What's a good setup I can have without having to add an amp?

[Ma70.Ent]

I know next to nothing about sound systems, except the one I have now is pretty bad and the speakers are blown. Does anyone hear know what I can do to get a decent quality sound without having to buy an amp? I don't want to add that much weight, etc.

I hear I'll need speaker pods from a 91+ supra though.

 

[suprarx7nut]

pods from a 91+ (6-6.5 inch) will help a ton.

A good pair of 6.5's in the front and *maybe* a pair of good 5.25's in the back should be about as good as you can get w/o an amp.

Ideally, a set of components for the front in the 6.5 inch variety would be best, but for any component to work very well it'll need a small amp at least.

For bass, its near impossible to get any "thump" or hard hitting sound from only one pair of 6.5's but you can sure try.

I currently have 5.25" Boston Acoustics components in the front in a custom board/enclosure and they sound very, very clear. No bass though.

 

[AF1JZ]

A quality Headunit will help a lot. I have the 2nd from the top of the line Pioneer and I love it. You can fine tune all the sounds by frequency and what not. Plus it has Ipod control.

 

[Ma70.Ent]

Hm. I want some bass, but not that much. Upgraded speakers won't do that, at all?

 

[suprarx7nut]

Depends what you call "bass".

IMO, if you listen to metal/rock/alternative/jazz/classical/blues/pop...etc, (anything but electronica or rap) you really don't need a sub. A GOOD pair of coaxial 6.5's will get you a little bit of bass. Add another GOOD pair of 5.25's in the rear and you should have enough bass for most people to like the sound.

To get some heart pounding bass there really is no "sub"stitute for a subwoofer powered by an amp. Although, I think a well tuned set-up of 6.5's and 5.25's should sound just fine.

Aphone is very right about the deck. It can help a lot. I prefer Alpine for the deck, as they give you sooooo much control over your sound. You can even adjust where the bass is primarily produced (which speakers) with some of the older units and todays high end units. Pioneer is another brand that I'd recommend. I'd steer clear of JVC/Dual(especially)/any other no name brand from walmart.

For speakers I think Infinity's line up of 6.5 and 5.25's offer a good balance of low end response and clarity. I had 6.5 infinity's in my old honda and loved them.

Of course, this is all just some 21 year old's $0.02.

Good luck!

 

[Ma70.Ent]

Looks like speakers will be what I need! Thanks for the info.

 

[AF1JZ]

What I like about the Pioneer besides the full control of the sound is the MOSFET 50x4 watt output. Match that up with some component speakers in the 91+ speaker pods and you'll have some good tunes.

Second option is to get something like this. Built in amp and sub in one. Compact as well. Kenwood and a couple other companies make them.

 

[lagged]

look at how many watts your head unit is putting out, and get some speakers that are rated for that or a little bit lower.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Head units rated at 50Wx4 put out around 20, MAYBE 25 watts RMS.

Some old Alpine units (as well as others) had the option of running a true 40W RMS to all four channel straight from the deck; HOWEVER it required what was basically an amp install where the deck had power lines going DIRECTLY to the battery, just as an amp would.

If you don't add an amp, you should be buying the lowest wattage speakers possible for any given brand. (ex. don't buy alpine's type R's, instead get the type S, don't buy infinity's kappa series, instead get the plain reference...etc)

The low wattage speakers will all be rated for something between 35W - 75W RMS. Anything around 100W RMS should be paired up with an amp.

Cliff's: Head units output is around 25-30W RMS, peak means next to nothing. Buy low wattage speakers for deck power only.

 

[plaaya69]

The OEM rear speakers will put out some pretty good bass. I upgraded them and they sound very very clean and clear. Even the rear view mirror shakes very very little. Depending on if you want a OEM radio or a aftermarket radio you can try to get a OEM radio from a 94-99 Toyota with a OEM external amp. That is what I have and I just bought some 6.5 speaker pods and soon will have some infinity's in the front. Also I have some kicker speakers in the back with the OEM amp that I just hooked up yesterday and it hits hard. The rear view mirror was moving alittle before but now act's like it just wants to fall off:biglaugh:, and that is with the OEM external amp as well. I can take a pic of the speakers I have, the radio from a 95 toyota im using, and show some links of speakers I am/going to be using if interested.

 

[Justin]

Something like this would maybe fit the bill?

Its not very big or obtrusive, has a built in amp, they sound pretty darn good.

If I had to re-think things i would have gone with something liek this in my Supra instead of ripping the entire rear end out and putting all sorts of shit in there

 

[AF1JZ]

I had one of those in my Accord some time ago. Definitely had some good sound quality for the smaller size of it. Plus it comes with a bass control knob thingy to put up front.

 

[suprarx7nut]

The basslink II's also have an expansion thing that allows you to use it as a multichannel amp for other speakers.... like some 6.5 components

 

[Ma70.Ent]

Sorry to bring back a semi-dead thread of mine, but may I ask, why do the front speakers have to be bigger than the rear ones? Can I get some reasoning on this? Thanks

 

[MassSupra89]

Doesn't have to be. All my past car's have had 6" up front and 6x9's in the rear because of more available room. The front speakers just create a stage effect where the sound is in front of you, rather than behind your head.

 

[GrimJack]

This is complicated.

The idea with a stereo is to reproduce the sound of listening to a live performance, as in, there is a group of musicians playing directly in front of you on a stage, so, higher than you are.

As most cars don't mount single speakers in the center of the windshield, this is technically difficult to reproduce.

Speakers are usually louder in the front to simulate the band being in front of you. Various tricks are used to make it sound like they are on a stage. Rear speakers are usually used to simulate the effect of sound reflecting off the back walls of the venue. (Musicians are the exception to this, they are used to the sound coming from around / behind them, and tend to set up their systems to reflect this.)

As a few people said in much earlier posts, a good headunit with built in mosfet style amp plus good speakers will go a long way towards improving the sound. Personally, I am a fan of JL audio speakers. I haven't found a brand of head unit that I am especially fond of - my current Alpine is... well, freaking terrible. It sounds fine, but the interface is about as intuitive as the LISP command line interface... in Sanskrit.

In my opinion, however, there is no replacement for a good amp, headunit, and speakers. When you go this route from the start, you can purchase a headunit with no onboard amp at all, so you don't have to worry about overheating from the onboard amp, your dampeners on the CD loading mechanism last WAY longer before it starts to stiffen and skip. Furthermore, you can mount an amplifier some place that it can shed heat properly, instead of trying to vent it inside your dash.

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Sorry to bring back a semi-dead thread of mine, but may I ask, why do the front speakers have to be bigger than the rear ones? Can I get some reasoning on this? Thanks

Short answer: They don't. And in fact in most cars, the rear speakers are larger, simply because there's more room on the rear deck for them.

For the Mk3 Supra (At least those of us with an '86.5-'90 model) none of the factory speakers are large enough to really handle the full range. I've got a really good set of 4" speakers, and they still just aren't large enough to handle anything below about 200Hz well. They just don't have the size to do it. If I'm going to invest in the process of getting larger, better speakers, then I'll improve the "main" speakers.

If you think of the speakers in a home stereo unit, the largest, most important ones are the front left and front rights. This is where the majority of the sound comes from. The rear channels are for "fill in". The same typically goes for a car. The front speakers are the ones that you will get the most sound from in any case.

As for good, there are few, if any, decks that have enough power to producce very good sound. The problem is one of heat dissipation. There's only so much heat that something in a DIN enclosure can dissipate, particularly with little or no airflow. If the deck gets too hot, it self-destructs, so there's a limit to how much power it can have. A limit on power is not only a limit on how LOUD the system can go, but also a limit on how well the amplifier can control the speaker's cone movement.

 

[Ma70.Ent]

I'm thinking of just replacing the front/rear speakers as they are right now with new ones instead of getting 6.5's in the front because I can't seem to find any speaker pods+speaker pods seem to cost a LOT.

Also, my rear speakers are blown and I just want my car to sound "normal" again I can't seem to find any 5 inch replacements though, only 5.25. What should I do? Go 4 inch, or go 5.25 and start cutting (even though I really don't want to do that...)

So, as disappointing as this might seem to you guys, my setup I have planned:
4 inch front
4 inch rear/5.25 rear/5 inch rear (if I can somehow find them)

 

[GrimJack]

You can get 5 1/4 inch speakers in both front and rear location without the fancy speaker pods. I have them in mine... No cutting, either.

 

[Anth505]

I don't post on here too often but I lurk around the posts frequently.

I was heavily involved in car audio installation and competition in my late teens and early twenties and I have to say that although there is alot of good info here, Grimjack is always bang on about this stuff. I think we come from the same school of thought or something.

He is right about getting yourself an amp. It's the only way to really achieve clean and clear sounding music. It doesn't add alot of weight to your car and it will put a smile on your face every time you turn on a good tune. Providing you get decent equipment of course.

I hate to tell you this but if you go 4" all around you likely won't be happy at all, unless you don't really care about sound quality and just want to be able to 'hear' your music. It will sound tinny due to the lack of mid range and low bass, and won't put out nearly as much volume as a 5.25 or a 6".

It might cost a little more to get 5.25's (and they can fit in the door as I have them as well) and an amp and head unit but it's well worth it, especially if you have a targa or like driving with the windows down.

Just my .02

Take care