I am planning to upgrade my daily driver, and have zero knowledge of audio systems. I realize it is not vette specific, but perhaps my questions can be applied to other vehicles.

If I wish to keep a stock headunit, how do you match speakers, amps and subs?
I am ashamed to say I do not know what all the specs listed mean.
Any basic knowledge is appreciated.

For retaining your stock head unit you will need to use a line level converter to bring the signal to the amps.

For matching speakers to amplifiers.

You will need to first determine if you plan on powering the highs with a seperate amplifier.

Now, do you want to run a sub? How many?

Do you want to run multiple amplifiers or 1 multi channel amp to drive the entire system?

For speakers, you need to look at sensitivity, the higher the number, the less minimum power required to drive them.

For both highs, subs and amps, you need to look at the RMS rating. Peak power or that big sticker that says "1100 watts" means exactly dick.

If you are unsure on the power rating of an amp, a good rule of thumb is to look at the internal fusing of the amp. If it has 2 20amp fuses, thats 40 amps, multiply by 10 to get wattage. So you can bet on its best day that amp will put out about 400 watts.

I worked in car audio for many years, and still do on my own vehicles and on friends cars.

If you want me to help design you a system I would be more than happy. All I need to know is how you want it to perform (better than stock, really good, Sound Quality competion vehicle, lots of bass, TONS of bass, SPL Competition vehicle)

And a budget.

Pete,

What kinda car? Any premium options for the factory audio?

Rich,
I really appreciate it!

Andy,
It is my Ford Edge that I want to upgrade, but did not want to mention a Ford, in a vette forum.
There is a premium factory system I could upgrade to, but was advised against it as it is marginally better than my base factory system, as per other Edge owners.

My problem right now is understanding what the differences is regarding the speakers ohms,channels, watts, RMS etc.

Now that I travel for a living, I want something better than the stock set up. If the factory set up is a 1 and 10 is the top of the line, I was hoping for a 3 or 4.
I did not want to add the boom box in the back unless it was really nescessary.
Because I want to maintain a stock appearance, I wanted to use the stock head unit, but the following speakers were recommended by other ford edge owners:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_136TR570 ... ml?search=TR570-CXI&tp=93

They fit nicely in the front and rear doors very well.
If I went with something like these, would my factory receiver run them until I added an amp?

Like the rest of the worls, I am on a budget and was hoping $750 could buy 4 speakers, amp, and related wiring etc.
Any chance, or am I all wet?

A very good chance, your expectations are not unrealistic.

Those speakers are exactly what I would recommend.

Now if you notice on those, they have an RMS power rating of 2-50 watts.

This means you COULD drive them with the stock headunit. Although this is NOT advised, as stock speakers on an external amp, will sound better than aftermarket speakers powered through the head unit.

Since we have a good set of highs chosen, lets get an amp to power them.

Since they have an RMS rating of 2-50 watts each, we need a 4 channel amp of around 200 watts RMS.

This would be my choice for you. The JL G series (predecessor to the E-class)

They provide amazing sound quality and performance, at VERY good pricing, since this is just a good upgrade and not an insane comp car, I wouldn't reccomend the slash series or a Zapco.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_136G4500 ... -Series-G4500.html?tp=115

Now, since your stock openings are quite large, you should get fairly good midbass out of these without needing a subwoofer.

I would go with those highs, and this amp to start, if later down the road you feel you need more fill in the lows, you can go with a JL audio stealthbox with an integrated amplifier.

~Rich

Pete -

I think Rich is dead on. I would avoid a subbox altogether. It will take up space and if you are going on long trips you will get sick of the "boom boom" real quick. You are more interested in "SQ" (sound quality) as opposed to SPL (sound pressure level - aka loudness).

A good quality 4 channel amp will power those speakers nicely. JL makes nice car stuff. There are other brands out there, but you should be happy with those.

As far as wiring, you'll need a wiring kit (has the power cable, ground, connectors, fuse, and some speaker wire). You can get them through crutchfield or even on ebay if you wanna get it cheaper. Don't fall into the gimmicks on this, you don't need "monster wire" or other kits for $100. 8 gauge wire will be enough.

Let us know what you decide!

Matthew

Excellent info. I appreciate it!
The amp calls for 4 guage wire for the power lead.
Hopefully 8 guage will do fine.

Which amp did you choose?

Matthew

I was referencing the unit Rich recommended in his last post.
Crutchfield does a 50% off deal with the wiring when purchasing that amp.

get the 4 gauge... it won't cost much more and will be worth it to not void the warrantee.

I have a JL Audio / series amp, the 500/5. I am generally quite happy with it, but it is the 2nd one. The first blew up. Quite shocking, really.

As for speakers, realize that those will not pump a lot of bass. They just don't have the excursion for it and the power isn't there. You will pick up mid bass, no question, but turning the volume up too much will result in clipping and that is bad.

In the best of the best for SQ, a sub is always used. It is just tuned to be balanced with the entire system and not oververtly there. It's subtle vs in-your-face.

My 92 Vette has a nice SQ system in it. The front stage is a set of Canton 3-way's; 6" midbass, 4" midrange and a 1" tweeter. The sub is a 10" JL Audio 10W3v2, the amp, the aforementioned 500/5.

I would add a sub... JLA hasn't done a stealthbox for the Flex yet, but give them time.

As for speakers... I have never really liked the SQ of the JLA drivers. Their subs rock, but the speakers are a bit flat to my ear. I love Focal. Check Eclipse, too. I just don't feel those drivers are really up to the task.

Sorry, I didn't notice the amp in the post above. If it calls for 4 gauge, go for it. Like Andy said, it's not that much more expensive and if it's what the mfr recommends...

As far as not liking the JLs, it's personal choice and value vs performance. I think eclipse are overpriced. I've never had any personal experience with focals, heard they are very good. I like polks as a good value/quality speaker.

I'm sure any good aftermarket speaker you choose mated with the amp will impress you.

Good luck,

Matthew

How about capacitors?
Nescessary, or optional?

As far as a cap, I think they are a good idea. When I had my S10 I went through a couple alternators and batteries with my ppi powerclass amp and various sub setups.

When I had that in my monte carlo, I put in a 1/2 farad cap and never had a batter/alternator problem in 3 years.

A cap will help not only electrical system life, but it will help keep your lights from dimming while under load if the amp draws a big power load (more common on subs) for a deep note, etc.

So is it necessary? With a simple 4 channel amp/speaker setup, no. If it were my own personal car would I do it? Yes. Is it overkill? Probably.

For $100 it can't hurt if it's in your budget.

Matthew