Blaupunkt Velocity's sounded the best to me (followed closely by the JL audio's). Anyway, the speakers came today, and they came with a free drill (yay?). Up next is ordering my head unit, probably going to happen within the next week.

[ChinoCharles]

Gotta love shiny new boxes and brand new speakers... and I guess that free screwdriver too. Probably has more HP than the car you'll use it on, hahaha.

[grimez]

Gotta love shiny new boxes and brand new speakers... and I guess that free screwdriver too. Probably has more HP than the car you'll use it on, hahaha.

Which brings me to a question I had for any experts out there...
Will I need to get a new battery for the setup I am planning to use? I will be using the above equipment, plus a new head unit, and another single channel amp with one 10" sub.

[bigsky2]

Which brings me to a question I had for any experts out there...
Will I need to get a new battery for the setup I am planning to use? I will be using the above equipment, plus a new head unit, and another single channel amp with one 10" sub.

A new battery is not necessary at this time.

What you should do is determine the total amperage draw of your equipment.
Here's a quick way of caculating that:

Take the total RMS power of all your amplifiers (remember, RMS, not peak!)
Divide by 12.5 (this is your car's idle voltage, it sometimes fluctuates but this is average)

That gives you to the total amperage draw of all your amps.


Eg.
Amplifier #1 - 500W RMS
Divide by 12.5
= 40A

This is a rough guestimate of what the real amperage draw is. But it gives you a good indication of whether you need to upgrade your alternator, battery, ground wires, etc.

Since you are running a single mono amp, I don't think you will be drawing too much amperage from the alternator.

I could be wrong, you might be running an amp that's on steroids and pulls 90A :biggrin:

[ECHOKnight2000]

A new battery is not necessary at this time.

What you should do is determine the total amperage draw of your equipment.
Here's a quick way of caculating that:

Take the total RMS power of all your amplifiers (remember, RMS, not peak!)
Divide by 12.5 (this is your car's idle voltage, it sometimes fluctuates but this is average)

That gives you to the total amperage draw of all your amps.


Eg.
Amplifier #1 - 500W RMS
Divide by 12.5
= 40A

This is a rough guestimate of what the real amperage draw is. But it gives you a good indication of whether you need to upgrade your alternator, battery, ground wires, etc.

Since you are running a single mono amp, I don't think you will be drawing too much amperage from the alternator.

I could be wrong, you might be running an amp that's on steroids and pulls 90A :biggrin:


How will I know the RMS? I've always wanted to know the total amp my system is running. Do I just check the speakers, sub and amp and reciever? Or is it just sub and speakers? Sorry I'm a noob at this stuff. I always read total watts a system puts out in car magazines, how do I know mine? Do I just add up what my speakers, sub, amp and reciever put out as far as watts? Is that accurate? Thanks for any help.
:bow:

[bigsky2]

How will I know the RMS? I've always wanted to know the total amp my system is running. Do I just check the speakers, sub and amp and reciever? Or is it just sub and speakers? Sorry I'm a noob at this stuff. I always read total watts a system puts out in car magazines, how do I know mine? Do I just add up what my speakers, sub, amp and reciever put out as far as watts? Is that accurate? Thanks for any help.
:bow:

You usually take the total RMS wattage from your amplifiers only, as these are the "sources" of power for your speakers and subwoofers. The power rating on the speakers are not considered when estimating total amperage draw.

To estimate the amperage draw, just take the RMS power rating from all your amplifiers. I do not include the receiver in this estimate because it is not pulling significant amounts of amperage current if you are using the RCA preouts with amplifiers.

To find out the RMS power of your amp, find out the model #, research it on the net and catalogs, or best of all, check your manual.

Then divide that RMS rating by 12.5 to determine your total amperage draw.

[grimez]

Well... I was trying to price out the rest of my audio set up today, but ran into a little setback. I wanted to get a ODw1000HP sub by Blaupunkt, because I am not looking for a ton of bass, just something to give me some good response. Anyway, I can not find this sub anywhere. Blaupunkt.com advertises them, but I'll be damned if you can find one online to order.

[grimez]

Finally got a bit more free money, so the headunit (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-uwvfG0N3yKS/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=023LONGBCH) is on it's way! Should be here this weekend. Unfortunately I have to work like hell until Christmas, so I won't be able to really get into the install until then. The plan is to get a screen later for this unit, but I mainly got it so I can listen to MP3 DVD's.

[eflb55]

hm cool. It is amazing how much different a new head unit can make even with stock speakers. Don't get me wrong, stocks suck, but the head unit also sucks and blows. Everything will sound great with aftermarket speakers. Anyway, I'm running 110A and will most likely end up going to about 150A down the road. I think my alternator puts out like 90A if that. People are telling me to either get another alternator or reroute the one I have now. I really doubt I will be able to find another alternator out there. So out of the first 2 choices, whats the best price for the most power out of my alternator?

[funkstrong]

You might want to look into getting a capacitor if you are worried about your amps drawing too much. You can get them for fairly cheap and they prevent that "light dimming" effect you get when the bass hits sometimes.

[grimez]

Quick question, I need to know how much wire to get. I want to run it from headunit to amp under the passenger seat, then from the amp to the front components and the rear coaxials. If anyone has done this if you could just throw out a number for how many feet or meters I would need. Thanks :)

[eflb55]

I have never installed speakers but aren't there kits for that?

[mikeukrainetz]

I run 2 1000w 12's and a 1000w amp along with a new HU and stock 4 speakers and have no electrical draw problems. Provided my stuff isnt great (still sounds good) and probably runs 60% efficient.
If there were any problems I would buy a used alt from a pickup or just a specialized high amp unit.

[spkrman]

Few years back my parents bought a new 2002 Buick regal GS. Awesome car but the stock sound system sucked liked most OE units and the CD player skipped with every bump. So in 2004 they had it replaced

They had thier entire sound system replaced by a local audio shop.
New Blaupunkt HU and CD changer
4 new 2 way Blaupunkt speakers
At first it sounded great....

Within' a year the passenger front speaker started to rattle and both were replaced with the same class Pioneers. This last summer one rear deck speaker started to sound crunchy and the HU started to cut out. I replaced the rear deck speakers with Alpine and removed the CD changer that was constantly jamming up. The rear speaker vc was shorted out.
The HU seems ok but overall I've very disapointed in the quality of the basic Blaupunkt components.
I've used entry level JBL, Alpine and Pioneer for years with no problems. My parents sound system is rarely used and when it is it's not abused or played loud at all.

if you play em hard... they will blow :)

[spkrman]

You might want to look into getting a capacitor if you are worried about your amps drawing too much. You can get them for fairly cheap and they prevent that "light dimming" effect you get when the bass hits sometimes.

A small battery is a much better option.. MUCH!

Even a little 12v lawn motor battery is a better way to go than a cap.

But a little note on caps... *please* fuse them.... *please*... I've seen a few caps go up in smoke because they weren't fused. it stores and releases opwer, it has to be fused, treat it like a battery!

[bigsky2]

You might want to look into getting a capacitor if you are worried about your amps drawing too much. You can get them for fairly cheap and they prevent that "light dimming" effect you get when the bass hits sometimes.

No, this is incorrect.

A capacitor is useless if your supply current is not sufficient to begin with.

Adding a capacitor to your system will make your total current draw even higher than before. If your supply current is insufficient, then the cap is doing more harm than good.

The dimming of your headlights or interior lights indicates that the supply current is insufficient as your amps are demanding more power than the vehicle can supply. The addition of a capacitor is basically another pull on the supply current, and will not be beneficial.

As spkrman has stated, a dedicated battery, whether it be a replacement of the original battery or a secondary battery, is much better than a cap. In fact the best solution would be a reworked alternator or a high output alternator, a new/secondary battery, and a reinforced ground connection via ground wires/ground kits.

I will say this again, a capacitor is NEVER the answer. It is not a quick fix, and will not improve anything for the short or long term.

If and only if, the supply current is sufficient to begin with, a capictor will be beneficial.

[plushDJ]

1. Yup caps suck
2. I'm running 1000wrms (real world) on a 15" in my Yaris, also have a voltmeter and the only time the volts go under 13.5 is when I'm at idle. My lights don't dim at all and I play my system HARD. Lots of bass cd's and drum'n'bass
3. A good rule is one battery for every 1000wrms. If that doesn't help get a HO alternator and upgrade the big 3. I have an Optima sitting in my closet right now for when I decide to get a new amp. Prob going to run 2000wrms to the sub.